Henkei Hot Rod
Box and packaging
Originally, I wanted an Henkei Hot Rodimus (Hot Rod in the west) to fill in for the Fansproject Protector armor. Funny thing is that I had this figure for quite some time before deciding to let him out of his cage. The version I got here is the re-issue. The roof of the car is lighter red than the rest of the figure. Though I didn't do a photograph, the contents also include a Manga comic. It features Hot Rod squaring off against Megatron but he loses the battle. Eventually, Hot Rod faces off against Astrotrain. Some autobots such as Mirage and Bumblebee appear towards the end. I always liked how Takara did their packaging for the Henkei series. It feels less messy than the U.S. releases.
Alt mode (Guess starring RTS Hot Rod)
You can pretty much see a huge difference on almost everything comparing both figures. The gimmick of Henkei was to incorporate chrome on certain parts of their toy releases. In this case, the Henkei version has Chrome Spoilers and headlights. Not to mention, his flame decos which represent his G1 design are also gold chrome colored. If you look carefully, the rims in the Takara release are silvered painted while the tires are black painted. The RTS version is has dark grey tires and duller grey colored rims. The windows are painted blue in the RTS obscuring the seats and driver wheel. My pics don't do much justice but the driver wheel and seats are visible in this mode for the Henkei version. Looking good and shiny thus far Henkei Hot Rodimus!