Hot Rod

Overview
Much like Sentinel Prime, Hot Rod's sole purpose in the comic is to be used and abused. In fact, they only real difference between the two is that Hot Rod isn't so much a jerk as he is an egomaniac, which is ironic, considering how he stinks at everything except bragging.

Season 1
Hot Rod's first appearance was when he confronted the ROTF Arcee sisters. He rudely commented that Elita's LEGO model wasn't as accurate as the other two (a reference to the fact that Legos didn't have a toy to base the model off of). He then received a nasty shock from the fem-bot's electric launcher.

Ironhide and his goons later pursued Hot Rod to avenge Elita. After failing to gain Kup 's help, distracting them with an opportunity to beat up Bumblebee, and a failed attempt at directing them at Rodimus, Hot Rod was caught. The Ironhides tied him up with twist ties and forced him to watch Barney and Friends. Kup soon came to his rescue, but had to go find someone with a knife to cut the twist ties. Later, Hot Rod was seen in the care of Ratchet, who stated that he had suffered processor damage from the experience. Kup was reluctant to tell how Hot Rod's arm was severed.

Hot Rod was one of the bots who watched the demonstration of the Upgrading Device. Legos wondered if it could be used to upgrade the red robot into something useful.

Trivia
-A running gag has Hot Rod constantly loosing his right arm. This is a reference to the fact that the Hot Rod figure used for the comic has a tendency for the right arm to pop out of the ball joint socket due to mold wear.

-Hot Rod's Stealth Force mode was mentioned in his Bio in Season 1, but didn't appear in the comic until halfway through Season 3.