Hot Shot (Armada)

Hot Shot is an Autobot from the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

I'm Optimus Prime's choice for successor. Scary what goes through the big guy's head, huh?

Hot Shot is the quintessential young hero. He's been around long enough to earn a name for himself and a place in Optimus Prime's entourage, but he's still too young to know when he's in over his head. In other words, he's blunt, overconfident, naïve, and more than just a little annoying, yet brave, honorable, loyal to his friends, and willing to risk his life to stop the Decepticons and help the Autobots. With time and experience, Prime believes, he could make an excellent leader, and Prime has appointed him to his command structure accordingly. Hot Shot's got the goods, but he just needs to pay attention for more than five seconds. Until that day, Hot Shot's likely response to most anything is, "Yeah yeah, like, whatever."

Hot Shot's Mini-Con partner is Jolt, though he has been known to moonlight with Mirage.

Fiction

Toy pack-in comics

How dumb can he be? He's fluent in three languages!

Optimus Prime chose Hot Shot to stop a Decepticon plot to drain power from the city, but Hot Shot balked when Prime picked Jolt to be his partner. After speeding off to complete the mission alone, Hot Shot found himself overwhelmed by Cyclonus and his partner Crumplezone. Thankfully, Jolt arrived and gave Hot Shot a hand, and together they defeated Cyclonus and Crumplezone by detonating their energy-draining device, and letting the Decepticons get caught in the blast. Hot Shot had learned a valuable lesson about teamwork. Armada Volume 1

Hot Shot reported to Optimus about his responsibilities somewhere and listened to Scavenger discuss his. Armada Volume 2 Optimus Prime again contacted Hot Shot from Autobot Headquarters. Armada Volume 3

On Cybertron, Hot Shot, Red Alert, Smokescreen were present for Optimus Prime's defeat of Galvatron. They didn't, however, see his smile upon his capture. Armada Volume 4

He's so polite.

After Hot Shot and Strongarm found a pool of Energon in a desert, they were attacked by Battle Ravages. Though the Autobots were able to fight off the drones, they realized too late that they had been duped; another pack of Battle Ravages had used the distraction to get at the Energon pool. When the situation was bleakened further by the arrival of Scorponok, Strongarm fashioned an Energon axe for Hot Shot, allowing him to drive the Terrorcons away. Unfortunately, he couldn't do so in time to prevent them from absorbing all of the remaining Energon. Nonetheless, Hot Shot and Strongarm were relieved that they had faced a formidable foe and come out on top. Energon Volume 1

Some time after, Hot Shot was seen alongside Skyblast and Optimus Prime battling Scorponok and his Terrorcons. Energon Volume 2

Optimus Prime and Hot Shot (powerlinked with Inferno) found themselves alone and outmatched in a battle with Megatron, Shockblast, Snow Cat, Demolishor and Mirage. As the Decepticons closed in on Optimus, he warned Powerlinx Hot Shot to stay away, for he was too damaged. But at the last minute, Wing Saber arrived, combined with Prime, and drove the Decepticons away! Energon Volume 4

With a group of Autobots, Hot Shot investigated the site of an energon reaction. They found a Scourge, a dark duplicate of Optimus Prime who quickly entered in battle with Optimus. Optimus Prime VS Scourge Episode.1 When Optimus was cornered by Scourge, Hot Shot and Ironhide forced the two apart with cover fire, allowing Optimus to gain the upper hand on his enemy. Optimus Prime VS Scourge Episode.2

Dreamwave Armada continuity

Dreamwave Armada comic

Hot Shot watches in horror as Demolishor buys the last can of Energon.

One million years ago, Hot Shot was a member of the Autobots, the guardians of Cyber City. Soon, news of a warlike faction called Decepticons, led by the power-hungry Megatron, reached Cyber City via a dying Mini-Con Hot Shot found. The Mini-Con handed him a video disc, and with his dying breath, demanded Hot Shot take it to Optimus Prime. Optimus Prime played the disc, a distress signal from Leader-1, head of Mini-Con village D10, who begged the Autobots for help. Armada #1

The Decepticons themselves soon arrived in Cyber City, armed with Mini-Cons they had captured and reconfigured to bestow incredible power when Powerlinxed. Outclassed and near total defeat, Optimus Prime called his troops into retreat, and after the majority of Mini-Cons escaped Cybertron to parts unknown, Armada #2 the Autobots lost much of the planet to the Mini-Con-powered Decepticons. Armada #3

Hot Shot, stop stealing Jolt's gun!

In the present day, both the Autobots and Decepticons received a signal of the Mini-Cons' activation on the planet Earth. Hot Shot and his colleagues Scavenger, Red Alert, and Smokescreen were led by Optimus Prime to the planet, Armada #4 where they met the Decepticons in battle. But this time, with the help of the estranged Mini-Cons, the Autobots regained the edge they'd lost against the Decepticons one million years prior. An uneasy alliance was formed, and Hot Shot was partnered with the Mini-Con Jolt. Armada #5

When their human friends Rad, Carlos, and Alexis befriended a Mini-Con named Swindle, they soon attracted the attention of the Decepticons, and Hot Shot and the other Autobots weren't far behind. With the arrival of Megatron, however, the Autobots were quickly defeated and restrained, and the children were shocked to learn that Swindle had been working with the Decepticons all this time! Swindle found himself conflicted, as he genuinely liked the human children, and so he eventually had a small change of heart. Grabbing Hot Shot's gun, he was able to disable the Autobots' restraints, and the Decepticons retreated... though with Swindle. Armada Free Comic Book Day

Wait, Jolt attaches where?

After their initial battles on Earth, Megatron was quick to capture the Air Defense Mini-Con Team and forge them into the Star Saber. Armada #6 Optimus Prime led Hot Shot and Red Alert against the Decepticons again, despite being at a strategic disadvantage while the Mini-Cons were missing, a point Hot Shot belabored. Thankfully, the Autobot-allied Mini-Cons arrived just in time to Powerlinx with Hot Shot and the other Autobots, fend off Megatron, and rescue the Air Defense Mini-Cons from the Decepticon leader's clutches. Armada #7

"Well, let's go!"

Soon, a Mini-Con beacon tower was erected in Tranquility, Kansas drawing all Earth-bound Mini-Cons to it. Hot Shot and the rest of the Autobots again met the Decepticons in battle at the location when the tower's effect was discovered. However, they were too busy fighting to notice the beacon tower blasting off toward the Earth's moon. Armada #8 Hot Shot and Red Alert secreted Optimus Prime into the Decepticon base for the use of their space bridge, so that the Autobot leader could ask for reinforcements from Cybertron. Armada #9 The Decepticons returned while the two were still waiting for Prime's return, forcing them to hide for a bit. Armada #10

After the Mini-Cons were evacuated from the Moon, five did not return home safely and sent a distress signal from northern Alaska. When the Adventure Mini-Con Team failed to retrieve them, Hot Shot and the other Autobots arrived in full force, though they were kept in check by Cyclonus, who was suffering from a Mini-Con overdose. Though they were successful, Optimus Prime disappeared before their eyes, Armada #13 and when Hot Shot returned to Autobase, he found another Optimus Prime, dying, sent from a different timeline to warn of Unicron's coming. Worlds Collide, Part 1 of 4 Learning of the "real" Optimus Prime's disappearance, Megatron and his Decepticons stormed Autobase, nearly killing Smokescreen and heavily injuring Hot Shot, Red Alert, and Scavenger. Worlds Collide, Part 2 of 4

Optimus Prime was returned to them and insisted on teaming up with the Decepticons to battle the arriving Unicron. Hot Shot excused himself from this alliance, as Smokescreen's critical condition due to the Decepticons' recent attack still weighed heavily in his mind. So when Megatron stole away during the battle with Unicron to strike a deal with the Dark God, Hot Shot, Scavenger, and Red Alert ambushed him, leaving him to die as Unicron was seemingly destroyed by the Mini-Con Matrix. The End

Energon comic

Sorry, Hot Shot, you've been replaced.

Ten years later, at the beginning of the Energon Era, Hot Shot accompanied Optimus Prime, who was skeptical and restless about the new peacetime, on his visit with the High Council in Cyber City. Prime's demands for vigilance were denied, so Hot Shot later followed him to a special uplink platform that Over-Run had directed them to. This trip was a first outing for the rookie Autobot Ironhide, who fawned over Hot Shot. Hot Shot met this with difficulty. Learning of the continued existence of Unicron, This Evil Reborn Prime once again returned to the High Council, again accompanied by Hot Shot. But this time, Cyber City was attacked by Cheetor, Rhinox, Airazor, and Terrorsaur, who were presumed dead during the Unicron Battles, but in fact were transformed into Unicron's Four Horsemen. What Lies Beneath The Four Horsemen overwhelmed Hot Shot and the other Autobots, and they were saved from destruction only by the timely arrival of the Omnicons. Hot Shot, Optimus Prime, and the others were granted the Spark of Combination by Sig-Omega, and thanks partly to the combined powerlinked form of Hot Shot and Inferno, the Horsemen were deterred. What Lies Beneath, Part Two

Hot Shot, along with Inferno, Ironhide, and Jetfire, followed Prime to Earth after the Autobots received a distress signal. They regrettably arrived four hours later than the signal was sent, and Hot Shot boggled at how much damage could have been done in that time. Indeed, Scorponok and his Terrorcons had caused massive devastation while chasing after a young boy named Kicker who could detect Energon. The Terrorcons outclassed the Autobots upon arrival, however, and left only when their Energon-mining gear was destroyed...but not without taking Kicker. What Lies Beneath, Part Three After the Autobots reunited with Carlos, Rad, and Alexis, Hot Shot and the Omnicon Strongarm were able to pursue the Terrorcons and deliver a special suit to Kicker that his father, Dr. Brian Jones, had made for him. With Kicker's help, the Terrorcons were defeated and returned to Unicron. What Lies Beneath, Part Four

Hot Shot, along with Optimus Prime and Inferno, attended a public meeting with the United Nations in New York City after the ratification of the Cybercord Treaty. Multiplicity

Wait, Hot Shot has wisdom?

After the Omnicons, while trying to tap into an underground Energon reserve, nearly destroyed Chicago by accident, Hot Shot was put in charge of the unruly 'bots and sent to Base Site One in Yukon Territory. Immediately upon arrival, Strongarm crashed into the base site's intrathermal uplink assembly and subsurface transference grid, frustrating Ironhide. This was the final straw for Hot Shot. After telling them to get lost, he was darkly amused that this was the first order he'd given that they actually followed to the letter. An hour later, Hot Shot had a change of heart, and he and Kicker left to track them down. Their search abruptly ended when Snow Cat was dropped in their laps, defeated during the Omnicons' solo adventure. Eight days later, Hot Shot had returned to Optimus, who tasked him with protecting the Autobots' growing Energon-gathering installations on Earth. Omni-Potent

When Terrorcons orchestrated an attack on four major Earth cities, Hot Shot (leading a team consisting of Thrust, Rodimus, Red Alert, Beachcomber, and Hoist) was sent to repel Divebomb drones in Toronto. Badly outnumbered and confined, Rodimus suggested the group split up. Hot Shot agreed, sending him and Red Alert elsewhere. Hot Shot contacted Jetfire in Los Angeles, telling him it was only a matter of time before they were overwhelmed and the battle was lost, but he interrupted his transmission to witness a spectacle above. Multiplicity, Pt. 3 Megatron had arrived in a new body, and he was dramatically tearing through the Divebomb drones. After Megatron cleared away enough of the Terrorcons in Toronto to give Hot Shot's team a fighting chance, he moved on to the concurrent battle in Tokyo. Multiplicity, Pt. 4

Cartoon continuity

Main article: Hot Shot (Armada)/Cartoon continuity

Panini Armada comic

Well, gee, Hot Shot, when you put it that way, it doesn't sound fair anymore.

As the Autobot-Decepticon war was in its early stages, Hot Shot was stationed at the main Autobot Command HQ on Cybertron. Upon detecting four Decepticon battalions heading towards them, he reported this to Optimus Prime and raced into battle. He and the other Autobots were eventually forced to abandon their base when it turned out to be rigged with explosives. Counter-Strike! After the Mini-Cons left Cybertron, he was seen dispensing firepower and sarcasm during another clash with the Decepticon forces. First Encounter!

Hot Shot and Red Alert were later summoned to Earth when the Mini-Cons were found to have awakened there. The Mini-Con Jolt grudgingly power-linked with Hot Shot, allowing him to fly through the air and ram Cyclonus. Friends and Foes! Following the battle, he stood guard outside a small cave while the Mini-Cons and their human friends made their way inside. Deep Trouble! When the Autobots decided to keep the Mini-Cons safe by sending them back to Cybertron, Hot Shot stood watch, and soon reported that the Decepticons were going on the offensive again. In the ensuing battle, the Mini-Cons decided to stay on Earth, and Jolt power-linked with Hot Shot and helped him drive the Decepticons away. No Way Back!

Alongside Optimus Prime and Red Alert, Hot Shot later saved the Air Defense Team from getting captured by Starscream. Devices and Desires! After the Air Defense Team revealed that the Land Military Team had been captured by humans, Hot Shot piloted an Autobot shuttle to the Nevada desert and helped liberate them. Sale of the Century! Next, the Autobots learned that the Decepticons were planning to nuke them from the Moon, and their space bridge was too busted up for them to do anything about it. Hot Shot was tasked with repairing the device and use it to warp the incoming warheads elsewhere, and he succeeded at the last second. Earthshaker!

The Balance of Power

Hot Shot has particular skills?

Shortly after Hot Shot was brought online, he and Red Alert were sent deep into Decepticon territory to uncover an ancient relic that would tell them how to find the long-lost race of Mini-Cons. The two were discovered by passing Dropships and the Spider Tanks they carried, and so they quickly dodged for cover. But there was nowhere to run; the Decepticons had created a massive army of Decepticlones. After sending out an auto-distress signal, Optimus Prime arrived to bolster their firepower. This caught the attention of Megatron, and the two leaders grappled while Hot Shot and Red Alert continued to evade the Decepticlones. Meanwhile, Starscream had managed to find the relic, and a portal was opened in front of them. Hot Shot, Red Alert, and Optimus Prime followed the Decepticons through the portal to Earth. The search for the Mini-Cons began! The Balance of Power

Bendon Armada books

Hot Shot and Optimus Prime were forced to defend the Autobot base from a surprise attack. When the attack accidentally triggered a landslide, Hot Shot rushed in to save the kids. Cave Catastrophe

Hot Shot would once again rush in to save the kids after they left themselves out in the open, ramming Demolishor hard enough to flip him over. Race to Disaster

Superdeformers

Don't look at me, I'm slightly less handsome!

Facing down Thrust one day, Hot Shot was unprepared when the Decepticon lobbed Thunderwing at him. Luckily before the Mini-Con could hit Hot Shot, Blurr jumped in and snatched it out of the air. The pair promptly ran off with Thunderwing, leaving Thrust to face Megatron's wrath. Superdeformers

Reader's Digest Armada novels

Hot Shot was one of the Autobots teleported to Earth by the warp gate within the remains of a Mini-Con ship. Despite the radical change in scenery, Hot Shot continued to do battle against the Decepticons who had been teleported alongside them. The fighting came to an end, temporarily, thanks to the efforts of Perceptor. The Battle Begins

After securing their base on Earth, Optimus, Hot Shot and Red Alert headed to a nearby highway to adopt new alternate modes based on local vehicles. Hot Shot took on the form of a sleek sports car and became giddy over his new form, annoying Optimus with his rambunctious behavior. When their human allies joined them, Hot Shot scrutinized their Mini-Con companions with great interest, as he had only heard of the diminutive robots in old war stories up until that point. Explosions emanating from nearby interrupted Hot Shot's observations. The Decepticons were attacking the Autobots' base! The Autobots launched a counter-attack, though Hot Shot was forced to leave the battlefront when a stray shot from Megatron triggered a rock-slide, endangering the children. Hot Shot got Carlos, Alexis and Rad out of harm's way, along with their Mini-Cons. Before Hot Shot had a chance to leave to rejoin the battle, Alexis pointed out something to him; the rock slide had unearthed several dormant Mini-Cons! One of the panels reacted to Hot Shot's presence, with the Mini-Con within transforming into a lightning-bolt-shaped hood ornament for his vehicle mode. The diminutive robot granted Hot Shot electrical powers, so Hot Shot decided on naming his new partnent "Jolt." The children then hid themselves nearby, and Hot Shot took on the Decepticons once more. Another Mini-Con reacted to Red Alert, and together, the empowered Autobots easily bested the Decepticons that opposed them. Realizing they were outmatched, the Decepticons retreated, though they managed to steal away the remaining Mini-Con panels as they warped off-planet. The children were saddened that the Decepticons had managed to take off with Mini-Cons in tow, but the Autobots assured them that they had done everything they could, and joined them in a "circle of friendship." Race for the Mini-Con Robots

Transformers Legends anthology

Hot Shot was part of the Autobot forces during a battle in Yellowstone National Park, and seconded Optimus's warning that the area was too geologically unstable to battle in. Megatron ignored their advice. Lonesome Diesel

Universe comic

Hot Shot was one of several Transformers from across the multiverse suggested by Alpha Trion for Optimus Primal to recruit into his Children of Primus. Optimus Primal decided to pluck Rhinox and Depth Charge back from death instead. Homecoming

Cybertron toy bios

Optimus Prime teamed Hot Shot up with the Mini-Con Mirage. Hot Shot brought Mirage with him to the Speed Planet, and they formed a fast friendship and nearly undefeatable racing team. Wal-Mart exclusive two-pack toy bio

Regeneration One

Day 16 - The Hot Rods have still not realized I am not one of them.

Hot Shot (in his Powerlinx colors) was one of the many different versions of himself that Hot Rod saw during a multiversal out-of-body experience in the Primus chamber after journeying to the centre of Cybertron with the Dinobots. Destiny, Part Three After becoming Rodimus Prime, Hot Rod infiltrated Zero Space to confront the Dark Matrix creature that threatened his reality but it summoned three versions of Optimus Prime to defend itself. Rodimus likewise sent ripples throughout the multiverse, calling forth all the various versions of himself (including yet another version of Hot Shot) to take down anything without a "Hot" or "Rod" in its name, loosening the Dark Matrix creature's control over Optimus and allowing Rodimus to seal the multiversal breach with the Sword of Primus. The War to End All Wars, Part 5

Hot Shot's Bot Thoughts

Hot Shot conducted a series of interviews with Transformers from other parts of the Multiverse. His first with a Primax version of Kup included questions about the weird eyeball headlights Kup had in vehicle mode. During his interview with Shockwave, Hot Shot got into a disagreement with his interviewee about how easy it was to obtain a Matrix. He proved his side of the argument by easily stealing Optimus's Matrix, and upgrading himself into Shotimus Prime. During his last interview, this time with Tarantulas, his interviewee became irate at his insistence that Tarantulas and Sideways might be one and the same. This eventually lead to Tarantulas taking his Matrix and beating him with it, causing him to revert to Hot Shot. Hot Shot's Bot Thoughts

Games

The Energon Within

As Optimus and Hot Shot prepared to escort a truckload of energon away from one of the Autobots' mines, the Decepticons launched a full-scale assault. Their objective was to steal 100 of the Autobots' energon cubes.

The Decepticons either eventually succeed, though at the cost of many Decepticon troops being destroyed, with the mine remaining under Autobot control, OR, before the Decepticons could succeed succeed, Hot Shot inadvertently blew up the mine. Transformers Armada: The Energon Within

Transformers

Voice actor: Dublin James (English), Jesús Barreda (Castilian Spanish), Martial Le Minoux (French)

He's the best there is at what he does! (We don't like to say what he does...)

Hot Shot found himself in the sweeping jungles that surrounded abandoned Aztec ruins. After failing to find Mini-Cons under a rock, he managed to pair up with the Mini-Con Jolt, and when he reached the top of the ruins, he faced Cyclonus. The following battles took him many places, such as a frozen wasteland, the interior of a battleship (which eventually revealed itself as the gigantic Tidal Wave), and ultimately Hot Shot battled Unicron himself.

Hot Shot, having collected all the Mini-Cons on Earth, was able to wield the legendary Matrix Cannon, which he used to fire a deadly Shot into the core of the Planet Eater. Transformers

Toys

Main article: Hot Shot (Armada)/toys

Merchandise

Main article: Hot Shot (Armada)/toys#Merchandise

Notes

YELLOW KID APPEAL SINGULARITY

• In an early Armada series bible, Hot Shot was originally called "Bumblebee". His character description says that he is the youngest of the Autobots at "about 16 years of age". The Autobots' teen-aged human allies would have teased him for not being old enough to have a driver's license. It further notes that "Everything about him is fast- including his speech," which definitely wasn't taken to heart. The rest of his personality was as you would expect, being young and brash yet showing leadership potential, and his Mini-Con was still called Jolt. One of the reasons he was ultimately not named "Bumblebee" was because the name was unavailable as a trademark for Hasbro at that time.
  • However, according a spreadsheet shown by Aaron Archer at a TFcon Toronto panel, Hot Shot was the first name listed for consideration for the character. Had the Hot Shot trademark not been available, the second and third names they would have attempted to use were “Wheeljack” and “Hot Wire” respectively. Whether this information contradicts the early bible, means that the Bumblebee idea had already been rejected by the time of the spreadsheet’s creation, or means that the Bumblebee name wasn’t considered for very long to begin with, is unknown.^[1]
    • Archer was asked directly about the Bumblebee idea on The Toy Armada with Aaron Archer podcast, to which he replied: "I think we looked into it...but I think we thought [Bumblebee] was fairly generic, for a long time I think we just didn't want to use [Bumblebee] because it was so generic."^[2]
• According to the Armada PlayStation 2 game instruction booklet, Hot Shot's Armada body has the following statistics:

• Mass: 3,109 lbs
• Robot height: 16' 5"
• Robot top speed: 50 mph
• Vehicle height: 5' 11"
• Vehicle top speed: 186 mph
• Vehicle power: 400 hp @ 8000 rpm

• Hot Shot's Armada design is visually influenced by racecar drivers. He wears a crash helmet and sports a permanent 5-point harness seat belt as part of his chest design.^[3]
• For a while, Galaxy Force was treated by Takara as a separate universe from Legends of the Microns and Super Link, which would have made Exillion (Hot Shot's Japanese name in Galaxy Force) a different guy, even though the character's head design and control art labeled him "Hot Shot" in English.^[4] With Galaxy Force later reintegrated into the "Micron Trilogy", this original distinction likely became irrelevant.
• The license plate for Hot Shot's 2008 Universe toy reads "JaAm", referencing an early fandom meme derived from a fan-edit of the toy pack-in comics. The accompanying tech-specs also make allusions to the fancomic.
• A character looking quite similar to Hot Shot showed up to die in Drift #2 because someone convinced artist Alex Milne to draw him as a casualty. This in order to spite longtime fan David Willis, who wuvs Hot Shot. Milne drew him into the story based on his dislike of Armada and reasoning that the character would not be one used again in the continuity.^[5] Because it is a Generation 1-based story, however, the incident is documented on "Generation 1" character Hot Shot's page, rather than here.

Foreign names

Armada

• Japanese: Hot Rod (ホットロッド Hotto Roddo), Hot Rod Super Mode (ホットロッドS (スーパーモード) Hotto Roddo Sūpā Mōdo)
• Hungarian: Nagymenő ("Badass")
• Korean: Red Gun (레드건 Redeu Geon)
• Mandarin: Jīshè (激射, "Passionate Shot")
• Polish: Piorunus ("Thunderboltus")
• Romanian: Șmecherul
• Russian: Likhach (Лихач, "Scorcher")
• Ukrainian: Garyachkun (Гарячкун, "Hothead"), Zharostril (Жаростріл, "Heatshot")

Energon

• Japanese: Hotshot (ホットショット Hottoshotto), Hotshot Fire (ホットショットF (ファイヤー) Hottoshotto Faiyā)
• Hungarian: Tűzgolyó ("Fireball")
• Mandarin: Jīshè (激射, "Passionate Shot")

Cybertron

• Japanese: Exillion (エクシリオン Ekushirion), Exigeyser (エクシゲイザー Ekushigeizā)
• Hungarian: Tűzgolyó ("Fireball"), Nagyágyú ("Optimus Prime vs Megatron: The Ultimate Battle")
• Korean: Exillion (엑실리온 Eksillion)
• Mandarin: Jīshè (激射, "Passionate Shot")
• Ukrainian: Zharostril (Жаростріл, "Heatshot")

References