Prisoners of War: Rodimus Prime
Featured Cartoon Appearances: Burden Hardest to Bear, Fight or Flee
Featured Comic Appearances: #43 (though I'd like to forget it :), UK issues
Fanfic Appearances: "Redemption" by Ivy Bohnlein, "The Glass Wall" by the Lady Razorsharp
Note: I'm considering Hot Rod and Rodimus basically the same guy with the only difference of significance being that the latter had the matrix.
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Everybody has their opinions of their favorite leader in the Transformers mythos. The two that are most often mentioned are Optimus Prime and Megatron. Anybody want to hear mine? No? Well, I'll tell you anyway. :) Considering who this essay is about, you wouldn't have to go out on a limb to figure that it is Rodimus Prime. And I know I'm not alone on this either. Why focus on a character who was one of the "stars" of the movie and season 3? Because from the movie until the end of season three, you saw something unique in the G1 series; you saw a character grow. I'm not saying that others didn't, but usually you see them grow in one or two episodes, not over the course of the season.
I'll start with Hot Rod in the movie. There wasn't much characterization happening in that flick, but Hot Rod seems to be the exception. At the beginning, he's nothing but a cocky kid who doesn't seem to respect those that have immediate authority over him. For instance, he ignored Kup at the infamous roadblock scene and about "helping Prime." As the ending approached, Hot Rod slowly gathered more authority up until him, Kup, and the Dinobots landed on Junk. Suddenly, even with Magnus on the planet, Hot Rod becomes the emotional leader of the Autobots present. He made the right decisions on the battlefield and helped lead the Autobots to victory over Unicron. Heck, with of little deus ex machina, he did it single-handedly. In one battle, he matured as a warrior, if not in personality. He grew, in other words. A part of him he didn't even know was there came forth and took charge.
By "Five Faces of Darkness," you see that some of that confidence has shed. It's understandable where this feeling of inadequecy might come from. He's the leader of the Autobots, succeeding who he thought was the greatest Autobot leader of all time. Not only that, he also feels responsible for Optimus' death (That fact won't be debated right now. For the purposes of this essay, if Rodimus was the Chosen One and he was fated to "light their darkest hour," Optimus would have died anyway.). He doesn't feel worthy of carrying on the title and is therefore very unsure of himself in the early part of season three. Rodimus suffers from the lack of maturity to except his responsibility as leader. In "Burden Hardest to Bear", he shrugs off losing the matrix. He realizes, however, that the Autobots need him to lead and look to him for the inspiration and leadership to end the war. Again, he grew, realizing his responsibility to his cause as leader. Most likely, he still felt guilt about Optimus' death, but he now understood that it was now his job to continue that legacy.
"The Ulitmate Weapon" shows another day of growth for Rodimus. While he no longer doubts that he must lead, he still suffers from the lack of confidence that was never apparent until he was forced into making the decisions. As Hot Rod in the battle with Unicron, he didn't think to himself "Hey, I'm making the decisions here." He just did it without giving a thought to his new-found authority. As Rodimus, he's conscience that he is the decision-maker and realizes the enormity the footsteps he's trying to fill. He's afraid of making the wrong choice. "The Ultimate Weapon" finds him needing to make a series of choices and relying on those to be correct. The end result of all this is a bit of Hot Rod returning: that youthful confidence he never should have allowed to slip away. The same confidence that, when combined with his new-found experience, makes him the leader he became in later episodes.
What type of leader of Rodimus Prime? I've heard a wide range of opinions, from terrible to great. Whatever your opinion of him, he's a very different leader than Optimus Prime ever was. Rodimus is much more rash than his mentor. We've seen him make hasty decisions and nearly suffer grave consequences because of them, such as nearly dying when he ran off to Charr in "Five Faces of Darkness." This isn't something Optimus would ever have done; someone else would have gone on the recon mission. Another difference, and the one I see as the definitive reason for Rodimus being the superior leader, is the position they invision themselves among the Autobots. Optimus was set apart from the others. He was often shown mainly talking or "hanging out" with other high-ranking Autobots. I have trouble seeing Optimus being completely comfortable talking to Sunstreaker or Windcharger or any other rank-and-file Autobot on a casual basis. How this stratification came about, I don't know. But Optimus, it was been stated, often uses go-betweens (one of Smokescreen's jobs, according to his tech spec) to root out any problems or misgivings among his troops. I'm not saying that Optimus doesn't care for them, only that he tends to be a little out of touch, something I'm sure he realized. Rodimus Prime, on the other hand, doesn't need someone else to measure his Autobots' mood for him. If senses a problem, he'd just ask straight out, "What's the matter?" It's quite easy for me to see him shooting the bull with Warpath or Pipes. It isn't too difficult to figure out why he has that stronger connection to the lower-ranking Autobots. He used to be one of them less than a year before. He knew what it was like to be on the front lines with only one job to do. He knew the fear that, if you weren't perfect at that job, you'd likely wind up dead. Simply put, he could relate better to the Autobots under his command and that increased communication can only bolster their effectiveness.
The two above traits often go hand in hand for Rodimus. "Fight or Flee" is an example of this. At the end, the Paradronians were waffling on what it was they wanted to do as the Decepticons attacked their world. Rodimus, in a manner both gruff and compelling, told them they needed to take responsibility for their world or run from it, but that it was ultimately their decision. This episode, and that scene, epitomizes my view on Rodimus Prime. Compassionate, but tough; if he doesn't think you're doing the right thing, he'll tell you. He knows what it means to sacrifice something you love, as he sacrificed the youthful freedom he craved for the responsibility of leadership that was his alone (from "Burden Hardest to Bear"), and never take for granted that which you may have to give up for the greater good. You can sense Rodimus' frustration with the Paradronians at the end of "Fight or Flee" as they mourn for the world, a world they just figured would always be there.
Rodimus Prime is a complex, multifaceted personality. He isn't a stereotype, as I often thought Optimus Prime was. He had doubts and had to learn to overcome them. He learned that one's responsibility can not be shirked. He's still hot-headed (as in "Fight or Flee") and cocky (paraphrasing a conversation from "The Return of Optimus Prime": "I don't want to hurt you, Rodimus." "Don't worry, Optimus, you won't.") Basically, he's flawed. For me, that makes him easier to relate to.