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Black Rodimus Convoy: The Best Rodimus-Focused Storyline We Never Really Got

Alright, continuing my mission to go over less-often mentioned TF content, here’s one of my favourites: Black Rodimus Convoy!

This character was created as part of an e-HOBBY comic for the Masterpiece series, which was released alongside the MP-9B Black Rodimus Convoy figure for the Japanese regional Masterpiece figures by Takara Tomy.

The title of the comic is “Destron Doppelgänger Black Rodimus Convoy”, and although I can’t seem to find the English language version of the comic in full anywhere online anymore, the plot was pretty good!

What’s Going On Here?:

Rodimus goes searching through an abandoned Decepticon base, and after a while starts to hear a voice calling him towards a clone synthesizer, as seen in G1.

When he approaches more closely to get a better look, one of the clone chambers opens, revealing a version of himself -- as Hot Rod-- in all black and blue/purple paint, who grabs him and throws him to the ground!

The clone had manifested from Rodimus’ doubts regarding his ability to live up to Optimus Prime, his lack of confidence after having been thrust into a leadership position he wasn’t prepared for and didn’t really want...

...And has thus decided to take the Matrix for himself, as he views Rodimus as too weak-willed and emotionally unstable to be capable of making the most out of the immense power the Matrix contains.

The Black Hot Rod version of himself then digs into Rodimus, preying on his insecurities and lack of self-esteem / self-confidence; Stating that Rodimus knows he is unable to handle the power and authority that accompanies the Matrix, Black Hot Rod rips the Matrix from his chest compartment, takes it for himself, and becomes Black Rodimus Convoy!

He then challenges Rodimus-- who has now reverted back into Hot Rod-- to take the Matrix from him, if he ever feels worthy of it.

Poor Rodimus, Damn -- But I’d Read It!

This is a super interesting concept; The Masterpiece series was intended to revisit some G1 ideas with the benefit of being able to utilise the more advanced engineering of the MP series figures to showcase some new ideas built off of the more G1-original designs.

A common complaint about G1 Rodimus post-86 movie is that he often came across as distant or uncaring, owing to his difficulty in adjusting to being a Matrix wielder and his lingering immaturity.

I think that if a little more time had been dedicated to addressing those aspects of his character in the cartoon, it would have possibly done a lot to improve the general audience’s reception of the character.

Granted, the 86 movie did not go down amazingly well in regards to how Rodimus came about in the first place, which didn’t help anything. But Rodimus never got a minute to really address his emotional/personal issues, and so of course, he continued to struggle with leadership throughout his tenure as holder of the Matrix right up until Optimus was revived.

This comic has a really strong concept behind it, because it directly addresses what Rodimus fears:

He believes himself to be inept because he is inevitably compared to Optimus (and therefore compares himself to Optimus as well), he deals with his emotional concerns by hiding behind either overconfidence or a veneer of total disinterest which both tend to drive others away, he often buckles under pressure when he is in command or makes rapid-fire calls which others often push back on or call out as questionable later on (which honestly isn’t helped by certain responses he then receives from some of the other Autobots at various points in time), and there simply isn’t enough time to ease him into the role of Matrix Bearer or Leader of the Autobots to make up for what was a wholly traumatic experience of actually getting the Matrix in the first place.

Lots of shit going on with Rodimus. Almost none of it was really addressed all that much, or all that well, in G1-- Which I understand, but from a story/character point of view, uh, it’s not surprising that a lot of G1 people have issues with this character to this day. I feel like 99% of that dislike is because Rodimus just never got the continued development that would have likely covered some of this a little bit more (and perhaps a little more tactfully), without derailing things or taking too much time away from anything else happening in a given episode.

But this comic is fantastic, because it goes straight for those issues and insecurities right away.

Rodimus is used to getting roasted by the others, and getting relatively minimal support (considering the nature of his concerns and generally low self-esteem / what is almost certainly some degree of depression) from any of his teammates.

But what about when it isn’t someone else roasting him?

What happens when his own constant stream of negative self-talk is suddenly able to stand in front of him, and voice all of his self-loathing right back at him?

What happens when all of these negative thoughts coalesce into a physical form, a clone of himself, who seems to be all around “better”?

Black Rodimus Convoy is more confident, is clearly a good strategic planner and can manipulate a situation to his benefit very smoothly, has a plan and seems very capable of carrying it out without any doubts about his ability to do so.

While Black Rodimus Convoy is a physical clone of Rodimus, his attitude, emotional and psychological state, and behaviour are all total opposites.

It seems like BRC wants to be the “ideal” version of the bot he’s a clone of; He attacks Rodimus as soon as he reasonably can, because he has the confidence to say “the power of the Matrix should be mine”.

Meanwhile, Rodimus feels more burdened and disconnected, he’s struggling with the power and with the authority of leadership, and he falters when faced with an identical-- but “better”, even if not “good”-- version of himself.

The whole premise is rooted in how poorly Rodimus actually is, in terms of mental and emotional health.

It gives the audience a chance to go, oh, actually, this bot isn’t okay. He’s disaffected and doesn’t come across very well a lot of the time, but there are very real reasons for that. He’s struggling.

There were a few scenes here and there in G1 that touched on WHY Rodimus was like that, but generally not in any real depth, which I always felt was a bit of a missed opportunity to make the character come across a bit better or at least be a bit more sympathetic for audience members to relate to a bit more.

It’s a super interesting idea, allows for some great insight into Rodimus as a character, and I like that they made this part of the Masterpiece line up because the entire idea is to cover or re-visit G1 subjects in a slightly different way.

It would have been interesting to get more of this story, but alas, it was a one-off as far as I am aware!

Hopefully this was interesting to read through! <3

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