Once Megatron left Scattershot,Hotshot and RedAlert for dead it appears that the Autobots were about to lose three important fighters but it seems that thanks to their courage and thanks to the spirit of Primus himself that the three were resurrected and reborn into the Cybertron Defense Team also known as The Van Guard Team.

These are basically the updated versions/bodies of the characters from the first section of the Cybertron cartoon show. The updated versions are much more powerful and this time pack some extreme fire power and some characters have changed completely such as Hotshot who has gone from being a racing car to now becoming a heavy SWAT type vehicle.

Robot mode is absolutely amazing and is full of features to keep almost anyone happy because not only does Hotshot come with loads of weaponry but he also has plenty of articulation in all the right places. The elbow sections bend like there ment to do, the knee sections bend like there ment to do and the head is able to rotate as well. The body work is
perfect on the figure and actually looks like a robot is ment to be rather than the awful crap we were given in the Armada toy line. Looking at Hotshot in robot mode looks almost as if your able to see how the figure originally looked before the updated body because the head has stayed the same and the body itself looks a little the same but now with extra body work and more bits added to it.

The weaponry on Defense Hotshot is unreal at times because not only does Hotshot come with a small sword (I don’t remember seeing this in the cartoon however) but he’s also got two large heavy missile launchers on each one of his shoulders and also two missile launchers on his lower leg area. The back area of Hotshot also has two twin blasters strapped to the back of it which can be moved forwards for use in robot mode and when the
Cyber-Key is used it opens up even more to reveal yet more missile ports. The small sword Hotshot comes with can also be held in the fist of the figure or attached to the side of the hand for direct assaults.

Vehicle mode looks like it’s built for heavy and serious attacks, it comes across as a type of light armored tank but also carries some of the speed that Hotshot once had when he was a racing car rather than a mobile tank unit….which seems odd because in the cartoon show it took everything and then some for Hotshot to beat Over-Ride in the ‘Speedia –Cup’ when he was an actual racing car yet at the end of the cartoon show when Hotshot was a mobile tank unit…he beats Over-Ride easily? Even though he is ment to be seriously more heavier now and also not built for racing as he has become a war machine, yet he still beats her easily now?

The mobile tank unit looks fantastic with large dirt digger style wheels and small windows with two large blasters on the roof which have about 360 degree of movement and can also go up and down as well as having the Cyber-Key added to open them up to reveal missile launchers. There are two mini-con ports at the lower area of the tank unit and also a slot area in the middle of the vehicle mode for the sword to be placed but also the tank unit has a holder on the outside of the vehicle mode were the sword can also be placed as well.

There is just one flaw with Cybertron Defense Hotshot and it’s a big flaw, it’s the fact that Defense Hotshot is a short arse for some bizarre reason. In the cartoon show we see that Defense Scattershot and Hotshot are about the same height with Red Alert being slightly taller than the two of them but sadly in toy form we get a mess up in the size department. Hotshot is the smallest of the Three with him being a Basic while Scattershot and Alert are both released as Ultras which if anything makes no sense at all! Hotshot could easily have been done to be the same size at Scattershot but instead he is made smaller and it’s never
explained why he is released as the smallest when he and Scattershot are ment to be the same height. It’s a massive flaw but because the figure is so great you can forgive them and get past it but when you look at the three in vehicle mode or robot mode together….you just feel someone fucked up in the production department and ran out of resin or something so made Hotshot smaller.

Packaging for Hotshot was on the basic Cybertron design and comes with images on the back of both vehicle and robot mode and sadly not much else. Takara at least pull their fingers out of there arse when it comes to packing and released the Galaxy Version of this mould in a beautifully designed box with a toy battle on the back and images of the figure as well with his information placed out neatly. Seriously if you ever get a Galaxy Force figure boxed you soon realize that Takara at least spend some money on the packaging of the figures while Hasbro on the other hand just make it seem like a rush job on the packaging.

A great figure and one that can’t be missed on especially if you’re a fan of the Cybertron/Galaxy Force line because this is one of the best figures to come from the series.