Rodimus (IDW ver.) [Flame Toys Furai Model]

Flame Toys Furai Models are model kits that, once assembled, result in high-quality action figures full of detail and style. I’ve got a few, and for whatever reason, haven’t really talked about them here. My intention to feature more models over the past few years has already brought in kits from Blokees and Yolopark. Both brands I outright love. I’m pretty fond of Flame Toys as well.

Being our first post after this year’s epic Halloween season seems like the perfect time to look at one of their offerings. I’ve been sitting on this Rodimus kit for quite some time after buying it earlier this year, and spent a few Sunday nights in October building it. I’ve admittedly gotten used to Blokees’ simpler kits, as Rodimus seemingly had a million parts. I think I spent two hours one night just working on his legs.

“Intricate” is the word here, as each body part is composed of several tiny pieces joined together. Of particular note are the joints where his legs meet at the waist—holy crap, I had a hard time with those. What you see as ball shapes were actually the halves of that ball, with a joining piece in the middle. There’s a little peg that inserts into a little hole in each of those halves. That doesn’t sound too bad, but those holes were very tight, and the small parts were just the right size to not fit well in my fingertips. I’m used to a little pain after assembling a model, but those freaking joints had my thumb tips sore for a few days. *Ow, dammit*

That’s all part of the process, though—taking a bunch of parts and assembling such an ornate figure. It’s really therapeutic going through the sprues with my nippers and putting it all together piece by piece. Sore fingertips regardless.

The IDW Comics incarnation of Rodimus, as he famously appeared in the Lost Light series, is a very stylized design. Being a model kit and not a toy sharing an aisle with Paw Patrol allows for a much more accurate finished product. All those points and edges would have to be rounded off for safety purposes otherwise. Thankfully, that’s not the case here. Rodimus both looks and is very sharp.

*Also pointy. Very pointy*

Once fully assembled, our Autobot Cavalier stands just under six inches tall and features more than fifty points of articulation. All those movable joints make for one expressive robot. Adding to that are three different sets of hands: closed fists, slightly open poses that can be used in a variety of ways, and a kung-fu-grip style for holding his guns.

Those guns are a particularly clever detail. Some of you may remember the original G1 Hot Rod toy came with two pistols, while the G1 Rodimus Prime had a rifle. This gun can separate into two pistols or join together into one rifle. I don’t recall if that was something used in the comics this kit is based on, but it’s neat regardless.

His stickers took a bit of extra skill, and thankfully I had my curved-tip tweezers handy to apply them—especially those little black dots on his upper thighs. They look great, but putting them on took a lot of patience. I think the Autobot symbol came out a little crooked, but that’s okay. Sometimes they’re like that when applied in factories.

Speaking of tools, I misplaced my hobby knife, so it was absent from this project. Normally I use it to shave off that little excess of plastic left from the sprues. For the most part, I was able to trim it away with my nippers, but there are a few parts that could use the extra precision of the knife. Whenever I locate it, that’ll be a small task to revisit later.

In the end, Rodimus came out looking great. Despite all the trouble assembling him, the finished product looks amazing. I’ve got a few more Flame Toys kits in my model backlog that’ll make for great future projects.

Welcome aboard. Maybe you’re not good. But you’re sure as hell good enough.