dajuice
Super Freak
Those top-down photos skew his body proportions. From a more flattering angle, he's actually impressively close to the cartoon.
Takara's already doing some amazing things to add width to the legs in robot mode, considering how thin they have to be to form the handle in gun mode:
And compared to the scrawny legs of the G1 toy, it's a HUGE improvement.
You're not wrong! But the proportions of these figures can so rarely be a dead ringer for the cartoon model, given that they have to actually adhere to the laws of physics when transforming. In my opinion, while Hot Rod's proportions are not ideal, they're no worse than say the beloved Masterpiece Sideswipe, whose proportions aren't even in the same ballpark as his cartoon model. Because if they were, it'd make for one strange Lamborghini.
Takara can increase the width of the side of the legs even if it makes the gun handle too big for people with small hands to wrap their hands around. I won't mind this at all as I plan to have him always in robot mode. Of course, this is not about what I like. It's more of an aesthetic balance between gun mode and robot mode from Takara's point of view.
As for Hot Rod, I wonder if Takara can short his legs a little to give it the illusion that of a buff Hot Rod than a tall and skinny one.
Lastly, please Gigapower, change the head sculpt on that Sludge or have an alternate head sculpt option.