To call the commander of Team Athenia a prodigy is an understatement. Though his drill sergeant Kup took him for a turbo-revving punk at first, Hot Rod, the young bot who would one day be called Rodimus Prime (aka Rodimus Minor), distinguished himself during a live-fire exercise by throwing himself in front of a grenade to save his mentor. From there, the higher-ups took a special interest in him, and he was accepted into the Autobot Academy a full decade before his boot camp peers.