Astro-Second Helpings, Episode 2: The Hound of the Baskerbots
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Astro-Second Helpings! Today we'll be reviewing the second Transformers toy (Transmetal Optimal Optimus notwithstanding, z"l) ever acquired by yours truly! Today's boy is WFC-S9 Hound, from the War For Cybertron: Siege subline.
Hound, in the G1 continuity, is modeled after a Mitsubishi J59 Jeep, and serves as the Autobots' scout. He's seen very early on in the 1984 cartoon, being part of the original scouting mission sent by Optimus to investigate and eventually discover the presence of the Decepticons. When he isn't playing football, doggedly pursuing enemies, or using his hologram projection capabilities to create illusions to trick the Decepticons, he's enjoying the natural wonders of Earth and, as his original tech spec states, wishing that he were human. Buddy, you're barking up exactly the right tree -- your old pal archosaur-automaton sure as hell knows what dysphoria is like.
(Seriously. He plays football.)
Hound was obtained soon after Six-Gun at another expedition to Target. His blocky form and subtle-but-poignant dark green coloration were an immediate eye-catcher and thus he was acquired.
As always, we'll be using six categories (Coloration, Overall Design, Quality of Manufacture, Loadout, Transformations, Transformability) with a five-star rating system to judge this boy, even if he really ain't nothin' but a hound dog.
COLORATION
Here's a shot of Hound on our desk in robot mode.
He does have some of the characteristic Siege 'battle damage' effect on his legs, but unlike Six-Gun, it doesn't feel at all out of place or confusing, mostly because it blends so well and isn't obtrusive.
As you can see, he's a very dark green with some attractive accents of yellow/orange, white, light grey, and black, a good earth-tones palette. This is relatively true to his cartoon appearance, though his green was slightly lighter there. The white stars on his shoulders are striking, and provide a nice contrast to the overall darker coloration. The brighter yellow/orange accents are an effective way of adding a splash of brightness to him, and they don't feel at all overdone.
Hound is fairly uncomplicated in terms of coloration because honestly, he doesn't have any need for a complex paint job or go off-leash with anything fancy. He's a boy who knows where his towel is, at least hue-wise.
Coloration Score: 5/5. It's exactly what it's supposed to be.
OVERALL DESIGN
Hound is, how shall we say, blocky. Chonky, even. There's not a lot that's sleek about him -- he's mostly an unapologetic series squares and rectangular prisms. And you know what? That's honestly pretty great. He might not have HUGE shoulderonhonkero pauldrons, but he more than makes up for it in the gams department.
Seriously, look at those things. It's like two air conditioner units with feet on 'em. I love big-calved robots and Hound manages to play a mean game of fetch in that department, eagerly delivering something we feel confident calling sexy.
As per the above, he's got a pretty humanoid face, and we're usually ambivalent about humanoid faces on Transformers, but Hound is such a good fellow with those puppy-dog eyes and that sweet punim that you can't help but love.
One big bugbear we have about Hound's design could technically fall under loadout, but it's a big enough part of his appearance that it feels entirely relevant. As you can see from the shot of Hound on our desk, compared with the shot from the cartoon, you'll notice one striking difference. He doesn't have his big rocket/missile launcher! Sure, he's got a shoulder-mounted gun, but it doesn't look anything like that iconic G1 missile. That's a big disappointment -- even if it wasn't part of the base mold they could have at LEAST included another weapon that resembled that good good look we all know and love.
Overall Design Score: 4/5. Toss this boy a bone and give him the missile launcher!!!
QUALITY OF MANUFACTURE
There's not really much to tell here. His joints aren't too tight, aren't too loose. The little black piece on his back that serves as the frame for the jeep doors is a little flimsy, but it's nothing major. Everything that's supposed to snap together does so without a hassle and we never felt worried that anything would come unaligned during play. Additionally, he is not a "partsformer" which really helps with making things feel nice. There is one thing that stands out about him, which is questionably in the middle between "overall design" and "quality of manufacture", but we'll put here because why not.
To facilitate his vehicle transformation, Hound's shoulders have extra articulation that allow him to pull his arms way back in a realistic fashion. This is always a cool thing and makes him really fun to play with. You can almost imagine him delivering a nice wind-up punch right to the nose of some rabid Decepticon.
Quality of Manufacture Score: 5/5
LOADOUT
His guns are okay. The long gun has a neat little barrel which looks nicer than the mostly-flat guns most Transformers get, and none of it feels too big or unwieldy. However, he does not have his rocket launcher. When we think about that, our tail stops waggin'. Give rocket launcher. Gib rocket launcher please and thank.
Loadout: 3.5/5
TRANSFORMATIONS Hound transforms into, as previously mentioned, a Jeep.
The Jeep is a classic sort of car design and it's really hard to screw it up. For the most part, his vehicle mode is pretty great, especially once you add the guns and you get a capable, armed little scout vehicle to play with. However, there's one thing that's pretty obnoxious about his transformation:
His arms, tucked on the underside of the Jeep, are SO close to the ground that they can and in fact do impede his vehicular movement. Additionally, his wheels aren't the best on smooth surfaces which is sort of disappointing, and combined with the arms problem his usefulness as a vehicle is pretty limited. He's nice to look at, though, which acts as a moderate offset.
Transformations Score: 3.5/5. Hound should keep his armies in his sleevies, or at the very least somewhere more convenient.
TRANSFORMABILITY
It was a little hard to reason about how to transform him at first, due mostly to confusing and hard to read diagrams in the transformation booklet when it came to getting his wheels aligned. Additionally, the black jeep doorframe part on his back can bump up against and get caught on his legs, making it tricky to get everything hunky-dory.
In the end, though, once you get his transformation down the first time, it's a piece of cake -- he really wants to help you get him into his vehicle mode. Transformers fan's best friend, one supposes.
Transformability Score: 4/5
To sum up, while there are a few hairy decisions about Hound's design and manufacture, he's an overall well-made guy who gives you plenty to chew on, both visually and during actual play. We love this guy and are so happy to have him as a plastic companion to provide endless fun.
When you add it all up, Hound's aggregate score is 25/6, which when rounded down equals 4, and we're more than happy to let sleeping dogs lie.
OVERALL RATING: 4/5