Amongst my readership, I'd be
interested to know what the overall opinion of the Michael Bay films
is. There's a tendency for them to be vilified by the fanbase, and
almost any film critic you care to name, but they keep making pots of
money. Pots, and pots, of money. I mean, Age of Extinction made more
money than Guardians of the Galaxy, and the giant metal dinosaurs of
the former only goes so far to justify that. Its the sort of thing
that makes snobs out of otherwise fair people, as even within the
stereotypically low standards of Hollywood blockbuster summer fare,
the transformers films aren't very good. I'm fearful of the day the
wider public figures that out, for now, they seem to be a consistent
money spinner for Hasbro and Paramount, whom have no reason to
change. And Bay is back for Transformers 5, yay.
Right, I think that's my bias covered,
on with the review.
Image Copright: Paramount Pictures. sourced from the wiki.
The Context
While the Dinobots were the obvious
draw for Age of Extinction (AOE), something which I will give the
production staff credit for trying to vary the Autobot cast a bit.
Given the preceding movie line was a sea of cars that we'd seen at
least twice before, this was welcome. Yes, I will not go so far as to
call them “good characters”, what the film did is a can of worms
when you get into it, but some of them could justify a two sentence
bio. Hound is one of those characters, and probably the most
memorable as he was voiced by John Goodman, whom gave a good account
of himself, given what he had to work with(1). Hound was of course a
version of the G1 character who had been around since episode one,
but given certain design elements, its easy to think they were aiming
for Animated Bulkhead instead. More obviously though, like his
teammates, he was channelling a warrior stereotype, a WW2 vintage
soldier, and this probably made him more relatable than most
bayformers. Not necessarily a nice or likable person, but by the
standards of bayformers he was at least distinctive amongst all the
flying metal.
Unfortunately for collectors like
myself, AOE was part of a new strategy by Hasbro, which is still
evident in today's Robot in Disguise toys. While most dedicated
Transformers fans were obsessing over the Thrilling Thirty releases,
AOE toys would become something more akin to superhero film
merchandise. You know, definitely recognisable as the character, but
simple, gimmicky, sometimes not transforming, and not something that
compared well to The Dark Of The Moon (DOTM) toys. It was like they
were relying on the movie to sell the toys, rather than selling a
good transformer. This was partially due to the reduced toy budgets
and increased oil costs the brand had struggled with, and what many
would consider to be the “proper” transformers ended up under the
Generations banner. Which, of course, proved to be a major pain in
the bum to acquire in the UK, retail releases being limited and
incomplete. I didn't see a voyager Hound in person until January 3rd
of this year, when I immediately brought it because it was
discounted. And so, this review.
Robot Mode
Big, green and over-armed, Hound evokes
comparisons to both American soldiers and gun enthusiasts. The most
interesting and uniquely AOE aspects to the appearance of the toy are
the rubber bits, the distinctive beard and ammo belts. There have
been bearded cybertronians before, the most famous being the
Unicron-affiliated Scourge, but this looks more like hair, as opposed
to a beard shaped bit of metal. It makes him look older, but not
ancient while the ammo belts make his army connections a bit obvious.
His head is clearly wearing a WW2 vintage helmet. The general
impression is of an old soldier whom enjoyed his job, or maybe
someone whom was in the reserves, rather than active service, and
wants to make up for lost time with a metric ton of bullets. This is
of course pretty far from G1 Hound, or indeed Bulkhead. G1 Hound was
Bumblebee before Bumblebee, and Bulkhead was a gentle giant. I
suppose you could make the case the Prime Bulkhead was a gruff
ex-Wrecker, but not so much as this. While visually I say its
okay/nice for a bayformer, such designs being busy and often very
inhuman, we've got a few problems here. The likeness to the film
just isn't that good, the colour scheme being much more green for
example. While by no means skinny, Hound lacks the gut of his film
depiction, a design element that tied him to Bulkhead, and shifts him
a bit more G1. This looks like Hound after the diet and work-out
regime Mr Incredible planned for him, he's never gonna be lean, but
he's back in shape. Not a bad thing, as such, and Hound certainly
isn't the only toy to have significant variations, but could be a lot
better. This most likely arises from the engineering, which is
functional, but the toy is a blatant shellformer(2) with faux kibble
feet. The arms have big and unsightly panels on them, with the
forearms having an odd curve to facilitate vehicle mode. Also as a
sign of his time, there's a fair few hollow bits, including on his
main feature, which I will now address.
Hound offers something very Micheal
Bay, but I refuse to apologise for enjoying, all the guns. Sorry
folks, I rip those films to bits for any number of reasons, but I
have a great deal of time for a robot loaded with weapons. He has a
total of eight weapons, with a minor combination feature. Hound
should really be a member of the Wreckers, and no, not the trio of
Stockcars, I mean the proper team of Autobot asskickers. This was
something of a theme back in 2014, as we also got Whirl and
Roadbuster that year, two other militaristic Autobots with extensive
and modular accessories. Hound's accessories are similar, but
distinct. He starts out with a triple gatling gun, which by itself
would be enough to fill my dakka-dakka requirements, but it goes
further. Slightly more restrained are a pair of four-barrelled
shotguns, with folding handles. Then we have a pair pistols. Then a
pair of smaller, hold-out, pistols. Then a knife painted silver. These can
joined together via a a combination of specialised tabs and 3mm
ports, giving us some quite ridiculous guns, more importantly, they
all stow. At once. In multiple places(3). With some left over, so he
take even more guns. Hound keeps his options open, although its not
without flaws, arising from the toy's slightly sub-par build quality. The shotguns for example won't stay on, the main
weapon actually affects the toy's balance if stowed on the back, and
the larger pistols are hollow on one side. Play value is through the
roof though, and articulation is on the good side of competent. Its
entirely universal joints, and limited by the rubber at the wrist,
but there's 24 points there, including a waist. The claim of being a
“fat ballerina” is an exaggeration, although not a vast one.
Vehicle Mode
Transforming the toy essentially turns
the robot inside out, into an
Oshkosh Defense FMTV truck, a six
wheeled, military cargo hauler. Its this that suggests Animated
Bulkhead rather than G1 Hound as a primary inspiration, as he had a
six wheeled military altmode too. If you'd wanted to bayformer up
G1 hound, he would have been based off a Humvee(4). As it stands this
vehicle is not that well-known, but is credible in green. It also
confirms to the convention common to all film Autobots, bar the
dinos, in that he's licensed car the end of the day. In so far as I
can work out, the vehicle isn't intended for frontline combat,
there's no weapons, and its main function is to cart stuff about. At
least until the guns come into it, anyway, but I do like the look.
The cab ends up clearly separated from the cargo, with a spare wheel
in-between, and its general blocky shape. Its not perfect though, as
with the robot mode, there's some visual problems, and depending on
your preference, these may be worse. The robot mode legs for example
are easily picked out, and there's some noteworthy seams. Generally
speaking, shellformers have more convincing shells. There's a also a
mis-allocation of materials in the cab. He does have transparent
windows, a luxury it seems these days, but they only reveal a load
bearing strut of grey plastic, so they probably shouldn't have
bothered. While interesting from an aesthetic perspective, that's why
I'm doing this as a “Radical Regeneration”, the engineering ain't
too good here. Ground clearance is also poor, while the lack of paint does tell here.
Fortunately, play features and little
design do come along and redeem things a bit. You know those 8
assorted weapons? They all stow, and there's an additional 5mm port
on top should you wish to use one on the move. How they stow varies.
The tiny pistols remain in the calves, while his main gun unfolds in
attempt to replicate some detail form the prop vehicle, with the
knife on the underside. The shotguns and larger pistols just mount on
the sides. Its not a brilliant mode, but its okay.
Conclusion
Hound the toy is as
unrefined as Hound the movie star, and in several not good ways. The
most obvious one is the engineering, because, as shellformers go,
he's not a good one. His modes aren't really separate, with ugliness
in both as a result. This also leads to his questionable resemblance
to the film. I suppose its possible that this toy was based on an
earlier design that changed during production, its been known to
happen. But then again, AOE toys in general tended to be simplified
and bright versus the film depictions, with even Generations releases
following that lead, especially in comparison to DOTM toys. I'd be
more inclined to suspect a reduced budget and maybe a lack of care,
than anything else. This does however raise an interesting question.
Given how horrid/shallow bayformer characters can be, does it
actually matter if the toys resemble them closely? Maybe not, but
Hound was perhaps the only Autobot I remotely liked in that film, and
something a bit closer would have been nice. If I'd splashed out and
played scalper prices, I'd be feeling a bit disappointed, so I'm glad
I found this for 15 quid. The toy is however made worthwhile by
accessories, and solid articulation. I continue to make no apologies
for liking a toy with more guns than sense, it makes an otherwise
mediocre transformer a lot of fun, and so there's so many display
options. Hound was worth getting in hand after such a long wait, but
he isn't all he could have been.
Foot notes
Although I do remember a report of
him only recording his lines a month before release, so he maybe
wasn't that closely involved with the project.
Although out of basic fairness,
the Galvatron of the same wave is a much bigger offender.
There's also one on his backside
which is either loose, or intended for a figure stand.
Probably the same for Prime
Bulkhead, too.
