Intro:
I’m
sure by now, many of you out there have at least watched the movie Transformers
4: Age of Extinction at least once, while some others may have watched it more
than once even! Anyway, whichever it may be, AOE has been a record breaking
movie.
Personally,
I think AOE is by far the best movie in the franchise. Since the duration of
the movie is longer, each character – especially the robots – gets more screen
time with better character development. After the conclusion of Dark of the
Moon (DOTM), there have been wholesale changes to the Autobot lineup, with only
the most popular characters being maintained (watch the movie to find out who,
bub), and a whole new batches of new characters being introduced into the
franchise.
One
such character is Hound, which is undoubtedly my favorite character from the
new movie. No longer just a mere scout as depicted in G1, Hound now serves as
the Autobot’s resident Weapons Specialist and experienced warrior – taking over
the role from the late Ironhide.
He’s
probably the coolest character in the entire movie – he smokes a live bullet
like a cigar, how cool is that?!
I’ve
wanted to get my hands on this figure for quite some time, and thanks to the
good people in TEENCOM Melaka, I’ve finally managed to get a hold of him.
So
without further ado, let’s get on with the review.
Alternate
Mode:
Unlike
the G1 Hound, which transformed into a military jeep, AOE Hound transforms into
a military armored truck – an Oskosh Medium Defense Tactical vehicle. You can
literally see the name OSKOSH engraved at the front of the vehicle.
 |
| OSKOSH engraving |
The
green paint apps on this figure are absolutely brilliant and the details all
over the vehicle are very good.
The
wheels roll quite well and there’s even a molded-in spare tyre just behind the
cockpit.
 |
| Details |
Scale-wise,
Hound isn’t exactly compatible with the other Deluxe-class Autobots – he just
seemed to be too small. I wish he could be just a little bit bigger, like the
old Voyager from the 1st movie or ROTF.
 |
| Fully-loaded |
However,
he comes with an added gimmick – or rather accessories. Being a Weapons and
Tactical Specialist, Hound comes with a whole lot of guns and blasters. He even
has a Rambo blade!
Not
only that Hound can wield them in robot mode, he can also wield them on his truck
mode.
Each
and every gun can be mounted onto a specific slot on the body of the truck.
Unfortunately for me, since it could probably be just an isolated case, one of
Hound’s shotguns cannot be mounted on to the designated peg. It’s either the
peg on the truck’s body is too big, or the empty slot on the gun is too small.
Whichever it may be, you just can’t mount the gun. The two pistols are mounted
inside the truck while the dagger is attached underneath the truck.
Kibbles
exist on this figure – not so obvious from the sides, but horrendously underneath.
Still, it’s a minor issue.
 |
| Kibbles |
Overall,
it’s a very fun alternate mode to play with.
Robot
Mode:
First
of all, Hound looks fat. I mean, he’s not really Leadfoot fat, but he’s kinda
tough fat. In wrestling terms, he’s not really Yokozuna or Rikishi fat, but
rather Mick Foley or Big Van Vader fat.
In short, he’s
tough!
 |
| I love the facial hair.... |
To
quote a line from Hound himself – I’m like a fat ballerina who takes scalps and
slits throats – that’s how big and tough Hound is.
 |
| The Fully-loaded Fat Ballerina |
Standing
at about 6 ½-inches tall, he’s not as tall as the Voyagers of old or even
Evasion Mode Optimus Prime, but as far as comparing to the latter, I guess he
fits into scale just right.
Everything
about this figure exhumes coolness. The head sculpt looks awesome, especially
with all those facial hairs, which is sculpted onto a softer rubber allows the
head to turn without further hindrance. The hindrance is still there, but it
could have been much worse. Unfortunately though, the head can’t look up or
down at all. My only complaint about the head sculpt is that I wish the helmet
can be taken off, just as depicted in the movie – now that would be just
awesome.
 |
| From left: The current Weapons Specialist, and the late Weapons Specialist - ROTF Ironhide |
The
shoulders are on a multitude of joints that allow movements in all directions.
The elbows can bend slightly more than 90°.
 |
| Let's Dance!!! |
 |
| You want a piece of me?! |
The
lower arms are coated with chain gun bullets, which are also sculpted onto soft
rubbers. Since those bullet coatings are attached directly onto the turn-able
fist, the soft rubber are able to slightly cater the range of motion of the
wrists.
 |
| You want some?! Come get some!!! |
 |
| Don't I look macho? |
Hound
comes with a waist joint, and the hips are on the exact same joints as the
elbows. The legs rotate slightly below the hips and bend about 90°. Finally,
the toe pieces can tilt to allow better postures and poses.
 |
| I'ma slit your throat! |
As
mentioned earlier, Hound comes with a myriad of weapons and accessories, all of
which could be mounted onto his body.
 |
| Ze Weapons... |
 |
| BFG!!! |
Along
with his above average articulations, you can actually put Hound into a variety
of exciting poses.
 |
| Get a load of my BFG! |
If
that wasn’t enough, the weapons offer one more gimmick – all of them can
combined ala Super Sentai’s super weapons! All of the guns and blasters, along
with the dagger, combines to form a friggin’ BFG – check the definition of that
term on the DOOM 3 game info Wikipedia page, you’ll get what I mean.
The
robot mode is so much fun!
Summary:
I
like this figure, plain and simple. He’s not really the best AOE figure out there,
but he’s definitely the most fun to play with. The amount of accessories and
also the coolness of the character depicted in the movie further add to the
playability and popularity of this figure.
Highly
recommended.
Rating – 9/10
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