Binaltech BT04 Hound

As one the only overtly military-styled Autobots from the first wave of Diaclone-derived TransFormers toys, Hound stood out for two main reasons. First and foremost, his character was so at odds with his terrestrial disguise - Bob Budiansky's bio painted him as being entranced by the natural beauty of Earth's flora and fauna, and with an almost Pinocchio-like desire to be human. Secondly, he was pretty much the smallest of the former Diaclone vehicle Autobots, despite having almost comically large feet.

While I missed out on the original G1 Hound, later acquiring Takara's TransFormers Collection version, he ended up being one of my favourite G1 toys, so when the Binaltech version was announced, I was very keen to get my hands on the updated, part die-cast, larger-scale version of the character.

KuBianBao Deformation Detective

Knockoff merchants have long been know to upsize existing toys in an attempt to make their luridly coloured, poor quality plastic and simplified mechanics less of an issue - bigger toy meaning greater value for money, and all that. In more recent years, though, many knockoff merchants have developed the audacity to knock off official products - and, occasionally, Third Party products - without simplifying the engineering at all... and one or two have even had the bare-faced cheek to improve upon the original.

One such manufacturer is KuBianBao, whose Deformation brand has knocked off and enlarged both Age of Extinction and Combiner Wars figures (though not, as yet, any of the gestalts). There seems to be a competition going on between KuBianBao and WeiJiang over the size of their oversize figures and the extras they come with. While WJ have produced the ultimate movie Optimus Prime figure, KBB's take on Hound seemed to be a more appropriate size versus some of the genuine figures and comes with a knock off of Doctor Wu's Mercenary kit.

Age of Extinction/Generations Hound

When Hound was first announced as a new character in the fourth live action TransFormers movie, lots of people - optimistically/foolishly - hoped that, finally, Michael Bay would be giving us a beloved G1 character the way he was meant to be. When photos of a military truck - an Oshkosh Medium Defense Tactical vehicle, no less - were leaked, those folks were naturally disappointed... until they twigged that 'Hound' was probably referencing another, more recent addition to the Autobot ranks, from the likes of TransFormers: Animated and TransFormers: Prime, rather than the Earth-loving scout of old.

John Goodman's performance as the voice of Hound was entirely predictable - merely a reworking of just about every other military character he's ever played - yet he became one of the few likeable characters in the movie (robot or human). But how well does this translate into a Voyager class figure?

Classics Hound with Ravage

It might seem strange to pair an Autobot with a Decepticon in a single Deluxe package but, as any fan of the Generation 1 cartoon will tell you, Hound and Ravage have... history. There's also the small matter of size... much like his Generation 1 self, Classics Hound is a bit on the small side. He compares better to his fellow Deluxe Autobots than G1 Hound did to his, but Hasbro clearly felt that something was lacking so, not only does he have an attachable weapon, but he has his long-time nemesis along for the ride as well.

TransFormers Collection #14 - Hound

Of all the Autobots in the Generation 1 cartoon, Hound was the one I found most charismatic, right from the pilot episode, Arrival from Cybertron/More Than Meets The Eye. While the rest of the Autobots worked toward finding a way home, Hound fell in love with the landscapes of Earth, and nurtured a desire to be human. He also had no qualms about going head to head with the Decepticons, facing off against Rumble underwater and - embarrassingly - needing Spike's help against the diminutive troublemaker.

Much as I like this model, I was pleased when Hound got the Classics/Universe 2.0 refit. The new model takes everything that was cool about Hound, everything that defined his appearance (such as his massive feet), and brought it bang up to date, improving it in almost every way.