Generation 1 Series Hound with Ravage

Height: 13.5cm (Robot Mode height), approx. 11.5cm (vehicle length)

Articulation: 17 points total- ball joint neck,  ball joint shoulders, upper-arm swivel, hinge elbows, ball joint hips, thigh swivel, hinge knees, double-jointed feet.

Colors: Molded olive green, black, white, and transparent blue. Painted silver, yellow, gunmetal, dark olive green, red, and metallic purple (Decepticon emblem, Ravage).

Accessories: "Hologram Projector," Ravage.

Release Data: Released December 2008 in the United States at a MSRP of US $10.99.

Gallery: 21 images.

Author: RAC

Chief tracker and scout for Optimus Prime, Autobot Hound packs some of the most sophisticated sensing technology of any of the Autobots. He is capable of tracking even the most stealthy and light-footed Decepticon – namely Ravage -through rivers, across bare rock, and even through the air by the spare whisper of electromagnetic radiation the robot panther leaves behind. Though Ravage can hide almost perfectly in even the slightest shadow, no amount of skill can prevent Autobot Hound from finding him.

I always liked Hound as a kid. He just seemed like an easygoing guy with a neat special ability- the ability to create lifelike, three-dimensional holograms. Useful skill, even if he usually used it for little more than generating a driver for himself. The third and final part of "More than Meets the Eye" is one of the rare instances where he uses this power for its intended purpose: fooling the Decepticons. This doesn't go well at all, but what do you expect? Not only does the plan involve giant robots wearing labcoats attempting to pass for human, but apparently the originators of the plan are so dumb that after it is set into motion, Optimus Prime has to explain it back to them. So sad.

Universe Classics Hound is designed to commemorate this, his finest (half-)hour. How can you tell? By the inclusion of Ravage, the captive used to set Hound and Mirage's idiotic plan into motion! There was apparently talk of dubbing Ravage's alt-mode as a "Capture Mode," so as not to have to explain ancient artifacts like cassettes to kids, but the toy packaging boldly proclaims Ravage as converting to "Tape Mode." Score one for outdated technology!

Vehicle Mode

Hound is still a jeep, still in army green, but like the rest of the Universe Classics line he's a much newer model now. TFWiki cites the Jeep Hurricane concept car as an influence, and it certainly shares a brushguard and fenders with that model. But he also shares some features, most noticably the headlight and hood shapes, with Hasbro's own Rhino GPV. The Rhino was one of a very few vehicles released in the 12" Hall of Fame line, and the largest by far. (I had one of those, and let me tell you: you drop that on your foot, you will remember it.) This may be due to both toys riffing on the general design of an Army Jeep, but Hasbro tends to have a long memory- I suspect it was intentional.

Hound rolls well on his large offroad tires, and makes a pleasantly bumpy, toyish clatter when doing so on a hardwood surface. His rocket launcher clips onto either seat back, but if you put it on the left with the handgrip hanging off the side of the car, your purely hypothetical soldiers are going to have a hard time using it. On the back of the vehicle are two small tabs that pull out to keep Ravage still in Tape Mode. Other tapes may fit too, but it'll likely vary from toy to toy- my Buzzsaw fits relatively well, just for example, but Beastbox can only fit one specific way, and one of the pegs has to be folded down.

Transformation

As with Cyclonus, we're finally getting back towards the previous Classics style of having a relatively simple but not predictable transformation. It reminds me most of Bumblebee, thanks largely to the placing of the car seats and the way that the torso has to be sort of rolled up to form Robot Mode. The car seats in particular are really appealing to me with the near-seamless way they become the front of Hounds thighs. (Make sure you fold those down first! It makes the entire transformation much, much easier.) One thing to watch for: Hound's fists seem to have a natural stopping point before they're entirely lined up with the arm, but if you press them further they will snap into place, loudly. It's a bit disconcerting the first time you do it, but it seems to be the way the toy was designed to work.

Robot Mode

Hey, it's Hound! He looks just like himself! Below the waist, in fact, he's nearly a dead ringer for the 1984 toy, right down to the jeep-kibble on the sides of the calves. Above the waist, of course, he's a bit farther off, since there's a big difference in the shapes of the hoods of his two Vehicle modes. The proportional balance between the hood-chest and the head and limbs is much better now too, and his face and arms resemble the original animated model more closely. That's also why there's a swap in the colors of the arm relative to the package photo: the finished toy, like G1 cartoon Hound, has black shoulders and green forearms.

Above and below the waist are slightly different stories for the articulation too. Above the waist, he's got the basic joints I expect from a Universe/Classics figure. His elbows get a full 90 degrees articulation, and the ball-joint shoulders have both a solid 90-degree range when swung straight out, and unrestricted swivel. No wrist joint, but with as much pressure as it takes to push the hands into place that's a vulnerability the toy doesn't need. The neck is a standard ball-joint, but since Hound has a very square, simple head he gets better range than many other Transformers in his class. You can tilt the head in pretty much any direction, and the worst you're gonna get is the neck trying to fold into the chest, which is easy to correct.

While there's sadly no waist, that could be for the best- if he had one, he'd probably be in danger of falling apart occasionally like his fellow amnesiac schemer, Mirage. Otherwise, his legs do very well: the short thighs (with their inexplicably awesome hidden car seats) have a swivel just above the knee, which isn't super-useful in practical posing but does contribute a bit. The knees just scrape the bare minimum of 90 degrees I expect of pretty much any major joint. But his trademark giant feet are where he shines. His transformation hinge has just enough extra range to be a usable ankle joint, and then the soles of the feet from the fender on down are hinged pieces that tilt from side to side. This frees up Hound to pose in a lot of ways that giant feet without such a joint would either preclude, or make look really dumb. I can't stress enough how much this joint adds to the toy. He's not going to outpose Mirage, whose bendiness is still amazing, but he's not tripping over his big robot clown shoes either.

Paint and Deco

Hound is about average, with the biggest issues stemming from yellow paint- which probably won't surprise anybody who knows about toys and yellow paint. With the exception of a small spot on the forearm the coverage is good on the green plastic. As always, that spot is not figured into the final score since it's a minor and unique issue. But the kneecaps should be noted, because yellow paint on black plastic is nearly always a problem. Hasbro should really have known better, especially since `84 Hound's knees are red, as are the kneecaps on Henkei! Henkei! Hound. Beyond that and the white background on the Henkei's Autobot emblem, though, Hasbro's got the edge over the Takara version for me. The yellow stripe on their Hound's torso is too much, and the dark metallic paint on the US brushguard looks just fine- I can do without grey chrome.

One last thing: there's a single star on Hound's right front fender, a holdover from the stars on his 1984 body. I only noticed it just as I was writing this- from most angles it's obscured by the pronounced brushguard.

Accessories

-Rocket Launcher

I was sure that this item was supposed to be the Hologram Projector, as I'm pretty sure the G1 cartoon showed it to be more than once, and the package backed me up. But all the sites I've checked say otherwise. Wouldn't be the first time the cartoon got something wrong, so I'm not exactly shocked. The Launcher clips to Hounds' seat backs in Jeep Mode, and to his shoulder in Robot Mode. The way his torso is molded, though, the Launcher always points inward- it's not going to launch the missile into the side of his head, but he'd have to stand slightly sideways to fire forward. Fortunately, it's got a handgrip too, so Hound can shoot straight. The handgrip is nicely done, designed to fit in the Transformers-standard 5mm peghole without being a big, round ugly peg sticking out in Vehicle Mode. It looks like a real handgrip! ...well, it looks like an undetailed rectangle, but among Transformers weaponry that's something, especially since it was accomplished without sacrificing the standardized fit on either end of the connection.

-Ravage

...did anyone else like to pose the old Ravage under Metroplex's foot, as though he'd just been stomped? Anyway...

While Ravage is still a panther (or a jaguar, if you're Japanese. Some kind of large cat anyway), and his decidedly dated Tape Mode is here to stay, he looks much different now, much moreso than Hound does. Mainly because he isn't flat. The detail level has also increased, with panel lines and finer details, especially on his face. His missiles are even molded into his hips, though they could use a spot of silver paint that neither Hasbro nor Takara is providing. The tradeoff for this new look is articulation: as has been noted elsewhere, Ravage can no longer assume his trademark, often-imitated boxart pose due to his shoulders being immobile. The hips still swivel, though, so you can get him to sit in a respectable cattish pose. This slight downgrade is a disappointment since my original, long-gone Ravage was the first toy I ever owned with ankle joints. (I was born an articulation nut.)

Ravage's transformation is also more elaborate than it used to be- I recommend reading the manual as opposed to winging it, as pulling the wrong limbs out first may warp a few small parts. I'll get to the potential ramifications of that in a minute. As a cassette, Ravage is nowhere near as clean as most G1 tapes since all his edges are rounded to make for a more pleasing Robot Mode. (Beast Mode?) Also, the placement of the transformation hinges make him slightly bendy as a tape- it's hard to keep him as a solid, straight rectangle. He also lacks any tape details besides the two holes- no stickers, no tampograph, just a Decepticon emblem on one side that doesn't make him look any more tapish. (It's also kind of faint, being dark purple metallic paint on black.) Granted, all of these would show in Beast Mode (Robot Mode?), and he was complicated enough without engineering a way to turn him inside out.

So, you've got a tape- what do you do with it? Put it into your G1 Soundwave, of course! Ravage will fit either your Soundblasterized reissue Soundwave with its double capacity chest, or even the original. Despite what you may have heard to the contrary, he does fit, though the increased complexity of the new Ravage may present some small difficulties there. As I said, the tape is bendy, so it has to be lined up just so to ensure a good fit. There's also a chance that some of Ravage's parts may arrive warped, or get distorted when mistransformed, and that makes the fit yet more difficult- but not impossible. It took some doing, but my slightly warped Ravage fit in my vintage Soundwave snugly. I'm glad I have photographic evidence, because it's not something I'd want to replicate regularly- my secondhand Soundwave has iffy hinges on his brittle clear plastic door.

Closing Remarks

Man, I'm really going to miss Universe when it goes into hibernation for the movie. While some of the earlier figures were weirdly overcomplicated (Yeah Ironhide, I'm talkin' to you), Hound is almost exactly what I came to expect from the earlier run of Classics: figures that are recognizeable as the G1 gang without being slavish reproductions, with transformations that are neither overcomplicated nor boring. Ravage treads a touch close to the "overcomplicated" threshold, but how the heck else are you going to get a three-dimensional cat out of a rectangle? While their strengths differ somewhat, both figures are undeniably Excellent.

-RAC, 01/13/2009