So MP Hound came out a while ago, and I remember skipping him because the MSRP made me feel just a bit on the ill side. Time passed, he was released, and like several high profile MP releases before there were reports of collectors experiencing poor QC and breakage. I considered myself fortunate I didn't jump on that bandwagon and went on with my collecting.
With people moving on to newer figures for reviews and what not, I decided to purchase a MP Hound that had been broken in already, in more ways than one.
It's funny, but despite having been what... like almost 20 years of MP Transformer releases, we STILL haven't finished off the Season 1 cast of G1, so I guess the fact Hound was a relatively recent release doesn't exactly surprise me. Any way, pretty standard box design.
So MP Hound retailed for about 18,000 Yen, which is basically what Trailbreaker came in at recently. Contents of the set include:
- 1 x Main Figure
- 3 x Faceplates (Neutral, Smiling, Shouting)
- 2 x Spare Mirrors
- 1 x Key (from the episode where they capture Ravage... don't know why I remember that)
- 1 x Tail Gun
- 1 x Pistol
- 1 x Jerry Can
- 1 x Spare Tire
- 1 x Soft Top
- 1 x Articulated Spike Witwicky Figure
- 1 x Hologram Spike Figure
- 1 x Hologram Beam Effect
I guess there's certainly more accessories than normal, but part of me feels they put in some of this stuff just to make it more palatable at this price point.
The vehicle mode is a licensed Willys Jeep CJ-3B, though for me as kid I just referred to it as the Army Jeep. I don't know if the US Army still uses them today, the the Jeep itself still kind of looks like this. So while it is an older vehicle, this doesn't quite hit me in that "They Don't Make Them Like They Used To" sort of way.
As with other MPs, the dash area is also nicely detailed, and doors are basically functional.
Fully decked out (sort of) you get that classic 80s war movie look. I say sort of because I realize I didn't do any photos with the Soft Top. Quite honestly, I completely forgot it was even a thing, as the original toy never had one, and I don't recall it ever being used on the show. Jumping a bit ahead, it's supposed to be a shield of sorts for Hound but clearly I didn't take any photos of that either.
Like with MP 44 Convoy, the little figure that came with Hound is actually decently articulated. Ugly as sin, mind you, but it can strike a mean pose or two. Other than looking pretty, the purpose of the figure is so you can stick it into the drivers seat of the Jeep, like so:
The hologram version of the figure has only one pose - seated. It's to replicate episodes where Hound has a holographic driver, allowing him to pass into Human occupied areas without arousing suspicion that driverless cars generally do.
Or you know, you could just do what I do.
Transformation into robot mode is where things start to go a bit downhill. I mean, first off, it's not very often that I've seen a company package an addendum to their manual into the actual product itself. The sequence itself isn't the worst - it's actually quite rewarding. The Jerry Can and all those parts you put on in vehicle mode? Most of them are hidden away within cavities while in robot mode, which is quite nice. The only piece that doesn't really have a permanent spot in robot mode would be the Soft Top, which I'm glad as it would have made for one terrible looking backpack.
But, many people discovered QC flaws when transforming the figure, as the hinges on the doors tend to break off due to stress and general thin plastic usage. Mine was on its last legs and sure enough when I transformed mine, the door hinge half snapped off, with the other half I'm sure won't really survive a return trip to vehicle mode.
I'm really glad I only paid $100 CAD for this.
One of the other things is that while it might be hard to tell, Hound is actually painted all over, including the green that is predominately over his body. If you handle MP Transformers, you'll know that rubbing and very close clearances are par for the course, so you're pretty much guaranteed a paint scrap or two, which I guess compared to snapping hinges, is preferable.
Provided your figure survived the rigors of reformatting, Hound in robot mode is actually quite good. Proportions are nicely done, albeit a slightly larger head would have been nice. I like that the shoulder rocket isn't undersized and vehicle kibble really is only visible from the back. It's not quite as good as Inferno, but it's pretty close.
I guess this is as good a time as any to mention one of the gimmicks Hound has but I didn't get a chance to photograph is the flip out visor that simulates his underwater mode. But that opportunity never came about for me, as the mask came broken off to begin with.
Faces are... OK. I mean, they're functional, but the paint on them is kind of bad. I realize that for the Neutral face there's paint wear from playing, but that smiling face? Looks like Hound was sampling some of Earth's finest Crack Cocaine.
Actual articulation levels are on part with Trailbreaker, in that they're not bad in general. Other than your usual joints, you even have a bit of ab crunch action there. Like with Trailbreaker and other Autobots, the bulk of the chest gets in the way of shoulder movement.
Unlike those, however, TECHNICALLY Hound has more shoulder movement. It just looks REALLY, really weird.
Paint wise, it's pretty much the Takara Tomy standard. They're generally Ok but as the faces show when they screw up, it's pretty awful. Luckily for the most part you're fine.. provided you can avoid terrible things like paint scrape. you'll be fine. As stated, because there's so much actual paint on the figure, it's quite a nice look the over robot mode has.
Build Quality... well, we have the the aforementioned plastic problem with the hinges and the fact that the hinge on the visor was too tight. Expected those. I wasn't expecting that the elbow joints would be weak though. Basically they can't handle the weight of the gun plus the hologram effect, nor can they handle the weight of the Soft Top shield. The hands of Hound are also having difficulty holding the gun as well.
Alas.. poor Hound. I now understand why so many reviewers praised the figure but ultimately couldn't recommend it because of the high price/high risk ratio. If I paid MSRP and the thing fell apart like this on my first transformation, I'd be pretty upset too. The weird thing is that with so many people breaking theirs, I thought it would be easy to find one on eBay to do some repair work. Nope. The ones that are there? Still expensive. I would say that's probably a testament to people hanging onto this figure because of its sweet robot mode and other more typical Takara Tomy qualities.
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