Hound

I really like John Goodman. From playing Sully in “Monsters inc.”, to Walter in “The Big Lebowski” I’m not alone in thinking that he is a pretty good actor, but when I saw his performance as Hound (similar to Hound in name only) in “Transformers: Age of Extinction” I kind of thought it was a waste of his talents, because it really seems like he is just playing a watered down version of Walter as a Transformer! The fact that it was Hound no less, one of the most gentle and compassionate of the Autobots, being portrayed this way, I can safely say it rubbed me the wrong way.

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But I’m not reviewing a movie here, instead I’ll be taking a look at the Transformers: The Last Knight Premier Edition Voyager Class Hound figure, and don’t worry, I’ll be putting my grievances about the character aside, because let it be known that this figure is pretty good. In Robot mode, Hound is as intricately detailed as one could expect, but he lacks the more bulbous proportions of his onscreen counterpart. Normally, this kind of inaccuracy would bother me, but because I could admittedly care less about Hound’s onscreen counterpart to begin with, I can let it slide. With that out of the way, I think Hound in robot mode looks great! Like I said before, he has a lot of intricate little molded detail, and an actually sufficient amount of paint to not make his primarily green and gray self look boring. Another thing I really like about this figure, is just how much personality it has, as you can even take his helmet off if you want to finally add Thew Adams to your team of Autobots. One final pretty positive aspect is the articulation, as although the missiles on his arms somewhat inhibit their range of movement, everything else, including an ankle pivot, waist swivel, and wrists that can both move in, out, and rotate are included here. I will say that sometimes the design of Hound’s robot mode itself hinders poseability a little bit, but that really doesn’t cause a huge problem if you just take the time to move some things out of the way.

Hound’s accessories are really versatile and fun. He includes two pistol sized miniguns, two huge cannons, and a mount for it all. All five of those pieces have many hard points on them which, when coupled with the plethora of attachment points on Hound himself, means that you can combine his weapons with him and each other for a multitude of combat options.

Hound’s Transformation is really intricate and pretty creative. How the legs fold up into the front of his alt mode is especially well thought out, but I will say that the enjoyment of this conversion is a little marred by the fact that you’ll be getting some Revenge of the Fallen flashbacks in terms of how particularly many parts must align for the vehicle mode to work. Part of me was actually missing such complex transformation schemes, so this doesn’t bother me. In vehicle mode, Hound is some sort of Military truck. It’s purpose is pretty ambiguous without attaching any weapons, but despite that it looks pretty good and feels super solid. Hound really compacts into the small shape of this mode, and in turn, the alt mode really feels dense. Once the weapons are combined into a turret like on the box, the vehicle mode comes together a lot more, and just like in robot mode, it’s visual cohesiveness and numerous weapon placement options make it a really good mode.

So, when it’s all said and done, I think Transformers: The Last Knight Premier Edition Voyager Class Hound is a pretty good Transformer. He excelled in terms of visual interest, and overall fun factor, while providing a transformation that is interesting and articulation that is above average. Now, I don’t know if that makes Hound worth $30, but if you can find him for less than that, you could stand to get one.