Transformers Siege Hound review

Hound's G1 self does tend to feel pretty generic in terms of character appeal. If it weren't for his involvement with Spike in More than Meets the Eye or him projecting a massive robot to intimidate Devastator, I'd never give too much attention to this Autobot (and instead focus more on his AOE form even though that version's based on Bulkhead). His figures were pretty good, though they each had some strange quirks. Universe Hound had some massive feet while Combiner Wars Hound was a reuse of Swindle, but maybe Siege Hound will have more going for him, right?

Here is Hound in his vehicle mode. It's pretty radical for a character that's "friendly", what with the size of the tires, attention to detail, and the windshield looking small compared to the rest of the altmode. It almost feels like it belongs to a series like Halo or a series similar to it. Ironically, while the altmode looks massive, it's actually small and compact in vehicle mode, which is especially funny when put next to Sideswipe, for example.

Hound's weapons can be stored in the back like this. I chose to have the gun on the left of the vehicle and the holomatter projector in the middle. The circular piece is left on the back like a spare tire.

Hound transforms a bit differently than I expected. The arms and chest work how I expected them to, but the legs blew my mind in a way. They go from working as the parts that hold the tires to becoming these massive legs.

Here we have Hound in his robot mode. It kind of feels like if the G1 toy had one with Travis Knight's Beewun dreams because the figure certainly evokes G1 Hound, though there's the Cybertronic influence added, especially with the chest. The arms do look a bit short, but his lower legs look huge compared to his thighs. At least the rollbars do fold up into a decent backpack. Also, I have the holomatter projector attached to complete the look he has.

Headsculpt is fairly standard for what Hound should have. In some ways, the lips look like they're a bit too soft. Also, it's interesting how the toy's face looks very different from what the show has. We'll get onto that later in the review.

The articulation is what a Siege figure has for the most part. Head is on a ball-joint, arms swivel front and back, hinge in and out, swivel at the bicep, bend at the elbow, and the wrists swivel. Waist swivels, hips move front and back, in and out, swivel at the thighs, bend at the knees, and the ankles pivot.

The weapons he can use consist of his rifle, with the wheel that was attached to the back of his altmode now serving as sort of a sight for him to use.

This is the Walmart Netflix repaint of Hound. He's in a lighter shade of green and I guess has fewer paint apps than regular Hound. Beyond that...he's a pass unless you're a completionist. I should mention that if you do want to get this figure, the neck joints are extremely stiff and are likely to snap off if you're not careful.

This is Cybertron Defense Hot Shot, which homaged the original toy from 2005. It's one of his lesser-known forms, but despite it being a head swap, this does work well in the context of this version of the character. That said, I do wish there were a few more traits of the design, like the larger shoulders and maybe a knife.

We would get another retool, but a slightly heavier one this time with the inclusion of Orion Pax in a Legacy Evolution 2-pack featuring him and Senator Shockwave as part of the Humble Origins set. He has more than just a new head, as the upper body and parts of the legs are retooled to fit his character design. He also has an axe similar to his Thrilling 30 self, which reminds me of how I always wanted the Spotlight Blurr design for OP. Maybe I can get him at some point, IDK.

And for an Earth mode retool that took longer than anticipated, here is not Hound but instead Detritus for the Legacy Evolution mainline. Yes, this Decepticon nobody got the tooling before Hound did was physically announced...you can see how much of the new tooling will basically make the robot mode look blockier as a result of two different altmodes on the same base. He comes with new weapons based on the G1 guy.

For a robot mode comparison, here is Hound next to his G1, Universe, and Combiner Wars selves. I don't normally compare the vehicle modes since fans focus more on robot mode accuracy. The more busy look for the G1 toy's chest, I think, is an influence on the Siege version's toy. Even though Siege Hound's lower legs are massive, he at least doesn't have the massive feet that the G1 and Universe toys have. That said, the Universe version's still a good toy to have, especially for those that want to have a version of the character that's closer to the character model. Combiner Wars version looks nothing like the traditional Hound design, but he's neat for a unique take on the character. Universe and Combiner Wars Hound are slightly taller, but Siege Hound does fit in a bit better with the war-torn look of the line he's from.

And here is Siege Hound next to his TLK self! I like how we have Hound go from him becoming a softie that was given some spotlight for three episodes (like any Autobot not named Optimus Prime would have in that cartoon) to a Bulkhead-esque fat ballerina. The contrast between the incarnations is a trait that I mentioned about Sideswipe in his review, although these two act a lot different from each other.

I still feel that AOE/TLK Hound is a more worthwhile take on the character. Despite that, Siege Hound's an alright figure. Compared to fellow Autobot Car Sideswipe, Hound feels less interesting due to how basic he is and his character not having that much of an impact compared to Sideswipe, who's G1 self was fairly popular in other media (outside of his future Movie and TV incarnations). The figure itself does add a bit more flavor to the otherwise vanilla Autobot, but the size of the altmode feels like a bit of a slap in the face for those that paid him for 19.99 plus tax. Maybe get him with some other figures to better swallow the issues that the figure has.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐