Here we have Hound in his vehicle mode. It's now a Mercedes Unimog tactical vehicle instead of the Oshkosh Defense FMTV truck that he was in AOE. The alt-mode is noticeable a lighter shade of green that could almost look a bit of a sand-green compared to the AOE toy. This vehicle mode doesn't have the back that the actual altmode has, as it instead uses a turret to fill in the gap. It doesn't look too bad, though it does look like it belongs to a different toy. It's also too light of a gray to fit in with the alt-mode's colors. The tires should look a bit more brown than green to make them look dirty, right?
The vehicle mode may lack in detail, but there are some Decepticon insignias that are scratched off to show how many Cons he killed. This is something military soldiers do with their kill count, showing off how many enemies they killed. Universe Hardhead and Titanium Megatron feature similar deco details, though Hardhead used tally marks under a "No Decepticons" symbol, while Titanium Megatron doesn't cut off the Autobot insignias.
For a size comparison in vehicle mode, here we have both versions of Hound! I have a feeling that the AOE version should be a bigger vehicle than the TLK version. Or at least the TLK version should be a smaller altmode. Either way, it's an odd aspect of this vehicle mode.
Hound's transformation is pretty involved, and it does some steps that I don't think have been seen on a modern figure, such as the collapsing spine of the toy to help keep the proportions normal. The legs are also fairly involved, though the way the feet transform doesn't quite give them the toes that the design has.
In robot mode, Hound looks a lot better than his AOE toy overall. It's got much more accurate proportions than before, there is no PVC to be seen on this toy, and the details feel much sharper than previously. They even have a belt full of bullets, grenades, etc on his torso. How that'd work in-universe is up for debate, but they look pretty nifty despite the lack of paint.
The side and rear views of the figure don't look too bad either, save for the huge chunks of altmode kibble on the legs and the back of the arms. Still, at least the chunk does fit this better than what the AOE version did.
Hound's face sculpt looks really good. Not only is it not made from PVC like the AOE version, but it's also larger AND better painted this time around. The gunmetal gray parts of the toy on the beard do look a bit incoherent with the silver, but nothing too bad.
Hound's articulation is pretty solid for a big guy like him. Head is on a ball joint, the arms move front and back at the shoulders, they move in and out, they also have a bicep swivel, followed by double-jointed elbows, and wrist swivels. There is a waist joint, and the hips can move front and back with the waist piece lifted up, in and out, they have a thigh swivel, a bend at the knee, and both ankle pivots and foot rotation. The feet are hard to keep him in a pose because of how they slightly move a bit freely, and their design doesn't look that great.
He has two kinds of weapons to hold. One set has smaller guns, and the other set has larger guns. Those have hardpoints on them, as does the rest of the toy. The middle piece that held the weapons in vehicle form doesn't look that good on its own, so on the back it goes.
There's at least been one reuse of this toy, which was part of the Movie the Best line made by TakaraTomy. Original stock images barely changed the toy, but in hand, the actual repaint has a much darker green, the original AOE toy's weapons, and the back of the altmode that stores the weapons and serves as a shield. Also, there's a white dot that the TLK version did not have, but it's missing the Red Cross that Hasbro can't put on anymore, which is why Ratchets don't get that logo. The movie had them red in the trailers, but blue in the final film. At least one copy has the red cross, but how common it is to find Hounds with the symbol remains unknown. Back on topic, I'd say that it'd be worth getting the Movie the Best version of Hound ONLY if you never got the Hasbro version, and only at a good price.
For a size comparison, here he is next to TLK Hound. The proportions of the AOE version sort of feel like a MV1 version of the design when put next to the TLK version. Almost like comparing both MV1 and ROTF's Leader Optimus Primes and Voyager Starscreams. As mentioned, the AOE version used rubber parts on the head and forearms, but the TLK version does not.
Hound can now take the weapons of his AOE self and use them while the turret can be repurposed as shoulder cannons or a jetpack. Also, Hound can take off his helmet, notably like in AOE when he mourned for the loss of Leadfoot. Overall, Hound is a nicely done take of the character that may have just a few more parts for improvements before we have the perfect AOE/TLK Hound. I'd say his altmode should be smaller, he should have more paint, and he should also have the proper back cover of his altmode. If you can get this guy, go get him!
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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