by Wolfman Jake » Tue Dec 04, 2018 5:01 pm
- Motto: ""A mountain with a wolf on it stands a little taller."
-Edward Hoagland"
- Weapon: Retractable Mecha-Fangs
A lot of people seem to be quite pleased with Siege Hound right now, so I thought I'd share some of my own opinions of the figure. He does look VERY cool. I had originally intended to pass on him, sticking with my Autobot Specialists Hound (redecoed Universe 2008/Classics 2.0/Henkei mold). When I saw him in store, though, I couldn't resist.
Siege Hound is a solid figure. There isn't a lot of obvious gapping in the robot mode, which is quite refreshing. He sports a very dark green this time around, a bit darker than I think we're used too, but the same too can be said of the red used on Siege Sideswipe. Maybe this is part of how Hasbro conveys the "darker and grittier" direction they're going with in Transformers: SIEGE, along with the painted on "battle damage" details. Hound's accessories are great too. He's got his shoulder cannon/holo-emitter, a rifle, and an ammo clip. The three can be arranged in several different configurations. I do wish that, instead of the ammo clip, the shoulder cannon had a missile or something to put in it. It looks kinda "empty" as is, and putting his gun in there leaves him without a handheld weapon.
Hound's Transformation is fun and mostly intuitive. I got hung up on figuring out where to put his arms in alt mode for a while, though. I don't use the instructions unless I absolutely have to. After studying some pictures of Hound in "Jeep" mode for a while, I figured out home the arms work. It's a little sad that they just kind of contort a bit and lazily lay under everything else in vehicle mode. At least they do tab in, but I feel like they could have used some empty space in there a little more creatively. I also have some issue with how the legs fold out and back in during transformation. There's definitely a bit of clearance issue getting them past the roll cage. It's not horrible, and there are a few joints that can help, but you still end up having to "bend" some plastic around other plastic just a bit to get things where they need to go (unless I'm missing something really big).
I'm not sure yet if Siege Hound will be my "display" Hound in the future. I'm sticking with the Autobot Specialist version for now. I did give him the Siege version's gun, though. There is a lot to like about Siege Hound, but I feel, for me at least, the Specialist version has such a good grasp on both the G1 cartoon silhouette, colors, and details that it's hard to really surpass it, especially when Siege Hound skews more G1 toy accurate with the bronze stripe detailing and the stars on the shoulders. I'll post some comparison pics later tonight of Siege, Autobot Specialist, and Unite Warriors Hound.
Wolfman Jake - Spendin' the day howlin' away.