The Energon Pub

the asia autobot specialists 3 pack is coming out soon, and the only one who really has any differences is hound. heres a refresher!



and for good measure, classics and henkei!



so its been discussed, but specialists hounds eyes. those horrible yellow eyes. in my opinion he is the superior hound and i planned on getting the 3 pack regardless (mostly for mirage). SO! those eyes gotta be fixed.

painting would be a simple fix, but thats not my style. what id like to do is replace the eyes. what im hoping is the head is constructed like most other light piped robot heads ie: three pieces (front back screwed together with a clear piece in the top/middle for eyes). if this is the case ill buy a loose classics hound and do an optics transplant.

problem is i need my three piece head theory confirmed or denied. and i cant find that detailed enough gallery of the figure (besides who would take multi-angled pictures of a toys head anyways lol). so if anyone out there has their hound handy, could you take a look and let me know?

because who doesnt want the specialists hound with these beautifully piped eyes?

No pictures sorry, but my money is on painted eyes on the translucent piece.

Since the translucent pieces are usually gang molded together, and the Specialists Windshield and headlights are still transparent, the cheaper option for Takara is to mold them translucent and simply paint them yellow.

We'll need to wait for some good in hand pics to confirm though.

I so want this set since i only have Mirage. But I'd never say no to a second one.

I had a very similar idea, and I can verify for you that Hound's head is put together just as you think: the front with the face, the back, and the translucent plastic that tunnels light from the back to the eyes. I agree that this new "Autobot: Specialist" Hound likely just has the transparent blue plastic painted over in matte yellow paint. I would suggest taking some plastic-safe paint remover to the light piping piece (after you have it isolated, to protect the paint on the face) to remove the added paint on the eyes and then reassemble. If you want to preserve the original factory paint apps, though (even if not all on the original figure intended), I think your plan to swap out the light piping plastic with another version of Classics 2.0 Hound will work just fine too. It would make resale easier in the future should you ever wish to do so.

thanks for confirming that!

i had actually thought about the yellow eyes being painted over previously clear plastic. but i havent had much luck with nail polish remover in the past. i once tried to turn a ko device label usb cheetor into a steeljaw. removing the spots worked, but if i wasnt careful it left a strange (almost burnt) texture in the plastic. maybe that was just due to the quality of the plastic itself, but i was worried about the hound eyes because ive heard clear plastic is more fragile. so im to worried to mess with it.

I like the darker green, but don't care for the metallic look. I also like the extra details, but I've got that covered with Reprolabels on my Classic Hound.

Henkei is still the best looking of the bunch.

Counterpunch wrote:Henkei is still the best looking of the bunch.

Agreed.

GuyIncognito wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:Henkei is still the best looking of the bunch.

Agreed.

henkei is more representative of G1 for sure. black shins with red on the knees, stars on the shoulders/front fenders, yellow hood stripe (though G1 was gold). the placement of the autobot symbol is nice for the jeep mode, but not the bot mode. cause theres his head... and right under his chin is a picture of a face lol. and if we're comparing to G1, thats where the hood star should be.

specialists hounds symbol has better placement on the hood as it disappears in bot mode. he still has a symbol in bot mode on the shoulder and a military star opposite. and he does have the nice gold triangles on the doors in jeep mode.

and hey, im a sucker for the metallic paint.

shajaki wrote:thanks for confirming that!

i had actually thought about the yellow eyes being painted over previously clear plastic. but i havent had much luck with nail polish remover in the past. i once tried to turn a ko device label usb cheetor into a steeljaw. removing the spots worked, but if i wasnt careful it left a strange (almost burnt) texture in the plastic. maybe that was just due to the quality of the plastic itself, but i was worried about the hound eyes because ive heard clear plastic is more fragile. so im to worried to mess with it.

Do NOT use nail polish remover. Acetone melts plastics, regardless of type and chemical mixture.

Midnight_Fox wrote:

shajaki wrote:thanks for confirming that!

i had actually thought about the yellow eyes being painted over previously clear plastic. but i havent had much luck with nail polish remover in the past. i once tried to turn a ko device label usb cheetor into a steeljaw. removing the spots worked, but if i wasnt careful it left a strange (almost burnt) texture in the plastic. maybe that was just due to the quality of the plastic itself, but i was worried about the hound eyes because ive heard clear plastic is more fragile. so im to worried to mess with it.

Do NOT use nail polish remover. Acetone melts plastics, regardless of type and chemical mixture.

Some nail polish removers don't have acetone, especially for acrylic nails (my wife has those, and they're long!). But yeah, I would use a non-acetone based specialised paint remover instead. Try a store that has those model building kits.

And clear plastic isn't necessarily more fragile, it's just too sturdy for its own good. It gives less way than regular plastics, and using too much force is all too easily done.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Some nail polish removers don't have acetone, especially for acrylic nails (my wife has those, and they're long!).

Interesting to know, I'd never looked to see if non-acetone ones existed. My wife doesn't use acrylic nails and I only ever buy the 100% acetone stuff for stripping metals. I've since swapped to concentrated Simple Green/Purple Power because it's safe for plastic use, too.

shajaki wrote:

GuyIncognito wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:Henkei is still the best looking of the bunch.

Agreed.

henkei is more representative of G1 for sure. black shins with red on the knees, stars on the shoulders/front fenders, yellow hood stripe (though G1 was gold). the placement of the autobot symbol is nice for the jeep mode, but not the bot mode. cause theres his head... and right under his chin is a picture of a face lol. and if we're comparing to G1, thats where the hood star should be.

specialists hounds symbol has better placement on the hood as it disappears in bot mode. he still has a symbol in bot mode on the shoulder and a military star opposite. and he does have the nice gold triangles on the doors in jeep mode.

and hey, im a sucker for the metallic paint.

The Henkei version is great for original G1 toy accuracy. However, the Specialists repaint (except for those easily fixable yellow eyes) is much more G1 cartoon accurate with the green shins, Autobot emblem on the front, and yellow triangles on the sides, among other touches. It's a matter of what you prefer in your display.

Also, the yellow eyes and details on Specialist Hound's crotch piece may be an obscure reference to this scene from the G1 cartoon episode S.O.S Dinobots when Hound radios the Autobot base:

http://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/c/c ... ios_in.jpg

Wolfman Jake wrote: The Henkei version is great for original G1 toy accuracy. However, the Specialists repaint (except for those easily fixable yellow eyes) is much more G1 cartoon accurate with the green shins, Autobot emblem on the front, and yellow triangles on the sides, among other touches. It's a matter of what you prefer in your display.

Also, the yellow eyes and details on Specialist Hound's crotch piece may be an obscure reference to this scene from the G1 cartoon episode S.O.S Dinobots when Hound radios the Autobot base:

http://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/c/c ... ios_in.jpg

honestly... i researched the G1 hound heavily but i totally spaced out and didnt check out toon hound. which is odd for me since my main thing is toon accuracy.

The colour mis-match on the shins kills this figure for me, also how many military Jeeps do you see with metalic paint? They should have left Hound and Mirage out of this pack and revisited Ratchet and Prowl instead.

leakin' lubricant wrote:how many military Jeeps do you see with metalic paint?

not many. thats why this hound will be FABULOUS!

leakin' lubricant wrote:They should have left Hound and Mirage out of this pack and revisited Ratchet and Prowl instead.

nah nah. keep mirage. ratchets coming out in another set. and if anything, put the Datsun trio in their own set.

Counterpunch wrote:Henkei is still the best looking of the bunch.

'Nuff said!!