That’s wicked. Can’t wait to own it!!

 

Yup said the same thing a while back. Would put the head armature on the underside of the car then too.

 

When's the next Figure King due on the stands? Surely there has to be some nice official shots of this beautiful green bastard in the next issue.

I'm cool with the head on an armature as long as it's secure and sits nice and flush. For all the complaints about the direction of the line being too cartoony and veering away from Hasui's intent, more effort than ever is being put into alt mode than we've seen since the Binaltech days. Opening hoods, opening doors, extra effort being taken in where panel breaks fall... the "real car series" is alive and well! Obviously Hound's head being on an armature is to keep the hood clean and possibly because it opens. Also gotta say as much as I love Megatron, Sunstreaker, and Optimus v3, it's great to see Hound utilizing "real" Jeep parts to make up his chest, shoulders, and back. Getting more and more excited for this guy!

My only nitpick is that I wish his scuba mask was a separate attachment. I respect the effort put into how it looks to fold down from his helmet, but MP Hot Rod has me worrying it'll be just as easily breakable and I think the way the face sits in the helmet might've been slightly improved. Still... best Hound ever  

 

Where’s Hound at?

I got two toon Wheeljacks and a microphone.

 

Yup, Kobayashi's time on the Binaltech line is definitely shining through more and more here.

I'm definitely for Hound's visor being integrated, but I didn't like MP-28's mechanism either. I guess in the case of Hot Rod I would've preferred swappable faces with different expressions, which I felt was compromised by that gimmick. In the case of Hound, it looks like swappable faces are a given. And there just isn't enough room on a figure this size to do a gimmick like MP-9's goggles (which was so perfectly executed!).

 

Great point - almost forgot Kobayashi designed Binaltech figures!

Yeah, you're right, I gotta hand it to Koabayashi for his ambitious all-in-one approach. I was just thinking about how impressive it is that Hound's shoulder cannon and Jeep rifle are integrated, where some earlier MPs' had partsforming shoulder rockets.

 

Preorders need to be up already.

 

Did he get his Takara assigned number yet?  

 

How do we know the Jeep gun is integrated as well? I totally missed that.

 

It’s a safe bet, that’s the trend of the line for the past few years.

 

I have every G1 MP from the last 4 years. Hound is the first to have a fully integrated transforming gun. I'm not including weapons that simply store in alt mode.

 

There haven't been that many carbots since Kobayashi took over with missile launchers. Tracks has integrated missiles. To be fair Sideswipe and Wheeljack were sometimes seen without their launchers, but I'm sure if they were done with today's budget they'd have those integrated in the transformation (like those Badcube Swipe and Alert clones). Don't know if Hound was ever seen driving around without his turret?

Only other thing I can think of is maybe he has a rifle which can convert into the turret. Although I still secretely think his shoulder launcher will turn inside out and become the gun in jeep mode.

 

I'm not too keen on integrating weapons, because they would have to make them smaller than the toon and/or compromise one or both modes to make it work. I don't know what I find wrong with Hound's shoulder weapon, but it looks off somehow. If a 3rd pty make a larger weapon I may replace it.

I just prefer separate weapon parts, for maximum looks.

 

Not sure exactly what you mean, but I guess you're talking about alts that have weapons as part of their character models, right? Ultra Magnus' truck rockets, Sunstreaker's rear laser, Inferno's ladder nozzle, Tracks' rockets, Starscream's null rays, and hell even Megatron's cannon should count as all-in-one integrated alt mode weapons.

 

On top of what others have said officially both xtb and Badcube have pulled off integrated weapons with Trailbreaker/Hoist and Sideswipe/Red Alert respectively too.

 

I agrees with you mate. To make it for there typically had to be done sacrifice to either the weapon or the actual figure itself. Me no likey. That said, the BC Sideswipe and red alert came out rather well despite the weapon integration. If BC can do it, I imagine takara can as well.

 

As great as those designs were though, the weapons did suffer a bit in size (trailbreaker/hoist) and look (sideswipe/red alert). IMO anyway.

 

I actually preferred the smaller shoulder Canon on swipe if I'm being honest... Makes the one that came with MP12 look a little ridiculous IMO.

 

I'm planning on getting both budcube's swipe and alert, cause I believe that takara will not make a v2 of those guys in my lifetime. But, again I'm not too keen on those integrated weapons as well, I'll have to see them in person, then decide.

I'm also going to reserve judgement on Hound until I have one on hand, maybe it'll look fine too.