It's funny... I never really noticed that they were grooming Hound as the sidekick in MTMTE until you mentioned it. But it does make sense... the yellow VW alt mode is a lot more iconic, as is Bumblebee's design and name. The whole "kid brother of the Autobots" thing really comes through. However, I did always like Hound. For some reason, he was one of my favourite G1 characters. Too bad he never got all that much attention. The Alternator was nice (though I didn't actually like the headsculpt much), but he really needs another incarnation soon! zmog
Hound didn't get the shaft, he survived the 1986 Transformers Movie! I believe Hound just remained on his beloved Earth and maybe joined the EDC in Season 3. Besides, someone had to remain on Earth to build that stupid, Energon wasting Funeral Ark that put the body of Optimus Prime into the hands of the Quintessons. Come to think of it, I hope Hound played no part in that stupid decision by Rodimus Prime. At least Hound wasn't working in the Ark when Trypticon attacked either.
The only other thign would be that he was destroyed with Sunstreaker in the second Decepticon attack. But since there is no fottage and nothing else that shows what happend to Sunstreaker and Hound we can only speculate. They could have take Optimus body away from autobot city and guard it or something.
You kinda answered your own question with the price mention Nightrain. Minobots were the easy sell because of the cost so they got the most screen time over the cars. Minibots were the toys parents bought when they went to the grocery and drug stores to shut their kids up. It was a natural decision to push BB has the sidekick and give crappy characters like Gears their own episodes when they was available pretty everywhere.
I agree, Hound did get the shaft. I was disappointed they didn't develop his character more. Hound AND Bumblebee were two of my most favorite characters, actually. When I was in 5th (?) grade I dressed as Hound for Halloween. Made my own costume. It was really cool, I even had a "hologram gun." I can certainly see the appeal of the minibots. Looking back at my collection, those were most of what I had, because I could afford them. The bigger ones I had to hope to get for Christmas or birthday. Hound always seemed to me like a nice old uncle. I suppose they went with Bumblebee because he was "cuter," in personality, looks, and name. One of my prize possessions (TINY compared with today's TFs):
Hound was always one of my favorite characters, and he immediately pops to mind whenever think back on the G1 days... probably due to him being the second TF that I ever bought as a kid. In fact, it was after seeing him redone as an Alternator that convinced me to get into that line. Glad to see him getting some more love from Robot Heroes too. Here's hoping we see him in Classics 2.0 and/or TF2. Now if only someone would finally show Brawn the same respect
I just know that even when I was a kid, I didn't like Spike and I'd hate to be the guy hanging around him all the time having to save him when he felt like he could kick a Decepticon or fell down a well. Could you imagine having to do that? It's like babysitting the kid that has to wear a helmet all the time.
Wouldn't you rather promote the more expensive toy than the cheaper one? "The first one's fr- er, cheap. Come on, all the cool kids are doing it."
Hound was a very popular character. He's hands down my favorite Transformers character, followed closely by Starscream, Optimus and Omega Supreme. Oddly enough both Hound and Omega Supreme were neglected. They both had G1 Transformers, got left behind, then came Heroes of Cybertron and Omega got his day, next was Alternators and Hound got a new body. Following that Omega was redone in Energon with a new body and completing the circle, Hound now gets a Robot Hero. In all essence, the closest thing to an episode revolving around Hound was MTME. He had most of his character development there because there wasn't much anywhere else. The only thing that can really adequately explain why Hound stopped hanging around Spike or vice versa, was the incident at Sherman Dam. All the jokes have been made but, the reason has been stated. I think that after Sherman Dam Hound realized if he hung out with Spike, it would be a babysitting job. Hence the reason he is only ever seen with Spike when there's no real danger around.
I'm shocked that I still have this picture. Glad but shocked. Jay: Damn, Hound, that is one mean lookin' bong. Bob: ...
