Hound (G1)


 * Hound is an Autobot character in the Generation 1 continuity family.



Hound wishes he were human. The dark, barren metalscapes of Cybertron no longer interest him. Now that Hound has been shipwrecked on Earth, he considers this planet his home. He sees humankind as beautiful and wishes he could interact with their ecosphere the same way they do, to feel what they feel and to see what they see.

He treasures his job as an Autobot scout, making good use of his ability to project holograms for added disguise. He uses this opportunity to explore the breathtaking caverns and mountainous expanses that Earth provides. He's a meek, benevolent soul, even compared to his fellow Autobots. He gets along with the more blood-thirsty of their ranks but not the most blood-thirsty of their ranks.


 * Nicknames: Sarge, Nose, Sniffer
 * Italian name: Canguro
 * French-Canadian name: Dépisteur
 * Hungarian name: Vadászeb ("Hound/Hunter")

Generation 1
When the Transformers awoke in 1984, Hound was part of the Autobot contingent allowed by Optimus Prime to explore Earth. Consequently, he was one of the first to realize the existence of human lifeforms and was involved in the first battle on Earth at a drive-in theater (which the Autobots thought was a religious gathering for cars). ''Following this, he was present at the Sherman Dam battle. After the Ark was reclaimed, he was one of the Autobots who opposed using the Matrix to create super-warriors, and also assisted Mirage in capturing Ravage (though Ravage was taking a dive). ''

''When Galvatron made his time-jump to 1986 and Optimus Prime and Prowl were lost in Limbo, Hound and Jazz were sent to spy on Decepticon activity. This led to Cyclonus taking out Jazz and almost killing Hound, with only the arrival of Ultra Magnus saving him. Following this, he tried several times (unsuccessfully) to get Ultra Magnus to assist the Autobots against Galvatron and also took a critical view of Jetfire's tactics, especially as the Autobots were beaten again and again. ''

Hound was one of the scores slaughtered by the Underbase-powered Starscream. He was presumably revived by the Nucleon infusion Grimlock gave all the Ark's deactivated Autobots.

Generation 2
Hound joined Grimlock's unit in leaving Cybertron to find new conflicts and fought against the technoforming fleets of the Cybertronian Empire. He was disgusted by the bloodlust shown by Blades, who berated Hound for being a liability. Following this, he was the only Autobot not infected by the psychic parasites of the K'Tord Nebula, due to a blow to the head that knocked him off-line. After Prime and Jhiaxus managed to temporarily cease fighting long enough to deal with the parasites, Hound scanned the Transformers for any remnants in their systems. As one of the more level-headed Autobots, Hound did not participate in Grimlock's ill-advised strike on the Liege Centuro and his fleet. Still, he knew good sense when he heard it, even from Grimlock, and when Prime thought it was a good idea for him to go meet the Decepticons alone, Hound arrived with Grimlock and a rescue battalion just in time to keep Megatron from destroying his old nemesis. Later, Hound also got involved in protecting the planet Ethos from genocide.

American cartoon continuity

 * Voice actor: Ken Sansom (US), Kenyu Horiuchi (Japan)

Hound was one of the original Autobots aboard the Ark when it crash-landed on Earth four million years ago. When awakened in 1984, he was reformatted to have a terrestrial alt-mode, that of a Mitsubishi military jeep.

As the Autobots got their bearings on this strange, new planet, Optimus Prime dispatched Hound on a recon mission to find the Decepticons. The impetuous Cliffjumper tagged along uninvited, itching to start a fight, and took a pot-shot at Megatron once Hound sniffed out the Decepticon base. Cliffjumper missed, and the Decepticons gave chase. Laserbeak pursued the two Autobot eavesdroppers, and Hound took the brunt of the assault, getting blasted by Laserbeak's cannons. Hound spun out of control on the winding mountain roads and crashed into a ravine.

Cliffjumper returned with help: the Autobot medic, Ratchet. Hound was too injured even to transform, so the crane truck Hauler had to lift him out of the gulch so he could be dragged back to the Ark for repairs. Despite the mishap, Hound bore no ill will against Cliffjumper. The scout had heard enough about the Megatron's plans to plunder the Earth's resources that Optimus immediately launched a mission to stop the Decepticons.

Later, when the Autobots counter-attacked the Decepticon seige of Sherman Dam, Hound got into an underwater fight with Rumble. The pint-sized Decepticon managed to trap Hound under a pile of boulders so that he couldn't move. Then Spike Witwicky jumped in and removed the boulders, thus saving Hound from non-danger since the Autobot can't drown anyway. .

After the came back from the Ruby Crystal Mines of Burma, Hound and Mirage came up with a plan to fool the Decepticons. They would create a hologram of a rocket fuel base. The Decepticons would go there to use the resources to create energon cubes, at which point the trap could be sprung. Optimus Prime agreed, and the then-imprisoned Ravage was allowed to escape with the false information. However, Megatron outsmarted the Autobots, went to the real rocket fuel base and used its resources. .

In the year 2005, Hound was stationed at Autobot City on Earth. Shortly before the Decepticon attack, Hound was part of Kup's detail, placing a roadblock on the trail to Lookout Mountain. During the battle, he managed to get to the shuttle landing pad as Optimus Prime began his counter attack on the Decepticon forces.

Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer manga
Hound appears as the leader of the 4-Wheel-Drive Brigade.

Dreamwave comics continuity
During the Great War, Hound was an Autobot warrior under the command of Optimus Prime. When Prime disappeared, and the Autobots fractioned into several smaller armies, Hound remained with the primary Autobot faction under Prowl's leadership. Some time later (and four million years ago), Hound was part of the crew of the Ark spaceship, and crashlanded on the planet Earth after a conflict with the Decepticons. The Autobots and Decepticons on board remained in stasis lock, buried at the base of Mount St. Hilary in Oregon, until the volcano exploded in 1984, freeing them. Hound and the other Autobots under Prime's command waged war against the Decepticons on Earth, until finally capturing them all. Roughly a decade after they arrived, the Autobots planned to return to Cybertron with their prisoners aboard the Ark II. Tragically, however, sabotage led to the spaceship exploding on its maiden voyage, and all aboard were believed dead.

Not so. In fact, a human mercenary named Lazarus had recovered a great number of the Transformers that had been on-board, including Hound. He went to work on these deactivated robots, installing programming directives that would turn the Cybertronians into mindless drones for his own purposes. In 2002, Lazarus was prepared to unleash his robot soldiers on the world, only to fail at the starting gate when Megatron reasserted control over his own programming. All the Autobots and Decepticons soon regained their faculties as well, and the war began again.

Not long thereafter, Hound and the Autobots were confronted with an envoy from Cybertron, which had apparently ended the war sometime ago, creating a Unified Cybertronian government. Allegedly in order to prevent the warlike Transformers of Earth from igniting old passions, Hound and many of his fellow Autobots were captured by Ultra Magnus, Shockwave, and their operatives. Brought back to Cybertron aboard Sky Lynx, Hound and the Autobots were removed from their prison cells by the Triple Changer named Broadside, and brought into contact with a resistance cell led by Smokescreen. It seemed Shockwave actually had a hidden agenda (of course), and many Autobots had begun taking up arms again to fight back against his regime. Hound joined in the insurrection at Iacon, and the resistance ultimately pushed Shockwave out of command, retaking Cybertron for the Autobots.

As Ultra magnus began re-establishing Autobot control over the planet, Prowl decided the Ark's crew would be best served by returning to Earth and establishing a permanent base of operations there. Being the Earth-lover that he is, Hound was all for the idea. He was last seen at the site of the future Autobot City, using his holograms to help Grapple visualize his plans for the city.

IDW comics continuity




Before the war on Cybertron, Hound was a veteran member of the Autobots, having served under Sentinel Prime with the Security Services force in Kaon. During the mass prison break of Megatron's gladiators and Kaon's most dangerous criminals, Hound and the Autobot security forces struggled to hold the line against the rioting malcontents. After Sentinel Prime returned to the battlefield in his Apex armor, Hound served as optic lead for Sentinel's heads-up scanners in targeting Megatron. However, Megatron destroyed Sentinel Prime's display helmet by throwing Hound's apparently dead body at the Autobot commander.

Except he survived. Much later, he was the current leader of a combat unit consisting of Sideswipe, Leadfoot, Warpath, Road Rocket and Skram. After Jetfire and his forensics team finished retrieving all the relevant data from Bludgeon's hidden base in Thunderhead Pass, Hound's unit moved in and established a permanent guard post on Cybertron at that location. Their duty was to protect the installation from Decepticon hands and watch over the deactivated members of Bludgeon's cult, who were being held in stasis. Unfortunately, this dull and unglamorous assignment didn't sit well with Sideswipe, especially since his brother, Sunstreaker, had gone missing in action on Earth.

The dullness ended rather abruptly when a mysterious and powerful being barged into the base. He killed Leadfoot and seriously damaged Hound's crew before making off with their prize prisoner: the inactive form of Thunderwing himself.

After Hound briefed Optimus Prime on Thunderwing's theft, Sideswipe interrupted the conversation and suggested that the unit go to Earth and help locate Sunstreaker. Hound started to apologize, but Prime agreed that it was a good idea and ordered them to Earth. However, when the "Monstructor Six" were broken out of prison on Garrus-9, Prime ordered Hound's team to rendezvous with Prime's crew there.

As the Ark-12, helmed by Hound's crew, was en route to Garrus-9, Sideswipe argued with Hound that Sunstreaker was being ignored on Earth. They were interrupted by an attack from Cyclonus, and they responded by blasting him with all weapons. The Autobots thought he'd been destroyed, and Hound ordered his crew to continue on their way, citing a lack of time, but they were attacked again and took serious damage. Ultra Magnus received a distress call from Hound and changed course to assist them. Magnus arrived in time to help drive off Cyclonus, and Hound prepared to continue on his mission until Sideswipe berated him, saying this situation was worth investigating.



Cyclonus headed to Corata-Vaz and activated the Nega-Core, but he was met by Hound's crew and Magnus, who tracked him. Sideswipe goaded Cyclonus into attacking, and although he put up a good fight, seemingly taking out Road Rocket and even deadening Hound's arm, he was brought down by Warpath, and Magnus then held a gun to his head. However, Cyclonus escaped by activating the guardian—Thunderwing.

On Earth, Hound's friend Mirage was seriously injured, and as he recuperated, he was haunted repeatedly by dreams of being a Decepticon. In this dream, Hound was among the last of the Autobots holding out in a losing battle with the Decepticons. He was working on a way to convert the cross-dimensional Zodiac energy for consumption in lieu of energon when Mirage tricked the Autobots into letting him enter their hideout. During the subsequent scuffle, Hound killed Soundwave, but the Autobots were forced to surrender when Mirage held Jetfire hostage, yet promised to spare their lives. Unfortunately for Hound, Mirage was ordered by Megatron to execute the Autobots. Hound was killed by Mirage as defiance to Optimus Prime's pleas for him to see reason. But it was just a dream (or some alternate dimension mumbo-jumbo), so it didn't matter. Right?

Generation 1

 * Hound (Autobot, 1984/2004)
 * Japanese ID number: 02, TFC-14
 * Accessories: Hologram Gun, machine gun, missile launcher, 3 missiles, spare tire, gas can


 * Hound was released as part of the initial Autobot assortment in 1984, transforming into a Mitsubishi J59 Jeep. Mounted on the back of the vehicle mode is a large, silver machine gun turret. Other vehicle accessories include a spare tire and a fuel canister.


 * In robot mode, Hound is armed with a large, silver "holographic rifle" and a shoulder-mounted, spring-loaded, firing rocket launcher with three silver projectiles. The US version of this launcher had severely weakened springs for safety reasons.


 * He was reissued in 2004 by Takara in their Collection reissue series, and this mold was used to make the e-Hobby exclusive Detritus during the same year.

Alternators

 * Autobot Hound (2004)
 * Alternator ID number: 3
 * Japanese ID number: BT-04
 * Accessories: Pistol




 * For the Alternators line, Hound's vehicle mode was updated to a Jeep Wrangler, with opening doors, hood (with mock engine bay) and tailgate, and a detailed interior. Hound also features a working suspension system, similar to 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime, but lacks steering.


 * In robot mode, he greatly resembles both the original toy in detail and the G1 cartoon model in proportions and personality. In this form, Hound is armed with a holographic projector gun stored inside his spare tire.


 * The mold was retooled into Alternators Rollbar and Swindle.

Universe (2008)

 * Autobot Hound (Legends, 2008)


 * Autobot Hound with Ravage (Deluxe, 2008)

Unreleased



 * A redeco of the Autoroller Roadblock was planned for release in 1995 as Sgt. Hound, but was one of several redecos and molds that were canceled with the end of the Generation 2 line. This mold was also used for Autocrusher from Beast Wars II.

Robot Heroes

 * Autobot Hound vs Blitzwing (2008)
 * Hound is posed, like many Robot Heroes, in a squat crouching pose. However, he has a few noteworthy aspects: he's one of the few Generation One characters to be sculpted with a handheld weapon.  More surprising than that, Hound is currently the most articulated G1 Robot Hero, having swivel joints at his head, shoulders and waist.

Trivia

 * The Hound toy was originally a Diaclone "J59 Jeep", coming with a blue-and-white pilot figure and several IP-infringing decals.


 * Ken Sansom's voice for Hound sounds not unlike famous actor Jimmy Stewart. And West Wing lead Martin Sheen.


 * Due to the animation models of the characters being based on box art as much as the actual toy, Hound's holographic rifle was misinterpreted as a small pistol thanks to the foreshortening used. The Alternators toy uses the "pistol", which lead to people more familiar with the original figure's gigantic rifle to quip that his new weapon was "far too small."


 * Like those of many Generation 1 characters, Hound's animation model has appeared as an unnamed cameo in the Armada cartoon. He is visible both reacting to the Mini-Con beacon in episode 1, "First Encounter", and in a flashback in episode 12, "Prehistory".


 * The Alternators version of Hound was originally planned as a Jeep Rubicon, sporting a slightly different transformation that would have somewhat reduced the back kibble. The change from the Rubicon to the Wrangler model Hound ultimately came out as it did presumably due to Jeep wanting their more common model featured.


 * For trademark reasons, the Alternators toy required an additional "Autobot" prefix in front of the name, hence making the official name "Autobot Hound".