SDCC Exclusive Transformers & G.I. Joe Autobot Hound

I'll admit right off the top that I don't have the same attachment to Hound as I do to Jetfire, but I also have to admit that the execution for the Hound component of the most recent SDCC Exclusive set left me wanting a little bit more.

I understand that there are some limitations to what can be done with new tooling, and frankly, Hound doesn't really need new tooling, but with a color scheme that isn't all that exciting and tooling that we've seen already 100%, I just found little to really get excited about.

This vehicle update uses an exact recreation of the 25th Anniversary VAMP, only colored in slightly darker olive drab green. That green color is a nice adjustment, and does resemble Hound's color scheme nicely. As an added bonus, it also ties in to VAMP repaints from the G.I. Joe Collectors Club and the new sculpt era. I would have loved for Hasbro to at least have tooled up some new weapon that resembled Hound's shoulder cannon to hook into the back in replacement of the twin-barrel VAMP gun that's there now, but cost was probably a limiting factor.

It makes perfect sense to include Hound in this type of set, after all, he's a military themed vehicle, and a fairly classic character, but I just kind of wish they had chosen perhaps a more modern source vehicle. Tooling budget limitations probably prevented that, but a nerd can hope, can't he?

If nothing else, I do like the stickers quite a bit. Hasbro used vintage Hound as a template and went with some very cool military themed stickers that really tie back to the vintage character nicely, and are pretty appealing to modern collectors as well. A nice touch, for sure. I do wish they were just a little larger, though, once applied, the stickers look pretty small on the vehicle.

Hound is a pretty central character to the old school Transformers mythology, and the color scheme and stickers tie back to that nicely, but ultimately I find little to really get excited about with this particular update. Thankfully there's a lot else to love in this set.

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