1984's Transformers Are Forty!

[Fortmax2020]

Gears is red and blue.... 🤔

[Shockprowl]

Gears' Techspecs is also unusual because it ends on an ability.

Usually they end thought-provokingly with a weakness.

But not Gears, baby!

HE CAN SEE YOU IN THE DARK!

[The Doctor]

HE KNOWS WHEN YOU ARE NAUGHTY.

-Ralph

[Shockprowl]

HE CAN SEE YOU COMMITTING CRIMES.

[Philip Ayres]

1984's Transformers Are Forty: Week 19|Hound
Function: Autobot Scout
Japan: 2
tfwiki.net/wiki/Hound_(G1)/toys#The_Transformers
www.tfu.info/1984/Autobot/Hound/hound.htm

"Observe everything, remember even more."

Hound loves the natural wonders of Earth, prefers it to Cybertron. Brave, fearless, loyal. Secretly desires to be human. Uses turret gun as radar scope, infrared radiation collector. Tracks machines as well as humans. Hologram gun projects 3-dimensional grid laser-light topographical maps. Vulnerable to thermal and electromagnetic interference.


Strength
5
Intelligence
8
Speed
5
Endurance
7
Rank
6
Courage
10
Firepower
3
Skill
9

[Llama God]

Aug 4, 2024 23:04:29 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Secretly desires to be human.

They missed a trick not making him a Pretender. Or writing a story about how jealous he was of the Classic Pretenders. (Although he was well offline at that point...)

[The Huff]

If he secretly desires to be human, how did that fact end up in the tech specs?

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Aug 5, 2024 8:35:33 GMT The Huff said:

If he secretly desires to be human, how did that fact end up in the tech specs?

Because like the Marvel Secret Wars comics, the tech-specs either don't exist or are secret in-universe?

Martin

[that_bluestreak]

Aug 4, 2024 23:04:29 GMT Philip Ayres said:

1984's Transformers Are Forty: Week 19|Hound
Function: Autobot Scout
Japan: 2
tfwiki.net/wiki/Hound_(G1)/toys#The_Transformers
www.tfu.info/1984/Autobot/Hound/hound.htm

"Observe everything, remember even more."

Hound loves the natural wonders of Earth, prefers it to Cybertron. Brave, fearless, loyal. Secretly desires to be human. Uses turret gun as radar scope, infrared radiation collector. Tracks machines as well as humans. Hologram gun projects 3-dimensional grid laser-light topographical maps. Vulnerable to thermal and electromagnetic interference.


Strength
5
Intelligence
8
Speed
5
Endurance
7
Rank
6
Courage
10
Firepower
3
Skill
9

Hound :heart: Hound was always a favourite of mine and I don't really know why. The toy is kind of rubbish, and he never got any good comic appearances, but still I loved him.

I had Hound as a kid, but I got him second hand and without accessories. Terrible things happened to him, but Hound is almost indestructible, for a given value of indestructible. Later I picked up a whole Hound at a TF convention around 2000, and paid £2 for it! Again, lacking the accessories but I collected them over the years and still have this one. I also got the TFC one and it kind of blew my mind opening it up, the chrome, the shiny shiny chrome, the beautiful stickers. I wish I still had it and am on the look out for another. I also have the Movie reissue - a weird one seeing as Hound is only visible in like two frames. This is the point where Hound has become undesirable, the idea of MIB G1 Hounds being hard to shift is bizarre!

I can't remember any Hound storyline appearances in the comics... I can remember him getting canned in Dark Star, oh yeah he got beat up by Cyclonus at the beginning of Target 2006... any more?

Like most of the G1 tech specs, this is perfect and full of storyline hooks that were never used. He seems like a decent fella, does Hound.

[The Doctor]

Aug 5, 2024 16:45:45 GMT Grand Moff Muffin said:

Aug 5, 2024 8:35:33 GMT The Huff said:

If he secretly desires to be human, how did that fact end up in the tech specs?

Because like the Marvel Secret Wars comics, the tech-specs either don't exist or are secret in-universe?

Martin

The big bald bloke on the moon knows.

-Ralph

[The Huff]

Aug 5, 2024 16:45:45 GMT Grand Moff Muffin said:

Aug 5, 2024 8:35:33 GMT The Huff said:

If he secretly desires to be human, how did that fact end up in the tech specs?

Because like the Marvel Secret Wars comics, the tech-specs either don't exist or are secret in-universe?

Martin

Nah. It's because early on in his comic book adventures, he didn't realise that his inner thought bubbles were very visible for anyone to see.

[Shockprowl]

"Secretly desires to be human" is indeed a quite exceptional addition to Hound's Techspecs. Tracks, Bumblebee, Jazz, Seaspray, they all love Earth and Humanity, but to secretly desire to be human? Wow. An incredibly powerful concept that didn't really get explored from what I remember, just the odd reference to him preferring Earth to Cybertron. In that sense Hound really is a unique and special character. And he's also fearless, brave, loyal, smart- what a 'bot!

Started off well in the cartoon, but famously replaced early doors by Bumblebee. But he did have some other good moments here and there, like sneaking up on that base that time with Mirage.

I have no experience the toy.

Numbers are good and seem to fit, but I remember being surprised his speed was only 5 when I first found that out. I mean, Gears manages a 6 and he's a truck with a tarp' on the back!

But Hound is another great standout character from the '84ers.

[pulsar]

One thing I liked to do in 1984 (and 1985, and 1986…) was hang out in the toy shop and obsessively look over the packages of TFs while I thought about which one I would buy next. The tech specs were the highlight of course, essentially teasers for future comic storylines, but they weren’t all. There was the “Start…change…change” sequence that left me imagining how much fun it would be to transform the toy, and then the “Set includes” blurb that told us about all the extra stuff you got with it.

The main thing I remember about Hound is how long this list was on his box. Random stuff like an oil can as well as the usual missiles. He wasn’t one of the toys I most wanted, but towards the end of 1985 he was one of the very few TFs that I could actually find as they exploded in popularity. The character seemed interesting and his alt mode was the kind of vehicle that often went flying in the A-Team, so I bought the toy before TFs disappeared from shelves altogether.

It wasn’t really a bad toy, but I did think it was too small — only about half the size of Inferno or Grapple, and the accessories didn’t really make up for that. I thought it should really have been at the Insecticon price point.

Although we never saw him wanting to be human in TFUK, he did seem particularly concerned for humans. I think this is behind his otherwise cryptic comment about Omega in T2006, a callback to not wanting to build him in the first place in Crisis of Command.

[Philip Ayres]

1984's Transformers Are Forty: Week 20|Ravage & Rumble

Ravage
Function: Decepticon Saboteur
Japan: 19, D-59, D-104 Jaguar
tfwiki.net/wiki/Ravage_(G1)/toys
www.tfu.info/1984/Decepticon/Ravage/ravage.htm

"Today's Autobots are tomorrow's scrap metal."

Ravage operates best alone. A creature of the night. Craftiest of all Decepticons. Adept at devising deadly new strategies. Remains aloof from others, but his deeds command their respect. Can virually escape detection -- emits an electromagnetic emmission shield, has soundless walk, disappears in subdued light or shadow. Carries 2 powerful heat-seeking missiles. Light-sensitive. Can be blinded.


Strength
5
Intelligence
8
Speed
5
Endurance
6
Rank
7
Courage
4
Firepower
7
Skill
10

Rumble
Function: Decepticon Demolitions
Japan: 16, D-102
tfwiki.net/wiki/Rumble_(G1)/toys#Generation_1
www.tfu.info/1984/Decepticon/Rumble/rumble.htm

"Destroy what's below and what's above will follow."

Rumble is your basic street punk. Small, but always acting tough. Quick temper and mean disposition. Follows Megatron's orders eagerly. Transmits immense low frequency groundwaves to create powerful earthquakes. His small size limits his physical strength, but his ability to shatter the ground makes him difficult to approach in a fight.


Strength
2
Intelligence
5
Speed
2
Endurance
8
Rank
5
Courage
7
Firepower
9
Skill
5

[Llama God]

Ah, Ravage - one of my favourite characters thanks mostly to The Enemy Within. And also because he's a robot cat, which is just cool. I still don't know why it took until the Generations Agent Ravage set a couple of years ago for me to finally get a version of the original mold...

Rumble is also there.

[The Huff]

My first ever proper Transformer(s)!

[Philip Ayres]

I don't think I had these till the early 90s and the Chinese imports, maybe even later

[tomwe]

Never had his missiles. Also decided in my youth it was the thing to do to paint the white bits on better. That seems to be a running theme with me - paint stuff.

[pulsar]

I thought Ravage was one of the best 1984 Decepticons, second only to Soundwave himself. A design that's simple but unique, a bio that really fits being a spy cassette, and accessories that add play value but aren’t a necessary part of his transformation.

Rumble was great too and his tech specs gave him an edge over Frenzy. Some other TFs had powers similar to Frenzy’s (e.g. Starscream’s null ray) but no one else could cause earthquakes.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

To balance out the positivity with some pickiness, you could look at the vehicles and Soundwave and Megatron from any direction except (for some of them) underneath, and their disguise modes all held up fairly well. But one of the first things I learned about audio cassette tapes was they had an A-side and a B-side and they looked the same, in the way that cars looked the same from either side.

But the cassette Transformers only have one-sided disguise modes.

If they were video cassettes, I wouldn't mind so much, because nobody ever looked at the underside of a video tape. But audio cassettes were supposed to be double-sided.

Martin

[The Doctor]

RuiNEd ForEvEr.

-Ralph

[Grand Moff Muffin]

The weird thing is, there was no reason for Ravage not to look the same on both sides. Buzzsaw, Rumble, etc. had one side of the cassette become the front/top of their robot mode and the other side the bottom/back of their robot mode - so a transformation reason for the cassette to look different on each side. But Ravage transforms sideways, with one side of the cassette becoming his right side and the other side his left side. So why is one side of him decorated to resemble a cassette tape but the other side of him not?

Martin

[Fortmax2020]

I thought the problem here would be that from front or end on he just looks rubbish, not that he didn't have enough labelling. 😄

[Pinwig]

I think with Ravage it's a compromise on making the two modes look like what they're intended to. You can display Ravage as a cat with no cassette markings so he looks more jaguar-like. He's got a cat deco side and a cassette deco side.

[Philip Ayres]

The Pulsecon version from 2021 fixes this:

tfwiki.net/wiki/Ravage_(G1)/toys#PulseCon

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Actually, I think that might be the one I currently own, if it's the one from the 2-pack.

Martin

[Philip Ayres]

It is

[Grand Moff Muffin]

That makes me happy. I admit I didn't pay much attention to that part of the 2-pack as I used to own the original Ravage, and the Covert Agent was a new toy to me.

Martin

[The Doctor]

I can do a great impersonation of Covert Ravage.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Is it as good as your other impersonations?