Dog Hunter

He's been married five times and carries a can of bear mace.

Dog Hunter is a Beastformer from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Dog Hunter (ドッグハンター Doggu Hantā) is a Beastformer of boundless energy and cheer, willing to talk to anyone. Having allied with the Autobots during the Decepticon-assisted occupation of planet Beast, he has since risen to the role of King of his home country of Iriano, assisted by Emperor Udan. The eager canine has a vast wealth of knowledge of his homeland's culture, and he's happy to tell you all about it... though once he starts on a lecture, he tends to slip into "intellectual" mode at times, even coming across uncharacteristically stern.

His specialty is high-speed reconnaissance, with emphasis on "high-speed": aside from his ultra-keen senses that allow him to keep track of his target, he's one of the fastest things on the planet. His cybernetically-enhanced legs let him run at speeds of over 1000km an hour, and he can push himself even harder to hit Mach 1. If that didn't make him a hard enough target, his "Beam Hunter" (ビームハンター Bīmu Hantā) MVP Weapon is a laser rifle with the ability to teleport himself and other objects.

He's incredibly close to Smileduck, and through him shares a friendship with Big Serow.

Fiction

Beastformers comic

Dog Hunter was among the Beastformers who stood in defense of Bistoram when the Laser Beasts invaded the surface. Beastformers VS Laser Beasts

Legends comic

Dog Hunter was part of the final battle between the Beastformers and the Laser Beasts for Beast in 2023. He witnessed White Leo and Tigerburn become crystalline statues, ending the war. The Road to Legends' Revival Chapter 1

Toys

Transformers: Beastformers

• Dog Hunter (Beastformer, 1987)
  • Beast ID number: 61
  • Accessories: Rifle

Sold in the third assortment of the Takara Beastformers subline, Dog Hunter is a small soft-plastic figure of an anthropomorphic English Pointer dog with dark blue robotic armor. He has one of three rubsigns on his chest, revealing the elemental power of Fire, Water, or Wood.

In the Hasbro Battle Beasts line, there is a variant to "Pixelated Pointer", giving him bright pinkish-purple chest detailing and eyes, rather than the usual medium-purple. It is currently unknown if this variant was also available in Beastformers.

As he was only released in the third series, he only had the third style of Beastformer bio card, with the forest backdrop and the comic-style line-art used on the Hasbro Battle Beasts checklist-poster. Depending on what "Pack" box he came in, there was a chance of his bio card being replaced with a rare "Secret Photo", "Bewitching Serpent Seal", or "VS Holography Mirror" card.

• Burstsun Special Set (Multi-pack, 1987)
  • Accessories: Rifle

The first Beastformers multipack, the Burstsun Special Set (バーストサンスペシャルセット Bāsutosan Supesharu Setto) contained ten figures. It could have one of two special editions of the faction leaders: either a clear-plastic "Ghost" version of Alligatron, or White Leo with the then-unique "Burstsun" rubsign (but no other notable changes). The other nine slots were filled out from a possible roster of twelve other figures, all unchanged from their individual releases. The box contained no windows, so you didn't know which toys you got until you opened it up.

The twelve possible standard Beastformers in the set were Black Jaguar, Būpink, Crowmax, Dog Hunter, Dream Eater, Earthhog, Mingo Kid, Muskhorn, Pangol, Slo, Udan, and White Cow.

Beastformers

• Dog Hunter (Beastformer, 1988)
  • Beast ID number: 61
  • Accessories: "Beam Hunter" MVP Weapon

Re-released in the Transformers-less Beastformers sequel series, Dog Hunter was given a straight re-release with new packaging and a new, more filled-out bio card with corrected coloring. This new card also gave his weapon, now branded an "MVP Weapon", the name "Beam Hunter".

He was sold in two similar-but-different styles of boxes. One wholly-generic version, sold in large display boxes like the Transformers releases, advertised the chance for the included bio card to instead be a rare holofoil card of White Leo with a "Burstsun" rubsign in a baggie taped to the back, so you could apply it to the Beastformer of your choice. The more common version has a slightly different box with a peg-hole in the top flap, and has a sticker on the bottom with his name and role on it.

Late in the run, the "mood ring" styled rubsigns were replaced with new rubsigns that revealed full-color Fire/Wood/Water images on black backdrops. (These rubsign variants also happened at the same time in the Hasbro Battle Beast version of the line.)

Notes

• Dog Hunter's post-Transformers bio card gives him the nickname "Hunter" (ハンター, hantā).

Foreign names

• English: Pixilated Pointer