Bowdog
- Bowdog is a Beastformer from the Generation 1 continuity family.
A scientist and theorist, Bowdog (ボードッグ Bōdoggu) puts his all into every project. Much like his best friend Violethorn, he's a go-getter ready to tackle hard problems, but unlike Violethorn, he's a lot less confident in his skills once he gets out of his normal fields of expertise. Combined with his perfectionist streak that makes him chafe when things aren't done right the first try, he has a real problem with learning new tricks.
But he's top dog (sorry) in his field, and can craft a mean weapon. In fact, he designed his own MVP Weapon, the Dog Fighter (ドッグファイター Doggu Faitā). This massive axe can track targets by smell, and will fly around obstacles when thrown, homing in on them and cutting them down. The weapon is keyed to Bowdog himself, making him the only one that can use it properly.
Following the Great War, he was granted the title of King of Bowdonia, with Violethorn serving as his subordinate Emperor. The two make a very effective pair, with Bowdog directing the burly bison so his brute force is applied at just the right points.
Fiction
Beastformers comic
Bowdog traveled to underneath the dried up Lake Sagan to search for the Three Wise Ones' Water Gem of Stillness together with White Leo, Badshark, Bluehorse and Deaspider. The mission had several possible outcomes and the Beastformers may have either succeeded or been forced to retreat by a giant scorpion or the mysterious enemy Sur, who would battle them for the gem if they found it. In one outcome Bowdog defeated the scorpion with his MVP Weapon, while in another he tried and failed to use it to tear down a wall between the party and the gem. If he attempted to destroy the wall with his bare hands, he caused too much noise and attracted the scorpion, causing the mission to fail. The Water Gem of Stillness
Dreamwave Generation One continuity
Bowdog was among the many Beastformers squabbling on their home planet when Megatron arrived to fetch the Predacons. Welcome to the Jungle
Toys
Beastformers
- Bowdog (Beastformer, 1987)
- Beast ID number: 21
- Accessories: Blade-weapon
- Part of the first series of Takara's Beastformers toys, Bowdog is an anthropomorphic dog of indeterminate breed in pale green robotic armor. The rubsign on his stomach reveals one of three symbols; Fire, Water or Wood.
- The Hasbro Battle Beasts release of the figure can vary in the tone of the green paint used on its armor, with some samples being a more desaturated and matte olive; it's uncertain if the Takara version has similar (minor) paint variation.
- He was re-released in the subsequent second and third series; while the toy proper was not changed, the packaging and packed-in bio card was. The Series 1 release comes in a generic red-grid "Cybertron Beastformer" box, with a red-grid bio card with a painted character image on the front, though there was a random chance of his card being replaced by the rare "Holography Mirror" card. Series 2 came in a green-grid generic "Cybertron Beastformer" box, with the bio card putting the painted image on a jungle backdrop. Series 3's box was unchanged, but the bio card replaced the painted image with a simpler line-art image, first used in Hasbro's Battle Beasts cast poster. In the green-box releases, depending on the "Pack" 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.
Beastformers
- Bowdog (Beastformer, 1988)
- Beast ID number: 21
- Accessories: "Dog Fighter" MVP Weapon
- Re-released in the Transformers-less Beastformers sequel series, Bowdog 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 "Dog Fighter".
- 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.)
- Bowdog (Gashapon/candy-toy Beastformer, 1988)
- Meiji ID number: 5
- Accessories: "Bomb Scissors" weapon
- A small, super-deformed, articulation-free version of Bowdog was sold both as a gashapon capsule prize by Takara, and as a candy toy with "chocoballs" through the candy/ snack company Meiji. The candy toy version came with a bio/data card with its own role-playing rules, using the old Transformers-era painted character art.
- This stumpy lil fellow could be found in red, blue or green plastic, representing the Fire, Water and Wood elements (even though he still had a rubsign). All of the Meji Beastformers comes with a different Beastformer's weapon attached to their left shoulder by a snippable sprue, common for inexpensive toys of that nature. Bowdog came with Bombsheep's "Bomb Scissors" weapon, but it is currently unknown who came with Bowdog's "Dog Hunter"; it's either Flying Attacker or Zebra Ball.
Notes
- It's unclear what breed of dog Bowdog is based on. His two bio cards simply call him a "dog" (いぬ inu), nothing more specific. The toy appears vaguely pit bull-like, while the painted character art used on the various bio cards gives him more of a boxer look. Good luck figuring out what the comic-style art is meant to look like.
- Speaking of the comic art, the 1988 edited version of it shortens the handle-shaft of his weapon to fit the art better into the card.
- His 1988 bio card gives him the nickname "Bowg" (ボーグ Bōgu), and notes he was born in Dog City.
Foreign names
- English: Danger Dog
