Hook (G1)
| The name or term "Hook" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Hook (disambiguation). |
- Hook is a Decepticon Constructicon from the Generation 1 continuity family.
The snob of the Constructicons, Hook considers himself an artist. He looks upon the rest of the Decepticons almost as peasants, beneath him to a degree. Though full of himself, Hook is a master craftsman, having truly earned his insufferable ego. His high standards that he holds himself and others to means he takes extra care to ensure even the most simple of jobs is completed to the nth degree of perfection. Although Megatron acknowledges Hook's incredible skill, he gets impatient with the time it takes Hook to finish his work. Hook cannot understand the frustration at the delays this causes, he just sees it as doing the job right.
Hook condescends to join his fellow Constructicons in forming Devastator. It is only fitting that he should form the head and shoulders.
Fiction
Generation 1 cartoon continuity
The Transformers cartoon
- Voice actor: Neil Ross (English), Yoku Shioya (Japanese), Kōki Kataoka (Japanese, "Heavy Metal War"), Keiichi Nanba (Japanese, "Microbots"), Masashi Ebara (Japanese, The Movie), Edgar Wald (Latin American)
Hook, who was evil, helped build Megatron. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4 Later, Megatron used the Robo-Smasher to make Hook, who was good, evil. The Secret of Omega Supreme Finally, Megatron built Hook, who, with his fellow Constructicons, would attempt to deal with Teletraan I, only to be thwarted by the Dinobots. Bonecrusher would then reveal the Constructicons' ability to combine by forming Devastator, who was blasted by Optimus Prime into lava. Heavy Metal War
Hook and the other Constructicons would later appear in New York City, bringing down, then re-erecting the Empire State Building as a Cybertronian fortress. In the time between, he dismantled Optimus Prime, so it was a busy day for him. City of Steel He later helped build the Transfixatron. Before a second Constructicon device could be used to destroy the powerless Autobots that the Transfixatron had stuck in vehicle mode, they were rescued, and Hook and the other Constructicons were defeated by their own Transfixatron. The Autobot Run
"Uh oh. He's waking up. Better get him back to the subway station,"
The Constructicons then built a giant drill to tap into Earth's core, although Hook had to reprimand Scavenger for almost messing it up. During the mission, however, the Constructicons got dominator discs snuck onto them by a group of Autobots, with Wheeljack blasting one onto Hook with his shoulder cannon. When the Constructicons next formed Devastator, the Autobots activated the discs, taking control of the combiner and forcing him to defeat the other Decepticons. They then took Devastator back to Autobot headquarters, where Hook separated from him to help repair Jazz while simultaneously bragging about his skill. Eventually, Megatron nullified the dominator discs' effects, bringing the Constructicons back into Decepticon control just in time to stop their own out-of-control drill from destroying the planet. The Core
Hook, led by Scrapper, convinced Hoist and Grapple that they wanted to aid the two Autobots in a construction project to build a Solar Power Tower. Megatron was not at all happy to hear about this, but the Constructicons explained that it was just a ruse, and that they would turn the tower over to him when it was complete. They did, but the structure was subsequently ruined in a battle between Devastator and an attacking force of Autobots. The Master Builders A few Constructicons, including Hook, came with Megatron as he searched for their crashed spaceship in the jungles of South America. When they found it, Hook let Megatron borrow his cyberforceps so that he could cut loose the ship's power source, the Heart of Cybertron. Next, Hook was ordered to install the Heart inside Megatron himself, which he did flawlessly. Microbots
Hook and the other Constructicons later participated in an all-out battle against the Autobot forces, but in the aftermath everyone but Bonecrusher lay damaged on the ground. Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2 They were back in tip-top shape soon enough, which was good since all the other Decepticons were suffering from cybertonium depletion. Hook and the others took care of a shipment of cybertonium sent from Cybertron, but failed to stop the Dinobots from using the space bridge. Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1
Hook and the Constructicons later went into space to mine an asteroid. Omega Supreme, who had a vendetta against them, followed them and very nearly defeated Devastator. The Secret of Omega Supreme After Blitzwing and Astrotrain incapacitated Megatron and Starscream, the former promised to share leadership with the Constructicons if they helped build him a "zone defense"—a gigantic labyrinth outside the football arena the Triple Changer had taken to be headquarters. Everyone but Scrapper ended up getting lost in their own maze, but eventually found their way back to Blitzwing and demanded their share of the bargain. When Blitzwing refused, they merged into Devastator and attacked him, but soon enough Megatron returned and defeated both of them. Triple Takeover When Starscream went against Megatron with his Combaticons, the Constructicons were called in against them, but Devastator was defeated quite utterly by Bruticus. Starscream's Brigade
Present at the Battle of Autobot City, Hook helped to breach the Autobot defenses as part of Devastator, who withstood an Autobot attack. After a second attack by the Dinobots, Hook was not seen again until the confrontation on Astrotrain over who should lead the Decepticons after Megatron's defeat. He believed that Soundwave was an uncharismatic bore and that nobody would follow him. Rumble did not take kindly to his comments. Hook and the other Constructicons made it back to Cybertron to be present at Starscream's becoming the new Decepticon leader. After a fanfare and the death of Starscream at the hands (or cannon) of Galvatron, Hook and his fellow surviving Decepticons joined in the hunt for the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. The Transformers: The Movie
However, Galvatron was vanquished and the Decepticons were driven off Cybertron. Hook and Constructicons were forced to take refuge on Chaar alongside most other Decepticons. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1 Eventually, the Quintessons offered them energy in change for attacking a group of Autobots on Goo 8739B, and the starved Decepticons happily agreed. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3 When Galvatron returned and allied himself with the Quintessons, Hook and the Constructicons were tasked with building Trypticon out of a human city. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4
The Constructicons proceeded to build a giant engine capable of moving an asteroid, but the asteroid was destroyed and instead they fell onto the planet of Eurythma. Carnage in C-Minor During the Decepticon assault on Paradron, Hook and the Constructicons tried to kill Ultra Magnus and Sandstorm, but failed. Fight or Flee They were briefly seen helping the Predacons attack Broadside in the Sea of Japan The Burden Hardest to Bear, followed by the Decepticon attack on Cybertron aiming to infiltrate the Plasma Energy Chamber. The Rebirth, Part 1
Japanese cartoon continuity
Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers comic
On an island paradise, Hook and the Constructicons were performing excavation work for Megatron's new fortress, at the cost of the natural resources and precious animals. The Autobots arrived to stop the Decepticons. Despite their vast power, Trypticon and the combined Devastator failed to defeat the Autobots due to their lack of teamwork, and the Constructicons were knocked back into their component parts. The Autobots forced Hook and his comrades to undo the damage they had done to the island. Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #6
Scramble City: Mobilization
When the Decepticons learned of the Scramble City project being secretly assembled by the Autobots, Megatron sent his henchmen to interfere with their work. The Constructicons joined Starscream and his flying partners in an attack on the Autobots. Optimus Prime and a task force of Autobots held their position until Hook and the Constructicons inevitably joined forces into Devastator. The Aerialbots gave Devastator a good whippin', though, and the Decepticons retreated. Scramble City: Mobilization
The Headmasters cartoon
- Voice actor: Masaharu Satō (Japanese), Alejandro Abdalah (Latin American)
Hook and the Constructicons were stationed on Earth in 2011, under the command of Sixshot. They attempted to prevent Ultra Magnus from sending reinforcements to Cybertron to help the Autobots fend off Galvatron's siege on Vector Sigma. Hook and his squad were ganging up on the Trainbots until Metroplex arrived and shooed them off with his superior firepower. Having failed to stop the Autobot reinforcements from departing, the Constructicons followed them to Cybertron. As Devastator, they tried to shoot Superion in the back, but Optimus Prime foiled their aim, making them hit Abominus instead. Four Warriors Come out of the Sky Devastator was involved in a combiner shootout on Cybertron until the Battleship Maximus arrived and annihilated the Decepticon combiners. The Mystery of Planet Master
Hook and the Constructicons were guarding the Decepticon space bridge on Earth, but failed miserably when Twincast single-handedly fought them off and stole a ride on the bridge. The Great Cassette Operation
Zone cartoon, comic, and story pages
Seeking to create a Decepticon Zone to counter the Autobot Zone, Decepticon Emperor Violen Jiger gathered together the Nine Great Demon Generals, upgrading them with powerful new armor and weaponry, then sent them forth to conquer planets. Hook was among those summoned, but only in the form of Devastator. Zone Part 1 Zone Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!
Wings Universe
Hook was the Decepticon Warlord who led the Constructicon faction during the early days of the Great War. When the factions came under threat from the Cybertron Elite Guard, they formed a War Council with the intention of combining their talents to destroy the Elite Guard. Hook's spies had discovered some intriguing technology in the ruins of Gygax, however information gathered by Shockwave at the meeting enabled Megatron to persuade Hook to merge their factions. A Team Effort Following Megatron's conquering of Deathsaurus's territory, Deathsaurus's Combiner technology was applied to Hook and his team to create Devastator. Battle Lines, Part 5
During the third Cybertronian war, the Constructicons were ambushed at Elevation Recostalus by a group of Autobots including Hauler and Erector, who disabled them before they could form Devastator. The group remained offline until 1984, when Megatron rebuilt them on Earth and appointed Scrapper as leader in Hook's place. Transformers I.Q. last issue review
During the Battle of Autobot City, Devastator was blasted apart by Ultra Magnus's team. Hook and the other Constructicons began pursuing the Autobots, gunning down Red Alert in the process. A Flash Forward
Marvel Comics continuity
Generation 1
Early in the Transformers' war on Earth, Shockwave used the stolen power of the Creation Matrix to give life to the first of a new generation of Decepticon warriors, the Constructicons. Hook and the other Constructicons were immediately given a mission upon their coming online—construct a communications tower to transmit a message to Cybertron. A truckstop was raided for raw materials, which attracted the ire of trucker Bomber Bill, who, with the aid of the Autobots, managed to destroy the tower Hook and the other Constructicons had built. The Next Best Thing to Being There!
Hook and the Constructicons, after troubleshooting their union as Devastator, were sent by Shockwave to abduct Buster Witwicky. Their attack was called off to regroup when Soundwave discovered Buster held the rest of the Creation Matrix in his head. Devastation Derby!
After Megatron's retaking of Decepticon command, Hook and the other Constructicons were charged with building perimeter defences around their headquarters located at the base of a coal strip mine in eastern Wyoming. Devastator's services were again required when the Autobots staged a surprise attack, but they retreated once they had what they needed. Command Performances!
When Galvatron came back in time to 1986, he summarily dispatched Megatron and forced the Constructicons to help him in constructing a massive energy cannon which would be useful to him in the future. Despite working on his project, Hook and the others showed no other loyalty to Galvatron, and remained out of the fighting until the future Decepticons returned to their own time. Target: 2006
During Ratbat's command, an attack was ordered on the combined Autobot forces on Earth's moon while Blaster and Grimlock dueled for leadership. Under cover of battle, Hook and the other Constructicons retrieved the remains of several fallen and captured Decepticons. Totaled!
Earthforce
With Soundwave in command, Hook joined a massive Decepticon offensive against the Autobot Earthbase. Their goal was to kill some Autobots, while also distracting them as Starscream looted a human oil tanker in the Gulf of Mexico. Both goals proved fruitless, and the Decepticons were driven off. Divide and Conquer!
Marvel UK future timelines
When the Decepticons were forced into a suicidal assault on Autobase by Scourge and Cyclonus in 2008, Hook was among the many Decepticons seen in combat with the Autobots. The Legacy of Unicron!
Generation 2
Hook was seen onboard the Warworld among the Decepticons rallied by Megatron against Jhiaxus's Cybertronians. New Dawn
Classics
Both Hook and Mixmaster were curiously absent from the Constructicons, with the enigmatic Hightower in their place. It's unclear why this was, but Hightower himself joked about stripping enough spare parts off of Grimlock to "build a new Hook". Crossing Over: Part 6
Dreamwave Generation 1 comics
Nine million years ago, Hook and the Constructicons were helping Megatron in his plot to turn Cybertron into a mobile juggernaut, raging throughout the universe. He defended the engine controls alongside Thrust and Rumble against Grimlock's commandos, but eventually gave up and scattered before the big boom. The War Within #6 Sometime later, he and the Constructicons were the first to break the Crisis Intervention Accord during the Dark Ages, joining up with Ratbat and the Ultracons in their Devastator form, and doing battle with Defensor and the Wreckers in the Tagan Heights. Escalation The Constructicons were eventually defeated, though the conflict devastated a large portion of Cybertron's biggest manufacturing area. Devastation
At some point after the initial launch of the Nemesis, Hook and the Constructicons wound up on Earth during the 1980's and began working with Megatron and his faction of Decepticons on that planet. Unfortunately, they were eventually captured and detained during Operation Liberation in 1998, when the united human and Autobot forces brought them down. Earth's triumph turned to tragedy in 1999, however, as the initial flight of the Ark II back to Cybertron exploded in mid-air, apparently destroying all the Transformers on board. When the Decepticons awoke in 2002, Hook was part of the initial assault on San Francisco along with the rest of the Constructicons as Devastator. Prime Directive #4 Despite their victory over the counterpart combiner, Superion, the Constructicons were eventually brought low by Optimus Prime himself. Prime Directive #5
Soon revived by Starscream's good graces, Hook and the Constructicons loyally served under the former Decepticon lieutenant commander after Megatron disappeared off the face of the Earth. The "spin the bottle" leadership of the Constructicons apparently fell to Hook in these days, and he and his team began operating out of Las Vegas, where Starscream had set up a base of operations called "New Centurion", after his home city-state on Cybertron. In defending New Centurion, Hook coordinated his dutiful minions Scrapper and Mixmaster against the invading forces of Grimlock and his Autobot comrades. The lofty Constructicon attempted to direct the battle from the air, but Prowl managed to knock Hook out of the sky, physically grappling with him and pulling the surgeon down to the ground below. Then Grimlock stepped on his head. It hurt. A lot. Hardwired
Megatron eventually returned to Earth, but Hook and the Constructicons owed Starscream for reconstructing them, and so remained loyal to him when the Decepticons split into two factions. Of course, this only meant they were among the first to be captured by the Keepers when those aliens took over Las Vegas and turned Starscream into their puppet. Trapped behind an impenetrable force dome, Hook and the Constructicons attempted to batter their way out as Devastator using sheer brute force, until Skywarp offered a better idea. Reconverting into their separate modes, the Constructicons dug a tunnel out beneath the force field, enabling Starscream's faction to join the final battle against the Keepers. Acting as Devastator, they were too far away from Optimus Prime and his Matrix-induced force shield when the American nuclear assault was dropped on the Keepers, and were blasted into pieces. Annihilation
The nuclear blast left Devastator fused into his singular robot mode, leaving him unable to split back into Hook and his other components. Eventually, Devastator fell into the Void along with Omega Sentinel in the final conflict with the Keepers, and was left in stasis lock, drifting in the vacuum of space, after the Sentinel destroyed the Keepers' power source and shattered the Void back into real space-time. The starship Bounty, on a secret space mission from Earth, came across Devastator's remains and planned to tow him back to Earth. Fusion
The pieces of Hook and the Constructicons fell under the control of Earth Defense Command, and were held in their Roswell facility for study. Generation 1 #0
G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers
The ruthless terrorist organization known as Cobra dug dozens of Autobots and Decepticons out of their four-million-year resting place and began rebuilding them into a Cobra-controlled army. However, with Wheeljack and Bumblebee's help, the mind-controlled Transformers were awakened, and a very angry Hook crushed the Cobra machine he was carrying before moving onto the humans that had been controlling him. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #3 After capturing Doctor Mindbender, Hook sorta felt like playing wishbone with the human, but opted for dropping him into Mixmaster's mixing drum instead. Unfortunately, he was robbed of this pleasure when Soundwave arrived and took the doctor to help him work the SPS Satellite. The Constructicons were subsequently ordered to defend the satellite's controls from the attacking Autobots and G.I. Joes. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #4 Hook and the others combined into Devastator to fight off the enemies, but the giant was overwhelmed and defeated relatively quickly. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #5
IDW Generation 1 continuity
After the Senate cut back significantly on the need for sentient workers in the realm of manual labor, Hook and the Constructicons found themselves out of work. They found new employment, however, in the underground gladiator tournaments of Kaon. Instead of personally participating in the death sports, the Constructicons maintained the arena itself, creating a new stadium at random locations just hours before each match began, using nothing more than the raw materials at hand. Megatron Origin #2 As Megatron's plans moved from gladiatorial combat to insurrection, Hook and the Constructicons turned their talents from arena building to weapon modifications. When the Seekers joined Megatron, Hook modified them to possess onboard weaponry. Megatron Origin #3
As the war began to sweep across Cybertron, Hook and the Constructicons remained loyal followers of Megatron. When the Decepticons joined forces with Orion Pax's Autobots to overthrow Zeta Prime, Hook participated in their combined assault on the Citadel. Overthrown Four million years ago, Hook was working with Soundwave and his Mini-Cassettes to run interference for an energon convoy bringing fresh supplies to Megatron's army. The Iron Age The Constructions battled against the Autobots when they made an assault on the Citadel. Broadcast As the war began in earnest between the Autobots and Decepticons, the Constructicons remained loyal followers of Megatron. At one point they were stationed on Varas Centralus alongside Swindle and Sky-Byte, where they committed some atrocity that was enough to cause Sky-Byte to abandon the Decepticon cause. A Better Tomorrow
Millions of years later, Hook and his pals were eventually called to Earth, where they used their newly acquired combination ability to beat down the local Autobots. All Hail Megatron #7 As the Decepticons moved on to New York City, Hook was shocked to hear Scrapper declare that they were benevolent aliens who had come to preach to the humans about kindness and cooperation. He quickly got the joke, though, and shared a good laugh with Scrapper as they started killing fleshlings left and right. All Hail Megatron #1 After mysteriously failing to recognise Frenzy, whom he'd met yonks ago, Hook joined the other Constructicons in forming Devastator and attacking the city's tunnels. All Hail Megatron #2 The primary task of the Constructicons, however, was to build an unknown structure in New York (cannibalising the local buildings to do so). Hook made the supreme sacrifice here of actually being in that filthy cramped hovel. All Hail Megatron #3
When Starscream decided to take leadership of the Decepticons, Hook and the other Constructicons sided with him. They combined into Devastator and attacked Megatron, but failed to kill him due to an attack by human jets. All Hail Megatron #10 The jets were soon followed by a unit of Autobots, and Devastator met his match in Omega Supreme. All Hail Megatron #11 The battle ended with Devastator getting shot straight through the torso. All Hail Megatron #12
Hook survived the damage done to Devastator's chest, but was captured and deactivated by Skywatch. Two years after the battle in New York, Hook, Mixmaster and several other prisoners were retrieved from Skywatch by a group of Transformers attempting to get off the planet. The group's leader, the Autobot Hot Rod, assigned Jetfire to bring Hook's consciousness back. A Rude Awakening The Autobot was successful, and Hook joined Mixmaster and Scrapper in constructing a starship that was ostensibly for both the Autobots and Decepticons. Seasons in Flight
Of course, things didn't actually work out that way. Unable to convince Rodimus to let him reassemble the Constructicons, Swindle instead applied combiner technology to the Stunticons, creating Menasor. Hook and the other Decepticons turned on the Autobots, and Hook was seen in battle against Optimus Prime. (Losing.) After Menasor was brought down, Swindle escaped from the Autobots and Skywatch along with some Constructicons, possibly including Hook. Earthworks When Megatron returned to Earth four months later, Hook rejoined the main Decepticon army. He and the others observed as a lone Optimus Prime confronted Megatron, and was caught in the explosion when Prime had a satellite fall on top of Decepticons. Enemy Mine
Megatron would later use space bridge technology built into in his new body to summon Hook and the rest of the Decepticons to him on Cybertron. To battle the Autobots, Hook and the other Constructions combined into Devastator. They ultimately lost because Devastator's right leg was paralyzed due to combining with a dead Scrapper. They were soon mind-controlled by Galvatron into combining with his Sweep army and forming a huge monster. Chaos Part Three: Kings Once this "Deceptigod" was defeated, the Decepticons were left weakened, and so the Autobots captured them and planted I/D chips in their heads. Hook and the others were briefly released to violently deal with a NAIL riot. The Death of Optimus Prime
Hook was sitting around in the Decepticon prison when Needlenose and Horri-Bull were brought in for beating a NAIL. The Autonomy Lesson Hook was later outraged that the Autobots had called Ratbat's death as suicide and helped with his fellow Constructicons dig out some victims from a blast crater. Stick Together Hook later labored in a Decepticon factory before joining forces with Bombshell, who was being chased by Prowl. The Constructicons beat up Blurr and fought with Arcee until Prowl showed up, threatening to detonate their I/D chips. They just taunted him since Ratbat had disabled their chips, but Prowl used a secret passcode to override the disabling, killing all the Constructicons. Devisive
The Verge Before the Dawn Plan for Everything Heavy Is the Head Second Exodus
Hall of Fame bios
Hook joined the Constructicons after Erector was rejected for not being green. Transformers Hall of Fame
Games
Transformers Legends
While Megatron kept Optimus busy, Hook and the rest of the Constructicon team to attempt to infiltrate the Autobot base and strike directly at Teletraan I. They mowed through Ironhide's initial attempt at defenses. Heavy Metal War - Part 1
Toys
Generation 1
- Hook (Constructicon, 1985/1986)
- Team ID number: 4
- Japanese ID number: 33
- Accessories: Laser pistol, Devastator head, Devastator head laser
- Hook was originally from Takara'sPre-Transformers Diaclone toyline, as Construction Vehicle Robot No. 3 Truck Crane. He transforms from a bright green robot to a bright green Nissan Diesel Unic truck crane. Hook can also form an Attack Crane mode by attaching Devastator's head and head gun behind the vehicle mode cab.
- He can combine with his fellow Constructicons to form Devastator, functioning as the upper torso.
- On the European continent, Hook was initially released individually alongside the other Constructicons by Hasbro's subsidiary Milton Bradley (MB) in 1985.[1][2] In 1986, Hook and the other Constructicons were re-released in Europe, albeit this time in "Hasbro"-branded packaging (but manufactured by Joustra). The main difference with all other releases thus far was that the Constructicons' main color was now yellow instead of green.[3][4][5] These are not to be confused with the later, non-combining yellow European Constructicons, nor with the yellow Generation 2 Constructicons (see below for both).
- Devastator (Giftset, 1985)
- Japanese ID number: 37
- Hook was also available as part of the Devastator gift set that was available in several markets, including the United States and Japan. Rumors are that an MB-branded Devastator giftset was also released in continental Europe, but thus far no packaged sample has surfaced.[2]
- Constructicon (Constructicon, 1992)
- Accessories: Laser pistol
- Another yellow European exclusive version of Hook, in colors very similar to the previous yellow European release, although the extractable part of the crane arm was now cast in gray instead of yellow plastic. Not only did this version, just like the other Constructicons, come with no Devastator parts—this Hook had also been retooled so he lacked the peg used to connect with Bonecrusher. This toy was also not officially named, as he came on a standardized card also used by the other Constructicons.
Generation 2
- Hook (Constructicon, 1993)
- Team ID number: 4
- Accessories: Laser pistol, Devastator head, Devastator head laser
- Redecos of all six Constructicons were released individually as part of the first assortments of Generation 2 products. The first—and seemingly more common—versions were yellow like the previous European release, but had some minor color, deco and tooling differences. In Hook's case, the purple plastic parts were slightly brighter, the extractable part of the crane arm was yellow again (like on the first European yellow version), he featured a Generation 2-style Decepticon logo and the word "DECEPTICON" tampographed on the side of his right foot (the left side of the front section of his truck crane mode), and—most importantly—he had the peg needed to combine with Bonecrusher and came with all the extra parts necessary to form Devastator again.
- A later and seemingly less common run changed the yellow plastics to rich orange. It has been rumored that this release was only available in KB Toys stores, but not verified.
Encore
- Devastator (reissue giftset, 2011)
- ID number: 20
- Accessories: Laser pistol, Devastator head, Devastator head laser
- Hook was reissued in a gift set with his Constructicon teammates as part of TakaraTomy's Encore line. Apparently cast from a newly created mold, given the presence of a Tomy copyright stamp rather than the original Hasbro/Takara one, Hook sports a few minor differences from the original figure, including a softer face, a longer, rounder peg on his shoulder, a reversed crane hook that now points inwards, and an additional tab to lock him together more firmly while forming Devastator.
- Devastator (reissue giftset, 2013)
- ID number: 20A
- Accessories: Laser pistol, Devastator head, Devastator head laser
- Hook was again reissued in a giftset in 2013 as part of TakaraTomy's Encore line, this time in a more 'anime accurate' color scheme. In addition to the mold changes of the 2011 version, Hook is also a slightly different color and features more cartoon-accurate paint applications on his face. Notably, Devastator's head is a new mold, which more closely resembles his head as it appears in the cartoon.
Merchandise
- Destron Hero Collection 22 (Decoy multi-pack, 1985)
- In Japan, a purple rubber mini-figure of Hook was available in part of a massive multi-pack of similar mini-figurines. The number etched into his back is the sum total of his Tech Spec ratings, as these figurines were used as game pieces for a variety of Transformers board games in which this number had some meaning to how the game was played or something.
- Hook (Decoy, 1987)
- Decoy number: 42
- The Hasbro Decoy release of the Hook game piece is almost identical to the Japanese version, except the number on his back is a simple "checklist" number. Like all Decepticon Decoys, he was a randomly-chosen pack-in available with the carded Throttlebots, Combaticons, Stunticons and Terrorcons. Early Throttlebots were packaged with red Decepticon decoys: these are much rarer than the purple ones.
Notes
- Like his fellow Constructicon Long Haul, Hook has an animation model gaff. His robot legs are regularly shown as being entirely silver from the thigh down and moreso lacking in details than most other G1 animation models for some reason. As the series went on, his legs regularly lost more details, especially in the AKOM episodes which would sometimes lose the cab on his left leg entirely or render it is as a much larger left foot.
- Hasbro apparently lost the trademark to the name "Hook" some time ago, as it has not been used since 1993 despite several Constructicon-homage teams appearing after that point. "Hightower" has become the new default crane-bot name.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Gren (グレン Guren)[6]
- French: Toubib (Canada, "Doctor")
- Hungarian: Horog ("Hook")
- Italian: Rostro ("Beak")
- Mandarin: Hook (Taiwan, 虎克 Hǔ Kè)
- Portuguese: Gancho (Brazil comic), Anzol (Portugal comic, "Hook")
- Russian: Kryuk (Крюк, "Hook")
- Ukrainian: Gak (Гак, "Hook")
References
- ↑ "Milton Bradley and the red TF Tracks" at TF-1.com.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "MB Transformers Collection" at 20th Century Toy Collector.
- ↑ "French Connection" at the TF Source blog.
- ↑ "Europe's Strangest Attractions" at the TF Scource blog.
- ↑ "French TFs: G1 Yellow Constructicons" at Fred's Workshop.
- ↑ "Gren" is effectively a mangled version of the English word "crane" (クレーン) which didn't originate with Takara, but has been used at least in regional Japanese dialects (mostly in the Hiroshima area) since the Meiji period. So it's basically a reference to a traditional instance of Engrish.
