- “See Spot Burn!”
- —Hot Dog's official catchphrase
Hot Dog is a young Fire dog who is one of the Core Skylanders in Skylanders: Giants. He has a yellow counterpart called Molten Hot Dog that is exclusive to Walmart. His Series 2 counterpart is called Fire Bone Hot Dog. He was originally one of the three starter Skylanders in Skylanders: Ring of Heroes prior to its reboot.
Character Development
While the Giants were being designed by concept artist I-Wei Huang, the other designers were able to create more ability-centric designs to the Core Skylanders rather than being being confined to provided visuals. While Hot Dog started his journey this way, his destination - at least visually - was far off the mark. Nat Loh's original idea for what would become Hot Dog was to have a Tae Kwon Do-like martial artist who kicked fireballs out of his feet. In development, Nat was using Flameslinger's model for the placeholder art and the idea was coming along nicely. The fire wall animation was to have this Skylander make the wall with a leg sweep and force in forward with an explosive martial arts move. However, Nat Loh was given a dog, much to his disappointment. The animation team reworked the fire moveset that would be fit for a dog. Nat used this opportunity to fulfill his random ambition of making a dog who shoots bees when he barks. This idea was later implemented in Hot Dog's Series 2 Wow Pow, Bees! Bees! Bees!, in which Nat made sure to make the bee more prominent.[2]
Background
Personality
Hot Dog possesses a fierce loyalty to his friends, and true to his nature, he likes to bury things, especially imps.[3] He is always bounding around like an excitable puppy - which is exactly what he is. Not the kind of Skylander to go hungry, he is always on the lookout for a sizzling snack.[4]
Biography
Hot Dog was born in the belly of the Popcorn Volcano. While on a nearby mission, a team of Skylanders had come across the stray fire pup when the volcano erupted and Hot Dog came rocketing straight into their camp, accidentally setting Gill Grunt's tent on fire. Using his nose of danger, he helped the Skylanders complete their mission - even pouncing on a Lava Golem like a blazing comet when it threatened his new friends. After displaying such loyalty and bravery, Hot Dog was brought back to Eon's Citadel where he became a Skylander - and then he proceeded to bury Eon's staff.
Story
History
This cutie-wutie little puppy was born in the belly of the Popcorn Volcano, then spat out when the volcano erupted. Luckily for Hot Dog, he crash-landed safely on a tent in a nearby camp. But it was unlucky for the Skylander, Gill Grunt, who was fast asleep inside at the time. To make up for burning Gill Grunt's tent down, Hot Dog helped the Skylanders complete the mission Master Eon had sent them on. Using his amazing sense of smell, he led them to the end of their quest, and when a lava monster started threatening his new friends, Hot Dog demonstrated just how useful he can be in a scrap!
Brave, loyal, and able to scratch his ears with his hind legs, Hot Dog is a valuable member of the Skylanders, even if he does keep trying to bury Chop Chop when no one's looking.[5]
Terrafin Battles the Boom Brothers
Hot Dog was enjoying a day-off at the Fantastic Fairy Fair with fellow Skylanders, Terrafin and Sonic Boom. The trio of Skylanders soon discovered a sad Rock Golem named Rocky who was under the unwilling employment of Professor Puck, the fair's owner who took Rocky from his home after discovering that the Golem's magical, singing voice made everyone within earshot dance. After saving Gurglefin from a sticky cluster of cotton candy, the Skylanders attended Puck's circus show with Rocky being the star attraction due to his singing. Soon, the show was interrupted when a group of Trolls and the evil Sweet-O-Tron 3000 trapped everyone, including the Skylanders, under a layer of sticky candyfloss, and kidnapped Rocky, believing him to the Earth segment to the Mask of Power.
Thanks to Hot Dog's fire power, the Skylanders were able to free themselves and the crowd from the candyfloss. The fire puppy then assisted Terrafin and Sprocket in their battle against Kaos, the Trolls, and Sweet-O-Tron 3000, saving the circus from a sticky explosion.
The Skylanders returned to the Eternal Archives after discovering a clue that helped them learn about the Boom Brothers, a pair of robots responsible for making explosives. Figuring that that the Explosive Emporium is where Kaos had taken Rocky, Hot Dog went with Terrafin, Sonic Boom, and Sprocket to Junk Mountain where the explosions factory laid. After getting past the aggressive Trash Ogre and the emporium's security, the Skylanders were able to sneak inside and find Rocky only to fall into a trap made by Kaos and the Boom Brothers. The evil Portal Master then forced the heroes to dance uncontrollably by throwing sticks of dynamite that contained Rocky's enchanted singing called disco dynamite. Terrafin quickly thought of a plan and instructed Sonic Boom to use her ear-piercing screech to drown the Boom Brother's disco dynamite and help stop the Skylanders from dancing. Thanks to this, the Skylanders were able to seal themselves inside the room, which turns out to be a large rocket.
Kaos threatened to blow the Skylanders sky-high should they refuse to let him and his troll army back inside the rocket. Even worse, the Boom Brothers recovered from the attack and held Hot Dog hostage, also threatening the Skylanders to surrender otherwise the robots would detonate the whole room using a pineapple grenade. Terrafin pretended to surrender to the Boom Brothers, tricking them into arguing with one another until one of the brothers forced the pineapple grenade down his sibling's throat, causing them both to explode.
With the danger of the Boom Brothers gone, there was still the threat of Kaos ordering the Skylanders to surrender Rocky. Sprocket unintentionally launched the rocket, sending the Skylanders away from Junk Mountain and leaving Kaos and his troll army under what was left of the Explosive Emporium. Back at the Eternal Archive, the Skylanders discovered that the Earth segment wasn't Rocky, but his singing voice, which was given to him centuries ago by one of the Spell Punks who first split the Mask of Power. They soon accompanied Rocky back to the fair and attended his show, which turned out to be disastrous for Professor Puck when Rocky's true, terrible singing voice was heard. This caused the audience to turn against Puck as they paid him to hear Rocky sing his magical voice that he lost and proceeded to run Puck out of town, leaving the Skylanders and Rocky satisfied over their victory.
Return of the Dragon King
Hot Dog was among the forty Skylanders who were summoned to stop Malefor, the Undead Dragon King, from attacking the Skylanders Academy. However he along with the other Skylanders were defeated by the evil dragon and had their powers stolen.
Gameplay
Hot Dog's main attack is Firebark, which has him shooting fireballs from his mouth and tail, and he has a primary combo where he shoots three fireballs at once. He can summon a wall of fire that travels straight forward to push and damage enemies; it can also be can be held on the Attack 2 button to be used as a shield for incoming enemies. His third attack, the Comet Slam, flips him in the air spinning and then slamming down upon enemies for massive damage.
By choosing the Burning Bow-Wow path, Hot Dog's fireball attacks are further developed. This upgrade path grants him a more powerful Firebark attack and access to 2 new attacks: Burnin' Bees and Comet Dash, both useful in thinning the crowd. His Comet Slam attack can also be made to unleash fireballs all around him, allowing him to get right into the thick of battle.
By choosing the Pyro Pooch path, Hot Dog's Wall of Fire attack is further developed. This upgrade path grants him increasingly more powerful and more efficient firewalls to attack enemies with. The Wall of Fire can be upgraded into a 'Magmutt Battalion;' a wall of fiery dogs that shoot fireballs whenever Hot Dog does, allowing him to fight from a distance.
Hot Dog is generally a medium-long range fighter with powerful attacks, regardless of which upgrade path is chosen. However, his health and armor stats are very low, which ties him with Gill Grunt for the lowest armor in the game, making Hot Dog not as useful for battling enemies with stronger attacks.
Stats
These are the starting and maximum Statistics for this Skylander in the Skylanders games.
- Health: 250 (max. 500)
- Speed: 43 (max. 91)
- Armor: 6 (max. 36)
- Critical Hit: 60 (max. 110)
- Elemental Power: 46 (max. 96)
Warning: These stats are not used in any of the Skylander games. They are only listed for completeness reasons.
- Strength: 85
- Defense: 50
- Agility: 70
- Luck: 80
These are the starting and maximum Statistics for this Skylander in the Skylanders games.
- Health: ???
- Speed: ??
- Armor: ??
- Critical Hit: ??
- Elemental Power: ??
Warning: These stats are not used in any of the Skylander games. They are only listed for completeness reasons.
- Strength: 100
- Defense: 60
- Agility: 70
- Luck: 80
Abilities
Basic Abilities These abilities are available from the start of the game. |
Wow Pow Ability
| |||||
Firebark | Wall of Fire |
Ding Dong Ditch
Bees! Bees! Bees!
| ||||
Primary Ability Press Attack 1 to spit fireballs. Press Attack 1, Attack 1, Hold Attack 1 for a special combo! |
Secondary Ability Press Attack 2 to summon a wall of fire, which can be pushed towards enemies. |
|||||
Basic Upgrades Skylanders can buy new abilities from Persephone/Power Pods. | ||||||
Pyro Piercers | Comet Slam | Wall of MORE Fire | Super Comet | |||
Price: 500 Fireballs pierce multiple enemies and do increased damage. |
Price: 700 Press Attack 3 to flip into the air and slam down on the ground like a comet. |
Price: 900 Walls of Fire do increased damage. |
Price: 1200 Hold Attack 3 to charge up the Comet Slam and release to do increased damage. |
Burning Bow-Wow |
|
Hot Dog Combos | Bark Bombs | Pyro Pinwheel | ||
Price: 1700 Press Attack 1, Attack 1, Hold Attack 2 for Burnin' Bees. Press Attack 1, Attack 1, Hold Attack 3, for Comet Dash. |
Price: 2200 Fireballs explode on impact and do increased damage. |
Price: 3000 While holding Attack 3 to charge up the Comet Slam, Hot Dog shoots fireballs from all angles. |
Pyro Pooch |
|
Blazing Wildfire | Great Walls of Fire | Magmutt Battalion | ||
Price: 1700 Walls of Fire travels faster and do even more increased damage. |
Price: 2200 Walls of Fire are bigger and do even more increased damage. |
Price: 3000 Walls are now made up of fiery dogs that do maximum damage and shoot fireballs. |
Small Comet (Active) | ||
1 enemy |
Mana cost: 4 |
Fire Dog (Active) | ||
1 enemy |
Mana cost: 3 |
Loyal Dog of Fire (Passive) | ||
If your HP is 70% or above, increases your Accuracy by 10%. |
Skylanders can use abilities depending on their level.
Starting Powers
- Fireball (Primary Attack): Press (Y) to throw a ball of lava at Hot Dog's enemies.
- Fire Wall (Secondary Attack): Press and hold (X) to make a wall of fire that can be pushed at Hot Dog's enemies.
Upgrades
- Triple Fireball (requires level: 3): Hold (Y) to charge up Hot Dog's fireball to shoot out 3 fireballs at the same time.
- Fire wall extension (requires level: 6): Hot Dog's fire wall will gain an extra segment at each end to create a longer wall of fire.
- Fire Trail (requires level: 9): Sprint (A) to ignite a fiery trail behind Hot Dog. This trail will damage nearby enemies.
Quests
Basic Quests
- Monster Masher: Defeat 1000 enemies.
- Chow Hound: Eat 50 pieces of food.
- Arena Artist: Complete an arena without taking any damage.
- Battle Champ: Win 10 PvP matches.
- Heroic Challenger: Complete a heroic challenge without taking any damage.
Elemental Quests
- Elementalist: Cause 7500 elemental bonus damage.
- Bombardier: Defeat 25 enemies with bombs.
- Steamer: Defeat an evil Water Minion.
Unique Quest
- Animal Aggravator: Scare away 20 birds.
Basic Quests
- Bad Guy Basher: Defeat 1000 enemies.
- Fruit Frontiersman: Eat 15 fruit.
- Flawless Challenger: Complete a non-Story Mode level at full health.
- True Gladiator: Win 10 PVP matches.
- Totally Maxed Out: Reach level 20 and purchase all Upgrades for this Skylander.
Elemental Quests
- Elementalist: Deal 7500 elemental bonus damage.
- Mega Melter: Defeat a total of 25 Ice Geargolems.
- Bombardier: Defeat 30 enemies with bombs.
Unique Quest
- Animal Aggravator: Eat 10 Hot Dogs.
Quotes
Battle Cries
- "See Spot Burn!"
- "Fire wall!"
- "Oh yeah!"
- "Hot under the collar!"
- "Fear of dog!"
- "Yes!"
- "Alright!"
- "Head fire!"
- "Next time, I'll eat your shoes!"
- "Success is mine!"
- "Burning up!"
- "Looking good!" - when seeing Hot Dog's stats
- "Ooh! Top Dog!"
- "Ooh, looks like fun!"- when opening a Fire gate
- "Who unleashed the fire??"
- "My burn is worse than my bite!"
- "Hot! Hot!"
- "Excellent!"
- "Heat wave!"
- "Hot on the trail!"
- "Can't fence me in!"
- "Aruff, now I'm cookin'!"
- "Quite a fetching hat!" - when putting on a hat
- "Ooh hey, this matches my collar!" - when putting on a hat
- "Woof, I can live with that." - when given a nickname
- "Good name, even for me." - when given a nickname
Book Quotes
- "Hey Terrafin. Can we get some food now? Woof! Can we? Can we? Can we?"
- "He's the champ. He'd never let us down. Woof!"
Media Quotes
- "Check it out! Dog, in a dog house!" - Skylanders: Giants Easter Surprise promo
- "They're still going to be friends after this battle, right?" - Still Friends promo
Character Trailers
See also
Gallery
Trivia
- Hot Dog is the first Skylander to have his name based on a kind of food, followed by Thumpling, Pop Thorn, Rocky Roll, Jawbreaker and Tri-Tip.
- In early development of Skylanders: Giants, Hot Dog was named Comet.
- During Giants's alpha development, some of Hot Dog's abilities/upgrades were differently named.[6]
- His primary attack was called "Fire Feet."
- "Hot Dog Combos" was called "Canine Combos."
- He and Hot Head are the only Fire Skylanders with the word "hot" in their names.
- Coincidentally, they were the two Fire Skylanders that came out in Giants.
- He has an incredible sense of smell. His highly sensitive nostrils can sniff out trouble from miles away.[3]
- In Giants, the Bone Hat is placed in Hot Dog's mouth instead of on his head. In Swap Force, it was changed to being placed on his head.
- This is because his Series 2 Wow Pow, Bees! Bees! Bees!, adds a fiery bone in his mouth.
- He, Ignitor, Fryno, Fire Kraken, and Eruptor all have "burn" in their catchphrases.
- Although it's not a melee attack, he can perform combos with his Firebark, making him the only Skylander with this ability.
- His catchphrase is a pun on the term See Spot Run.
- He, Swarm and Bumble Blast have bee-related moves.
- Hot Dog is the only one of those characters who is not bee-themed himself.
- Hot Dog's bee attacks are a direct reference to a joke from The Simpsons Season 5 episode "Burns Heir" where Homer Simpson goads to Mr. Burns about what he would do in his attempt to convince Bart to come back home and commented if he's going to release dogs with bees in their mouths, that when they bark, they would shoot bees at you.[2]
- Hot Dog is one of the few playable canines in Skylanders (two are the villains Wolfgang and Slobber Trap, and the others are Skylanders Funny Bone and Flare Wolf). The Frosthound is also a canine, though he is an ally.
- Carlos Alazraqui was the first voice actor for Spyro in Spyro the Dragon in 1998. Alazraqui also voices Duff and Fiesta.
- In the "Still Friends" commercial, he was voiced by Tom Kenny who was the fan-favorite voice of Spyro from Ripto's Rage!, Year of the Dragon, Enter the Dragonfly, and Reignited Trilogy. Kenny also voices Arbo, Shield Shredder, High Five and Stink Bomb.
- Hot Dog is noticeably similar to Eruptor:
- Both are lava-based creatures.
- Both their Soul Gems upgrades their third attacks.
- Both have the word "burn" in their catchphrases.
- The fire dog makes a cameo in the Fortune Telling card in Skylanders: Battlecast, possibly representing the dog in The Fool Tarot Arcana.
- He, Fright Rider and Sprocket are the only three Giants-debut core Skylanders without any LightCore counterparts.
- His Pyro Pinwheel upgrade is misspelt as “Pyro Pinwheel” with a double space in the Alchemy front-end games.
- His combo attack “Comet Dash” shares its name with an upgrade for Spyro.
References
- ↑ Carlos Alazraqui's Twitter. (Date Posted - May 13, 2014). Twitter.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Skylanders: Giants - Nat Loh. Nat Loh's Website.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Skylanders Universe: Book of Elements - Fire and Water, page 15
- ↑ Skylanders Universe: The Complete Collection, page 65
- ↑ Skylanders: Universe - Official Sticker Book, page 29
- ↑ Skylanders Giants Alpha Build 1: Full Playthrough. (Date Posted: Jan. 28, 2024). YouTube.