Ironhide (WFC)
| The name or term "Ironhide" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Ironhide (disambiguation). |
- Ironhide is an Autobot from the Aligned continuity family.
Ironhide is a battle hardened veteran, one of the toughest amongst the Autobots. As one of Optimus' oldest and closest friends, Ironhide saw the great potential within Optimus to be more than what he allowed himself to be.
Fiction
Exodus
Ironhide first met Optimus Prime during the prolonged stalemate at Praxus. Furious at the loss of his home, Ironhide joined the Autobots despite his cynicism regarding Optimus's leadership. It was at Praxus that Optimus was first showed a preference to stand and fight rather than make strategic withdrawals, and Ironhide slowly but surely began to trust in Optimus. Alpha Trion commented that Ironhide's "pitiless edge" gave the Autobots a necessary advantage in defeating Megatron.
When Megatron invaded Teletraan-1 to steal the Plasma Energy Chamber, Ironhide made an uncharacteristically emotional display of anguish when Starscream's Seekers shot down Omega Supreme, who attempted to ferry the Chamber to safety. As Decepticons attempted to claim the Chamber, Ironhide fought one but fell into the crater caused by Omega's impact. He defeated two more who jumped after him, and Optimus lifted him out of the pit, but he fell in again when another Decepticon struck him in the face with a hooked chain. Megatron blasted Optimus, causing him to fall on top of Ironhide, but he ordered his commander to ignore him and stop Megatron.
After the battle, Ratchet welded Ironhide's face back together. When Optimus proposed leaving Cybertron on the Ark, Ironhide boarded the Eight Track with him to distract the Decepticons. Realizing Megatron had a beam aboard Trypticon Station, Ironhide and the Autobots boarded the ship and blew up its Dark Energon Facility, causing it to crash. He then boarded the completed Ark and escaped Cybertron through the last space bridge to the Milky Way. Transformers: Exodus
Games
Transformers: War for Cybertron (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)
- Voice actor: Keith Szarabajka (English), Pietro Ubaldi (Italian)
Ironhide led a squad of Autobots to defend the Decagon during the Decepticon invasion of Iacon. With the loss of Zeta Prime, Ironhide's old friend Optimus was forced to take command of the Autobots, an act that the old soldier approved, as he was glad that Optimus was finally stepping up to take his rightful place in the Autobot hierarchy. After helping Optimus and his team by clearing a path for them to the Decagon (and taking down two Brutes, tearing one in half), he continued to lead the others to (successfully) push the Decepticons into retreat.
After Optimus became Optimus Prime, Ironhide and Warpath joined him on the mission to clear the core of Cybertron that was infected with Dark Energon. Ironhide constantly rebuked the young, aggressive Warpath's shoot-first attitude. Heading to the Omega Gate, the three Autobots found Omega Supreme being tortured with Dark Energon. Freeing the massive Autobot, Ironhide joined Optimus and Warpath in protecting Ratchet long enough to repair Omega to the open the Gate. Heading underground, the three Autobots found space slugs working to clear the Dark Energon crystals. When they were sealed off in a cavern, another slug came in and killed an attacking Decepticon, to which the old, knowledgeable Ironhide offered the universal greeting, but the slug simply ignored them and moved on with its task. The three Autobots then found a trio of slugs with Ion Displacer turrets on their backs, and provided cover fire for the slugs as they made their way through Cybertron. Unfortunately, a corrupted space slug attacked the trio, knocking them underground and killing the slugs. Regrouping at the core, they were attacked by the corrupted slug, and managed to defeat it. Unfortunately, the Dark Energon corrupted the Core, which could only purge the corruption by shutting down all systems, leaving Cybertron uninhabitable and forcing the Transformers to leave Cybertron. Before departing, Ironhide and Warpath witnessed Optimus receive a part of the Core's essence, the Matrix of Leadership.
As the evacuation went underway, Megatron used his orbital station to attacking fleeing transports. A group of Aerialbots under Silverbolt managed to shut down the station's cannon, only to learn that the station itself was a Cybertronian named Trypticon. Ironhide joined Optimus and Bumblebee in finishing off the monster. Though many Autobots managed to escape, a number of them, Ironhide included, stayed behind to fight against Megatron's schemes. Optimus commissioned the building of a new starship, the Ark, to take the Autobots from Cybertron, wherever they may go. Transformers: War for Cybertron
Transformers: War for Cybertron (DS)
- Voice actor: Keith Szarabajka (English)
When the Decepticons started sniffing around an Autobot base, Ironhide sent an Autobot rookie to find out what they were looking for. Unfortunately, the rookie was killed by Megatron while letting Ironhide know he'd gotten the data links back up and running. Ironhide was captured by the Decepticons at some point and used in Kaon prison to fight Dark Energon-enhanced Decepticons, but presumably later escaped.
Sometime later, Ironhide was contacted by Zeta Prime, who was trying to get hold of Optimus. With the loss of the communications system, Ironhide sent Bumblebee to find Optimus, and a rookie to help Ratchet and Air Raid. Once the rookie had gotten the communication system up and running, Ironhide let him know that he was being reassigned to Kup's care. Ironhide then directed Optimus around the base, guiding him to areas the Decepticons had taken over.
Optimus announced they needed to retake Iacon, and Ironhide eagerly told him to lead the way, to which Optimus replied that he was no leader. Despite that, the Autobots retook the Decagon, and Ironhide reported that the defenses were back online. When Ironhide rebuked Bumblebee's suggestion that Zeta Prime's transmissions were leading them into a trap, Bumblebee exploded at him that they'd already lost the war. Optimus's team infiltrated Kaon, where Ironhide was more keen to bash Decepticons than rescue Zeta Prime, until Optimus reminded him of their mission. They found Zeta Prime, but their leader died, and Optimus was subsequently appointed Autobot leader. Optimus sought the services of Grimlock, whose slow processor and reluctance to help irritated Ironhide, almost leading to a fight between the two of them and forcing Optimus to tell him to stand down. The Autobots rescued Swoop, which helped sway Grimlock in favor of their cause, though Ironhide still wasn't sure it was a good idea. He took part in a mission to the core, to free it from the Dark Energon harvesters that were irradiating it.
With Cybertron no longer capable of supporting life, the Autobots began to evacuate the planet in Arks, but were attacked by Trypticon Station. Optimus intended to take a strike team up the space bridge to directly assault it, which Ironhide regarded as a suicide mission. Still, he joined the mission, and the station was brought down, but as Bumblebee celebrated their escape, Ironhide pointed out the station was transforming. Trypticon's size gave even Ironhide pause, but he still joined the team that headed for the crash site to take the giant on. At one point, he was pinned down by enemy fire, which the other Autobots helped suppress so he could reach a security access panel. He joined them in defeating Trypticon, and later left Cybertron along with the rest of the Autobots. Transformers: War for Cybertron (DS)
Transformers: Cybertron Adventures
Transformers: Cybertron Adventures
Toys
Prime
- Ironhide (Cyberverse Commander, 2012)
- Accessories: 2 cannons
Notes
- He greeted the space slug with the universal greeting. Warpath had no idea what it was.
- In Exodus, Ironhide has his cannons!
- Ironhide was intended to be part of the initial line-up in Transformers: Prime, but he was replaced by Bulkhead after the writers deemed their characterization closer to him.
- Jeff Kline said despite having a toy, there were no plans to feature Ironhide in the show... yet.[1]
