Ironhide (G1)/toys
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Toys
Generation 1
- Ironhide (1984/1991/2001)
Sit on my face and tell me that you love me. - Japanese ID number: 98
- Accessories: "Static Laser Gun", gun post, 3 missiles
- Ironhide was part of the original assortment of Autobot cars released in 1984, transforming into a red Nissan Onebox Cherry Vanette and sharing his mold with the contemporaneously released Ratchet. Ironhide splits when he transforms, with most of the rear section of his van mode transforming into a battle platform, and the remainder becoming his rather misshapen, headless robot form. The robot can mount onto the battle platform, which is armed with a raising missile launcher and front-mounted "Static Laser Gun". Unusually for toys of this period, the Static Laser Gun can actually store when Ironhide is in vehicle mode, plugging into his undercarriage (although the missiles for his launcher and the peg required to attach the laser don't go anywhere).
- As with all his fellow Autobot Cars from that year, Ironhide's mold derived from Takara's Diaclone line, a series which was not about sentient robots, but rather human-controlled machines. The Ironhide and Ratchet molds are the ones that most clearly show evidence of this: in place of a head, these toy robots had chairs behind windscreens where the human rider would control the robot. The figures did include stickers to go over these seats that depicted a sort of robot face, but when Ironhide and Ratchet's character models were created for Transformers media, they did away with all traces of the human-controlled design to give the robots proper faces and heads, ultimately creating the two designs which were the most far-removed from the toys on which they were ostensibly based.
- The stripe on the side of his vehicle mode (a sticker on the toy) is actually based on a special edition of the Nissan Cherry Vanette. On the real vehicle, the rear section (which is black on the toy's sticker) is actually the sliding rear door rail.[1]
- For unknown reasons, Ironhide was the only Autobot Car not released by Takara as part of their original retail line in any form (while Ratchet was not available at retail, he was available as a S.T.A.R.S. mail away item). Ironhide was reissued in Europe as part of their "Classics" line in 1990, and finally released in Japan from e-Hobby in 2001. It would be released again (and redecoed) as part of Takara's Encore series in 2007; see below for details.
Generation 2
- Ironhide (Go-Bot, 1995)
- Accessories: Gun
- Part of the second wave of Go-Bots focusing on Generation 1 characters, Ironhide transforms into a silver Ford F150 Flareside pickup truck. Using through-axle construction for his wheels, he is compatible with most "Hot Wheels" and "Matchbox" play sets and tracks.
- The mold is a redeco of Generation 2 Go-Bots toy Motormouth, and was later redecoed into the Robots in Disguise Spy Changer Ironhide, the Universe Autobot Ironhide, and the second Universe incarnation of Hoist.
- Ironhide (Power Master, 1995)
- Accessories: 2 guns
- Power Master Ironhide was one of the last toys in the Generation 2 line, and was only released in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Oddly, the Australia and New Zealand releases were in US packaging, complete with Hasbro's Rhode Island address.
- Ironhide (barely) transforms from a grey camouflaged Humvee into a dorky robot. His main gimmick is his "Power Master" pull-back motor, which you use by pulling back on his motorized rear wheels, then placing one of his guns into one of the holes above the doors, which releases a catch and allows him to zip along a smooth surface.
Beast Wars
- Magnaboss (Ultra, 1997)
- Accessories: 2 guns
- Ironhide transforms from an elephant via a rather complex process involving numerous hinges and unfolding panels into a rather stumpy robot. Although dumpy, he is nothing if not well-armed: he has a flip-out spike at the end of each arm, and comes with two removable guns that flip out from behind his elephant mode ears, and which can be plugged into the holes at the ends of his arms. Ironhide is packaged with Prowl and Silverbolt, and combines with them to form his Magnaboss. Ironhide forms the bulk of the combiner's mass, including all four limbs.
- The Magnaboss toy included no information about its three components beyond their names. In 2007, IDW Publishing decided to retroactively establish that the trio were the Generation 1 characters of the same names, and included this revelation in their Beast Wars Sourcebook.
- Ironhide was slightly redecoed to create Santon.
Timelines
- Descent into Evil (Multi-figure boxset, 2005)
- Accessories: Fold out gun/radar energon weapon, BotCon 2005 pin
- A BotCon 2005 convention exclusive, Timelines Ironhide was only available in the Descent into Evil boxset. He is a retool and redeco of Energon Tow-Line, with a newly sculpted head resembling his Generation 1 animation model. Like his original toy, Ironhide splits from a van into a robot mode and a battle sled, each featuring powerlinx ports that allow them to combine with any other compatible Deluxe or Mega from the Energon toyline; Ironhide himself forms the "torso" in such a combination (armed with small guns that flip out from his feet to become over-shoulder blasters), while his battle sled becomes the "legs" for another robot. Because of his unusual design, Ironhide can powerlinx with his own battle sled. Ironhide is armed with a translucent blue Energon weapon that can fit in his fist in robot mode, mount on his battle sled, and transform into a radar array to mount on top of his van mode.
- Ironhide's retooled mold was also used for Timelines Ratchet.
Encore
- Ironhide (2007)
- Japanese ID number: 05
- Accessories: "Static Laser Gun", gun post, 3 missiles
- Ironhide's original Generation 1 toy was made available again in mid-December 2007 as part of Takara's ongoing Encore line of reissues. This version was distinguished by the inclusion of a "head" of sorts for the figure: one of the toy's box flaps featured an illustration of Ironhide's cartoon-design head and chest windshield which could be punched out along its perforated edges, and then slotted behind the toy's windshield. This hid the "chair-face" of the original toy and gave Ironhide his cartoon face... at the cost of making his arms appear to grow out of his waist.
- This version of the toy was retooled to add a pair of "clips" to the mobile platform's gun-base, designed to keep Ironhide more securely attached when riding it. However, these clips are right where a pair of decals normally go. Additionally, like the original Japanese release of the figure (but unlike Hasbro's version), the missile launcher now fires.
- Protect Black Ironhide (2008)
- Japanese ID number: 05
- Accessories: "Static Laser Gun", gun post, 3 missiles
- Tied in to Ironhide's Encore reissue was e-Hobby's exclusive "New Year Special" redeco of the figure: Protect Black Ironhide. The toy was priced at 4725 yen, and pere-orders were taken until January 11th 2008, with a shipping date of April 2008.
- The new bio accompanying the release of the toy notes that Ironhide acquired this protective black coating to disguise himself from both Decepticons and members of the human criminal underworld, to better allow him to do his job as Optimus Prime's bodyguard. The other Autobots joke that he looks like a stereotypical "Men in Black" vehicle, but Ironhide insists he got the idea from black pickups trucks he saw around town. The coating, a composite gel metal, has made his trithyllium steel skin even more durable, allowing him to self-repair minor injuries right away, and his robot and mobile artillery forms are now 25% more maneuverable than before. The bio also gives a name to the "mode" that consists of Ironhide standing atop his artillery platform, dubbing it his "Marauder Mode".
- According to e-Hobby, the black coloration is meant to homage the original Diaclone toy which became Ironhide, but between the release of Emergency Green Ratchet and the bio's reference to black pickup trucks, it's easy to see this is also an homage to the new live-action movie Ironhide. The packaging is the same as the regular TF Encore Ironhide's.
Universe (2008)
Classic Series
- Ironhide (Deluxe, 2008)
Hey, I found my head! - Accessories: Converting Cannon
- As the first new-mold Ironhide toy designed to resemble the original character, Universe Ironhide transforms into a red SUV. He is armed with a double-ended "Converting Cannon" weapon, which deploys a translucent melee blade from one end, and a gatling cannon from the other, meant to emulate Ironhide's arm-mounted "water gun" weapon from Generation 1 fiction. His chest features an Automorph-like gimmick that sees mechanical detailing raise up behind his chestplate when his bumper is lowered. He has an Oregon license plate, and was the first new Universe figure to have package art that wasn't burdened with dull surprise.
- Although the instructions indicate that Ironhide's weapon should be attached by flipping his hand to the side of his wrist (as in transformation) and fitting the weapon over the naked wrist, the hand can in fact be made to fit inside the weapon with some careful jiggling.
- Ironhide is not without a few problems. Pictures of a hand-painted prototype of the toy released by Hasbro showed Ironhide with silver paint on his wheels and face, but when the finished figure was released, this silver has disappeared: his wheels were left unpainted, and his face was now the same light blue as his painted windows (which, in turn, matched very poorly with the translucent plastic used for the rest of his windows). While Hasbro noted that the figure would feature a running change that saw the face painted in the correct silver, no such change occurred.
- There is also an engineering defect in the figure. Due to a combination of three places on the figure having too much plastic, Ironhide's head does not rise enough and it ends up looking like he's hanging his head in shame. However, with some heavy tinkering, the head can be raised to a more level, straight position[1]. Why nobody picked up on them during the developmental phase of production is a mystery.
- This mold was retooled to make Universe and Henkei Ratchet, surprising absolutely no one, AND Timelines' Botcon 2012 Sir Soundwave.
Henkei! Henkei!
- Ironhide (Deluxe, 2008)
- Japanese ID number: C-11
- Accessories: Converting Cannon
- Henkei! Henkei! Transformers Ironhide is a redeco of Universe Ironhide, with a view to making him far more accurate to his original Generation 1 cartoon appearance. To this end, a generally darker shade of red plastic and lighter gray plastic are used. Additionally, the blue paint used for his opaque windows are a better match to his transparent blue windows than on Hasbro's Universe toy. As with all Henkei toys, Ironhide features vacuum-metallized silver for his headlights, brake lights and his Converting Cannon housing.
- Although the instructions indicate that Ironhide's weapon should be attached by flipping his hand to the side of his wrist (as in transformation) and fitting the weapon over the naked wrist, the hand can in fact be made to fit inside the weapon with some careful jiggling.
Merchandise
Decoy
- Cybertron Hero Collection 22 (Decoy multi-pack, 1985)
- In Japan, a red rubber mini-figure of Ironhide 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.
- Ironhide (Decoy, 1987)
- Decoy number: 7
- The Hasbro Decoy release of the Ironhide game piece is almost identical to the Japanese version, except the number on his back is a simple "checklist" number. Like all Autobot Decoys, he was a randomly-chosen pack-in available with the carded Throttlebots, Aerialbots, Protectobots and Technobots.
Super Collection Figure
- Ironhide (2001)
- A three-inch tall PVC figurine of Ironhide was available in the third "act" of Takara's Super Collection Figure line. Like all the figures in the wave, it was available as both a standard full color figure and a colorless clear plastic version, one of each of which was available in a standard case of twelve blindpacked figures. Additionally, the full-color version of Ironhide came packaged with the left leg of the wave's collectable Fortress Maximus "build-a-figure".
Heroes of Cybertron
- Ironhide (2003)
- Ironhide's Super Collection Figure PVC was released the following year by Hasbro as part of their Heroes of Cybertron line. Like all the figures in the series, Ironhide was given a light-piping gimmick by being cast entirely in translucent blue plastic then painted everywhere except on his eyes and the back of his head. Unlike the Japanese version, he was sold separate on a blister card.
Hard Hero
- Ironhide (2002)
- This cold-cast porcelain 6-inch tall bust was sculpted by Jason Ray, and is based very heavily upon Ironhide's cartoon appearance. A signed artist's proof version was available, limited to 100 pieces.
Attacktix
- Ironhide (Booster,
2007)
- Ironhide was likely to have been one of several Transformers Attacktix Booster pieces. Though displayed as part of the Attacktix display at the Star Wars "Celebration IV" convention, he —and all the other pieces revealed at the show— were ultimately never released.
 Game over. |
Transformers - Mini Bust
- Ironhide (2009)
- Released by Diamond Select Toys in 2009, Ironhide was sculpted by Mark Wong of Art Asylum and limited to 1000 pieces. This detailed bust is based on Ironhide's (you guessed it) cartoon/comic model, but with much more detailing and with elements of his toy design. These include his vehicle sled's missile launcher mounted on his shoulder, his wielding of his sled's static laser gun and his original Diaclone "face" being present behind his windshield. In addition to the missile launcher being removable his open left hand can be replaced with a hand gripping his cartoon pistol for two handed "chop busting."
Robot Heroes
- Ironhide and Kickback (2008)
- This adorably happy figurine of Ironhide is ready to pound his packmate Kickback into metal filings. He features articulation in his neck and shoulders.
Notes
- The black Diaclone version of Ironhide was sold by Takara in North America as the Diakron "DK-2" Car/Robot in 1983, seemingly just a few months before he would be rebranded as a Transformer.
- Sir Soundwave's Earth mode is based on Ironhide's Universe Classics Series toy.
External links
- ↑ "G1 Ironhide's Stripes...EXPLAINED!" at TFW2005
