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
Aligned novels
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. Exodus
After passing through the unstable space bridge, Ironhide and the Autobots aboard the Ark found themselves in the vicinity of a Cybertronian colony world called Velocitron. Ironhide was assigned to Hound's second response team, as Optimus Prime made planetfall with his initial team. It was a time of great stress between Velocitron's rulers, and the Autobots' arrival from mythical Cybertron only exacerbated the situation. Although the Autobots secured an ally in one of the planet's rulers, Override, they left Velocitron on the brink of civil war during their departure.
The next leg of their journey through the Space Bridge brought the Autobots to fabled Junkion, a world composed entirely of space junk. This time, Ironhide joined Optimus, Ratchet and Hound as they touched down on the planet's heterogeneous surface. The Autobot envoys were attacked shortly after landing, as the local Junkions decided they looked like spare parts in the making. With Optimus Prime's blessing, Ironhide unleashed a volley of plasma rockets to help convince the Junkions that these parts weren't for sale just yet.
During the Autobots' stay on Junkion, Ironhide assisted Prowl with his investigations, and later interrogation, of the shifty Decepticon-turned-Junkion named Axer. He defended the Ark from attack when the Nemesis finally caught up with them, and remained with the crew when they finally left Junkion on a new heading towards the AllSpark itself. Exiles
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
Ironhide and Bumblebee were tasked with retrieving information from a Decepticon datacore about the "Trypticon" weapon. They nearly managed to make a successful getaway from Kaon before Megatron and Soundwave arrived, dropping the Autobots in the streets. Ironhide was shackled and imprisoned, whie Bumblebee was scheduled for interrogation under the neural scanner. A lucky power outage during an Autobot raid freed Ironhide from his bonds, and he raced through the detention facility to rescue Bumblebee before the scanner forced him to reveal military secrets. He found the kid, but not before some data was lost to the scanner. On the way out of the prison, the duo were radioed by Air Raid, who offered to provide air support during their escape. Thanks to his creative use of firepower, they were able to escape down a road that had previously been a dead end.
Later, Ironhide returned the favour by providing comm support to Air Raid, who was using the data recovered on Trypticon to block the power supply running between Trypticon and the Geosynchronous Energy Bridge. He plotted Air Raid's course through the Decepticon controlled tunnels near the Bridge.
After Trypticon Station fell to Cybertron's surface and revealed itself as a gi-normous transforming creature, Ironhide joined Optimus Prime and Bumblebee in racing to the crash site to finish him off. They were separated during the journey, and had to fight through multiple Decepticon vanguards before even reaching Trypticon. Eventually, it was the combined firepower and teamwork of the Autobot forces that brought down the dangerous dinosaur. Ironhide was ready to kick back with some lubricant, but Optimus reminded him that the war was far from over. Transformers: Cybertron Adventures
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)
Ironhide is one of the many autobots involved in the construction of the Ark. Along with Perceptor they had to find a new breed of energon to supply the Ark's Launch.
Further information in this article is coming soon as it pertains to information that may not yet have been officially released. |
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
Toys
Prime
- Ironhide (Cyberverse Commander, 2012)
- Series / Number: 02 / 006
- Japanese ID number: EZ-11
- Accessories: Left & right cannons
- Part of the second wave of Prime Cyberverse Commander Class toys, Ironhide transforms into a 4x4 pickup truck. He features translucent blue plastic on his windshield-chest so that he can be illuminated by the lights from the larger play-sets. He comes with two Movie-style translucent blue cannons which each feature three 3mm posts and two peg-holes, allowing them to combine with each other to form a longer weapon, combine with other Cyberverse weapons, peg in three different ways into either his hands or arms/doors, as well as peg/be pegged and stored on his robot back or truck bed. The Hasbro release comes with a pack-in file card.
- Ironhide (Deluxe, 2012)
Notes
- He greeted the space slug with the universal greeting. Warpath had no idea what it was.
- 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. Later, on a featurette on the Transformers: Prime Season 1 Blu-Ray, Rik Alvarez admitted that because of the death of Ironhide in Dark of the Moon, they didn't want to confuse kids with a living Ironhide. [1] It's likely that the former story was a cover for the latter, for spoiler reasons.
- Jeff Kline said that despite having a toy, there were no plans to feature Ironhide in the show... yet.[2]
- It was later said at BotCon 2012 that Ironhide would not appear in the show, but that he might show up in other places.[3]
- Jeff Kline said that despite having a toy, there were no plans to feature Ironhide in the show... yet.[2]
- Ironhide's Prime design was based on concept art submitted by Ken Christiansen to Hasbro Studios early in the show's development.[4]
