Review: #308
Name: Ironhide
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Masterpiece
Year of Release: 2016
Size Class: Masterpiece
Mold Status: new
PACKAGING AND CONTENTS:
Ironhide comes in the fancy black Masterpiece boxes as per normal. Despite being a similar size to the other Autobot cars, his box is actually bigger due to the additional stuff that he comes with.
The back of the box shows off the some fantastic stock photos as well as listing all the contents of the box.
First off, Ironhide comes with a collector's car which shows a pretty piece of artwork (that's not found anywhere else), and the back is his tech specs.
A quick shot of all the accessories that Ironhide comes with. Ironhide has the distinction of having the most number of accessories with several arm attachments, weapons and even a jet pack.
VEHICLE MODE:
Ironhide transforms into a red van, the vehicle is actually a a licensed Nissan Cherry Vanette which means there is a decent amount of detailing.
What is impressive that the tail lights accurately depict the separate light colors: yellow, white and read. He also has chrome bumpers.
All four wheels roll as expected, and you can see that there are a lot of panel lines due to transformations. They're unavoidable.
In an interesting nod to the original toy, if you look through the windshield, you can see a molded face. This face gets covered up in robot mode.
Ironhide is approximately the size of a Voyager classed figure (above is him compared to Classics Optimus). Ironhide is big and hefty in hand.
There is a spring-loaded slot on top for you to attach one of Ironhide's guns.
Depending on which one you prefer, you can either attach the silver one or the chromed weapon.
An alternative and a neat aspect, is that you can attach both his smaller guns onto the bottom of the vehicle, so it's pretty much self-contained (plus, you get to fill in that pesky empty gap between the wheels).
Overall, Ironhide's vehicle mode is fantastic. The red paint used to cover up the whole van looks great.
TRANSFORMATION:
Initially transforming Ironhide from vehicle mode to robot mode has got to be one of those most impressive moments you'd experience with a Transformers. It's hard to fathom how many sleepless nights the designer must have had in order to make something this clever. Unlike the G1 toy, Ironhide manages to transform from a realistically proportioned van into an accurate replica of the cartoon character model without splitting the half the van into a battle station. Ironhide effectively compacts a lot of the van into the torso, and then the bottom half of the vehicle forms his legs, with some clever panelforming to hid the vehicular elements. It's an amazing feat of engineering and is Ironhide's most impressive feature. Ironhide is truly worthy of the Masterpiece name.
ROBOT MODE:
Ironhide's robot mode, for the most part, is faithful to his G1 cartoon character model. There are a few proportion issues though.
Amazingly, apart from the van panels obviously stuck on the outside of his hips, there are no other kibble to speak of. The designer has done a fantastic job of incorporating all of the van into this robot, it's so impressive that you'll be at a loss for words...
The headsculpt is good, and the head is on a balljoint so you have a huge range of motion available there.
Ironhide can change faces, a little bit of clever engineering is that if you push the crest forward, it'll pop the face off. No more do you have to get your fingernail in there like with Masterpiece Bumblebee. Ironhide's other face is an angry shouting one.
Ironhide expands heaps after transformation, he now towers over all Voyagers. It's pretty crazy how much bigger Ironhide seems to be yet there are absolutely no hollow parts to him at all.
He still isn't as tall as Masterpiece Optimus Prime (MP-10) though but he is much taller than all of the other Autobot cars so far.
It's a bit unfortunate that Ironhide has some proportion weirdness going on. The front of the van, angled like that, compared with the panels holding his shoulders, just makes the torso shape seem weird and that there is something off.
It doesn't help that the side of the torso has empty spaces behind it. If they somehow could have move the hip panels to upwards to fill up the lower torso (the bit right behind the headlights), then Ironhide would have been perfect.
Otherwise, there are no other issues with Ironhide and he looks much better in hand than photos depict.
With all the accessories that Ironhide gets, he comes with a platform to peg all these extra bits to when not in use, including his spare face on the underside of the platform.
It's actually really cool and the platform is shaped to mimic the one from the original G1 toy. Furthermore, after you peg everything together, it looks really good as a base, although way too small for Ironhide to man like the G1 toy.
We'll start out with covering each of the accessories. First off, Ironhide comes with this small cardboard cut-out which shows (apparently) Dinobot bones. You slot this piece of cardboard behind the windshield as in the G1 cartoon, his windshield becomes a screen that can show stuff (you're supposed to use it with the sonar attachment).
Next is his Laser Pistols (we'll be going by the official name on the instructions). The handles of his pistols have a jutting peg which slots into a groove in Ironhide's hands. Unfortunately, there is a slight design issue in which the pegs on the handles jut out too much to be difficult to actually slot into his hands. It catches onto the joint of his fingers (all his fingers are jointed as one), and you need to use a bit of force to push it in, you'll probably scrap paint off the handle if you do it too much.
He comes with a pair of Laser Pistols so you can have Ironhide dual wield them. Too bad they're a bit small but it's what he used in the G1 cartoon anyhow.
Poseability for Ironhide is really good though. The hip panels doesn't get in the way as much as you'd expect, while they still restrict outward hip movement, what you get is enough to get by.
His ankles are jointed so that he can always stand flat on the table. His shoulders, wrists, elbows, waist and knees all have decent amount of articulation. Really, Ironhide isn't missing anything.
The next piece of accessory is the Static Laser Gun. Again, this have the similar issue of the handle of the gun catching on Ironhide's hands and need some force to push it in. The gun itself is chromed, but it seemed that the chrome is not as good as previous Masterpieces, already seemingly dulling straight out of packaging.
Next up is his Liquid Finger Shooters. You need to fold Ironhide's fists back and then plug these new hands in. They're supposed to emulate the scene where Ironhide fires of liquid nitrogen from his fingers.
He has two Liquid Shooter Nozzles. Again, they're similar to his Liquid Finger Shooters in that they attach the same way and represent the same thing. He probably fires off liquid fire or water from them.
Ironhide sports two Liquid Shooter Barrels. This is getting ridiculous, three pairs of accessories which effectively represent the same thing. Anyway, they attach in the same way as the other two Liquid accessories, but now in barrel form.
Of course, you can mix and match however you want.
A cool accessory is his Utility Sensor, which pegs onto either forearm. He uses it to scan his surroundings (and displays it on his windshield screen).
Then there's his Missile Launcher (with an Anti-Flier Missile). This pegs onto his back and has two joints so you can aim it upwards. The missile is a separate piece that slots into the launcher, but you can't actually fire it or anything. This piece is chromed as well but just like the other pieces of chrome, it seems to be dulling really quickly.
Lastly, and this is probably the coolest thing, but Ironhide has a pair of Jet Thrusters! With Jetflame Effect Parts no less. These peg onto his back and Ironhide has now achieved the power of flight. It's very cool.
That's about it for all his accessories, and you can see that Ironhide comes with a lot. You can have some fun combining the various pieces onto Ironhide, mixing and matching.
Despite not having any die-cast metal in his, Ironhide feels solid and hefty in your hands. Almost every single piece is painted too, including that red that you can, it's a really nice rich red.
It is really impressive at how well Ironhide hides all the vehicular elements.
While not too everyone's tastes, Ironhide can be a bit bland due to the blockiness and overwhemling red on him. Ironhide can appear to be lanky too.
Still, Ironhide's robot mode is fantastic. The only issues are aesthetic as he is functionally great, with heaps of accessories, Ironhide presents some of the best play value of a Masterpiece figure.
OVERALL:
Ironhide is an amazing toy and an incredible feat of engineering. In order to transform a fully detailed and accurate licensed van into a robot that looked like he just stepped out of the TV screen, without cheating, is just incredible. Both modes are fantastic and Ironhide comes with so many accessories it's mind-boggling. Ironhide presents some of the best value for money in the line and he is definitely highly recommended. You should not miss out on this figure, get him while he is still at an affordable price!
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