Ironhide was introduced to us back in 1984 as a repaint of his mold-brother Ratchet (or was that the other way around?). It was an awkward figure, and one that hardly resembled the character we came to love in the comics and in the cartoon. Ironhide is no stranger than less-than-ideal molds used to bring him to “life” in plastic, but there have been occasions where the figure actually “felt” like Ironhide. This new Combiner Wars deluxe class figure falls somewhere in the middle.
The Transformers brand was built on repaints, and the original set of figures from ’84 and ’85 was chock full of them. Most were straight-up repaints too, with only simple color and decal variations used to differentiate characters. Even though this was, and always has been, the case, sometimes a repaint really makes you scratch your head and wonder what could have made a particular figure, well, better, for lack of a better word. This is the third time we’ve seen this particular mold used in less than a year, and while it worked okay for some characters, for Ironhide it feels a little bit forced. Still, it’s cool to see a new Ironhide released since it has been quite a while since the last figure was released back in 2008. So let’s see if this particular version of the most cantankerous Autobot is worth adding to our shelves!
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This is standard Combiner Wars packaging. Having an artistic rendering on display behind the figure in the blister definitely helps “sell” it because it helps convince us that this version is pulled from the comics. While that isn’t necessarily the case, it is still cool to see this version of Ironhide in action, even if it is just on the cover. Nothing else here is consequential enough to be worth noting, other than the fact that Ironhide’s very brief bio does hearken back to the character’s original G1 characterization, so that creates another emotional tether to this figure and what we think of when we think of “Ironhide.”
Ironhide is a straight-up repaint of the Stunticon Offroad, and the only thing new here apart from the colors is a new head. The red used is quite a vibrant hue, so he really pops when he’s on the shelf. Unfortunately, the colors are pretty much the only things that are working for me here because I can’t help but feel this is a pretty awkward mold to use for Ironhide. I’ll cut to the chase — my key issue is mainly the “hood” that the front end forms in his robot mode. Well, that, and the general size of the mold. Ironhide has always been among the larger Autobots, but this mold puts him at eye-level with Prowl, which is an odd thing to get used to.
Because of the hood, I can’t help but think this mold would have been better put to use for a deluxe class Huffer, but since Huffer was already released as a legends class figure (and a repaint of Optimus Prime! WTF?), Huffer was probably out of the running for a deluxe class figure. But if you can ignore the hood (and I sometimes can), there are still weird issues to be dealt with, like his weird chest (but more on that in a bit).
Fortunately his head looks good, but it almost looks like a “younger” Ironhide or something. He’s often depicted with a longer, more narrow head/face, but what we’re seeing here is almost round in its dimensions. I mean, Hasbro could have named this figure anything and I probably would have been like, “Okay. Sure,” so it’s decent, but it’s not screaming “Ironhide” to me.
His only accessory, apart from the combiner piece, is an axe. This is the same axe that was included with the previous two versions of this mold, so there are no surprises here. It’s worth noting, though, that this time the accessory received no attention whatsoever in terms of detail work. First Aid and Offroad both came with axes that had at least minimal paint apps, but here all we get is an axe cast in the only color it’s intended to be — a nice, flat grey. That’s the case for most of the figure, though. The sculpt has some great detail packed in, but none of it really stands out because it’s basically lost in the color of the plastic.
In terms of articulation, this mold is decent, but there is some kibble that gets in the way and is pretty annoying, like those shoulder things of his. Otherwise, he’s not a bad figure to pick up and pose. His general breakdown:
- Ball head
- Ball shoulders, hips
- Hinge-and-swivel elbows
- Cut thigh
- Hinged knees
The hips on my figure are pretty loose, but I think that’s an issue with the mold itself because all three of my figures built on this mold have loose hips.
Now, what really drives me crazy here is the connector piece built into his chest. I have no problem with the sculpt or positioning of it; it’s the color that’s bothering me. Why black? It seems completely arbitrary since I can’t find anywhere where Ironhide has looked like this. And when I position him next to First Aid with his red connector piece, I can’t help but think that same approach would have worked so well for Ironhide. Because now, when I look at Ironhide and First Aid together, I can’t help but think Ironhide is wearing a black t-shirt with a red jacket or something. It’s weird. it’s messing with me.
I’m half-tempted to pick up another First Aid to harvest that red connector piece to replace Ironhide’s. If these things weren’t so expensive these days, I’d probably do just that.
Now, Ironhide is often depicted as having a blue window for a chest, and the metallic blue here on either side of the connector piece match the metallic blue used for both Ironhide’s and prowl’s alt mode windows, so . . . are those supposed to be little windows on ironhide’s chest? I guess it almost works as a nod to the G1 design, if that is indeed what it is, but otherwise I don’t know what to make of it.
The alt mode s a pickup truck that works well enough for Ironhide. The yellow strip recalls the G1 van, but I’m fine with Ironhide being a pickup here. In fact, now that I’m thinking of it, Kup could have worked on this mold just as well as Ironhide. They were mold-mated in the Prime line, and it worked better for Kup, really, so I’m wondering if that would have been the case here too.
Like the other deluxe class combiner figures, you have the choice to make Ironhide either an arm or a leg of Oprimus Maximus. Below is a pic of Ironhide as a left arm, but in the video you can get a look as Ironhide as a leg also.
This wave is proving to be pretty popular, so I guess you should never underestimate the selling power of the original G1 crew. I’ve seen the wave at Target, but Amazon has also had them in stock a couple times already, and they’ve sold out pretty quick. So check your local shops, or try your luck at the following:
