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Transformers Toy Review Archive (older series, 1984 to date)
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Knightdramon's review of: Ironhide

Name: Ironhide
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Security
Quote: "High tech circuitry is no replacement for guts."

"Go chew on a microchip!" is Ironhide's slogan. Prefers action to words. Oldest, toughest, most battle-tested Autobot. Bodyguard to Optimus Prime. In charge of guarding anything of importance. Gruff, but kind. Trithyllium-steel skin makes him nearly invulnerable to attack. Shoots variety of liquids from supercooled nitrogen to superheated lead. Has sonar, radar, radiowave detector. Slowest and most fragile of the group.

Unfortunately, I was born 3 years after the Autobot cars were released worldwide, and I had absolutely no idea if they were even imported to Greece. Fast forward to 1992-94, where I came upon the first signs of Transformers.

Luckily for me, it was just the time the European classics reissue line hit Greece. I was able to snatch a lot of great transformers, such as Jazz, Sunstreaker, Inferno, Grimlock, the gestalts...good stuff. Ironhide was one of the last transformers I bought before the market shifted to G2. By that time, I thought that only cars [not vans] were made into TFs.

You can understand how surprised I was when I saw him at the store. I begged my mother to buy him for me, and there I was, going home with my favourite G1 character at that time.

Boy was I going to be disappointed...

Vehicle Mode:

Ironhide is a van of some sort, probably a Nissan or something...I can't say for sure. He isn't as big as some would expect; he isn't as long as, say, Sunstreaker. Typically, he features die-cast metal construction on some parts and rubber tires.
Ironhide features a dark red colour pallete [though the die cast metal parts are a tiny bit darker than the rest of the red colouring]. With all of the stickers applied, a bit of black is visible, along with orange and yellow on the sides. He also sports chrome on his rear and front fenders.
The vehicle mode holds together really nicely, not having any imperfections such as Jazz's rear windshield. The seam on the roof of the car isn't visible, but on the sides you can make out where the parts connect. Minor problem.
My only complaint is that you can see his face through the windshield [if you applied the sticker]. It is subtle, but still there. Overall, his vehicle mode has a classic feel, as with all of the other G1 toys. Pretty good.

Robot Mode:

This is when things went downhill. You transform him by disconnecting his backpack, extending his arms from the sides, lowering the windshield, and flipping the rear fenders.
What? This isn't Ironhide. Welcome to the club. All G1 era toys [the ones that were re-issued in europe] are recolours of Diaclone toys, so he wasn't meant to be Ironhide from the beginning. Live with it.
Ironhide maintains the same colour scheme in this form, with more chrome on his waist. For his size, he has a lot of diecast parts, including the chest, shoulder joints, and feet.
As a G1 bot, Ironhide has somewhat decent articulation. His arms have three points of articulation each, with joints at the shoulders, arms, and wrists. He has feet that can move up or down, and you can make him look upwards by lifting the windshield. Don't picture any superb action poses, just some decent articulation for playing.

But there's more than meets the eye with Ironhide. His backpack can unfold into a mobile artilery station. You can mount his long blaster gun there, and, coupled with the missile launcher, it gives Ironhide a much wanted advantage in battle. The station has chromed tank treads on the underside, but they are solid plastic pieces. The missile launcher can launch the missile pretty far, but be careful. You wouldn't want to lose any of them. Typically, he features a pilot seat for Diaclone pilots, but that remains unused. Ironhide can also get on his base for some fun, but that's it.

Overall, Ironhide is a somewhat decent G1 figure. Much shorter than all the others, good articulation, a battle station...not bad. But not that great either.

Transformation: 2. It requires a tiny bit of effort to unfold the tank treads for the base mode.
Durability: 10. This guy deserves it. I've had him for over 10 years, played with him a lot, and he is still in excellent shape. Not loose, no chrome has faded, nothing. Just some rubbing of paint off the diecast parts.
Fun: 7. Eh, a kid could have had his share of fun playing with him. Base mode, robot mode and vehicle mode were impressive to me, back then.
Price: 5. That's the problem with G1 toys. Too expensive nowadays. And since Ironhide wasn't that available back in the old days, he must be going for over 50 dollars.
Overall: 5. I don't know...I wouldn't want to part with him, but I imagine kids would prefer Energon Towline over him. He was fun when I first got him, but not by today's standards.
 
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