Bot Reviews: Transformers: Studio Series 86 Voyager Ironhide

It’s been a long time since I looked at an Ironhide. That’s odd, because he’s a fairly important character in basically every G1-derived story, as a part of Optimus’s little stable of right-hand guys who are also Old Friends, even if Ironhide’s characterization isn’t much deeper than “the tough guy who also has a southern accent.” Funny enough, in a reversal of how it usually goes, the G1 cartoon (where he appeared a lot, thanks to sharing a VA with Optimus) actually made his character deeper than a lot of his other iterations, by making it clear he was a bit of a kind-hearted, folksy cornball beneath the toughness.

On the toy side, Ironhide was notorious for his original G1 figure barely looking like his ‘toon self, thanks to the character designers looking at it, going “yeah, no,” and totally redesigning him, thus making anything vaguely resembling an Animation-Accurate Version a bit of a grail for a long time.

And we finally got a good kinda-show-accurate figure, in the form of Siege Ironhide, back in 2019, whom I praised pretty highly at the time. But that was a version with a Cybertronian alternate mode, and like a lot of other fans, I fell for the subsequent Earthrise sales pitch of “okay, we’re going to do Earth Mode ones now,” and sold him off in anticipation of that. And, sure enough, Earthrise did make a new one as a retool of the Siege figure, but then decided to release it in a two-pack with an new Prowl, a two-pack which was an Amazon Exclusive…and no one owns it. If you say you do, you’re lying. It feels like they manufactured and released about five of them, total, they sold out within 2.5 seconds of being in stock, and now three of them are on eBay for 500 dollars.

I did manage to snag the marginally-more-available Earthrise Ratchet repaint/headswap of the above Ironhide, though, and when I reviewed it, I pointed out that it was kind of a janky, messy, clearly-unplanned retool job, particularly in van mode, so in addition to people wanting an Earth Mode Ironhide that it was actually possible to own, there was also demand for one that wasn’t basically a kitbash. And Studio Series 86 has delivered, giving Ironhide his own, bespoke tooling, based on his small role in the animated movie, a role that ended with him getting brutally killed. (By the way, that casual death, and its lack of any followup, was easily one of the most messed-up bits of the film, especially considering how important of a character he was on the show prior. At least Optimus got a big last stand, and was mourned during and after the film.)

Anyway, about the actual figure, here’’s the rub: He’s now a Voyager-class figure, who’s still the size of a Deluxe. The last time I looked into a figure in this exact situation was Studio Series 86 Hot Rod, who managed to justify this approach, thanks to all the extra stuff clearly thrown into the small frame (and, while it’s a different case of size-class hopping, Kingdom Rodimus Prime did something similar, using the extra money to cram a ton of extras into a smaller frame), so I figured I’d give this guy a whirl, too.

Robot Mode

Ironhide is definitely in the Deluxe scale in terms of size, albeit on the taller side of the scale. He does feel a bit heavier when I pick him up than a normal Deluxe, there’s some density here, but no one’s mistaking this for a Voyager.

In terms of design, Ironhide was always Sunbow as hell, a man composed entirely of boxes, a windshield-chest, and a nondescript helmeted head uptop, and this is, in broad strokes, imitating his show design pretty closely, and manages to copy a lot of subtle sculpted details around his waist and hips.

Oddly, they also decided to sculpt in a lot of little panel-lines and greebles, like you’d see in Siege, or a more mainline Generations line, despite Studio Series 86 being about screen-accuracy. Basically, he’s not as smooth as he ought to be. I suspect this was an attempt to make the kibbly bits, and transformation seams blend in better.

He’s still got panels hanging off of the sides of his lower legs, though, like the Siege and Earthrise versions, and you’d think making those vanish would be a priority this time around. He’s also got a Van Front hanging off his back, but that’s less noticeable.

Uptop, he’s got a brand-new headsculpt that’s noticeably more wide and round than previous attempts, pushing him a bit more towards screen-accuracy. He’s got a curious, funny facial expression, where it looks like he’s pursing his lips in annoyance. I can just hear a grumble looking at it.

For colors, he’s got the proper Ironhide set of red and gray, with a clear blue chestplate in the center. He’s got a few different shades of that gray, which he’s supposed to have, (plus silver on his face and chest, and some blue eyes, and a tiny white Autobrand beneath his chest),  and a few different shades of red, which he’s not supposed to have.

To be fair, it’s not super obvious in this mode, thanks to the different shades being blocked out between separate parts, but there’s two different kinds of red plastic (and a third kind of red paint) that don’t really blend, with the red paint opting to match the lighter shade of it, and coming out as a third shade anyway. Plus, and I know this is going to sound pedantic, but while he’s got the right colors, they aren’t really laid out correctly. His show model had a mostly gray torso, with a red front, instead of an entirely red torso.

I know it’s a bit much, but the increased price, plus the emphasis on show-accuracy invites these comparisons. Also, he didn’t have the translucent blue on his legs or shoulders on the show, either, thanks to those altmode parts, but that’s a little bit more understandable.

One upshot of this guy is that he’s nice and solid in-hand, and stands nicely on his big feet. Nothing’s loose, everything’s locked in place. I got an initial bad impression out of the box, because those panel flaps on the sides of his legs seemed like they didn’t lock in, and just flopped around, but it turns out there’s little grooves inside them you can use to properly fix them to his legs, they just weren’t plugged in out of the box. The only loose bit is the van bumper on his back, it doesn’t peg or lock in or anything. The joint it’s on is plenty tight, I just find myself fiddling with it compulsively, as though a snap-in of some kind is going to happen.

For poseability, he’s pretty good, especially considering he’s composed of boxes, not a setup that naturally begats flexibility. He’s got all the expected joints, plus wrists and ankles.

A lot of work went into his ankles, which have an extremely wide range, in every direction, same with his shoulders, which have kind of a funny accordion-like detail that’s exposed when they’re extended. I’m going to be a jerk, here, though, and point out that every other instance of “small figure at higher price point” I’ve handled has used the budget to add above-average jointage, like opening hands, or double ankles and elbows, or an ab crunch, or something premium. This guy’s got none of that, really, just the standard good articulation, maybe with some boosted range here and there. Which is fine, just kind of underwhelming at this price point.

One thing that’s definitely underwhelming, too, is his accessories, which solely consist of a pair of silver pistols, based on the ones he used in that aforementioned brutal cinematic death scene.

I suppose this makes sense, the figure’s nominally meant to be based on his appearance in the film, and they’re a nicely-sculpted set of weapons. It’s just that, again, yes, I’m going back to this, you’d expect a smaller figure bumped up to this price point to have a bunch more accessories, because they usually do.

And Ironhide’s not hurting for potential option parts. Off the top of my head, they could have included the rear-mounted missile launcher he used in the show’s second episode, swappable nozzle-hands, any of the large assortment of wrist-mounted devices he deployed over the show’s run, or the larger gun he also sometimes used, on top of the pistols.

Granted, none of these were in the film, but G1 Cartoon Ironhide did use them, and this is G1 Cartoon Ironhide.

Jazz didn’t use any weapons or accessories in the film, but his Studio Series 86 release still gave him his traditional weapon. And speaking of those wrist-mounted devices, Ironhide’s got a complete lack of 5MM weapons ports anywhere on him, which is admittedly understandable, he’s not got much real-estate on his body they could realistically go on, but it does mean he can’t use the wrist-mounted drill that was included in the Centurion Accessory Pack that was meant for him, unless he just holds it. Though, granted, the Siege and Earthrise ones can, and that’s what it was designed for.

Going back to Ironhide’s guns, though, there are some clever design tricks present when it comes to storage. They have slots on either side of them that fit into tabs on the backs of his legs, to stash them out of sight, as shown earlier. Or, you can also stash them on his backpack, giving his silhouette an anti-artillery double-barrel.

Transformation

This is a bright spot in the whole figure, and the one instance where I can actually see where the additional money went. Broadly speaking, this transformation is similar to the Siege Ironhide and his retools. He’s got the same upper-torso twist, the same head hiding in his chest, the works. The variance and complexity is mostly in his legs, which are made of a lot of panels that you unspool to shell around the back and roof of his vehicle mode. His feet, in particular, are actually three sets of panels just layered on top of each other, like a cake.

It’s not a totally intuitive transformation, by the midpoint you find yourself struggling with a big spread of un-aligned panels that need popping in, but it’s pretty quickly solvable, and involves a bunch of loud, satisfying snaps. The hardest bit is getting the very front bit of roof (above the windshield) to plug into the next section, it’s on a pair of translucent pegs that are extremely thick (presumably because of that translucence), and it takes worrying amounts of force to get in as a result.

Vehicle Mode

Well, Ironhide still changes into a big (but still only Deluxe-sized) red van, and it’s one that technically fulfills the mission brief of fixing the Earthrise one’s two biggest problems. On the positive side, this version has proper, Earthly wheels with tires (and painted rims!), and actually has a properly sculpted back end that isn’t just robot-mode feet.

So, on those merits, it looks better than the Earthrise version. On the other hand, I don’t think I’d say that this version looks particularly *good*. He’s crisscrossed on his sides with transformation seams, and there’s these huge, cylinder-shaped joints used to pivot the panels sticking out in multiple places. While it’s marginally less messy than the last one (especially since they managed to give him a full set of transparent blue windows going down the sides), it’s not much of an improvement.

Uptop, meanwhile outside of transformation seams and joints, he’s got a pair of clear blue projections, which most people have clocked as a mounting point for an ambulance light bar on the inevitable Ratchet retool. The fact that they left the nubs in, instead of tooling those panels differently, is a disappointment, especially considering they’re incredibly visible right there on top of him.

The colors are a land of contrasts. On one hand, they remembered to paint the wheel rims this time around, and he’s got some nice silver paint on his front and rear bumpers. On the other hand, he’s really obviously missing an important paint app: The yellow stripe that goes down the side of his vehicle mode, present in the animation, and most other versions of this guy.

It’s something the Earthrise one even had the budget to include. It’s important, because outside of animation accuracy, it breaks up the sea of red. Add to that the fact that his headlights aren’t colored in (again, Earthrise did it), and that, outside of the bumper, his entire rear segment, including the sculpted windows, are totally unpainted (when the fact that the sculpting was there, instead of feet, was a selling point), and you’ve got a figure that just  feels under-painted, to say nothing of the fact that the obvious mismatch in his various reds is a lot more obvious in this form, with different segments of his roof and body being different shades, and varying between glossy and matte colors.

On the positive side, the mess is only visual, he feels great to handle. Everything fits together really nicely, and he comes together into a solid brick-shaped hunk of plastic (even if the sculpt is less-than-hunky). There’s an odd similarity I get here: When you pick him up, his wheels rattle with an almost model-kit-like sound. Combine that with his red colors, and the silver painted over it, and the vehicle mode almost feels the same as Chevrolet Aveo Swerve in my hands, a strange thing to be thinking of.

For features, he rolls nicely, and they found a couple more things to do with his pistols. While I’d still rather the nubs just not be there, you can attach his guns to the front of his roof on the lightbar-holders for an attack mode.

Or, if you want to stash them, they can clip on the back of his underside, facing the rear, with the barrels looking sort of like double exhaust-pipes.

Overall

Maybe it sounds like I’m being a bit unfair, and maybe it sounds like I’m spending too much time on what Ironhide doesn’t do, as opposed to what he does. But like Voyager Hot Rod and Commander Rodimus Prime, they took a figure scaled to a smaller size class, and then bumped it up into a higher price point in the name of using the budget to refine it, add extras, and smooth out potential rough edges. Since that’s the case, in my mind, the figure invites extra scrutiny, and I’m going to hold it to a higher standard. And Ironhide doesn’t really stand up to that level of scrutiny.

There’s a ton of rough edges on Ironhide. Between his seamy, panel-y robot mode, his even seamier messy, underpainted vehicle mode, his mismatched colors, and other small things, he’s no masterpiece, even if he’s not exactly bad. On top of that, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of value-added stuff to justify the inflated price, like a bunch of extra accessories, or extra articulation, or above-average paint (in fact, in his case, it’s actually below average). He’s really just got a slightly more ornate transformation (albeit one that’s admittedly nifty). Maybe I’m a bit sour because I bought it expecting there to be some kind of “X” factor once I got him in-hand that made him make sense, and justify the price (like with the Rodimii), but it didn’t happen, and I’m left feeling like I just payed Voyager prices for a Deluxe, with no caveats. I objectively understand where the budget went, but it still doesn’t feel great.

Here’s the thing: Ironhide really isn’t a bad figure, even with the rough edges. It certainly does what it set out to do, and makes for a better Ironhide than the Earthrise version, with a non-kitbashed altmode. And if it was a Deluxe, this would have been a good Deluxe. Not a perfect one, but a pretty good one. But as a Voyager, there’s just not enough here, and too many problems to justify what they’re charging for it. So, my recommendation comes down to “if you can find it for a Deluxe pricepoint, grab it, but it’s not worth retail value.” It’s a shame that this is basically the easiest Ironhide to get, I’d almost rather they reissued (or further retooled) the Earthrise one, and if it was awkwardly nestled between price points (a problem the Earthrise tooling supposedly had), then they could have just thrown some more accessories into the box to make it worthwhile. Heck, I’d almost recommend tracking down the Siege version instead, if you can find it for normal prices. That version looks good in hindsight, and arguably made for a more fun package, despite his cartoon-inaccurate altmode.

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