Originally written May 2019.
Like most of the characters in Transformers: Siege, Ironhide’s one of the original members of the 1984 Transformers cast. Unlike some of his fellow Siege Deluxes, which are characters that never had really large media roles, but are popular simply from being “the originals,” Ironhide’s actually a character that received a lot of focus and screen time back in the day, particularly on the original 80s cartoon. In fact, according to his Transformers: The Basics episode, Ironhide’s the one Autobot aside from Optimus Prime and Bumblebee who appeared the most during the show’s first two seasons (probably because he was also voiced by Optimus Prime voice actor Peter Cullen, with a southern accent). He was Optimus’s sturdy, reliable right-hand man, tough and ready to fight, but with a kinder side beneath that, always ready to help out. His subsequent death in the early minutes of the Transformers animated movie was a shame, though different iterations of the character have gone on to appear in a lot of media after that, including the live-action movies.
The Siege figure’s got a lot to prove, because the original Ironhide’s had a bad history when it comes to toys. His original 80’s toy, pictured above, infamously, looked almost nothing like how he looked on the show, instead being a weird headless mass of panels that sat on top of a sled. The toy was designed first, and the show decided that it wouldn’t work, and just redesiged it entirely. He wouldn’t get another (non-Botcon-exclusive) update until his 2008 Transformers:Universe toy, and it was infamously also not very good, another awkward, gangly mess that was really hard to transform, and had a head that was stuck looking slightly down. We got a better one during Combiner Wars, but it wasn’t the best representation of the character, since it was just a retooling of a Decepticon. The Masterpiece figure’s very good (or at least the Ratchet retooling I have is), but unless you’re willing to spend Masterpiece money, there still hasn’t been a good, dedicated modern Generation One Ironhide figure. Fans have clamored for a real, good update, and we haven’t had one until (spoiler alert) now.
Robot Mode
Ironhide’s very tall and big for a Siege Deluxe. He’s almost a tiny Voyager, or the size of an old Universe 2008 deluxe. Here’s a group shot of all of the Red Siege Autobots:
He may be big and chunky, but he’s also really compact and sleek, without much in the way of loose vehicle parts. Unlike a lot of Siege, they didn’t try to make his sculpt look as close to his 80’s cartoon look as possible. It’s more of a remix, like a lot of older Classics stuff. He’s still got a windshield on his chest, and he’s still a big, beefy robot, but it’s definitely a “new spin on an old classic” look.
A note on the windshield: He’s a bit mistransformed in the package, it’s supposed to be a bit further down and forwards on his chest. In fact, you can see grooves on the rim of the cockpit where the top of the windshield’s supposed to slide in. It’s clear, and exposes the hollow interior of his body, but luckily, it’s not too hollow, and it’s the only thing on him that looks so.
One thing that’s super Original Transformers Cartoon though is his head. It’s got the familiar red helmet with the big Mohawk-like crest on top, and a human-looking face that’s very faithful to how he was drawn, picked out in silver paint.
Speaking of his colors, he’s a big, bright shade of red, mixed with grey parts, and painted with yellow and silver accents. There’s a lot of the silver grime and battle damage that’s typical of Siege, but it’s contained entirely in his legs. Between his size and paint, they really spent a lot of budget on him.
With his bigger-than-usual-size comes the extreme poseability of a Siege Voyager. He’s got those ankle tilts and wrist joints that are always on the Voyagers, and only sometimes on the Deluxes, combined with every other expected joint. His compact design means nothing knocks into anything else, and he’s very flexible. Most pleasantly, his big, stompy feet keep him stable, and he can even pull off that rare Transformers talent, the standing midair kick.
For accessories, he only comes with one weapon, but it’s a big one: A rocket launcher that transforms into a hammer. Unlike a lot of other Siege figures, this weapon doesn’t seem to be based on anything the original Ironhide used, and he isn’t known for wielding either weapon. It sure is cool, though.
It’s cast in grey, and is ridiculously well-painted for an accessory, with its own silver battle wash, and some red highlights. There’s a lot of different pegs across its body, so he (and other figures) can hold it different ways. If I’ve got any complaints, it’s that it’s kind of bulky in missile launcher mode, to the point where it gets in the way of posing his arms, and knocks into his body easily.
However, when converted to hammer mode, that problem vanishes, and he looks great swinging it around. As a cool little bonus, the rockets are now located right at the front of the hammerhead, so it looks like an impact from it would be explosive. When it comes to weapon placement, he’s got additional mounting points for weapons on his lower and upper arms, and on his lower legs.
Transformation
Ironhide’s transformation mostly really straightforward and intuitive, and his leg panels do some clever folding tricks. It’s the kind of transformation where halfway through, you realize where everything’s going to go. One difficult bit involves his chest, head and arms rotating downwards as one piece, because the joint they rotate on can be really stiff, requiring “am I going to break this?” levels of force that actually popped a piece off during it the first time (luckily, it pops back on). It’s gotten easier since then, and I suspect there was mold flash or glue that I knocked loose in the process. Speaking of problems, I’ve heard there’s some sort of issue with his leg panels not sitting flush, or staying on, but my copy seems to be fine
Vehicle Mode
The original Ironhide transformed into a very nondescript red van. Siege’s aesthetic has been to give its cast Cybertron-style high-tech vehicle modes that still resemble the Earth vehicles they usually turn into, but with Ironhide, they decided to throw that clear out the window, and give him something totally different. It’s a rolling armored vehicle of the kind you see in a lot of military-themed science fiction, and wouldn’t look out of place in the Aliens universe. One little unintentional detail that helps is that the toy’s serial number (something they all have on them) is placed beside his cockpit.
Sadly, his four wheels have trouble rolling, and the vehicle’s slung low enough that it sometimes drags. Speaking of that, those four techy-looking wheels are solid grey, and I wish they were as well-painted as the rest of him was. The other problem with this vehicle mode is how many undisguised robot bits there are. His feet are still visible at the back, and there’s a gap uptop caused by his upper arms.
I also kind of wish his head wasn’t blatantly there in the opening cockpit, or if it had to be, that they shaded the window instead of making it clearly visible, which would also have hidden the hollow space in robot mode. It’s still a pretty good-looking armored scifi crawler thing, but those flaws stop it from being perfect.
For gimmicks, he still has four mounting points on top for his rocket launcher, or anything else you want to deploy.
The rocket launcher fits nicely with his whole aesthetic, though, and makes the whole vehicle look a bit more cohesive.
Overall
This is definitely the best non-Masterpiece Ironhide you can get. This is definitely the strongest of the Siege Wave 2 deluxes that I’ve handled (not planning on getting Six-Gun, so I can’t speak for him). They really went all-out on his size, poseability and paint, like they wanted to specifically get an Ironhide right, and they certainly did.
He’s not quite the same level of G1 Cartoon Homage as most of the rest of Siege, which makes him fit more into your broader Generations collection. His vehicle mode’s arguably his weak point, but it’s not bad, really, just different. If you don’t have a G1 Ironhide, this is the one, and if you do, this one’s probably better.
(2021 update: There would eventually be an extensive retooling of this guy into an Earth-mode Ironhide for Earthrise, and I reviewed his Ratchet repaint here. While it’s still a great mold, it suffers a bit from being a half-hearted retool, and the remaining Cybertronian and new Earth-mode bits kind of clash. Plus, it was released in an Amazon-exclusive two-pack with Prowl that’s been extremely hard to find ever since. In light of that one’s rarity, and slight retool jank, I’d still recommend this one over it, unless you really want him to change into an Earth van, specifically.)
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