Cliffbee.com Movie Legends Ironhide Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Ironhide
Series: Movie Tie-ins
Allegiance: Autobot
Alternate Mode: GMC Topkick Truck



TRUCK MODE
Height: 3.5cm Length: 7cm Width: 3.5cm

   A black pickup truck with indigo painted windows and silver on his grille, running boards and some robot kibble in the tray. As with the larger toy, this truck is very much about black. Except at this scale there were never going to be enough paint applications to make the colour scheme really work. By that I mean, Ironhide could really use some paint on the headlights, taillights and such. As on the large toy, the exhausts are unpainted.

   Ironhide's proportions are off, and it's easy to see compared to the larger toy. He's too skinny, especially on the tapering upper half. The hood slopes down far more than it should - and it's convex - in an attempt to ensure the front end isn't far too tall. While the shape isn't awful, it's difficult to notice this issue. The rear side windows are unpainted because there are ball joints behind them - the paint would likely flake off as the plastic takes the strain of the joints. His tyres are small and unimpressive, not as beefy as they should be, in relative terms.

   The cannons are absent from underneath the running board - plainly visible in the open tray. The hands are also visible, sticking out from the top of the cannons. I can live with the cannons in the tray, but the fists sticking out are just poor. There's not much play value here - Ironhide rolls on his smooth wheels.

   A slightly disappointing truck mode, Ironhide's narrow profile hurts and those visible hands hurt more. A vehicle with so much black needs more colour - and while Legends toys never have than much paint, I still find myself wishing he had some paint on the headlights at the very least. I'd rather paint there and unpainted windows, in fact.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Swing the bottom half down and split to form his legs. Swing the sides out and fold forward. The front forms shoulderpads and the back - with the visible cannons and hands - swing down as forearms. Swing up his head.

   The bottom doesn't clip in, and the two sides don't clip together. My Ironhide stays together in vehicle mode, but only through the tightness of the joints. While I'm glad my toy is unaffected, I'm not impressed with the laziness of the engineering here.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 7.5cm Width: 7.5cm

   A black robot (funnily enough) with a gunmetal chestplate and groin, Ironhide's face is silver with light blue eyes. The tips of the cannons - which are fixed on his forearms - are also silver. While there's not much paint here - again - the robot mode uses the paint it does have better. The chestplate and facial paint are prominent, and I do appreciate the fact that this Ironhide has painted eyes when the full sized one does not.

   I quite this robot mode, for a Legends toy. The legs are well sculpted and while the black doesn't really bring that out, the arms work and the cannons give him some oomph, despite the diminutive size. The shoulderpad-fenders are prominent, a signature feature, are well defined, which makes this mini robot Ironhide.

   Poseability isn't too spectacular, but within the scope of the Legends size. His elbows and hips are ball jointed while the shoulders can lift out to the sides. This gives Ironhide some room to pose his cannons and some leg poseability, although with no knees joints Ironhide relies on his big footprints to stabilise the poses he does have.

   A nice little robot despite its simplicity, this is easily Ironhide's better mode. The scant paint typical of this line is used well, the mini cannons are nice and imposing and the shoulderpads work. His poseability is a little lacking, but within the range of the Legends size.

VARIATIONS

   None that I'm aware of. Ironhide is sold in a two pack alongside Desert Blackout.

OVERALL

   A disappointing truck mode and a nice little robot mode more or less even each other out. The transformation is okay, although the fact that it relies on tension in the joints and doesn't use pegs is pretty bad form on the part of the designer. If the robot mode appeals, then I'd recommend this figure, but the truck mode doesn't offer much. I'm ignoring the fact that he's only sold in a two pack, mind you - but the other toy in the pack is a good one - 6/10

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