The Energon Pub

Movie Voyager Ironhide. An over-rated figure?

I finally got around to opening my voyager Ironhide figure, and I don't know if it's because of the hype or if it's because it really does suck, but I have to say I'm a little underwhelmed. Disappointed even.

I've heard nothing but good things about this figure, about how worthwhile it is, and how it's the most badass of the movie figures.

Well maybe so, but man is this guy fugly. I know all the movie figures have sort of abstract heads, but this guy's like the misshapen elephant-man of transformers.

The transformation has been described as complex, but I wouldn't really call it that. The foot automorph is wonderfully complex, but the rest of it is relatively straightforward. It's just finicky. Everything has to be just so. All the time goes into tweaking the alignment of the parts. Getting things to line up so the cracks on the truck are as close as possible. I hate this.

But most of all what I hate is the whole chest/shoulders assembly. It's reasonably true to the movie, but oh so awkward. It just sort of hangs there, or you can pull the shoulder shell parts out, locking them in a place that gets in the way. All things considered, it's about as much fun as underwear that rides up your crack.

What totally drove me nuts worse than all of this is that my figure came with a faulty shoulder joint. The right arm can rotate smoothly at the shoulder, but the left arm has this annoying 'click' when you try to rotate the shoulder, that's so sharp you really fear you are breaking something. It was so irritating, I sort of felt, I don't care if I destroy the figure, I want to get to the bottom of this. Anyway in the process of this, I took out a very stubborn screw, which was a lot trouble getting out, and now refuses to go back in, At this stage the slot on the screw is pretty carved up by the screwdriver, and the problem isn't fixed, and it starts to get more and more frustrating. Now everytime I turn the arm, when it clicks, the pressure is such that the part of the arm with the dodgy screw is almost coming apart. What a piece of junk. AAaargh.

All in all I found myself much more fond of Voyager Ratchet, a figure I had initially planned on not buying. A much less ambitious figure, but everything comes together so nicely. And it's bigger. Ironhide appears to be more promising, but ultimately he's a pernickety little bitch, sure to give you some trouble somewhere.

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I dont think its an over rated figure. I like him, the best voyager, then ratchet, then SS, then blckaout in my opinion

i love ironhide to death. my only complaint is that a lot of the details are lost in the black paintjob. he is definitely my favorite voyager, too.

I don't think he's overrated. I just think some of the others have more flaws and his are less apparent (minus his head paint). I do wish his size was more in line with how big Ratchet is, and that Ratchet was actually his size. It'd be more correct that way. And he needs better paint apps, too much endless black loses his details.

Be very careful when dealing with any of the screws on these transformers. They are made out of a really crappy alloy and strip extremely easy. A screw head was stripped out of my Ratchet from the factory. When I was taking him apart to paint him, I never could get his left arm off because it was already rounded out.

Without owning Ratchet, and only playing with Starscream, I have to say Ironhide is the best Movie Voyager figure.

He is finicky, badly painted, and (as with all movie figures) has a god awful head, but his detailing, fun Transformation, great alt mode and large robot mode.

Sure beats the crap out of Megatron, Prime and Starscream.

Ironhide is ok, not great, but at least better than the ugly Ratchet. Ratchet has the ugliest head, the design is simple and disproportioned (small torso and large legs VS CGI?!)
Hasbro has probably spent the least amount of time and effort in making the poor Ratchet.

ironhide001 wrote:Ironhide is ok, not great, but at least better than the ugly Ratchet. Ratchet has the ugliest head, the design is simple and disproportioned (small torso and large legs VS CGI?!)
Hasbro has probably spent the least amount of time and effort in making the poor Ratchet.

Yeah I do think Ironhide is over-rated and I would take Ratchett over him any day.

ironhide001 wrote:Ironhide is ok, not great, but at least better than the ugly Ratchet. Ratchet has the ugliest head, the design is simple and disproportioned (small torso and large legs VS CGI?!)
Hasbro has probably spent the least amount of time and effort in making the poor Ratchet.

Agree. Ironhide might have some flaws here and there, but nothing compared to how ugly and poor the mold for Ratchet is. I don't even put him with the rest of mine.

To be honest, I dont think any of the Voyagers rate very highly. Most of the better toys in the movie line are Deluxes.

Bumblethumper wrote:
Everything has to be just so. All the time goes into tweaking the alignment of the parts.
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I will agree on that point. You really have to align everything carefully and very precisely when getting him back into vehicle mode. That can be pretty time consuming. And because these toys are so fragile, you can't be too forceful about it so you're gingerly working your way throughout the entire process. This can take up lots of time!

I have to add my 2 cents and say that Ratchet is one of the stupidest molds EVER. He has a terrible color scheme as well. I hate his G1 rescue colors much less though. I'm glad somebody out there enjoys him, because I sure don't.

Ironhide flat out rocks! I can see how hype would ruin it for you though. Hype ruined a lot of movies for me.

The one smooth shoulder, and one clicky shoulder is normal. I think they did that on purpose to give him strength to carry around that fully assembled cannon he has.

My only complaint is that he's too fragile. He is ugly as well, but it suits his personality as an old bruiser. If he were human, he'd be from Boston, MA.

Lookswise, I think ironhide and ratchet are equals. In every other respect, ratchet is far superior.

voice of hoist wrote:Lookswise, I think ironhide and ratchet are equals. In every other respect, ratchet is far superior.

Give yourself some time ... you'll come around.

He's ok except for the head paint app. and transforming him into his alt. mode is a pain in my hairy ass.

I have my Ironhide in bot mode and don't transform it. I have to say, the bot mode is really growing on me in terms of looks. Ratchet is pretty ugly (kinda like your sister..."your" in the generic sense...kinda like my sister, your sister, your mom's sister...it's all the same), but I still prefer him as a *transformer* because he's simpler than Ironhide to transform, more hearty, but still fairly complex and fun.

Tranforming him was slightly frustrating, but other than dat, he's a wicked figure. The clear colored optics adds a nice touch, as with others'. The head sculpt, i like very much. Over-rated... not2me.


Movie Ironhide rocks dat hard.

ironhide001 wrote:Ironhide is ok, not great, but at least better than the ugly Ratchet. Ratchet has the ugliest head, the design is simple and disproportioned (small torso and large legs VS CGI?!)
Hasbro has probably spent the least amount of time and effort in making the poor Ratchet.

correction, least amount of time on jazz

IMO Ratchet owns Ironhide!! Ratch is far easier to transform and I love his articulation!! hes super poseable and I just like his overall look.. plus if you take an hour and add some custom paint to him he looks 10x better!!