Studio Series #84 Ironhide

The funny thing about Ratchet and Ironhide, these days, is that development of one will always lead to the appearance of the other, even if only one of them is actually present in whatever media might be associated with a given toyline.

The less funny thing is that, like the Seekers, it's becoming increasingly common for the pair to be released according to different strategies - witness the US release of both War for Cybertron Ratchet figures as Walgreens exclusives.

Thankfully, no such problems with the Studio Series interpretations of Cybertronian Ratchet and Ironhide from the 2018 Bumblebee solo movie. Not only did both appear on screen (if only for a couple of seconds apiece), but both have received distributions seemingly unrestrained by any retailer-exclusivity marketing deals. As mentioned in my write-up of Ratchet, my expectations were low, but the toy turned out to be both technically impressive and a more satisfying Cybertronian form than those offered by the War for Cybertron line... So let's take a look at Ironhide and see how much of that carries over to the mold's inevitable second use.

Vehicle Mode:

I have to admit, I'm in two minds about this one... On the one hand, the red instantly looks punchier than Ratchet's white... the use of black rather than grey on the roof is similarly more eye-catching. The cockpit canopy - still translucent blue - loses none of its impact, and it even retains the painted silver frame around the central pane. The pale grey used at the rear of the vehicle - grey plastic for the truck bed, matching grey paint for the raised sections flanking it - presents a nice contrast to both the red and the black plastic around it.

However, having the front wheel arches cast in the same pale grey, and the fact that the pale grey of the robot's thighs is exposed halfway along the vehicle's roof makes it look as though the wrong parts have been used on this toy. Had his hip joints also been cast in grey, that whole section would then read as nothing more than an extension of the grey parts at the back, and would therefore blend in better.

On the upside, Ironhide fairs perhaps marginally better in terms of paint. While the cockpit canopy required a similarly extensive coat of paint over the translucent blue, the 'grille' section below it, while exactly the same mold as Ratchet's, has its own unique paint layout, using dark gunmetal. As mentioned, the raised sections at the rear are painted grey (the underlying plastic being red), and then the middle panel on each side has an application of a sunny yellow paint along the outer edges, where Ratchet had a smaller application of red in the lower part of the panel. His hubcaps are painted red and, as with Ratchet, I can't quite tell if application is too light, allowing the underlying plastic to show through, or if it's just a slightly different shade of red to that used on the front of the vehicle. The absence of paint on the rear end of the vehicle is disappointing, but in no way surprising, given the similar treatment of Ratchet.

Naturally, Ironhide's weapon is identical to Rachet's and attaches the same way... The only difference is that it's molded in black plastic... and its presence feels more suited to Ironhide, even though they're essentially the same vehicle type.

Robot Mode:

And it's no surprise that this version of Ironhide is little more than a largely red re-release of SS #82 Ratchet... but I'm once again in two minds about it. The first thing that hit me is that his hip joints just look wrong in red. They're supposed to be grey, like the thigh sections, but had the misfortune of being on the wrong sprue at the molding stage.

It's immediately apparent that Ironhide has a slightly more extensive paint job in robot mode. Dark gunmetal paint extends from the lower part of his elbow joint to the frame of his armoured forearm, and there are three little bands of lighter gunmetal on his cuffs. Curiously, there's a block of raised detail on both arms that has been picked out with the gunmetal paint on his right arm, but has been left bare on the left. Both feet have a fairly extensive coating of gunmetal on the more mechanical-looking areas, with some of the raised details on the front picked out as well... though only on the outer face of each foot - the same details on the inner faces are bare. The faux-wheel on the outer face of each leg is also painted in, much like on Ratchet, but then the shins are unpainted. Overall, he's a lot more visually engaging than Ratchet... but I can't help but think he's still a bit lacking in the paint department. Not least because, just like his mold-mate, none of the sculpted detail on his back is painted.

Since he has exactly the same weapon as Ratchet, and exactly the same storage options, I shan't bother going into detail about that here... Suffice it to say, Ironhide wears it better, but it's still a bit strange.

The head sculpt works far better here than it does on Ratchet... but I still can't help but be a little disappointed. The use of a gunmetal paint - lighter than that which is used elsewhere on this figure, but still substantially darker than the silver used on Ratchet - really helps to bring the face into focus, and the sculpt suits the expectation of a grizzled, battle-hardened character like Ironhide... but it's also fairly obvious that the only difference between the two head sculpts is the top of the head - Ironhide has exactly the same robo-mutton-chops enclosing his jawline, but only a single, central crest rather than the 'horns' coming off Ratchet's forehead. I do like the tiny raised section that's meant to suggest an Autobot insignia, but the helmet overall is still pretty nondescript, and it feels like that central crest was supposed to flare out a touch more toward the top, going by the image on the box. I would add that the translucent blue light piping seems much more brilliant here than it did on Ratchet, and that's entirely down to the contrast with the red plastic and gunmetal face.

I felt like I knew what to expect from Ironhide, having already handled Ratchet and, while certain aspects of this toy - the paint job and the head sculpt - are certainly disappointing in and of themselves, my overall impression of this toy is still very positive... As with his mold-mate, Ironhide makes for a far better War for Cybertron: Siege figure than did the official Siege Ironhide toy. It's a decent representation of the movie CGI, and it even improves on certain aspects of the mold's original use. Even the singular lack of surprises for anyone who's handled Ratchet does little to actively harm this toy. On the flipside, some of the joints feel looser than Ratchet's - in particular, his hip joints are inclined to send his upper body plunging backward at the slightest push. This affects some of the transformation joints as well, but not so much that Ironhide feels anything less than secure in either mode. In particular, the vehicle's front wheels clip into place far more securely on Ironhide than they did on my copy of Ratchet, so I guess they're both going to be a QC roulette for one reason or another.

At the end of the day, I'm more than satisfied with this figure... I don't know that Studio Series would feature many more Autobots from the Cybertron scenes in the Bumblebee movie - any others were surely motion-blurred into complete anonymity - but this small handful of figures in the line does make me wish for a fully-CGI movie, based wholly on Cybertron, just to see what other gems Hasbro's Studio Series 'Dream Team' could come up with.