Which reminds me that movie Ironhide didn't have a high opinion of humans so why would he of all Bots want to look like one with his design and proportions anyway?
If MPM-4 is near perfect, there's no reason to discuss it in off-topic. Anyways, where did Hasbro got the idea that Ironhide wearing blue pants? I mean, you're a toy designer. There's a film material to base your design. Was Ironhide wearing blue pants in DOTM?
Lighting. None of the design model was actually that slate blue. But because he appeared in so many blue-tinted scenes (because of Michael Bay's overuse of blue/orange contrast filtering), it is how he "looks" for a good portion of the movies. Plus, sometimes it just makes for more eye-catching figures. Hasbro knows they're not going to get 100% colour/paint accuracy on a mainline budgeted figure, so sometimes they'll purposefully jazz up the deco just a bit so that the toy doesn't look bland on the shelf, like if Ironhide were molded in just plain flat grey plastic instead. At least, I could say all that for Deluxe and DotM Voyager figures. I have no idea how the Leader version ended up with total top-bottom delineation in his colour scheme. That was dumb looking (then again, I'm of the opinion that the Leader toy in its entirety is kinda dumb, so whatevs).
I think it's the worst aspect of the figure. From the underside view we can see there's a tonne of space under there that at least the inner toes could fold into. I was hoping it was mistransformed and almost convinced myself I could see a pin joint that would allow the toes to fold up in the high-res official pics, but I'm sure it's just sculpted detail catching the light. Looks like the toes are there to stay. Ah well we can just imagine Sam got married, Ironhide was the wedding car, and they are those dangly things hanging off the back of truck.
except that the bot transformations in the movies are complete bullshit. if they can make something as awesome as mpm iron hide. they can use faux parts if they need to. i don't care.
It would have been cool if they had added in sculpted details to the bottom of the toes to at least make them look like car parts (exhausts, a trailer hitch, whatever). It will look weird having them hang off there, and they really should have flipped up or something, but it doesn't kill the design for me by any means.
by now each mpm carbot (Bee ,Barry, Ironhide) has stuff hangin in the back of vehicle mode. But I'm personally not bothered couse I'm never gonna display them in vehicle mode from the back. They are complicated designs and cars are quite compact so compromises needed to be done for it to work. It's nothing critical as there is no visible kibble except for the back so it's not that bad IMHO
It's probably because the feet are diecast. Had they been plastic, in sure they could've added another joint in there. Ah well, \M/
I was kinda expecting a $90 price point because it's sized between Bee and Prime, but the figure looks dense as hell, so I feel kinda okay with $100. Just as long as the QC isn't shoddy.
Maybe Ironhide has a higher parts count then Prime and that’s why he is in that price range despite being smaller?
price is based on parts count, paint apps, etc. this is why titan devastator was simplified and barren.
Oh, just noticed that Ol' Barry is slated for March! I thought he was an April release. Back on topic: can't wait to get Ironhide! He looks awesome. Arm articulation will be hindered by all that kibble (half the vehicle mode ends up on his arms) but he's super accurate so all is forgiven.
From the various pictures, it actually looks like the two front hood pieces actually don't peg into the front. This being the case, I can see them functioning as extra pectorial joints that will allow a greater range of motion for the arms than we think. Even in the movies, those pieces move together with the arms, so he might be far more expressive thana either Bee or Prime.
You're right, I was actually thinking they might act as a sort of butterfly joint. That said though the panels that attach to his upper arms and forearms look like they might make posing his arms a bit difficult.