Finally muster up the courage (and the mood) to do it. @waffel Thank you sir for the simple idea and how-to's

 

That's a clean cut m'man! Great job.

 

I never really cared for Ironhide as a character or a toy.

Sure he had the tough fiery personality and the distinctive voice. But he was so plain in both modes. And his van mode was pretty lame and wimpy looking.

But this figure. Let me tell you, this figure. It's just fun and looks great. It changed the landscape for me. I now like and respect the character alot more. And that says a ton. That's how good looking and fun this figure really is.

 

I had the same reaction with Ironhide as I did with Arcee. I was quite happy with the ER versions, but SS versions really blew me away once I had them in hand. Amazing figure.

 

Same once I gave it a chance. To make things better I got it for $22 and I have that Smashdown battlemaster to give him more weapons lol. I hope Ratchet will be good since I gave away my Siege Ratchet.

 

Wow, I’m afraid those clear clips will eventually wear out, and they are pretty essential for keeping it together.

 

They do seem thick and sturdy but yeah, you can never been too sure when it comes to clear plastic.

Much as I love 86' Ironhide, I'd also say he's the best example of why current day Hasbro should not be using clear plastic on Transformers. Imagine how much better this guy might be with a consistent shade of red and without the niggling thought he might break every time you transform him.

 

I would have been incredibly OK with them casting all the red in 1 piece with painted windows like Combiner Wars.

 

Same.

I wonder what the cost Vs on that is...solid color plastic with painted windows, vs clear plastic, with alot more paint everywhere except the windows.

From my mind..And I am not a smart man..But I would think it would be more cost effective for solid plastic and painted windows.

Some vehicle modes look GOOD with clear plastic. Example are some of the sports cars...but then again..you just get the illusion of glass, and your still looking at nasty robot parts, toy rivets..etc. In general though, I think the need to see thru windows on a toy like this is not that useful. I like that the front is clear plastic, But I could have been totally satisfied, if the rest of the vehicle was one color, and it was either stickers or paint for the side windows.

Meh..I dunno. I love LOOKING at clear plastic transformers..I used to be into finding the "clear versions" of certain toys..99.9% of the time, it would end in disappoint if handled much. I got frustrated after breakage and stopped buying the clear ones. Last one I had was a clear optimus primal..THAT was sweet..but for the most part..yeah, Im a sucker for clear plastic, "crystal" transformers..But im OK with a clear windshield and painted or stickers on something like this.

Wouldn't it be sweet to see Hasbro pioneer a new way to do "glass" on toys? Some gundam kits have this "holographic" material..Would be very interesting to see if they could do THAT, with "light blue" under it, and just be able to make "glass" out of very good looking "stickers".

 

Well... fewer molds, less assembly... added benefit of more color consistency...

 

The frustrating thing is they sort of did for a while, 10 or so years ago, when we were getting figures with clear plastic windows inserted into opaque plastic frames. All the visual flair of clear plastic with none of the structural issues. But budgetary constraints have sadly made that a thing of the past.
I suppose we do still get that from time to time though but it's far from the standard it was around ROTF times.

 

Got my Ironhide recently, and unfortunately he has some QC iussues with the paint on the windshield where it's not painted completely and the paint ran and started clumping. Trying to decide if i want to exchange it, ngl I'm kinda worried about the paint chipping

 

The top edge of the windshield isn't supposed to be painted anyway.

 

Where's the clumping paint?

 

Ok, I thought it was supposed to be based on how it was painted

I tried to get it in the pictures, its around the top rim where the paint ran and on the top right corner of the windshield. There is a build up of the paint where it ran/ dripped

 

I didn’t like how this figure didn’t appear much bigger than the WFC Ironhides. In-hand, I do like how it feels much more substantial than them. It somewhat justifies being a voyager release to me due to how dense it is by comparison and how its transformation uses more compression. The transformation does leave me scratching my head. It isn’t difficult in general, it’s actually pretty intuitive; except for keeping the lower arms tabbed together in van mode. There’s a tendency for the arms to separate down the middle of the roof in van mode and the 2 translucent blue tabs from the windscreen are the only things keeping the arms aligned in place. You can feel the tension easily prying the arms apart before clipping in those tabs(and after unclipping them). Those tabs, luckily didn’t seem as tricky to unclip(best if you pull/slide 1 arm back at the shoulder, this is where the excess tension ironically helps.). Whatever plays a part in making those arms feel like they should separate due to tension should’ve been addressed before final production. Whatever’s causing that is also putting excess tension on those translucent blue tabs that are part of the windshield.

The lower leg window panels on mine don’t like to stay tabbed flush, not a dealbreaker but annoying. Would’ve been cool if the grey stripes beneath the feet were molded separately in grey plastic as I think it’ll be easy to scratch those painted stripes off.

Hip joints on mine are a little looser than I’d like. Not a fan of how they’re exposed if the legs are raised, I feel like as a voyager figure, this could’ve at least had a a 3 panel hinged pelvis plate that covered up those joints.

 

This guy is a beauty. You can almost here Peter Cullen when you look at him.

Really think there is no need for a further update. I cant see how he can be bettered.

 

That would've been great tbh

Come on bruh, really?

 

Hey now, he is welcome to that opinion. For some people this has been the best Ironhide we've gotten outside of Masterpiece.

Even with the flaws of the figure, I am inclined to agree. Maybe not to the extent that i hear Peter Cullen, but still.

 

Really.

I think he's a great version. Certainly for a mainstream non mp release