Ironhide (G1)


 * Ironhide is an Autobot and a Maximal in the Generation 1 continuity family.



Ironhide is one of the oldest and toughest Autobots, and has been on Optimus Prime's team for a long time. "They don't make them like they used to" is an apt description of Ironhide -- he's yesterday's model, but he's built to last.

Gruff and ornery, he prefers actions to words, and dislikes talk for talk's sake. (He wouldn't enjoy being paired up with Bluestreak.) But though he may be rough around the edges, he's still optimistic and upbeat. The upside to being through more than your share of trouble means trouble ain't so big a scare anymore.

Ironhide's most distinctive ability is the power to generate and shoot a liquid of virtually any type. Liquid nitrogen is historically a favorite, but there have been acids, mortar, and more.

"When are we gonna start bustin' Deceptichops?"

- Ironhide's version of diplomacy


 * Hungarian name: Acélfej ("Steel-head")
 * Italian name: Falco (Rock me, Primadeus!)
 * French-Canadian name: Rhino
 * Hungarian Movie name: Vaskezű ("Ironhand")

Animated continuity
Voice Actor: Peter Cullen (US), Shô Hayami (Japan)



Ironhide was part of the bridge crew of the Ark when it embarked on its fateful voyage to seek out new sources of energy beyond Cybertron four million years ago. It crashed on Earth, and all aboard were in stasis until 1984, when a volcanic eruption awakened the dormant Transformers. Ironhide was reformatted by Teletraan I so that his alt-mode was a terrestrial Nissan van. In addition to his role in maintaining the security of the Autobot headquarters on Earth, Ironhide would embark on numerous missions to stop the Decepticons on their energy-raiding strikes around the planet. When the Decepticons churned the currents of the river blocked by Sherman Dam to raise its energy output, it resulted in high tides that threatened the surrounding neighborhoods. Ironhide, with the help of Bumblebee, used his built-in laser cannon in van mode to cut a new series of tributaries for the raging river to flow into.

Later, when the Decepticons escaped being buried in the Burma ruby mines, a flustered Ironhide took to the air in pursuit. He even managed to score a rocket strike against Skywarp, which only earned him a similar strike in return. Ironhide crash-landed into a lake, where he suffered back-end damage to his linkages. The immobilized Ironhide was fished out of the lake by Bluestreak and Jazz, and he recovered under the administrations of Doc Ratchet.

On a later mission, Ironhide was assigned guard duty while the rest of the Autobots tested Wheeljack's new device, the immobilizer. Distracted by a visit from Carly, Ironhide soon learned that the Decepticons ambushed Optimus Prime and the Autobots and stole the new device. Blaming himself, Ironhide resigned from active duty, a resignation Prime accepted with some trepidation. While still "retired" Ironhide swam down to Decepticon headquarters to rescue the captured Carly, was immobilized, then re-mobilized, recovered the immobilizer from Megatron, helped save the Autobots, then destroyed the device. His request to be put on active duty again was wholeheartedly received by his friends.

Ironhide has little patience for "younger" Autobots who think they know better than him or Optimus Prime.

In the year 2005, Ironhide was on a shuttle along with a group of other Autobots headed for Earth when the shuttle was attacked by Megatron and a team of Decepticons. Ironhide bravely fought off the Decepticons, but was not powerful enough to stop the enemy, and he was mercilessly killed by Megatron.

Dreamwave comics continuity
Ironhide and Kup go way back, having served with Wheeljack under Grimlock's command. They even broke off from the main Autobot faction during Prime's absence in the Dark Ages, choosing to serve Grimlock and his Lightning Strike Coalition rather than work under Prowl.

Nobody likes Prowl.

He was part of the Ark's original crew four millions years ago, and awoke with the rest of them in 1984. After the crash of the Ark II, however, Ironhide was among the Transformers secretly acquired by Lazarus as a potential weapon of mass destruction for sale. He was tortured and heavily damaged by the Decepticons when they broke Lazarus' control over them, and was unable to immediately aid Prime and the others against Megatron.

Sometime after Ironhide was repaired, the united Cybertronians arrived on Earth and took him, Optimus, and most of the Ark's crew prisoner as alleged rogues who threatened their homeworld's peace. Many Autobots on Cybertron questioned the beneficence of their "commander", Shockwave, and had organized into several insurgency cells. Ironhide and the 'Bots linked up with them, and successfully retook Iacon for the Autobot cause, forcing out Shockwave and his followers.

In the days that followed, Ironhide, Prowl and Kup attempted to coordinate things on Cybertron, but gratefully stepped aside once Ultra Magnus had finished his repair cycle. The Ark's old crew then made plans to return to Earth and construct a new Autobot City as their base of operations on that planet.

IDW comics continuity
Ironhide is second-in-command (under Prowl) of a detachment of Autobots that has operated covertly on Earth for at least four years, attempting to foil a Decepticon insurgency. He is an experienced tactician whom Prowl consults for advice. Although more bound to the regulations than Ratchet, he's still willing to bend the chain of command for the right reasons, sending a pulsewave to Optimus Prime behind Prowl's back.

Ironhide was assigned the task of escorting a trio of humans back from the Autobots to their homes alongside Sunstreaker, carrying Jimmy and Verity. He became separated from Sunstreaker, who was immobilized and seemingly destroyed in an ambush by the Machination. Once it was revealed that the debris recovered from the Machination was not that of Sunstreaker, Ironhide suggested himself for the search mission to find Sunstreaker's whereabouts as he felt he owed it to him, but his wishes were dismissed by Optimus Prime. Proving his willingness to break the chain of command if needed, Ironhide disobeyed his orders to remain and monitor Decepticon activity, joining Ratchet, Verity and Jimmy in their attempts to uncover the fate of Sunstreaker and Hunter. However, while removing Verity and Jimmy from a building that was due to explode, Ironhide was caught in the explosion, and went M.I.A.

After Optimus Prime returned from his meeting with Omega Supreme, Wheeljack and Hot Rod learned that Ironhide was due to be crushed and compacted at a human dump, and went to rescue him. They ran into some problems on the way there, however.

IDW Beast Wars
Ironhide serves on the Maximal Imperium, alongside Prowl and Silverbolt. Leadership seems to have robbed him of a bit of his gusto, although according to Big Convoy he is 'right honorable'

IDW Hearts of Steel continuity
Ironhide participated in the pursuit of Astrotrain (his name is written on the side of his altmode, a military boxcar), but did not speak or contribute to the fight.

Timelines: Descent into Evil comic
Years after the Autobot-Decepticon Wars ended, Ratchet and five other Autobots were sent to Ceti Alpha Seven to destroy General Deathsaurus' Insecticon clone lab and stop his planned Decepticon uprising. After a team of four (consisting of Fallback, Chromia, Flareup, and Ricochet) failed, Ironhide and Ratchet followed to help. After battling swarms of Virulent Clones and Buzzclaw, they finally met up with Deathsaurus himself. Ironhide stayed to fight the general, and Ratchet separated to find their fallen friends. However, Ironhide was shot in the back by Flamewar and he went into stasis lock. Ironhide woke up restrained inside Deathsaurus' lab with Ratchet, while Deathsaurus appeared to them on a monitor and told them he planned to destroy the lab by remote. Before the lab could detonate, Ricochet snuck in and freed them, allowing them to gather their fallen and escape.

Generation 1

 * Ironhide (1984/1991/2001/2007)
 * Japanese ID number: 98




 * Ironhide was part of the original assortment of Autobot cars released in 1984. His mold was originally used to create a Diaclone Nissan Onebox Cherry Vanette. The Diaclone line of toys were not meant to depict sentient robots, but rather human-controlled machines; the Ironhide and Ratchet-predecessor toys are the ones that most clearly show evidence of this. Rather than a head, these toy robots had chairs behind windscreens where the human rider would control the robot. When ported into the Transformer toyline, it was both the Ratchet and Ironhide figures that differed the most from their animated incarnations, as the cartoon versions did away with all traces of the human-controlled design to give the robots proper faces and heads.


 * Ironhide was reissued in Europe as part of their Classics line in 1991, and released in Japan from e-Hobby in 2001.


 * In mid-December 2007, he was reissued again as part of Takara's Transformers Encore line. This particular version came with an illustration on one box flap depicting Ironhide's cartoon-design head and chest windshield.  By punching out the image along the perforated edges, folding it just so and tucking it in behind the toy's windshield, one could obscure the circuit-board "face" on the driver's seat and give the toy a "real" head that resembled the animation design a little more closely.


 * Protect Black Ironhide (2008)


 * e-Hobby is currently scheduled to release a New Year Special Exclusive: TF Encore Black Protect Ironhide. (In smoother, less loaded English, it would probably be Protective Blackcoat Ironhide.  Hurray for cultural distance.)  The toy will be priced at 4725 yen.  Pre-orders are being taken until Jan. 11, 2008, with a projected shipping date of April 2008.


 * The text on e-Hobby's page for the toy (see External Links, below) indicates the black coloration is meant to homage Ironhide's original Diaclone version, but between the release of Emergency Green Ratchet and a hint in Ironhide's new bio, it's easy to see this is also an homage to the new movie Ironhide. The packaging will be the same as the regular TF Encore Ironhide's.


 * According to his bio, Ironhide got the black protective coating to disguise himself from both Destrons and members of the human criminal underworld when he's acting as Convoy's bodyguard. Not a few of his fellow Cybertrons have whispered to him that he looks like a "Men in Black" vehicle, but Ironhide insists he got the idea from the deep black coloration of pickup trucks he saw around town.  The coating, a composite gel metal, has made his trithyllium steel skin even more durable, allowing him to self-repair minor injuries right away.  His robot/mobile artillery forms are now 25% more maneuverable than before, and he can handle even the worst of roads using his three-legged Marauder Mode.  (This likely refers to the mode using the robot portion perched on top of the mobile artillery "battle sled.")

Generation 2

 * Ironhide (Go-bot, 1995)


 * Part of the second wave of Go-Bots focusing on G1 characters, Ironhide transforms into a silver Ford F150 Flareside pickup truck. Using through-axle contruction for his wheels, he is compatable with most "Hot Wheels" and "Matchbox" playsets and tracks.


 * The mold was a redeco of Generation 2 Go-Bots toy Motormouth, and was later redecoed into the Robots in Disguise Spy Changer Ironhide, the Universe Autobot Ironhide, and the second Universe incarnation of Hoist.


 * Ironhide (Power Master, 1995)


 * Power Master Ironhide was one of the last toys in the Generation 2 line, and was only released in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Oddly, the Australia and New Zealand releases were in US packaging, complete with Hasbro's Rhode Island address.


 * Ironhide (barely) transforms from a grey camouflaged Humvee into a dorky robot. His main gimmick is his "Power Master" pull-back motor, which you use by pulling back on his motorized rear wheels, then placing one of his guns into one of the holes above the doors, which releases a catch and allows him to zip along a smooth surface.

Beast Wars

 * Magnaboss


 * Ironhide transforms from an elephant into a robot. Two removable guns are hidden behind the beast mode's ears. These guns can be plugged into the holes at the bottom of Ironhide's stump arms. In addition, Magnaboss's heel struts can be used as giant spike weapons, as Ironhide's arms become Magnaboss's legs.


 * Ironhide can combine with Prowl and Silverbolt, his package buddies, into Magnaboss.


 * Ironhide was slightly redecoed to create Santon.


 * The toy packaging gives no indication as to who the Magnaboss components are as characters. Their being Generation 1 characters was established by IDW.

Timelines

 * Ironhide (Descent into Evil boxset, BotCon 2005)


 * A BotCon 2005 convention exclusive, Timelines Ironhide was only available in the Descent into Evil boxset. He is a retool and redeco of Energon Tow-Line, with a newly sculpted head resembling his G1 animation model. When not in vehicle mode, Ironhide splits into a robot mode and a battle sled.  Like Towline, Ironhide can powerlinx with any other powerlinxable Deluxe or Mega from the Energon toyline or with his battle sled.  He comes with a blue Energon weapon.


 * Ironhide's retooled mold was also used for Timelines Ratchet.

Attacktix

 * Ironhide (2007)