Transformers Masterpiece MP-27 Ironhide

The original Transformers cartoon featured so many characters that it was impossible for all of them to get any sort of proper characterization. Along with Optimus Prime and Bumblebee Ironhide stands out as one of the more memorable members of the Ark crew. The perfect candidate for getting the Masterpiece treatment!

Vehicle mode:

Ironhide's box tells me his alt-mode is a Nissan Cherry Vanette. I cannot say that I can appreciate the difference between modern vans apart from obvious differences in body shape let alone models from the 1970s. He's a red van with a yellow stripe just like his original toy and cartoon design. So big tick there, Hasbro/Takara have nailed it. His wheel work so you can roll him around in alt-mode if you wish.

Ironhide has weapon storage in his alt-mode. As you can see above his two pistols can store underneath in-between his rear wheels. I think this is a nice touch. All the essentials of the toy can be completely stored in alt-mode without having to worry about misplacing any parts.

You can also plug one of the guns onto the roof of the van using the same sort of spring-loaded port most Masterpiece figures finish. I still think this feature is ridiculous but as I said in the Tigertrack review it has no impact on the toy so why not. 

To my eye Ironhide scales nicely with the other Masterpiece Autobots in his alt-mode. I cannot say if the scale is 100% accurate. Honestly, I don't really care. They're close enough in scale to look good together should you choose to display them this way.

Transformation:

Ironhide's transformation looks harder on paper than it actually is. The top two-thirds of his alt-mode make up the robot chest and arms, the bottom third is his legs. Lifting up the roof and out the sides free everything up to be converted to robot-mode. 

The roof folds up on itself to form the robots back. The one tricky part I found first time round was getting the rear window to fold down into the C shape made by the roof. The instructions just give you an arrow pointing straight out but the window is attached to a hinge within a hinge. You end up moving the larger hinge down while the smaller, inner hinge comes forward. This allows it to then swing down and fill in the chest. 

I know that description is probably as clear as mud. With the toy in hand, once you've done it once it's easy. But that initial transfromation may be a bit confusing.

Everything else is straight forward. The rear wheels fold in and a few panels fold around to complete the legs. The feet rotate around and the heels flip out. The legs extend slightly and get rotated 180 degrees at the knee before being straightened out. A lot of small motions but nothing is complicated. The front wheels flip around the the small of the robots back and the arms use a few panels to extend then close back up giving a very tidy look.

Robot mode:

This robot is clearly Ironhide. From the crested helmet to the grumpy expression to the window chest everything just screams Ironhide. He's big, he's tough, he's really, really red. It's surprising just how tall his robot mode ends up given the size of his alt-mode.

There is a little kibble in robot mode. The windows on the back of his arms as well as door panels on his hips and wheels on his back (especially the hip panels) have upset a few collectors. Personally I don't think any of this stands out so much to detract from the figure. But to each their own.

He has a decent range of articulation. A ball jointed head makes him very expressive. He does have a double jointed elbow but this is more for transformation than poseability. One of his biggest assets are his large feet. Ironhide is very stable when posed.

Accessories:  

Most of the smaller Masterpiece Autobots have come with maybe one accessory outside of their weapons. Sometimes this is a pre-order bonus. And that's ok. The toys stand up on their own and don't really need anything else.

Ironhide comes with a whole slew of extras. They even included a 'sled' homaging the part of the G1 toy that had to be removed during transformation to store them all. Each of these accessories relates to a specific G1 episode. I'm afraid I'm not the person to be able to tell you exactly where each one came from.

The first accessory is an alternate face. You can change Ironhide from looking grumpy to yelling about busting some Decepti-chops. Both faces are very well sculpted and the paint is very clean. They've also made swapping the faces easier than some of the earlier MPs (I'm looking at you Bumblebee). Pushing on the back of Ironhide's helmet crest pops the face off. Then it's a simple matter of plugging the other one on.

Apart from his twin pistols which have that generic Autobot design seen in the '86 movie Ironhide comes with a gun based on the one included with his original toy. Honestly this guns design is really silly. I think it looks better as part of the sled and keep Ironhide wielding his twin pistols.

Ironhide's last weapon is a rocket launcher. It plugs into his back and is on an articulated arm. The rocket is removable but there's no spring-loaded launching mechanism here. No need to worry about anyone chocking or (more likely) losing the rocket. I've seen pictures of this showing up in one episode of the G1 cartoon but as I said before I couldn't tell you which episode it was in. Like the toy gun I prefer to leave this on the sled to complete the toy homage.

This little scanner is a nice touch. Plugs into a small hole on Ironhide's forearm. There's not much to say, really. It looks nice, it's unobtrusive, but probably isn't going to get much use.

My favorite extra included with Ironhide is this rocket pack. It plugs into the same port on his back as the rocket launcher. The flame effect parts are removable. It's very tempting to get a display stand and have Ironhide displayed delivering a flying rocket punch to Starscream's face.

The last accessories are not one, not two, but three separate sets of 'liquid shooters'. I like the two gray ones but find the red one fairly boring. All are accurate to the cartoon, and Ironhide did spend enough time on screen shooting liquids from his wrist for it to be a memorable character trait. Like a lot of the other accessories these are not essential but don't detract from the toy in any way.

Final thoughts:

I really love the Masterpiece line. The amount of care that goes into each figure really shows. And Ironhide is no exception. I'd have been happy with this toy if he just transformed and came with one of the pistols. All of the other accessories are just icing on the cake. If you're collecting Masterpiece Transformers you've probably already bought or planning to buy Ironhide for your collection. But if not I'd definitely recommend checking him out.