Ironhide
(Activator; DotM)
In typical Activator
fashion, Ironhide's alt mode is squashed and stretched a little, which
is appropriate given the young age range this subline is targeted at. Compared
to most of the other Activators, though, Ironhide's proportions in this
mode aren't too far off; his truck bed is certainly shorter, and the lines
are a bit more rounded and "chubbier", and his roof could stick out a bit
higher above the level of the front bit and truck bed-- but other than
that, he's actually fairly accurate to his Topkick vehicle mode. The mold
detailing for this mode is fairly minimal, emphasizing only the "major"
details like the doors, smokestacks, front grill, and the like. As you'd
expect from a Movie Ironhide toy, he's almost entirely black in coloration
in this mode, though most of it is a bit more of an impure, "charcoal"
black than a "real" black-- the latter of which I would have preferred,
but he still doesn't look too bad. His paint aps help add a bit more color
variety, such as the silver on the front grill and smokestacks, the gray/blue
bumper, and the dark blue windows, all of which look quite nice against
the black (though I would've preferred having his headlights painted bronze
or gold or something). The window coloration is a particularly eye-catching
shade, and in particular helps to keep this mode from looking boring. As
with other Activators, there's a large "transformation" buttom on the back
end of this mode, so Ironhide doesn't have much of a rear bumper, and what
he does is, sadly, unpainted. The trigger button is painted a bright electric
blue to make it blantantly obvious what you're supposed to press in, so
not much of a chance of confusion here.
As with all Dark of
the Moon Activators, Ironhide is transformed by pushing in on said button
on the rear side of his vehicle mode and standing him up. The front halves
of his truck mode separate out to become his arms, his head pushes up a
bit, and part of his roof folds back to become mold detailing of his legs
on the front of the "stump" you stand him up on. It's hardly a flattering
silouhette, but it fits the gimmick. The arms are the worst part-- they're
simply arm details molded onto the inside of the truck front halves, and
the actual arm detailing is difficult to see in most cases. It doesn't
really look like an arm regardless, and it can only move forward and a
bit back-- but then again, articulation isn't really the point of Activators,
is it? His bottom "stump" also looks pretty weak, with the panel with robot
foot mold detailing not being nearly big enough to cover up the entire
bottom front section, thus making it look like he's "hovering in midair"
slightly given the dark nature of the plastic. The mold detailing on Ironhide's
chest and head are fantastic, though, and-- considering the proportions--
quite movie-accurate. Even his head hasn't been as "chibi-fied" as many
other Activators', and more or less looks like his "normal" movie head.
There's also some great mold detailing on the back of this mode of... well...
his robot back, which was unnecessary given how it's not readily visible
in either mode, but it's appreciated. The silver on the head and "feet",
along with the bluish gray bit on his chest, helps to break up all the
black on this mode a bit better than it did in vehicle mode, so he's not
as one-tone as you'd think here, either. The hinges that connect his shoulders
to his arms are that rather boring, ugly color of milky gray, but it's
used so sparingly on this toy that I don't think it's a big deal.
Activator Ironhide is--
more or less-- a middle-of-the-road toy in the subline, with some nice
paint detailing and a pretty good vehicle mode, all things considered.
However, the arms in robot mode are particularly horrible on this toy,
and he still has all the bad limitations in robot mode of the Activators'
usual design, such as a weird stump leg. If you want an Ironhide for a
little kid that doesn't really get complex transformations yet, this may
be worth a look, but otherwise it's an easy pass.
Review by Beastbot