Ironhide's alternate mode takes a cue from his movie version and is a heavy duty pickup truck, though it also takes some cues from his G1 version as well in that a moderately light red is a major color of his in addition to the movie black. An interesting aside here-- this design was actually originally going to be used as an "Earth Mode" Animated Ironhide, but got scrapped when the fourth season of that show also got scrapped. With some more realistic (but still somewhat stylized) proportions, it makes a fitting addition to the Prime toyline. Other than a SLIGHT gap if you're looking at this mode from the back end, there's no proportional issues with this mode, and no real robot mode extras to speak of, either. The mold detailing is classic Prime-aesthetic, in that it's fairly bare on most parts but there's a few bits-- like the front bumper, front windshield, and weapon-- where there's all kinds of details, such as circuitry and the like. The black and red are a nice, basic color scheme, though I feel that adding a bit of orange like on some G1-esque Ironhide redecos would have helped make the scheme a bit more interesting. The gunmetal gray on the grill and headlights serves as a nice accent, though, as do the silver windows on the side. The transparent blue seems slightly out-of-place (though it certainly doesn't clash), but I suppose its presence is understandable given how it's used on the other 2012 Cyberverse Commander Autobot toys. Ironhide's two cannon weapons are definitely the most movie-esque part of this toy, their styling taken pretty much directly from his movie version. There are two peg holes for them (or other Cyberverse-scale weapons) to fit on the sides of the top of his truck bed, and one additional peg hole on each side of this mode, below the windows. In addition, the cannons can be combined into one longer one via their pegs and ports, and are definitely some of the niftier Cyberverse weapons.
    For a Commander-class figure, Ironhide's transformation has a few surprising flips and rotations in its transformation (though it definitely isn't a complex toy), and the end result generally fits Ironhide's personality and style. The arms are his weakest point, with the shoulders coming out from the body a bit too far and leaving an ugly gap in between them and the main body, while his lower arms suffer from having roof halves on the back of them. (I do like the wheels on the back of the upper arms, though-- it helps to "bulk them up" a bit visually.) The big grill parts on the sides of his head are a bit overly large (Ironhide doesn't exactly have a wide field of vision, does he?), though the inverted windshield-chest looks great, as does all the "fractured vehicle parts" detailing on his stomach and waist. His head sculpt generally fits his G1 head pretty closely, though the helmet seems a bit overly large proportionally, to the point where it looks like it's coming down over his eyes a bit, which is a tad weird. His lower legs are a bit large in proportion to his upper legs, but his big clonkin' feet do fit Ironhide's character well enough and match his large hands. His feet are generally this mode's strongest area-- I think it's quite ingenious how the feet fold out and down from the truck bed, allowing a Commander-class figure to have ankle tilts as well as just looking good. His paint detailing in this mode is mostly red highlights on his black lower limbs and main body, but it separates the colors out enough where no one area is too dominated by one color. Ironhide can move at the shoulders (at three points), elbows, hips, knees, and ankles (at two points). Many of those joints are ball joints as well, so-- combined with his large, stable, articulate feet-- he's pretty darned poseable for a Commander class figure. Like other 2012 Prime Cyberverse Commander figures, Ironhide's back has a transparent peg that you can hook a Cyberverse-compatible LED weapon to from a Vehicle Set. When you turn on this LED plug, it SHOULD make the chest light up, but it doesn't do jack squat on Ironhide-- par for the course, sadly, and a gimmick best left forgotten. Ironhide's cannons (or other Cyberverse weapons) can be held either on the sides of his lower arms or in his fist holes in this mode.
    Prime Ironhide does have a few minor drawbacks-- mostly dealing with his oddly proportioned arms in robot mode-- but overall, he's one of the best 2012 Prime Cyberverse molds, looking great in both modes and drawing upon some of the best aspects of both the G1 and movie versions of the character to create a nice, updated form for him with great articulation and some nice weapons. Definitely recommended if you like Cyberverse-scale figures.

Review by Beastbot

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