With Marvel Monday going into hiatus for a little while (Spoilers! Next Monday will be the last), I decided to introduce another theme day for the week, and that’s going to be Transformers Thursday (TFT). I know, today is Friday, but the whole Doctor Who trifecta bumped this one day. Planning, kids! It’s not just for breakfast anymore! Next week TFT will launch on time and feature a different Transformer figure plucked fresh out of one of the many totes in the Toy Closet. Today we’re starting with Energon’s Ironhide. Why? Because, why not? While I started getting back into collecting Transformers with Robots in Disguise, Armada was the first series since the G1 days that I was into collecting big time. When news came that it was ending and was to be replaced with a new line, I was sad and somewhat apprehensive about what would replace it. It’s hard to remember what I was so worried about…

Oh yeah, now I remember! As I recall Ironhide was one of the first of the new Energon toys to be shown. It caused quite a stir and it’s easy to see why. Nonetheless, I was a shameful Transformers whore and I made many a midnight run to Walmarts everywhere until I came home triumphant. The packaging is long gone, so let’s jump right into Ironhide’s alt mode.

For starters, I should point out that while I’ll stick to his stock name for this feature, I never call this guy Ironhide. I always call him Gears. Yes, it’s mostly because of the red and blue color scheme and the fact that he’s a truck, but partly because it amuses me to think of the little minibot becoming a big guy like this. Ironhide took a lot of people by surprise with his preschool-ish vehicle design, the ridiculous apparatus on top, and the fact that the designers did very little to hide the his head, which is stuck right on top of his roof. At least they made it so you could push down his helmet to hide his face. On the other hand, this is kind of like Ironhide thinking that if he can’t see you, you can’t see him. We’ll just play along.

I still have no idea what the hell that mess on top of him is supposed to be. I presume it’s some kind of array of lights or sensor equipment? I like to think it’s a giant three lens death ray. I call it the Tri-raticator! Why else would a robot want something that stupid and ungainly mounted on top of them? It’s also the speaker system for some SFX. I’ve long forgotten what they sound like, and I’m sure as hell not about to invest in some new batteries to find out. The array turns and it also has a firing missile launcher. You can easily pop this whole assembly off the top of the vehicle, but it does leave a gaping hole, and considering that his head comes off with it, doing so feels like a cheat.

The rest of the truck has some decent detail, despite looking very much like a Tonka Toy. The shock absorbers are actually sculpted in the wheel wells, the treads are sculpted on the tires and he has gas tanks sculpted on each side towards the back. The white paint on the running boards and fenders give the toy’s deco a little pop, but I really hate the use of the tan colored plastic. It doesn’t fit the rest of the deco well at all. Also, it’s well known I don’t care for painted windows on my Transformer vehicles, and the gold windshield and side windows aren’t helping Ironhide any.

Transforming Ironhide is pretty simple, and the engineering is somewhat original. At this point I should note that as part of his gimmick (more on that later) Ironhide’s legs can be configured in two different ways. Pictured above is the official transformation, which gives him stocky legs with some ridiculously huge knees. I prefer to extend the legs out like this…

Ah, much better! Not only does this mode give him more poseability in the legs, I just think it makes him look better proportioned and have better looking legs. As tepid as I am on Ironhide’s vehicle mode, I really do enjoy this robot mode a lot. It does still have a little of that preschool toy vibe to it, but there’s just something about it that I dig. The apparatus behind his head doesn’t look nearly so bad, although poor Ironhide has absolutely no peripheral vision, because he has a giant gun and missile launcher mounted right next to each of his ears. The chest design is pretty cool with a nice satisfying Autobot emblem sculpted right in, and I love the way the side panels of the cars open up like gullwing doors and form his shoulder armor. Great stuff!

Ironhide sports a solid amount of articulation and some super satisfying ratchet joints to boot! The entire weapon assembly turns his head. His shoulders will rotate and have lateral movement and his elbows are ball jointed. His legs feature full rotation and lateral movement at the hips and have both swivels and hinges in the knees. The combining gimmick unfortunately robs him of any articulation in the torso, but he’s still loads of fun to play with.

Combining gimmick, you say? All the Voyager and Deluxe Class Autobots could combine with another figure in their size class. It’s not a gimmick that I was overly fond of, as it often had very mixed results and sometimes intruded on the design of the figure. I’ve gone long enough, so I’m going to swing back next Thursday with a look at Energon Cliffjumper and we’ll see how this whole combining thing works out.

But before calling it quits for today, I should point out that Ironhide was repainted and re-released as “Powerlinx Ironhide.” Just like I call regular Ironhide Gears, I always call Powerlinx Ironhide Hound and consider him another character. It’s pretty obvious that this repaint was intended to be Hound and I think the homage works quite well with this toy. I’ll even go so far as to say I like this figure better because the tan plastic fits better with the military style deco.

I like both of these figures a lot more than I probably should. The Tonka Toy vibe of their alt modes make them stand out like sore thumbs on my display shelves. On the other hand, I find a lot to love about their distinctive robot modes and they are undeniably fun to play with. It’s true the design on these guys doesn’t mesh well with a lot of other Transformers in my collection, but taken on their own, or at least with most of their Energon peers, they certainly have their merits.