Ironhide (Animated)

Ironhide is an Autobot from the Animated continuity family.

Less crusty, but still Southern.

Even though he's now a ranking Autobot security officer, Ironhide is just a country boy at heart. Though his ability to encase his superstructure in a near-indestructible alloy meant he rose through the ranks in the military service quickly, he never quite lost the "aw, shucks" demeanor he picked up as a protoform in a rural prefecture of Cybertron. Now going to strange places, meeting strange mechanoids, and getting shot at by them, he still finds himself wide-eyed at some of the stranger things in the galaxy. He's got a mischievous streak, though his pranks often seem a bit crude to more cultured bots.

Fiction

Animated cartoon

Voice actor: Corey Burton (English), Atsushi Imaruoka (Japanese), Kaspar Eichel (German), Arto Nieminen (Finnish), Sylvain Lemarié (French), Juan José Alarcón (Latin-American Spanish, season 2), Leonardo Camillo (Brazilian Portuguese)

Ironhide's young and Ratchet's old? Animated so crazy!

Ironhide fell in with Wasp from day one of boot camp, the both of them having high hopes for the Cybertron Elite Guard. The tough Autobot was an early favorite of Sentinel Minor, who was duly impressed by his retractable armor. When resident screw-up Bumblebee kept getting the unit more chores and exercises as punishment, he and Wasp took it upon themselves to let the little yellow Autobot know of their displeasure frequently and in no uncertain terms. Autoboot Camp

Years later, Ironhide was stationed at the Autobot colonies on the galactic rim, under Rodimus Prime's command. TransWarped

Ironhide contacted Ultra Magnus and revealed the Decepticons had begun an uprising, destroying a space bridge in the process. Before he could reveal all the details, however, his transmission was cut short by the attack. Mission Accomplished

A later attack saw Ironhide go up against General Strika's squad; while his armor held off her firepower, Oil Slick and Cyclonus eventually took him down. TransWarped

When news reached Cybertron that Longarm Prime was really the traitor and not Wasp, Security Officer Ironhide searched the planet to apprehend him. All he found was Ultra Magnus, badly injured, mangled, and missing his hammer, uttering the name of who had defeated him: "Sh-Shock...wave." Where Is Thy Sting?

Ironhide was later seen in the crowd when Sentinel Prime was made Magnus while presenting three captured Decepticons. Decepticon Air

Together with the rest of Team Athenia, Ironhide attended a show by the Stunt Convoy that turned out to be a disguised attempt at freeing Megatron from Trypticon Prison. The Stunti-Con Job

The Cool comic

Ironhide was part of the crew that protected a space bridge outpost from a Rock Lord attack. Under Rodimus's commands, he was able to put his prodigal strength to good use and break the Rock Lord's tough shell, exposing the creature's weak spot and allowing Rodimus Prime to deliver the finishing blow. The Cool Extra #2

Toys

Animated

Blaze orange for safety!

• Cybertron Mode Ironhide (Deluxe, 2010)

• Takara name: Armorhide
• TakaraTomy ID number: TA-44
• TakaraTomy release date: October 2, 2010
• Accessories: Left & right hammer hands

Animated Ironhide is a redeco and new-head retooling of the Deluxe Cybertron Mode Ratchet toy, transforming into a quad-tracked Cybertronian vehicle. He comes with two "hammer hand" accessories which peg over his fists, which can be stored in the rear of his vehicle mode. His right fist punches forward when a tab on his elbow is pushed. The toy also has a socket on his left forearm to accommodate Deluxe Lockdown's EMP weapon; however, how well that accessory actually fits in the socket seems to vary wildly from sample to sample. His new head features light-piping, and inexplicably, heavy painted circles under Ironhide's optics which give the impression of a 'Bot badly in need of a stasis-nap.

At BotCon 2009, Hasbro explained "Either Ironhide got a new head, or Wasp did." They went with the former. Good choice, especially given that the latter never saw release.

The only difference between Ironhide's instructions and Cybertron Mode Ratchet's instructions is that the former is labeled "Cybertroninan Ironhide" [sic]. In all other respects, they are the same, down to the line drawings and stock photo at the top of the sheet.

In the Hasbro Animated line, Ironhide was originally planned for mass retail, but ended up as part of the second wave of Toys"R"Us exclusive product, released in Fall 2010.

In Japan, TakaraTomy released the toy in the ninth wave of their Animated toyline, under the name "Armorhide" (due to the name "Ironhide" having been assigned to Bulkhead). This version features metallic-red oversprays on his front end/robot chest and shoulders, as well as his shoulder-armor, plus his Autobot symbol is now red with a white outline.

This mold was retooled into the BotCon 2011-exclusive Fisitron and Autotrooper toys.

• More information on Cybertron Mode Ironhide at TFU.info

Notes

You feelin' lucky, partner?

• According to Derrick J. Wyatt at BotCon 2008, Ironhide's voice and manner are based on Huell Howser, host of several California TV travelogue shows.
• A Cartoon Network online game had mistakenly labeled Ironhide as a Decepticon. This had led to speculation that he was the traitor in "Autoboot Camp". However, it was revealed that Ironhide was not the traitor after all. Whoops. Take that, spoilers!
• Had a fourth season of Animated gone into production, Ironhide would have joined Optimus Prime's team, replacing Bulkhead. This is evidenced in the outline for "Trial of Megatron", which shows Ironhide becoming a "bodyguard" to Optimus thanks to Sentinel.
  • Multiple concepts for Ironhide's Earth design were made, which presented his vehicle mode as a pickup truck. One concept would have looked mostly the same as his Cybertronian body but with black accents and arm-mounted cannons similar to his "movie series" counterpart and the windshield-faceguard of the original Generation 1 toy. Another concept would have looked like a grey recolor of Sentinel's Earth body with Ironhide's head.^[1]
• Ironhide wears the 256-OZU-004 body type.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Armorhide (アーマーハイド Āmāhaido)
• Russian: Bronevik (Броневик, "Armored Car")

References