That’s a big pickup truck.

I mentioned in the Scan Series Ironhide review that I sold off my Masterpiece Movie Ironhide because I was too afraid to transform him. Looking at the reviews made scared to death that I was gonna mess up the paint or worse break the figure while transforming it so I sold it off. But I still wanted a big, meaty Bayverse Ironhide.

What to do, what to do…

So here’s DOTM Leader Ironhide! Some Leader Bayverse Transformers were complex and accurate enough to be considered Masterpiece level (and some weren’t). Let’s see if Ironhide here is one of them!

Vehicle mode

Ironhide’s a GMC Topkick as he usually is but now he’s big. GMC Topkicks are apparently gigantic for pickup trucks but I think the scale here is just a tad off even though that’s the case. Still, Ironhide looks great in truck mode!

He’s got a decent amount of paint, a lot of molded detail and ample ground clearance. The amount of robot kibble you can see in this mode is decent but there’s still some sticking points: the

For playability, Ironhide rolls really well on all four wheels because they’re huge and there’s a lot of ground clearance. Also, he can deploy his weapons in this mode.

Transformation

The transformation is super simple for this era of Leader figures. Ironhide is about as difficult to transform as a modern Leader like AOE Optimus but not as simple as Combiner Wars Armada Megatron.

While the transformation is simple, getting the arms in place is a bit annoying to do. They’re fiddly to get pegged in just right.

Robot mode

Man, the Leader size makes Ironhide look impressive. It’s arguable that the Deluxe Ironhide mold is more movie accurate but this Ironhide looks way more intimidating. And that’s without deploying all his weapons.

It’s not all great though. There’s a lot of kibble on his back.

Ironhide has a decent amount of posability in robot mode but it’s noticeably limited compared to most Leader Transformers.

Gimmicks

Man, he’s an original Bayverse trilogy Leader figure. He’s got tons of gimmicks. In fact, I think he has more than all the other Leader figures of this era.

First things first, Ironhide’s iconic arm cannons. By pulling out the smokestacks on his forearms his cannons deploy out. His right arm cannon is accurate to the movie but his left arm is a completely new and unique design. The deploying gimmick is fun and the cannons look great but they feel just a tad too small.

Next up, the weapons hidden in his legs. His right leg stores a launcher with a firing missile while his left leg stores a gnarly looking hunting knife and both weapons fit into 5mm ports. The launcher is kinda small and plain but the hunting knife looks great in Ironhide’s hand.

Ironhide’s lights and sounds are a bit more interesting than the other original Bayverse trilogy Leaders.

Toy or collectible?

Both but Ironhide leans more into being a toy now. Ironhide is accurate in both modes but he gets blown out of the water by the Movie Masterpiece Ironhide. The trade-off is that Leader Ironhide here is not a nightmare to handle.

Closing

You want the most accurate Bayverse Ironhide ever? Go get the Masterpiece Movie Ironhide. You want something to scale with your Studio Series collection? Get the Studio Series Ironhide or one of the Deluxe Ironhide variants. You want the most fun Bayverse Ironhide ever?

Get this guy.

Ironhide here is certainly no Masterpiece but he’s basically the perfect balance between movie accuracy and gimmicky insanity. Ironhide is everything that Cyberverse should have been but wasn’t.