Ask and you shall receive!

A little over a year ago, I made a list of Transformers I wanted Takara to make Masterpiece figures of. I made one list for the evil Decepticons and another for the heroic Autobots. In my list for Autobots, my number one pick was Ironhide. It was no contest as the G1 Ironhide toy was one of the ugliest looking things you could play with! I understand the cartoon had to make concessions when making the animated version of the original toy. But the G1 toy is virtually unrecognizable from the cartoon! It didn’t even have a proper head, for Pete’s sake!

You have to reeeeeealy use your imagination with this toy.

Fast forward to a month ago and Takara had released the latest toy to enter their Masterpiece line of figures, MP-27 Masterpiece Ironhide! This was a dream come true for me as I really wanted to see Ironhide get his proper due! He was one of the most popular characters in the Transformers cartoon and he deserved to get an action figure matching his legendary status. But was it worth the wait? Better question: is MP-27 Masterpiece Ironhide any good?

Short answer: yes. MP-27 Masterpiece Ironhide is probably one of the best figures in Takara’s Masterpiece Transformers line. It’s definitely a must buy for any serious collector of Transformers toys. If you want the long answer, read on!

Looking much better than the G1 figure, huh?

If you’ve been collecting Masterpiece figures, the first thing you’ll notice about the package is the box’s size. It’s noticeably larger than the other automobile Autobots. It’s big for two reasons. One, the Ironhide figure is large. It makes sense as the character transforms into a Nissan Cherry Vanette. Honestly, I always thought Ironhide was just a nondescript van. I didn’t realize he was based on an actual vehicle like the Nissan Cherry Vanette. Second, the figure is loaded with lots and lots of accessories! If you love accessories as much as I do, MP-27 will definitely please you!

Now, let’s go look at Ironhide in his vehicle mode. I’m really amazed at how great he looks in vehicle mode. While the other Masterpiece figures don’t disappoint in this department, there’s just something special about Ironhide when he’s disguised as a van. There aren’t any loose bits hanging underneath and everything just fits snugly together. I also love the neat little nod to the original G1 toy as you can see a likeness of his old “sticker” face smiling at you through the windshield.

He’s keeping his eyes on the road!

When transforming Ironhide into his robot mode, you can tell a lot of masterful engineering was put into the creation of it. Everything fits together really tight. However, I do have to admit transforming it for the first time was rather nerve-racking as some movements, such as pulling out the rear windshield felt too tight! But, once you do loosen it and transform Ironhide several times, everything does move much smoother.

But, once you’re done with transforming the figure, what you wind up with is an excellent representation of Ironhide from the G1 cartoon. This is truly a magnificent looking figure for the most part! He just feels like a solid brick which makes him incredibly easy to get him into a number of dynamic and action packed looking poses! I do have a few nitpicks, though. The chest area does look a little thick, especially in the area where the headlights are placed. There is a little bit of a hollow spot in his back as well. But these issues are really minor and easily forgiven because of how much they got right with it! He truly looks like Ironhide from the cartoon. And they didn’t have to rely on the weird detaching battle sled!

He has two guns because… well, it’s cool!

Speaking of the battle sled, MP-27 comes with a variation of that very thing! It’s essentially a hunk of plastic but it can hold each and every one of Masterpiece Ironhide’s multitude of accessories for safe storage! Like I mentioned before, there are a lot of accessories! Not only does Ironhide come with two laser pistols, he also comes with a homage to his G1 raised missile launcher and “static laser gun” that were attached to the original battle sled. He also comes with a radar dish you can attack to his arm that he used when finding dinosaur skeletons that were the basis for the Dinobots as well as an alternate face. And he also comes with not one, not two. But three different hand attachments! It’s a smorgasboarg of different accessories! I love it!

While the numerous accessories are great, I do have to make another minor quibble about the thing that all the accessories attach to: the battle sled itself. As much as I love how Takara gave us a nice little repository for all of the accessories, the battle sled is still a piece of molded plastic. It looks like a platform and not a “sled.” I kind of wish it came with little tank threads like the original G1 toy had. Still, that’s not a dealbreaker and easily overlooked once again.

Maybe “battle platform” is more appropriate.

There is one accessory I forgot to mention and I have to say it’s probably the neatest one I’ve seen from the Masterpiece line. That would be his jetpack. I actually don’t remember him using it in the cartoon but I do remember that Optimus Prime borrowed it during Part 3 of the pilot. But it was something, for some reason, that caught my attention when I was a kid so I remembered it.

And we finally get a good look at the jetpack and it’s one of the most beautiful things ever! Takara went above and beyond as they just didn’t give us a jetpack. No, they actually made little flames come out of the jetpack as well! Totally unnecessary but I appreciate all these nice little touches.

I do need a flight stand, tho.

All-in-all, MP-27 Masterpiece Ironhide is probably one of the best figures in the Masterpiece Transformers line. It’s slightly more expensive than the “regular” Autobot figures but it’s extremely well made, it looks great in both robot and vehicle mode and, if you go gaga over accessories, Masterpiece Ironhide simply can’t be beat. Definitely a must buy for any Transformers collector.

What’s your take on MP-27 Masterpiece Ironhide? Let me know in the comments section below!