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Ironhide is one of those PVCs I ended up with more of than I thought I'd ever need. Not by design, they just always seemed to be in the PVC lots I bought. I've bitched about its proportions on the pages of previous versions of the mold, so I'll spare you it here.
I wasn't too keen on doing a solid-red Ironhide, which would be both toy-accurate and occasionally UK comics accurate (see Titan Books' Transformers: Target 2006 compilation), but also pretty dull. Thankfully, Guido Guidi came to my rescue in DK's Transformers The Ultimate Guide.
There's a drawing of the interior of Maccadams Old Oil House (a locale formerly only found in the old UK books) that I love. The only established toy-TFs who show up are from the later years of G1, but it's mainly generics. Some are based on pre-existing models but altered, while there are also a couple of straight recolors of existing models, one of them being Ironhide in teal. Guido knows his stuff, so I'm trusting that color is not a mistake. So new character! Yay!
Man, dead 80's Hasbro toy lines are a treasure trove of names suitable for Transformers. Good old B. P. Vess. Once I had a name, the character's general mood was kind of set... just needed a job. Interesting how all three Ironhide-types ended up in defensive roles.
Part of me really wants to expand these new guys I've made into full-on Marvel Transformers Universe-style three-paragraph bios. I keep having to cut some stuff to fit into the cards, Bulletproof especially. I wanted a line about him occasioanlly retreating to Maccadam's to drown in high-grade oil, his only form of relaxation. Which really makes him a real downer of a good guy.
I stuck with the layout from the illustration, because, well, hell. I saw no reason to go toy-layout here at all. Might as well do as exact a match as I can. Thankfully, Citadel's Jade Green is a perfect match, therefore making me quite happy.
The picture didn't show the lower part of his body, where the colors change on the Ironhide model. But I figure since the light gray normally found on Ironhide's legs is now on the shoulders and back, the darker gray should move to the legs.
It's a little hard to see in the pics, but the Skull White/Fortress Grey combo paint makes another appearance on the bumper-bits on his sternum. Again, no shiny silver since I'm being all animationy.
Which meant painting this guy was really easy. I mean... it's massive bolcks of solid color with almost no detailing whatsoever.
I'm debating finding an Ironhide toy to do up in these colors. There are two big things keeping me from doing so, though.
1) I have enough toys sitting and waiting to be recolored into something else. I have three Ravenuses (Ravenii?) I need to make for myself and others, plus numerous Mini-Cons I want to have.
2) I don't wanna go digging for suitable Ironhides. I can deal with one that's paint-chipped and has faded decals... but I'd like him to have decent chrome and not have his tires all rotted. And ideally have his rifle & connector. Which seems a weird order to fill for a price I feel like paying. (Which would be "next to nothing".)
Well, Detritus (the G1 Hound recolor in Junkion tones) has set a precedent for having chrome bits on a toy no longer be chromed. Of course, he is a Junkion... I dunno.
 
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