After a long day at work, I arrived to find the package from Amazon waiting on me on the porch. 10 minutes later, Ironhide was freed from his plastic and cardboard prison and the long and arduous process of transforming him had begun.
Long story short, in vehicle mode, he's bigger than the Classics Voyager Optimus Prime, and in robot mode he's pretty big, too. The transforming action/skill level is along the lines of something like the Alternators rather than the Classics Voyagers, and the instructions are (like the one Alternator I own) vague and difficult to follow from time to time. I'm still not certain that I have the upper body transformation performed correctly.
On the "automorph technology" front, Ironhide's shins and feet have this feature. When you pull his front foot/bumper part down, the back part automatically folds down, the tire swings back, and the truck bed folds back to form shin armor. Pretty neat little action, to be quite honest.
He's pretty well articulated, too, with balljointed shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and a swivel head and waist. He could be articulated beyond that, but I haven't had a chance to really fiddle with the toy since I did my first transformation back and forth. The guns are okay, disguised as the side-of-the-bottom-of-the-cab fuel tank looking things in vehicle mode. One of the things I like about the modern TFs (at least the ones I've gotten) is how the weaponry is integrated into the actual robot/vehicle so I don't have a bunch of loose pieces left over when I go from one mode to another. Ironhide is no exception.
Overall, I'd give Ironhide a 4 out of 5.
