Ironhide

**Ironhide** (アイアンハイド, *Aianhaido*), is a fictional character and protagonist from the *DC* series. He is the resident weapons specialist and a battle hardened veteran, one of the oldest and toughest amongst the other Autobots. As one of Optimus' oldest, long-time, and closest friends, Ironhide saw the great potential within Optimus to be more than what he allowed himself to be. He has been on Optimus Prime's team for a long time. "They don't make them like they used to" is an apt description of Ironhide—he's yesterday's model, but he's built to last. He is old because he is *hard*. He's probably had enough replacement parts to build a small army, but Ironhide doggedly refuses to roll over and die for anyone. He'll fight to the bitter end and take down more than his fair share of Decepticons in the process.

Gruff and ornery, he prefers actions to words, and dislikes talk for talk's sake. (He wouldn't enjoy being paired up with Bluestreak.) But though he may be rough around the edges, he's still optimistic and upbeat. The upside to being through more than your share of trouble means trouble ain't so big a scare anymore. Ironhide doesn't always see optic to optic with Prime, despite their friendship. He's perhaps the more practical of the two, and more than a little trigger happy, so he can be more willing to push the Autobot code to the limit if he thinks it will get the job done faster.

Ironhide's most distinctive ability is the water gun, a weapon which can generate and shoot a liquid of virtually any type. Liquid nitrogen is historically a favorite, but there have been acids, mortar, and more. He has more guns than a smaller third-world country, and he may or may not have blown up a planet with said guns.

He can combine with his fellow Autobots to form Optimus Maximus as the left leg. In some universes, his vehicle mode sometimes splits into his robot and a separate component.

"*I'm a soldier. I'm **made** for war. Your kind simply... are not.*"

—Ironhide's version of diplomacy for joining the Autobots.

## Appearance & Biography

*Voice actor*: Keith Szarabajka (English), Katsuhiro Kitagawa (Japanese), Pietro Ubaldi (Italian), Alexandr Novikov (Russian), Gai Wenge (Chinese), Duda Espinoza (Brazil), Not Known (Portuguese), Oliver Siebeck (German), Not Known (Latin American), Dafnis Fernández (Latin American-Spanish)
### Biography

Ironhide is the oldest Autobot on the team. He is the slowest Autobot on the team. He is also the meanest, toughest, orneriest Autobot on the team. He is most definitely yesterday's model, but he was built to last - seemingly forever. He is a soldier, first and foremost, but his tough exterior hides a deep compassion for life. He is one of Optimus' most trusted advisors on all matters.

### Appearance

#### Vehicle Mode

He has the Veichle mode of a Cybertronian Truck, later on Earth he adapted the vehicle mode of a Nissan Vanette or a truck.

* Hair Color: N/A
* Skin Color: Not Known
* Eye Color: Blue
* Age: Not Known
* Birthday: Not Known
* Height: Not Known
* Weight: Not Known

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* Autobots
	+ Zeta Prime
	+ Optimus Prime
	+ Bumblebee
	+ Bulkhead
	+ Ratchet
	+ Prowl
	+ Jazz
	+ Sunstreaker
	+ Warpath
	+ Dinobots
		- Grimlock
		- Swoop
		- Snarl
		- Sludge
		- Slug

### Enemies

* Decepticons
* Scraplets

## Abilities and Powers

### Abilities

He has the abilities Dash and Whirlwind. He is a Leader chassis, but in the campaign, he is classified as a soldier. He is VERY strong.

## History

### Past

Ironhide led a squad of Autobots to defend the Decagon during the Decepticon invasion of Iacon. With the loss of Zeta Prime, Ironhide's old friend Optimus was forced to take command of the Autobots, an act that the old soldier approved, as he was glad that Optimus was finally stepping up to take his rightful place in the Autobot hierarchy. After helping Optimus and his team by clearing a path for them to the Decagon (and taking down two Brutes, tearing one in half), he continued to lead the others to (successfully) push the Decepticons into retreat.

After Optimus became Optimus Prime, Ironhide and Warpath joined him on the mission to clear the core of Cybertron that was infected with Dark Energon. Ironhide constantly rebuked the young, aggressive Warpath's shoot-first attitude. Heading to the Omega Gate, the three Autobots found Omega Supreme being tortured with Dark Energon. Freeing the massive Autobot, Ironhide joined Optimus and Warpath in protecting Ratchet long enough to repair Omega to the open the Gate. Heading underground, the three Autobots found space slugs working to clear the Dark Energon crystals. When they were sealed off in a cavern, another slug came in and killed an attacking Decepticon, to which the old, knowledgeable Ironhide offered the universal greeting, but the slug simply ignored them and moved on with its task. The three Autobots then found a trio of slugs with Ion Displacer turrets on their backs, and provided cover fire for the slugs as they made their way through Cybertron. Unfortunately, a corrupted space slug attacked the trio, knocking them underground and killing the slugs. Regrouping at the core, they were attacked by the corrupted slug, and managed to defeat it. Unfortunately, the Dark Energon corrupted the Core, which could only purge the corruption by shutting down all systems, leaving Cybertron uninhabitable and forcing the Transformers to leave Cybertron. Before departing, Ironhide and Warpath witnessed Optimus receive a part of the Core's essence, the Matrix of Leadership.

Ironhide and Bumblebee were then tasked with infiltrating Kaon to retrieving information from a Decepticon datacore about the "Trypticon" weapon. They nearly managed to make a successful getaway from Kaon before Megatron and Soundwave arrived, dropping the Autobots in the streets. Ironhide was shackled and imprisoned, whie Bumblebee was scheduled for interrogation under the neural scanner. A lucky power outage during an Autobot raid freed Ironhide from his bonds, and he raced through the detention facility to rescue Bumblebee before the scanner forced him to reveal military secrets. He found the kid, but not before some data was lost to the scanner. On the way out of the prison, the duo were radioed by Air Raid, who offered to provide air support during their escape. Thanks to his creative use of firepower, they were able to escape down a road that had previously been a dead end.

Later, Ironhide returned the favour by providing comm support to Air Raid, who was using the data recovered on Trypticon to block the power supply running between Trypticon and the Geosynchronous Energy Bridge. He plotted Air Raid's course through the Decepticon controlled tunnels near the Bridge. Ironhide was ready to kick back with some lubricant, but Optimus reminded him that the war was far from over.

As the evacuation went underway, Megatron used his orbital station to attacking fleeing transports. A group of Aerialbots under Silverbolt managed to shut down the station's cannon, only to learn that the station itself was a Cybertronian named Trypticon.

After Trypticon Station fell to Cybertron's surface and revealed itself as a gi-normous transforming creature, Ironhide joined Optimus and Bumblebee in racing to the crash site to finishing off the monster. They were separated during the journey, and had to fight through multiple Decepticon vanguards before even reaching Trypticon. Eventually, it was the combined firepower and teamwork of the Autobot forces that brought down the dangerous dinosaur. Though many Autobots managed to escape, a number of them, Ironhide included, stayed behind to fight against Megatron's schemes. Optimus commissioned the building of a new starship, the *Ark*, to take the Autobots from Cybertron, wherever they may go.

Ironhide was assigned, alongside Sideswipe, to retrieve the Dark Spark before the Decepticons could. Once they retrieved the Dark Spark, Ironhide and Sideswipe raced through the underground subways of Cybertron, battling off Insecticons all the way, until they reached the rendezvous point where Optimus and Bumblebee were waiting for them. Ironhide helped Optimus and Bumblebee fend off the Insecticons as Sideswipe called a train to evacuate them. When the train arrived, Bumblebee was the first on board, but the train was in a timer, and left before Ironhide, Prime, and Sideswipe could board. They were forced to wait for the next train, fighting off swarming Insecticons while doing so. When the next train arrived all of the Autobots managed to successfully board, but we're not able to escape, as the Decepticons blew up the train as it was departing. Optimus assigned the Dark Spark to Ironhide to protect, while he stayed behind to draw the Decepticons' fire. This plan proved futile as the Decepticon Sharpshot saw Ironhide take the Dark Spark, and, together with Shockwave, beat down Ironhide and took the Dark Spark from him.

Ironhide is one of the many Autobots involved in the construction of the Ark. During the invasion of Iacon he led a squad of soldiers to defend the Ark's fuelling station which was being attacked by tanks. The battle was not in his favour until Optimus took control of a Neutron Gun turret and later activated Metroplex, destroying the tanks. After Metroplex defeated Megatron, Ironhide was dismayed to learn the Energon saved for the Ark was gone. Later, Jazz reported that he, Cliffjumper and Sideswipe had found an entire reservoir of pure energon that was sufficient to power the Ark. Ratchet then inquired as to how to transport it. After Optimus denied having Metroplex carry it back Ironhide suggested using an old refinery transport. Perceptor argued that the transport guzzled too much energon and Ironhide rebutted that it had the firepower they would need and thus his plan was approved.

Ironhide was part of the bridge crew of the Autobots' spacecraft when it embarked on its fateful voyage to seek out new sources of energy beyond Cybertron four million years ago. When the Decepticons attacked the Ark on its way to the portal opened by Shockwave's Spacebridge, Ironhide took part in the battle. At one point he called for air support, saying that one of the blasts fired from the Decepticons had, "Taken a toll on Optimus". Ironhide struck a dirty blow against Soundwave, sneaking up behind the Decepticon communications officer while he was fighting a trio of other Autobots and downing him with a flying kick to his back. As the battle raged, both ships were caught in the gravity of the nearby prehistoric Earth and crashed, knocking all the Transformers offline.

## External links

* Ironhide *Wikipedia*
* Ironhide *Teletraan 1: The Transformers Transformers Database*
* Ironhide *Transformers Wiki*