Ironhide

**Ironhide** (アイアンハイド, *Aianhaido*), is both a fictional character and protagonist from the DC's *Transformers series* created by Bob Budiansky. 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.

After volunteering himself to one of the Ministry of Science's combiner projects, Ironhide can combine with Optimus and fellow Autobots: Prowl, Mirage, and Sunstreaker to form the left leg of the gestalt form known as Optimus Maximus.

"*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), Yasushi Ōhama (Japanese), Not Known (Arabic), Not Known (Basque), Not Known (Brazilian), Not Known (Catalan), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (French), Not Known (German), Not Known (Greek), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (Castilian Spanish), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (European Portuguese), Not Known (Latin American), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin 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

#### Robot Mode

His vehicle mode on Cybertron was a Cybertronian Truck. When arriving to Earth, he adapts the Earth vehicle mode of a modified Nissan Vanette or a truck.

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

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* Autobots
	+ Arcee
	+ Cliffjumper
	+ Bumblebee
	+ Ratchet
	+ Windblade
	+ Sideswipe
	+ Smokescreen
	+ Alpha Trion
	+ Prowl
	+ Jazz
	+ Sunstreaker
	+ Warpath
	+ Blurr
	+ Arcee
	+ Chromia
	+ Perceptor
	+ Dynasty of Primes
		- Zeta Prime
		- Optimus Prime
	+ Wreckers
		- Ultra Magnus
		- Bulkhead
		- Wheeljack
	+ Computron
		- Quickshot
		- Afterburner
		- Lightspeed
		- Nosecone
		- Strafe
	+ Volcanicus
		- Grimlock
		- Swoop
		- Snarl
		- Sludge
		- Slug
	+ Defensor
	+ Superion
	+ Victorion
		- Pyra Magna
		- Jumpstream
		- Dust Up
		- Stormclash
		- Skyburst
		- Rust Dust
	+ Fortress Maximus
	+ Emissary
* Justice League
	+ Superman
	+ Batman
	+ Wonder Woman
* Teen Titans
	+ Robin/Nightwing

### Enemies

* Decepticons
	+ Megatron
	+ Shockwave
	+ Blitzwing
	+ Lugnut
	+ Knock Out
	+ Soundwave
		- Frenzy
		- Rumble
		- Laserbeak
		- Buzzsaw
		- Ravage
	+ Lockdown
	+ Dreadwing
	+ Megatronus Prime
	+ Overlord
	+ Shadow Striker
	+ Airachnid
	+ Seekers
		- Starscream
		- Thundercracker
		- Skywarp
		- Acid Storm
		- Slipstream
* Insecticons
	+ Sharpshot
	+ Kickback
	+ Hardshell
	+ Devastator
		- Dirt Boss
		- Scrapper
		- Mixmaster
		- Scavenger
		- Long Haul
		- Bonecrusher
		- Hook
	+ Predaking
		- Razorclaw
		- Tantrum
		- Divebomb
		- Headstrong
		- Saberclaw
	+ Menasor
		- Motormaster
		- Breakdown
		- Wildrider
		- Dead End
		- Drag Strip
* Scraplets
* Unicron

## Powers and Abilities

### Abilities

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 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

#### Battles of Cybertron

##### Trypticon Incident

Ironhide led a squad of Autobots to defend the Decagon during the Decepticon invasion of Iacon. With the loss of Sentinel Prime, Ironhide's old friend Optimus was forced to become second-in-command, while Zeta Prime was forced to take command of the Autobots, an act that the old soldier approved, as he was glad that Optimus was finally starting to stepping up to one day of taking his own 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.

Ironhide and Bumblebee were tasked with 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 a group of Aerialbots under Silverbolt and 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. Though many Autobots managed to escape, a number of them, Ironhide included, stayed behind to fight against Megatron's schemes. Zeta commissioned the building of a new starship, the *Ark*, to take the Autobots from Cybertron, wherever they may go.

##### During the War

Several steller cycles since, both factions learned the war and its casualties was infecting the Core of Cybertron itself and draining the planet of most of its energy, leaving Cybertron uninhabitable and forcing the remaining Transformers to leave Cybertron.

##### Dark Spark Incident

Ironhide was assigned, alongside Sideswipe, Cliffjumper, Arcee and Hound, to retrieve the Dark Spark before the Decepticons could. Once they retrieved the Dark Spark, Hound, Ironhide Arcee, Cliffjumper, and Sideswipe raced through the underground subways of Cybertron, battling off Insecticons all the way, until they reached the rendezvous point where Jazz, Optimus, Zeta Prime and Bumblebee were waiting for them. Ironhide helped Zeta, Arcee, Optimus, Cliffumper, Jazz and Bumblebee fend off the Insecticons as Sideswipe and Hound 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, Optimus, Cliffjumper, Jazz, Arcee, Prime, Hound, 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. Zeta assigned the Dark Spark to Arcee, Ironhide and Hound to protect, while he stayed behind to draw the Decepticons' fire. This plan proved futile as the Decepticon Sharpshot saw them take the Dark Spark, and, together with Shockwave, beat down all three of them and took the Dark Spark from them.

##### Preparing Departure

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 ship was caught in a meteor shower, Ironhide was flung into a console and began leaking lubricants from a wound in his shoulder, but he quickly recovered and leaped to man the craft's laser gun, blasting a path through the asteroids. No sooner had the Autobots made it to safety, however. When the Decepticons attacked their ship in mid-flight on its way to the portal opened by Shockwave's Spacebridge, Ironhide took part in the battle.

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. At one point he called for air support, saying that one of the blasts fired from the Decepticons had, "Taken a toll on Prime". As the battle raged, the ship was caught in the gravity of the nearby prehistoric Earth and crashed, knocking all the Transformers aboard offline.

## External links

* Ironhide *Wikipedia*
* Ironhide *Transformers Database*
* Ironhide *Transformers Wiki*