I had the black-and-red Diaclone version of Ironhide when I was little — a year or two before the launch of the Transformers line — and always preferred the look of that color scheme to the all-red version adopted by Hasbro. I once even took an old Ironhide figure and painted the appropriate parts black, to mixed results. So when e-Hobby announced the black Ironhide, I was excited; due to my experience with the Encore Starscream, I was also wary.

Unfortunatly, the problems that plague the Encore Starscream are still present in the Black Ironhide as well. The main drawback is the materials it's made of — the plastic is much more light and flimsy, so the joints are looser, anything that can come off is more likely to do so, and the toy overall is even more fragile than the original. Aonther issue is that the markings that used to be factory-applied stickers are now painted on, which can be an aesthetic nuisance when the point of the stickers was to cover up a hole in the plastic.

I had hoped that this Black Ironhide would be able to replace my mediocre custom-painted figure. I'm not so sure that it will. I can only hope that subsequent Encore TFs have been made with better-quality materials, or none of them are worth the list price.