Ironhide and Ratchet - Where Are Their Heads?

Ever wonder why your favorite Transformers toys didn't look like they did in fiction? Today we explore why two popular characters, Ironhide and Ratchet, don't have heads!
This is a remaster of a previous video originally published on March 31, 2017
You can watch the original version here if you want to compare them. • Video
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Intro Music by Tony Bacala of www.tfw2005.com
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[@taranzasgs2861]

Well Ironhide's toy was pretty accurate to Ironhide after the 86 movie

[@RDSArcade]

OOOOOOOF!!!

[@Amesang]

_"This is bad comedy…"_

[@ranwolf1240]

STILL TOO SOON!

[@That_Guy-]

Such heroic nonsense

[@redstonecrazy8535]

Lmaoooooo

[@TFfangeek]

Ironically their heads are the defining physical distinction between Ironhide and Ratchet.

[@collegerebel]

Their crotches are different too. God, what a weird sentence.

[@TFfangeek]

@@collegerebel That's why I didn't mention it, since it's "hitting below the belt." :P

[@basedpota]

Yellowjacket Oh that explains why Chromia dated Ironhide instead.

[@meep1998]

That and the light bar in their van modes

[@Jhiaxus315]

And the colour as well!

[@KJ-tz7vc]

I loved that Ratchet was a true star of the G1 Transformers comics.

[@rorylumley4727]

You may be awesome but you will never be marvel g1 ratchet awesome.

[@lemonherb1]

Truly, from defeating Shockwave, to cooking hotdogs, to his tragic melding with Megatron.

[@shawndashno6022]

​@@lemonherb1 ikr, I'll never get that panel art out of my head, it's seared into my brain lol

[@twistedyogert]

G1 Ironhide's helmet sort of resembles an ancient-Spartan helmet. Sort of makes sense considering his character as an enthusiastic and experienced warrior. Spartans were among the fiercest and best trained soldiers in the ancient world.

[@mathewkelly9968]

Well when your society revolves around slavery and the threat of a slave revolt you've gotta be like that

[@Xeeb_the_Dweeb]

“While he wasnt the most powerful” (Continues to kick a decepticon 100 feet into a tree)

[@BainesMkII]

For the original toys, I remember making my own heads that I could slip onto the robot form. I apparently did that kind of stuff with several of my old toys. A few years back, I found my old Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors toys when going through a storage building. The generic humans still had the colored sculpting clay that I'd used to give them new outfits and hair to better match the cartoon characters.

[@johncaulfield8935]

A creative lad you were

[@skolaskellofkells4301]

"While he wasn't the most powerful warrior." Insert clip of Ratchet bodying Thundercracker

[@luedog]

RIP Don Messick (1926-1997) the voice actor for Ratchet, Scavenger, and Gears in the G1 Transformers Cartoon

[@someone0]

Rip

[@ChibiProwl]

RIP. I loved my Ratchet.

[@slicerneons3300]

They were the firat Headmasters, heads sold seperately.

[@DeconvertedMan]

lol!

[@joehodgett3376]

25 years later

[@HIDragonstar]

Ironhide was my favorite as a kid, and Rachet was my favorite as I got older. I can say the moment both were dead in the Live Action, I walked away from the movies and never looked back.

[@amitpangali]

It’s nice that now we don’t have those audio glitches when the next line would play for a micro second before you said something

[@RodimusPrimal]

It took me a while to correct those. Wish some previous ones didn't have them any longer.

[@amitpangali]

RodimusPrimal It is alright. I personally think that they give the videos personality

[@EclipseWarlord]

Personality!

[@RodimusPrimal]

Before any of you ask, yes this is a remaster of my original video published back in March of 2017. It's reloaded with more content and I've re-recorded the audio. It was planned out with my Constructicons video so that if I do give them individual Retrospectives I can point back to them without regret. I'm sure you guys will enjoy how well this came out though. Check out my Cyberverse Season 3 Review: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXS4q3uhib6ef8U And my Arcee Retrospective too: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pquVmpivjc2oorc

[@sksteele1235]

Speaking as a recent sub, I'm glad it got reposted and came up in my feed.

[@robertwood4703]

I’ve been watching for years. Great content. But (yes there was a but coming) is this remaster a complimentary to Chris McFeely’s upcoming video? I personally like to watch varied uploaded content from the transformers community, instead of the same character exploration vids within basically the same day. I get that there’s uploader competition and there are bills we need to pay at the end of the day, but idk if we all try to be unique and forge our own paths, we can carry the community to new heights and beyond!

[@scarydave7245]

Will You Remaster Hot Rod ? You said in that Video he is Your Favorite

[@RodimusPrimal]

I think it was yet another coincidence. We don't compare notes or know what the other one is doing, and I don't think of it as a competition. I planned this one and the Constructicons video around the same time before moving onto new content. At some point I do want to remaster more of my older ones but I'm sure many would like for me to continue making new Retrospectives and Discussions videos.

[@AC-gb7do]

@RodimusPrimal I’m curious, those character design sheets, are they from a visual guide or a “The Art of ...” type of book? I really enjoy all the detail you provide in these videos, amazing work!

[@TerryTurner]

That robot face stick was creepy as hell.

[@alexlemonds2838]

TFA Ratchet:"Cyber Puberty. It's never a pretty sight, kid." :P

[@jeromebrandt6135]

Obey!

[@PnC_GameZnThingZ]

When I was a kid I got them both in a trade and I asked about the heads and he said, "the windshield is their head." when I saw them in stores I kept looking into the packaging looking to see if they had heads when brand new, lol

[@Brazil10003]

RodimusPrimal, the reason why "Aligned" Ironhide didn't showed up in the Prime cartoon was because of his live-action counterpart's death in Dark of the Moon; when it was decided that Ironhide should die in the film, the writers decided to replace him with Bulkhead to prevent kids from getting confused with a living Ironhide on the cartoon. You can even find that piece of info i said here on TFWiki if you want.

[@RodimusPrimal]

I'm aware, but that was something that I was going to talk about when I covered Ironhide and Bulkhead in their own individual videos. Thanks though.

[@Brazil10003]

@@RodimusPrimal It's okay. It's because you didn't said it in the video, and i always like to fix incorrect information or add something missing. Still, you're welcome.

[@LiamDyC]

​@@Brazil10003 That and most of those kids were fans of the live-action films, like myself

[@Nagatem]

Megatron took their heads, because he heard spike saying “two heads are better then one”

[@diliab8552]

nice one

[@evandavid2816]

Loved that moment at 12:45 in the Marvel G1 comic where Ratchet clobbers Starscream - '...How many have to die for you to get your jollies? HOW MANY...?' Powerful stuff, yes?

[@DeconvertedMan]

what is kinda amazing is, that after all these years we are getting toys that look like the cartoon versions.

[@amreldaly5059]

I did like when Ratchet kicked Thundercracker , this kick was spectacular

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

I heard Ironhide got the Headless Horseman role in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow.

[@mikejenkins4924]

I had both of these toys as a kid. I asked for them for a birthday or Christmas, and was quite upset when I couldn't find the heads in the box. It bothered the hell out of me, and I remember these two figures being a bit shunned.

[@tigerbread78]

Although I never owned Ratchet or Ironhide, I always thought their toys looked super cool and mysterious.

[@jamesperkins191]

I liked them as Mechs. As such, a head is superflous

[@mikebarber12]

All i can say is thank god that Takara made the masterpiece versions for Ratchet & Ironhide

[@twistedgaming9185]

They included the sticker face as molded detail on the vehicle's windscreen and gave them trays which resemble the battle platforms.

[@miamitrancemissions6425]

Yes. The Masterpiece versions are the best.

[@grog3514]

​@@miamitrancemissions6425what about the studio series 86 one? How does that compare to the masterpiece version?

[@TheRealDustinNunn]

I get a kick out of G1 cartoon Ironhide. "Aw, gee whiz, Prime!" "But, Prime!" "Aw, Prime!" "I just wanna kick some butt, Prime!"

[@omegaus817]

My 1st answer is no I was not angry I was confused about that the toys have no heads. 2nd I still like Ironhide and Ratchet a lot there personality from G1 still fit on them a lot they are amazing.

[@josephwhitmanjr9603]

Great retrospective oddly enough I had Ironhide when he came out and to be honest it never bothered me his toy was different from his animation many G1 toys were. It was still one of my earliest transformers toys and I enjoyed it very much 👍

[@frankmarzig1972]

having the original toys in 1985, i was confused as to the no head thing. the sled part was pretty cool. they were very playable and fun to transform back and forth. mad? no. they were just fun toys.

[@RodimusPrimal]

Very true. Strange to me when I first saw them as I didn't own the toys until after seeing the cartoon.

[@Thunderwing88]

Nope, I just accepted my Ironhide had no head.

[@larrymasif5851]

Lol, absolutely love the small reference to Web World episode scene, we really need a focus review of that episode, it would be hilariously entertaining.

[@RodimusPrimal]

I covered a bit of it in my Galvatron Retrospective but that does sound like an interesting idea.

[@hayatotheninja]

Being half Japanese, I was lucky enough to grab a lot of those Diaclone toys when I was a kid on vacations overseas before the TFs came out. Having the Diaclone Black Ironhide and the Red Sunstreaker, I just slapped some spare Autobot logos and made them new characters. Who knew that 30 some odd years later that Spinout would become a thing!

[@LovelyCoffeePot-bj6mt]

And gard

[@alumlovescake]

1:04 I am sure thats the opposite of what he says to Starscream some times

[@javiersantanaaviles5885]

0:05 The core of Transformers, is the creation and promotion of art

[@charlesgrybosky1916]

Thank you so much for this video. The different designs for Ratchet and Ironhide always perplexed me as a kid, though I figured it had something to do with illustrators not liking the way the toys looked. Really want to see Bio on Ratchet as he is central to one of my favorite early comics storyline where he virtually single-handedly saves the Autobots.

[@visionaryventures12]

I wasn’t angry. I hadn’t seen the cartoon when Ratchet became my second Transformer. I accepted that this was a robot from another planet, so one can’t expect them to look very humanoid.

[@waverod9275]

I'm probably in the minority.... I had Ironhide as a kid, and wanted Ratchet. I knew they looked different, but it didn't bother me too much... I thought their toy designs were neat, and I really liked the "sleds" -- the only other '84 toy with something similar was Optimus Prime with his combat deck. It made for good playability.

[@RodimusPrimal]

It's still a good toy even though it poorly represent the character.

[@tigerbread78]

I never had them, but they looked cool to me

[@RichardGarza-zo9mo]

I was confused that both Ironhide and Ratchet were missing their heads in the toy line. In the cartoon and most of the comic books, they have heads. Transformers classics to Studio Series 86, they have heads.

[@chriss1757]

Prowl was my favorite character. I was never lucky enough to own either of those in G1. I had Prowl, Shrapnel, Megatron, Jetfire, and Blaster. Several of the minicars and cassettes, and a ton of GoBots knock-offs. Cost and my age limited my Transformers interest.

[@lazarussolomon3541]

Ironhide and ratchet where always some of my favorites

[@ultra_marcus]

unpopular opinion but I quite liked Ironhide and Ratchets headless toys, as a kid I was kind fascinated with them, and there's soooo much diecast in these bots.

[@RodimusPrimal]

They are interesting knowing their toy origins. I have the sets that allow you to add on heads for the G1 toys which are pretty cool too.

[@ericgray4325]

i always thought they were just the first line, they get better made later on. it was more troublesome trying to get them to stand up on their own. but the story line and voice acting made the great. i thought they were just regular old conversion vans.

[@grayj7441]

I had the comics. Didn't really ever get home in time from school to see the cartoon. In the comics Ratchet was a badass.

[@RodimusPrimal]

Indeed he was. I'd say the same for the cartoon even if he wasn't the focus on stories.

[@iceman1979c]

Yes indeed. Retro partners in time 1986. Amazing 👏..

[@PRIMUS37K]

That was awesome! I loved it! You really dived into both autobots and the toys more! 👍😊

[@RodimusPrimal]

Thanks!

[@99munchkinsjedi32]

12:15 One of the wisest lines EVER!!!!!!

[@anthonywelsh481]

Ratchet & iron hardware my two favorite autobots. Two legendary characters in transformers history.

[@anthonywelsh481]

Sorry for the typos I meant to say Ironhide.

[@tristanwilliams4180]

Becuase Of the Diaclone, It was suppose to be for the Minifigures to Control the Robot, then in the transformers They used the same mold as well

[@harrishyatt6283]

The reason why bulkhead replaced Ironhide in transformers prime, was because kids were gonna get confused with la Ironhide, and prime ironhide

[@darthpaul99]

I only had Ironhide and not Ratchet, and yes, I wondered why his toy didn’t have a proper head!

[@MikesTek]

I loved them in the cartoon, but never bought the toys as I thought they were a mistake and didn't want a toy that looked so wrong.

[@mlpartclub412]

Ratchet’s head! He needed that!

[@anthonysabularse8562]

I never saw a Ratchet or Ironhide in person when I was a kid. But I wanted to get one because I was intriged with them eveytime I looked at the toy catalog. I wanted them to see what all the fuss was about these toys. I finally was able to play with them and own them whrn the Encore line came out. I find them weird, but I don't hate the toys.

[@julyleonard]

Ironhide & Ratchet are my favorite characters from G1.

[@jasonstarprime4208]

Awesome video Rodimus Primal and I got to say seeing this video makes me even love Ironhide and ratchet even more I'm more of a ratchet fan to be honest but seeing these video just overall great dude that's all I got to say till all are one

[@batindisguise6844]

"I needed that!" -Ratchet

[@failed_K]

Ratchet and IronHide: Exist Toy manufacturers: So no head?

[@harrishyatt6283]

trailbreaker was gonna appear in the early production of tf4 and tf5 as ironhide's brother

[@MidKnightblue0013]

I had the toy for Ratchet and I pretended that the mini base part of him was its own personality, which I named Screwdriver.

[@SSRuiz]

now I really wanna see retrospectives on Ratchet & Ironhide, especially considering that they've appeared in different series; while Ironhide was present in the early 2000s in RID 2001 & the Unicron Trilogy, Ratchet has been more present than his comrade in the early 2010s in the Aligned continuity & TF Animated (even tho both bots were present in both of them); let's hope that Earthrise gives Ironhide the same attention as Ratchet only bc Ratchet appeared before Ironhide, tho we didn't get much w/ either of them (we got more of Ratchet than Ironhide in the Siege "anime", & the latter was only in the last 2 episodes of Siege in terms of a role, despite making cameos in episodes 3 & 4)

[@nyb-487]

I'm always making digs at ironhide and ratchets headless appearance

[@loutzenheiser6081]

"No matter how many of us cried" Hell, ain't that the truth!!!

[@Adamski2004]

"Why don't you come down here for a 'CHECK'."

[@soundwave-superior7372]

11:55 Ow... Megatron Landed on me...

[@destoker]

looking at the picture at 0:08 in the left corner, am I the only one thinking "Totaly spies! " ??

[@jamesperkins191]

The three humans?

[@iron1349]

I honestly think Ironhide and Ratchet being such strong characters was a deliberate move to compensate for the toys that don't make any sense as sentient robots. Honestly, I don't know why Hasbro imported them, since I can buy that most of the other Diaclone molds used make sense as sentient robots with heads, with the vanettes being a loud exception this rule.

[@edge7799]

It looks like they where quick to make all the models because they didn't put attention to the details like they do now for the MP models and earthrise that are what the g1 models should have look like in the beginning.

[@DatMentalGamer]

*THEY SLAUGHTERED RATCHET, I'M GONNA TEAR THEM APART*

[@benjaminthiamhaolim4917]

I love Ironhide because he is my favorite transformer.

[@dedalionarts6077]

Im not shure what to think of making " remakes" of your older video, buuut there still entertaining non the less, and it is nice to see what had been changed ( if anthing, there are what DISNEY REMAKES should been, tell the original, but doing it there own way,)

[@mikeyjhilli]

remastered or not still was interesting.

[@ranwolf1240]

When Optimus died in the 86 movie, I cried. When Ironhide died, I got angry.

[@jamiegreear6984]

I wasn't angry about their design, more disappointed than anything. Ratchet and Ironhide were some of my favorites bots but I wish that the custom head attachments would have been available when I was a kid.

[@jamiegreear6984]

Now a year later I have been able to 3D print custom heads for both Ratchet and Ironhide and I like my original G1 figures so much better.

[@autobotzapof0002]

Here's another one for the "Rodimus primal and chris mcfeely make a very similar video around the same time" list.

[@RodimusPrimal]

And yet another coincidence that neither of us planned for, I can assure you.

[@LightningZetton]

Is this a reupload?

[@RodimusPrimal]

It's a remaster. The core of the original is still there but it's expanded and refined. More content and its re-recorded so the audio doesn't sound terrible

[@diegos7337]

I got Ironhide and Hoist for my Birthday!!! Hoist was awesome, but Ironhide was missing his head! HAHAHA! I was so disappointed!

[@TransformersTalkRAW]

Great vid man!

[@04killer07]

Rodimus primal: which is liquid nitrogen Diamond bolt: *LiQuId nItRoGeN*

[@bphater31]

Love them both.

[@harrishyatt6283]

i hope jon bailey voice ironhide in a future transformers series, and i hope todd perlmutter voice ratchet in a future transformers series

[@xophaser]

I never had an issued with the rachet's G1 toy and cartoon. Rachet was my first transformer ever. Skyfire I was shocked to see him different from the toy commercial as a kid. But their design was more like gobot that also didn't have a head. Well, his head was a windshield in the cartoon and toy.

[@marleyhenry5616]

I’m still getting the studio series ratchet, action figure for Christmas

[@Ezrimustheblackconvoy]

My favorite character is Ironhide, because his G1 is a very strong and tough. And the G1 Ratchet can help to repair the wounded Autobots. They shouldn't have their heads loose.

[@cliffjumper1984]

ironhide is my favorite g1 character. but never had either figure growing up.

[@cheesyflakes6106]

Yes

[@harrishyatt6283]

in the early production of tf5 red alert was gonna appear as the new medic and will look like the animated version

[@harrishyatt6283]

In a future transformers series I hope to see Ironhide in his g1 version he gets killed by shockwave, and ratchet as a combination of his g1, animated, la version he gets killed by lockdown

[@jaythomas3224]

THE ONLY 2 I NEVER WANTED. But, now I understand I now want the G1 toys

[@blammers]

5:04 what is “infamous” about Ratchet’s head crest?

[@Bobert2020]

Didn't I see this video a while back?

[@lilianafriedman7694]

Ah yes the nalstagila of " BULKHEAD I NEEDED THAT"

[@javiersantanaaviles5885]

You want to know Ironhide best moment? SUCH A HEROIC NONSENSE

[@OutOfIdeas9977]

Aka his death

[@javiersantanaaviles5885]

@@OutOfIdeas9977 yes

[@theraginginfernape9496]

Ironhide kinda got the short end, since his familiar design had only 2 shows worth of screentime, while Rachet lives it up

[@quentinnoel3573]

I'm pretty sure the 2001 Spy Changers are just retools of each other lol

[@MistahBryan]

@1241, was just formulating my Comment when "I have no head." made me laugh so hard I forgot what I was going to say! :)

[@mikeburkhart8336]

Those original toys for Ratchet and Ironhide were weird...it was like their windshields were their faces.

[@harrishyatt6283]

in the transformers animated japanese dub ironhide was called armorhide, and bulkhead was called ironhide

[@KatosKollection]

Every time I see animated Ironhide I get annoyed at the Bayverse version 😂

[@MrERLoner]

So you are saying my headless ironhide isnt tv show accurate but IS Movie accurate. About 8 minutes in? Ironhide " heroic nonsense" edition?

[@Simplybookdreams88]

I love Ratchet!!! So much!

[@Robizoid]

I know it's a rather inaccurate look but I guess that was the best Hasbro could do in 1983, 84. Nobody really care that they looked that way. On the toy packages, that was how they looked, you knew what you were getting and you didn't really mind because it was Ironhide and Ratchet and that's all that mattered!

[@RodimusPrimal]

While true, to some people they saw the cartoon or read the comics after issue 3 first before buying the toy and wondered what the deal was. At least knowing why is a good thing if not fascinating.

[@tonygriego6382]

I remember when I bugged my mom to get me an Ironhide figure.. and she came back with this. Very disappointing. Still though, I drew a head for him and stuck it on with tape so easy fix.