Tag Archives: hasbro

Nov 7 2010

Transformers Power Core Combiners: Double Clutch with Rallybots by Hasbro

I’m really busting chops to get in a couple extra reviews this weekend before I start on my week long DC Universe extravaganza tomorrow. Looks like I have time to slip in one more… how about some Transformers loving? So far my experience with the Power Core Combiners has been pretty good. I liked all the single carded Commander figures from Wave 1, and I really liked Bombshock and the Combaticons. The Skyburst and the Aerialbots were really the only ones I was lukewarm on… until now. Folks, I was really, really excited about getting this Rallybots set. Based on early pics, I thought the drones looked pretty good and the whole thing just gave me warm fuzzy nostalgic feelings that harkened back to the Go-Bot combiner, Puzzler. Well, I finally picked up this set and, well, it sucks. Or, to be fair, Double Clutch sucks. It’s been a long time since I’ve really given a Transformers figure a pasting, so here we go.

The package is the exact same type of window box used for the two Wave 1 Power Core Combiner sets. It shows off all four drones and, I’ll give credit where credit is due, Hasbro had the balls to show you Double Clutches crappy robot mode. I know. Why the hell did you buy it if you hated his robot mode? I guess I thought I would warm up to him once I had the figure in hand. But then I also thought his combiner form had potential. But we’ll get to that later on. The cardboard tray insert has a cool circuitry pattern drawn on it. Was that on the other sets? Did I just miss it? I’m too lazy to go back and look at my own reviews, so let me just say I like it and move on.

Despite the fact that he’s packaged in bot form, I’m going to start out with Double Clutch’s vehicle mode, so I can open with some nice things to say. His car mode is pretty good. The paint job is kind of boring, and the flames are too similar to the overall blue body to really pop like they should. Apart from that he’s a nice looking car and rolls along fine. But, hey, where’s his Autobot insignia? I really, really dislike it when my Transformers don’t show off their insignia in their vehicle modes. I realize doing so isn’t really helpful to them being robots in disguise, but I like it nonetheless. Double Clutch doesn’t have one showing at all. Boo!

Transforming Double Clutch is way more annoying than it should be, considering just how poor his robot mode is. You shouldn’t have to work this hard to get this kind of result. He’s short and squat, with a huge chest and crappy arms that interfere with their own articulation and legs that are ridiculously useless. I also hate the way his combiner posts just hang off his elbows. And oh, look! Double Clutch proudly wears his Autobot emblem on his right knee!

It’s not that Double Clutch is that complex a Transformer, because he’s not. The problem is the ball joints on my figure pop out just by looking at them. There’s nothing more fun than having parts fall off your Transformer a thousand times when you’re trying to convert him. At one point I had to get down and fish both his arms out from under my couch while spouting out a cacaphony of swear words. Oh yeah, I also hate that backpack thing that extends up behind his head and looks fugly.

The Rallybots, on the other hand are all pretty cool. Unlike some of the past drones they don’t look superdeformed or have unsighly springs showing (I’m looking at you, Aerialbot helicopters!). They also all show off Autobot insignias, so right off the bat, I like them more than Double Clutch, even though they don’t transform.

Just when I thought I hated Double Clutch with every ounce of hate I could muster, I went through the process of converting him to his torso combiner mode, and low and behold, I found more hatred to hate him with. HATE! The problem here is getting his arms/doors to bend back and peg into these two pegs behind each of his shoulders. It’s flipping impossible to do it and every time I try, his ball joints in his elbows pop out, the parts go flying, and I cry. After about thirty minutes of fiddling with this thing and muttering to myself like a lunatic trying to solve The Hellraiser, I finally just pegged the pieces in with the ball joints detached. It was the only way I could make this mode work. I should also note that the red drone doesn’t really autoconvert like he should. I have to pry part of him apart to make it work.

That’s what you get when you’re done. It’s not terrible, but the fact that the shoulders aren’t secured right means that the arms pop off whenever you try to move them. Folks, I will never combine anyone with Double Clutch again. In fact, I may just bury him in the backyard. Fortunately, I have another street worthy Power Core Commander who can make use of these cool drones… Huffer!

Ah, that’s much better. I love Huffer and these cars go really well with him.

Fortunately, I got this set at Walmart while they have their Rollback in effect, meaning I got it for $15 instead of $20. It’s still a lot to pay for four drones and a figure I will never touch again, but they work so well with Huffer, I’m not really too upset that I bought the set.

Nov 7 2010

GI JOE 25th Anniversary: Cobra Stinger with Driver by Hasbro

One of the great tragedies of my childhood was that I never owned the original Cobra Stinger. Yeah, so I guess my childhood was pretty good, but damn if I didn’t want the Stinger something fierce. At least a couple of my friends had them, so I got to play around with them from time to time. When Hasbro announced an updated version was coming out in the tail end of the 25th Anniversary series I was so excited. Then it was cancelled and reborn as a tough to get online exclusive. It was like the Toy God just wanted to taunt me and then punch me square in the balls. Needless to say, I was pretty amazed when I stumbled upon one at Ross nearly two years later. Collecting is funny that way.

The packaging is the same as the Arctic Hiss we looked at last time. Once again, the packaging looks great, but it’s pretty prone to damage. I’m thinking my Hiss and Stinger may have come out of the same case because the packages are both damaged in almost the same place. The cardboard insert is decked out with a cool animated desert motif to make for a nice diorama. The back panel shows photos of the vehicle and figure detailing the features. The bottom panel has filecards for both the vehicle and the figure.


As with the vintage version, this modern Cobra Stinger is a repaint/remold of the GI JOE Vamp. The most notable difference is the swivel gun has been replaced with a missile rack and there’s added armor plating around the cab. The doors swing up and all three pieces can be removed as they are just clipped onto the rollbars. The hood has been slightly resculpted. It no longer opens and instead of the shovel it now has a clip to hold an assault rifle. At the back of the vehicle, the gas cans on the Vamp have been replaced with a running board with pegs for two figures to ride on the back.

There aren’t really many paint apps to speak of, as everything is molded in black and grey. There’s just a couple of areas on the front painted silver.The Cobra emblems and the spider insignia are pre-applied stickers, but you get a nice sheet of stickers to apply yourself.

The missile rack turns 360 degrees and raises and lowers. The four missiles just peg into the rack. It will hold them in place, but it doesn’t take much to knock them askew or have them fall off altogether. As mentioned last time, the missiles and rack are the same setup that came with the Arctic HISS.

The Stinger Driver is almost a direct repack of the Stinger Driver that was released as part of the Cobra Legions 5-pack way back when. The most notable difference here is his mask is painted red instead of black and he has black webbing sculpted on his helmet. He also has a much bulkier set of webgear, complete with a pistol holster in the back. I found him to be very difficult to get seated in the vehicle unless I removed his webgear, but once I did that he fits in just fine. He comes with a figure stand, a dagger, a pistol and an assault rifle.

It’s always an amazing thing to pick up a toy that you wanted so bad as a kid, but for whatever reason never owned. It’s even better when you get it for such a steal. Granted, this isn’t the vintage one, but I’m content to own the 25th Anni. toys over the vintage stuff any day. In retrospect, I don’t know why I didn’t just fork over the cash for this thing when it first came out, but it worked out in the end. Cobra has had a lot of great vehicles over the years, but this one remains one of my favorites.

Nov 7 2010

GI JOE 25th Anniversary: Cobra Arctic Hiss with Driver by Hasbro

Remember the frustration around the last wave of the 25th Anniversary vehicles? First we got to salivate over the photos, then we got word that the wave was cancelled. Later, we were told that they would be sold through at some online retailers, only to find they were available in limited quantities and much higher price points. By the end, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to who was selling them and for how much. All I know is that I was never able to get one at a decent price. It wouldn’t have been so bad if one of these vehicles wasn’t the highly desireable update of Cobra’s Stinger Jeep and a brand new Arctic variant of the Hiss Tank. I long ago made my peace with the fact that I probably would never be getting these. And then one day I’m picking through the dreck at Ross’ Toy Department and there they both are… and for about nine bucks each. Um, yeah. Today we’ll take a look at the Arctic Hiss.

The vehicle comes in a largely clear box, sort of like a fishtank package framed in cardboard. It’s the same general package that Hasbro was using for all their 25th Anni. vehicles in this assortment. The interior inserts have a cool animated style arctic motif creating a diorama environment. It’s very nice for showing off the toy, but as you can see from my package, it was pretty fragile. I’m not sure if this was from getting beaten up in retail limbo for the past two years, but thankfully the toy is still packaged well so as not to get easily damaged when the box is distressed. The back shows off photos of the toy and details its features, while the bottom panel has filecards for both the driver and the vehicle.


This arctic version is a repaint and slight remold of the 25th Anniversary Hiss Tank, which in turn was basically the same as the vintage Hiss Tank only with a remolded cockpit to make it roomier for the larger modern-style Joe figures. Apart from the obvious white deco, the other most noticeable difference is that the traditional dual cannon has been removed from the turret and replaced with a missile launcher. The missile rack and missiles are exactly the same parts used for the Cobra Stinger.

The other change is the added parts on the sides. There is a rectangular collar piece that is fitted to lay around the top of the vehicle. The collar has notches in it where you can hang the equipment rack and the bedroll. They can be removed or hung on either side. The bedroll is just a molded piece of plastic, but it still looks pretty nice when put in place.

One of the really cool things about the variant parts on this Hiss Tank is that all of them are compatible with the regular Hiss. You can swap out the missile rack and hang the equipment collar, offering a number of options for customizing.

There’s not much to say about the paint deco on this toy. It’s basically molded in black and white and it makes for a striking combination, but apart from that there aren’t any actual paint apps. There are Cobra emblem stickers already applied, as well as a HUD sticker on the windshield, plus you get a sheet of stickers to put on yourself. Hasbro even included a bunch of numbers so that you can customize the ID number of your particular Hiss.

The Arctic Hiss comes with a Hiss Driver figure, which is repaint of the 25th Anni. Snow Serpent with different legs below the knee and a repaint of the regular Hiss Driver’s head. It makes for a nice figure and the new paint job is very cool indeed. The tiny gold paint apps on the buckles of his webgear is particularly amazing for such a seemingly insignificant little detail. His uniform is white with black fur bracers on his arms and black webgear. He comes with a personalized figure stand, a pair of binoculars and an assault rifle.

I don’t tend to go all ga-ga over Arctic themed vehicles in the Joe line, mainly because I don’t tend to buy a lot of the Arctic themed figures to go with them. That having been said, I’m pretty happy with this purchase. But at $8.99 how could I not be? The figure alone was pretty much worth the price of admission. And while I wasn’t planning on picking up many of the Pursuit of Cobra carded figures, I think I’m going to have to break down and buy that Arctic Destro just for this Hiss.

I’ll be back soon with a look at the Cobra Stinger.

Nov 5 2010

Marvel Universe Week Ends

So, it’s been a long week of Marvel goodness. It wasn’t long ago that I was ready to give up on this line. The distribution was just too frustratingly bad in my area (and it still is), and the figures can get pretty costly ordering them online. But little by little I was tempted back into it by images of the amazing new figures being released and the nostalgia of Marvel Legends days gone by.

My goal with Marvel Universe Week was to get caught up with my existing collection, and while I didn’t get to cover all the figures I wanted to, I think I had a good run at it. I’ll tackle what’s left in future entries, and I’d like to take a sweeping look at the Secret Wars comic packs at some point, but for now, let’s move on to other things…

like DC Universe Week starts Monday!!!! I’ve got Wave 15 of DC Universe Classics coming in early next week, along with a couple of boxed sets from Justice League Unlimited and Infinite Crisis. But before we get to that, I’m going to take a pitstop this weekend to try to get in a look at some new Doctor Who figures, along with some of the last vehicle wave from GI JOE’s 25th Anniversary lineup, which I finally managed to track down this past week.

Nov 5 2010

Marvel Universe: Kitty Pryde by Hasbro

I was pretty excited when I heard that Kitty Pryde was coming to the MU lineup, as I’ll take all the X-Men figures I can get, but then I heard and read some initial reactions to the figure. Most of them were either lukewarm or downright unfavorable. I tried not to let it bother me, because at the time I was trying to deny the very existance of the Marvel Universe line, since I wasn’t having any luck finding them. Then I happened upon this figure hanging on the peg when I least expected it. I didn’t take a lot of time to check her out in the store, because it was just so amazed that I was able to find an MU figure I needed. Turns out, I like her quite a bit.

Well, ya just gotta love that artwork on the card, because damn, she’s sexy. Wait, how old is she? Ok, moving on… the only downside of the fabulous card art is that the figure’s head sculpt couldn’t possibly hold a candle to that. And it doesn’t, but more on that in a second. Kitty’s a pretty diminutive figure, so its a good thing that she’s got her buddy Lockheed in there to keep her company.

It may have sounded like i was slighting the head sculpt here, but I’m really not, because I think it’s fine for a figure in this scale. She’s not gorgeous, but she’s not ugly either. And let’s face it, Hasbro has a seriously troubled past when it comes to making attractive ladies in the 3 3/4″ scale. Did y’all happen to see Rise of Cobra’s Cover Girl? Yikes! So yeah, the head sculpt is just fine and the hair is sculpted in a nicely detailed, and neutral style so it isn’t all crazy wind blown like Ms. Marvel’s.

The body sculpt is very generic, as this figure relies almost completely on the paintwork for detail. That’s not to say it’s not a good body sculpt. I know some fellow collectors who have taken issue with the proportions on some of the MU female figures, but I think Kitty looks just fine.

The coloring on this figure is a pretty simple two-tone black and yellow uniform. Her belt is also painted on. The paintwork is pretty solid, although I confess it wasn’t until I started scrutinizing some of the photos I took that I realized there’s quite a lot of bleeding on the edges, as was the case with Ms. Marvel. The difference here is that the problem areas aren’t as obvious, which gives Kitty the illusion of having a much better paint job than she really does. Although, the paintwork on her face is actually quite good.

Ms Pryde comes with a figure stand, a profile card and a pretty amusing Top Secret document referencing her time spent lost in space. She also comes with Lockheed her space dragon pal. Lockheed is just a very simple piece sculpted in soft purple plastic. It’s not the most exciting accessory, but I like that Hasbro included it.

Kitty sports 17 points of articulation, which ain’t bad for a figure in this scale, but it’s not up to par with many of Hasbro’s other 3 3/4″ figures. She has a ball jointed neck. Her arms have ball joints in the shoulders, hinged elbows and swivels in the wrists. Her legs have ball joints in the hips, she has double hinged knees and her ankles have both swivels and hinges. She also has a ball joint just under her chest and a swivel in her waist. The most infuriating thing about this figure is the lack of swivels in her biceps. I’m constantly being rebuffed in my efforts to pose her because of these missing swivels.

Goes to show you, you can’t always rely on the opinions of others. Apart from some missing articulation, I think Kitty Pryde turned out just fine. I’ll confess, she wasn’t at the top of my list of X-Men that I wanted to see released in this line, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t happy to add her to my collection.

Nov 5 2010

Marvel Universe: Winter Soldier by Hasbro

I’ve been looking forward to getting this figure, because I’m a pretty big fan of Winter Soldiers’ backstory. For whatever reason I’ve always enjoyed seeing elements of The Cold War bleed into my comic book storylines. I also love the way twisted circumstances basically turned Bucky into Cap’s polar opposite. Anyway, with Winter Soldier’s specialty in weapons and his bionic arm, he’s a perfect recipe for a great action figure. Obviously, Hasbro recognized this too and they definitely delivered on the goods with this figure.

The artwork on the card is pretty good. He looks pissed off, but you would be too if you had been frozen, brainwashed and used as a tool by the filthy Commies. He’s also brandishing both of the weapons included with the figure, which is a cool touch. The bubble displays the figure and his weapons nicely.

Winter Soldier’s body sculpt consists of a fairly non-descript, dark blue jumpsuit with high collar and a tiny zipper sculpted into the front of the chest. He’s also got a thins trap running across his torso and a shoulder strap where his bionic arm is. The bionic arm is sculpted into segments, has a soft plastic cable running the length of it and a nice Red Star sculpted into the shoulder. I really like what Hasbro did with the head sculpt, with the hair molded as a separate piece. Winter Soldier has a cool gunbelt, holster and thigh strap, all made from one piece of soft plastic.

There isn’t a whole lot of paintwork on this figure, but what’s here is really good. The tarnished metal finish on the bionic arm looks really nice and the paintwork around his mask is executed with precision. I think the thing I find most impressive is the intricate little bit of paintwork applied to the zipper on his shirt.

Winter Soldier comes with a figure stand, profile card, Top Secret document and two weapons, a pistol and an assault rifle with an under-the-barrel grenade launcher. Both weapons are cast entirely in black, are nicely sculpted and basically look like what you might get with a modern GI JOE figure. He can hold both weapons really well, and the pistol fits into his hip holster.

The articulation on this figure comes up a little short compared to sum, but with 18 points, it’s still pretty good. You get a ball jointed neck. The arms have ball joints in the shoulders, swivels in the wrists and biceps and hinged elbows. The legs have ball joints in the hips, double hinged knees and hinges and swivels in the ankles. He also has a ball joint in the torso. He’s missing the waist swivel that most of the male figures have and I would have liked a couple of swivels in the thighs. Still, his articulation is none too shabby.

I don’t know what the general popularity of Winter Soldier is, but if you’re a fan like me, I think you’ll really dig this figure. But even if you aren’t a fan, I think this guy would be a nice pick-up for GI JOE collectors. Either as a potential custom or just as he is, he would fit in pretty well with that whole universe.

Nov 4 2010

Marvel Universe: Thor (Modern Version) by Hasbro

I can’t say I’ve ever been a huge fan of Thor. It may have to do with the old cartoon they used to run when I was a kid, with that corny opening theme song. I’m pretty sure it scarred me deep down inside. At the same time, I’ve enjoyed many of his comic appearances, and I am finally starting to look forward to the upcoming movie as we continue to strike our path toward the Avengers film. I’m not sure yet whether I’ll be picking up many of Thor’s movie figures, but I do know that I’m very happy to have this Thor figure that Hasbro released in the MU series.

Yep, same packaging. Even as someone who doesn’t care a whole lot about Thor, I gotta say I love the artwork. Thor’s a pretty meaty figure and between him and his cape he takes up most of the bubble. I love the way his hammer, Mjolnir, is so prominantly mounted right beside his head.

Thor is definitely up there as being of the most detailed and complex sculpts in the MU series thus far. Every tiny bit of this figure is brimming with loving attention to detail. His hauberk shows wrinkles, his chainmail is comprised of a sculpted checkered pattern. His soft plastic cape is actually fastened by two of the huge rivets on his chest, while brown belts and straps crisscross his boots, waist and chest. The headsculpt is pretty good, although his nose seems a little too flat and broad for a perfect likeness, but his long blonde hair is reproduced in soft plastic as are the feathered wings on his helmet.

As good as the sculpt is, there’s also a lot of paintwork to back it up. Thor’s hauberk and boots appear to be a gunmetal blue with some black mixed in. The chainmail is matte silver as are the rivets in his hauberk and his helm. It might have been cool to see a high gloss, metallic silver on these parts, but the more rustic matte silver has its own charms. His belts are brown and his cape is a deep maroon. There’s also very little slop or bleeding on the paintwork.

Thor comes with a figure stand, profile card and Top Secret document. He also comes with his trusty hammer, Mjolnir, of course. The sculpt on the hammer is every bit as good as the figure. The head of the hammer is pitted and worn and the handle is sculpted with braided straps, ending in a lanyard.

Articulation? Oh yeah. You get a ball jointed neck. The arms have ball joints in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists and hinged elbows. The legs have ball joints in the hips, swivels in the thighs, double hinged knees and hinges and swivels in the ankles. Thor also has a ball joint in the torso and a swivel in the waist. That’s a total of 21 points of articulation. Unfortunately, the figure is a bit top heavy and he has a habit of toppling over even when he’s plugged into his stand.

Hey, even if you’re like me and a little lukewarm on Thor, it’s still hard to deny this is a really great figure all around. Besides, which, he’s essential to building your Avengers team, so you might as well get him anyway. He’s not terribly uncommon on the pegs, at least not in my area where MU figures tend to be rare finds. In fact, he’s one of the very few MU figures that I was able to track down in a store when I was looking for him, rather than have to go the online ordering route.

Nov 4 2010

Marvel Universe: Juggernaut by Hasbro

Back when I was collecting Marvel Legends, Juggernaut was my absolute favorite figure. I really wish I still had him, if for no other reason because he now goes for a hefty sum on Ebay. I was mighty glad to be able to get him again, even in this diminished scale as part of Marvel Universe.

The card features some great artwork and as expected, Juggernaut really fills out the card’s deeper bubble. Juggs is appropriately large, easily measuring up to The Hulk and The Thing in terms of height and bulk.

My favorite thing about this sculpt is the way Hasbro molded Juggernaut’s face and helmet as two pieces. It adds great depth to the figure’s head and really makes him look like his helmet is removable even though it isn’t. The texturing, sculpted bolts, and paint job on the helmet also makes it look a lot like weathered, pitted old metal. Fantastic. His muscular is wonderfully sculpted and the straps on his arms and fists are nicely reproduced here as well. His bicep straps are actually separate pieces and even the treads on his boots are intricately sculpted.

Juggernaut is more or less a three colored figure. You have the brown outfit, his skintone and the maroon for his belt and boots. Most of the figure is molded in the appropriate colors, so there aren’t a lot of paint apps at work here, although the brown parts have a nice deeper shading.

Along with the figure stand, Juggernaut comes with his profile card and his Top Secret document. I don’t usually have a lot to say about the documents, but Juggernaut’s is hillariously a handwritten threatening letter to Osborne telling him to leave him alone. I just can’t help picturing Juggernaut hunched over a desk feverishly hammering out this letter. Great stuff. He actually has surprisingly good penmanship.

The articulation is on par with the rest of the MU lineup, although Juggernaut’s huge sculpted muscles make some of his joint movement more limited than usual. I’m not sure what type of joint is used on the neck, but his head can pretty much just turn. His arms have ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows and swivels in the biceps and forearms. His legs have ball joints at the hips, swivels in the thighs, double hinged knees and swivels at the top of the boots. He also has a ball joint in the torso.
Basically, this is my definition of a “must have” figure. Sure, it helps that I love the X-Men and the Juggernaut character, but even still, it’s hard to find much not to like here. He’s a big, beautifully sculpted and hefty figure, and well worth the extra couple of bucks I had to pay to get him online.

Nov 4 2010

Marvel Universe: AIM Soldier by Hasbro

I know. With dozens of excellent Marvel Universe figures to choose from, why am I wasting a slot on mister canary pants, here? Well, truth be told, the MU themed week is going to have to outlive its originally intended week-long run, if I’m ever going to get to all the figures I want to look at, so don’t worry, he’s not taking anything away from any of the other figures. Besides, the Galactic Empire had its Stormtroopers, Cobra has its Vipers, and Marvel has its AIM soldiers. Although the Empire would take on any old Clone and I doubt Cobra’s hiring standards were all that rigid, but you had to be a PhD or at least have a Masters Degree to don the yellow jumpsuit of AIM and get a crack at taking down one of Marvel’s superheroes.

Same old packaging. The artwork here isn’t all that exciting, but the bubble shows off the figure and his weapons pretty well.

The sculpt is certainly faithful to the character design, but there just isn’t a lot to it. The most trademark aspect of the figure is his big helmeted flattop head, which, along with his screened visor makes him look like a beekeeper gone postal. What detail is here is mostly just wrinkles in his uniform. He has a black bandolier strap, which is a separate piece, complete with sculpted ammo pouches and a couple of canister grenades. The only other detail worth mentioning is the sculpted belt.

There aren’t a lot of paint apps here either. The figure is molded almost entirely in matte yellow. His boots and collar are black and he’s got a gold belt with grey panels and his screen visor is painted grey too. Some shading or wash would have helped make this guy a little more exciting.

The Soldier comes with a figure stand, profile card and the usual Top Secret document. He also has two weapons, a large bazooka-looking weapon and a pistol. Both pieces are molded in black plastic.

The AIM Soldier’s articulation is great, with a total of 20 points. He has a ball jointed neck. His arms have ball jointed shoulders, swivels in his biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows. His legs have ball jointed hips, swivels in the thighs, double hinged knees and his ankles are hinged and swivel. He also has a ball joint in his torso.

So yeah, in a Universe of amazing characters, the AIM Soldier here isn’t the most exciting guy around. I probably wouldn’t have picked him up if I hadn’t spent so much time beating the hell out of hundreds of these guys playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance on my Xbox. Say what you will, he fits the original design perfectly and is a good potential army builder if you want some thugs to battle against your heroes.

 

Nov 3 2010

Marvel Universe: Iron Patriot by Hasbro

Next up on the MU checklist is Iron Patriot, aka Norm Osborne. We’ve already looked at his Green Goblin personna, but this figure depicts the version of him from the Dark Reign story arc as he dons the Iron Patriot armor and takes on his new role as “hero.” As the name suggests, Iron Patriot is an amalgam of Tony Stark’s Iron Man armor and Captain America’s personna. Whatever you think of the idea, aesthetically, this figure is amazing.

Same great packaging we’ve been getting for a while now. The artwork on the card really looks nice and the figure is displayed well in the bubble. I could have done without the crappy energy beam being so prominantly displayed, but more on that later.

The armor is sort of a cross between the classic and the new. It isn’t as angular as the modern Iron Man suit, but it does have some added plates on the shoulders and off the hips, as well as reinforcements on the thighs. At the same time, it retains a smidgen of the older, more organic looking armor, particularly in the biceps and abdomen and the calves. There are some nicely sculpted panel lines throughout the figure, and I really dig the design of the helmet. His left hand is open to show off the beam emitter in his palm, while his right is clenched into a fist.

The colors on this figure are absolutely striking. You get a red, silver and blue motif with a hint of metallic finish. I also love the star shaped Uni-Beam emitter on the chest. The only problem with Iron Patriot is the finish is prone to chip. I’ve got one tiny chip already starting on mine, although it doesn’t seem to have gotten any worse.

Hasbro cut back just a bit on the articulation because of the armor sculpt, but Iron Patriot is still sporting 20 points of articulation. Yeah, not too shabby. He has a ball jointed neck. His arms have ball joints in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists and hinged elbows. His legs have ball joints in the hips, swivels in the thighs, double hinges in the knees and swivels and hinges in the ankles. He also has a ball joint in the waist. The missing swivel in the waist isn’t all that problematic, since he can still swivel up at the chest.

Iron Patriot comes with a figure stand, profile card and Top Secret documents. He also comes with a clear yellow energy beam that clips onto his wrist. It’s the exact same piece that came with the Classic version of Iron Man, released in Marvel Universe a little while back. I’m not usually crazy about these added energy bits, and this one in particular just doesn’t work for me at all. There’s no real way to clip it on so that it looks like anything other than a piece of plastic clipped to his wrist.

Even if you have no knowledge or interest in the Dark Reign story, I’d still recommend this figure as a pick up. The blended homage to two superheroes works well and he’s all around one amazing looking figure. As an added incentive, Iron Patriot is one of the easier figures to come by on the pegs. And if for some reason you can’t find him at your local toy aisle, he can be had online for a fraction of what a lot of the other MU figures tend to go for through e-tailers.