Tag Archives: iron man

Jan 3 2013

FigureFan’s Disappointments of 2012, Part 1

Ok, we’ve seen my favorites, and now it’s time to check out the turds floating in last year’s punchbowl. Again, this was tough, because I try to avoid buying things that look like they will be crap. So maybe the word turd is a little harsh in some cases. Almost nothing on this list is total crap, but everything here definitely disappointed me in some way.

TMNT Classics: Donatello by Playmates… The Classic Turtles are great figures, but they got upstaged on my “Favorites List” by the smaller modern guys in a major way. Nonetheless, Donatello represents here for one reason and one reason only, because of his mad eyes. Ok, I suppose that’s two reasons. The point is that by giving him wonky eyes, Playmates not only ruined the figure, but seriously marred the entire set. How can anyone appreciate their team of turtles on the shelf when Donny is standing there in the back looking like he got kicked in the head one too many times. It’s a crazy example of how one brush stroke can mar an otherwise excellent toy.

DC Universe All Stars: Superboy Prime… Besides turning out as a terrible looking figure, Superboy Prime earns Mattel a Disappointment Award for doing the bait-and-switch. The final product saw major changes from the pre-release images, and while that is bound to happen from time to time, the changes here made a great looking promo figure turn into a terrible release. Even worse, with hardly any brick-and-mortar stores actually carrying the DCU All Stars, I had to buy the figure online, so my disappointment wasn’t realized until I got the thing in hand and it was too late. It’s not often that I can say I regret buying a DCUC figure, but I certainly regret picking up Superboy Prime.

Marvel Legends: Extremis Iron Man… Because I only allowed each toyline to appear once in each list, this slot was a tight race between Extremis Iron Man and Future Foundation Spider-Man. In fairness, on its own this Iron Man is a fairly competent figure, but as soon as you put him up against some of the other figures in Hasbro’s new Marvel Legends line he comes up wanting. He’s too small, not terribly well articulated, and overall underwhelming. I kind of get the feeling that he was just here to fill a slot in a quick and dirty manner (that’s what she said?). And to keep the comparisons rolling, his paint and sculpting don’t even live up to many of the older, smaller and cheaper 3 ¾” Iron Man 2 figures. At least Hasbro released him in two versions, so that the crappy Stealth variant would make the regular one look better.

Duke Nukem by NECA… You’ve got to hand it to NECA, in an effort to be as accurate to the game as possible; they obviously wanted to capture the disappointment of Duke Nukem Forever in action figure form. And they did! NECA’s Duke features a solid enough sculpt, but the articulation is downright weird and the paintwork, particularly on the flesh tones, leaves a lot to be desired. And then there are the accessories. Sure, kudos for the cigar, which I promptly lost, but how can Duke come with just a handgun? Where’s his arsenal? And, no, the fact that he has feet doesn’t count as a “Mighty Boot” accessory. Duke should have come with a cool assortment of weapons, instead all he came with was disappointment.

Avengers: “Sword Spike” Thor… While most of Hasbro’s 3 ¾” Avengers figures were disappointments, this version of Thor earns a place on this list because he represented the ultimate in toy company hubris and laziness. Hasbro took what was essentially the exact same figure from the previous year, cut out most of its articulation, gave him a new shitty weapon and put him on an Avengers card. They even kept the same name, which in the new context made no sense because he now came with a halberd and not a sword. To add insult to injury, a lot of stores had this figure hanging just a few pegs away from the better articulated Thor-branded figure… on clearance! It’s the retail equivalent of Hasbro unzipping their pants, pulling out their Mjolnir and slapping us in the face with it.
Ok, that’s enough disappointment for one day. I’m going to take some Topamax and gin to level out my mood and I’ll be back tomorrow with the final five.

Sep 20 2012

Marvel Legends: Iron Man (Neo-Classic Armor) by Hasbro

Holy hell, the new Marvel Legends figures are beginning to trickle out both in retail and across the Cyberwebs. I honestly didn’t think we were going to start seeing these until November. I knocked out the first two waves by buying them by the case, but when I saw two lone Wave 3 figures, Iron Man and Mystique, hanging on the pegs, I couldn’t resist getting them individually. We’ll check out the first one this week, then I’ve got to take care of some unfinished DCUC business over the weekend, and I’ve got a themed week planned for next week, so who the hell knows when I’ll get to Mystique.

Yes, it’s Iron Man in his second Legends appearance in only three waves. Ok, it’s technically the third if you count that blue repaint in Wave 1. And there’s the glorious, eye-catching Marvel Legends packaging. God, I love it! You get comic book style and action figure goodness married together in a perfect package. The only way this could be better is if ML figures actually had a reprint comic book as the backing for the figure. Oh wait, they did until Hasbro got hold of the line!

The first thing you may notice is that there’s no Build-A-Figure part, instead you get a big figure stand, recycled from the 6-inch Avengers movie figures. The stand is sculpted to look like a number of hexagonal tiles strung together. There are several pegs so you can position the figure in different stances, and the stand will hook together with other similar stands in various ways so you can create a big display. I like these a lot, and if Hasbro would sell them in packs at their web store, I would probably buy a bunch. Since the previous two waves were named after their BAF, Hasbro has just called this wave “Epic Heroes.” Fair enough!

When I heard Iron Man was going to be in another wave of Legends, I wasn’t thrilled. Sure, it makes sense, as he’s a huge personality in the Marvel Universe right now and with Iron Man 3 soon to be released, the character will continue to make bucket loads of money for Disney and Hasbro for the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, I was a lot happier when I saw the choice for the armor. The Neo-Classic armor is a nice break from the modern stuff we’ve been getting so much of lately.

First off, I want to thank Hasbro for finally bulking up Iron Man a bit. My main complaint with the Extremis Armor release was that he was so small compared to the other 6-inch Avengers on my shelf. Stand him next to Steve Rogers from the same wave and, well, there’s clearly a problem. The added bulk to this figure comes closer to looking like he’s scaled about right for a guy wearing armor. He is, however, notably shorter than the Extremis Armor Iron Man from the first wave, so in some way Hasbro took a slight step forward and a slight step back. Proportionally, he looks good with two exceptions… his hands. Those hands look awfully tiny to me. I do, however, dig those clunky Mega Man style boots.

Since this is the older style of armor, the figure is built off a standard muscled buck with separate sculpted armor pieces on the chest, shoulders, arms and legs. I’m really keen on the head sculpt, which offers a bit of depth around the eyes and mouth slots, although not as much as the production photos suggested. After being exposed to so much of the sleek new armor suits both in the comics and on the big screen, looking at this style is like looking at a vintage automobile. It has a retro charm and sexiness all of its own.

The figure’s sculpting is solid, but I think it’s the color that really makes this figure stand out. Hasbro used just the right shade of gilded gold paint for the body and a beautiful deep, metallic red for the armor plating. They may be the only two colors on the entire figure, but man do they look great together.

Iron Man’s articulation includes a ball joint in the neck, arms with ball jointed shoulders, double hinged elbows, hinged wrists, and swivels in the biceps, forearms, and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels in the thighs and lower legs. It looks like there are hinges in the ankles, but they are useless because of the way the boots are sculpted. The torso features a swivel at the waist and an ab crunge hinge in the chest. It certainly isn’t the best articulation we’ve seen in the line, but some of the restrictions come from the style of the sculpt and I think Hasbro did their best to work around this where they could. One notable point is the hinged shoulder flaps to allow for greater arm movement. I really would have liked an extra neck hinge so he could look up if I pose him on a flight stand. It’s also worth noting that the peg holes in Iron Man’s feet don’t go deep enough to work with the figure stand! Come on, Hasbro!

I’ll confess Iron Man was the one figure in Wave 3 that I was looking forward to the least. He certainly isn’t one of the shining beacons of the line, but he’s certainly not terrible either. A number of little issues cause him to land right in the middle of the average range on my patented Marvel Legends figure Cool-O-Meter. Still, it’s nice to see this armor in this scale and I’m definitely content to put him up on my shelf where he looks damn good. That all having been said, I’m still pretty sure he’ll wind up the peg-warmer of this wave, although with how well these figures have been selling in my area, there may not be any peg-warmers at all.

Jul 24 2012

Avengers: “Fusion Armor” Iron Man Mark VII by Hasbro

A little bonus feature for this week. I’ve actually got a lot of stuff in this week, so I wanted to get through some extra stuff this week so I don’t get too far behind. We all know Tony Stark has more Iron Man armors than most people have pairs of socks, and damn if he doesn’t have the plethora of action figures to prove it. As much as I love the character in the comics and on the big screen, even I suffer from Iron Man figure fatigue. Nonetheless, I picked up this one because it’s the new armor in the movie and it’s the suit he’s wearing toward the end of the film when shit really starts getting real. Did I really need to own this one? Let’s find out…

It’s the Avengers 3 ¾” figure packaging… Yuppers. Is there any more to say? There’s a “Try Me” slot so you can spin the ridiculous saw blade weapon, which probably somehow hypnotizes you into forgetting you already own a dozen Iron Man figures and that you desperately need this figure in your collection. Once again, the packaging is attractive and serviceable. Let’s shred it so I can get to my figure.

So, the most obvious difference on this suit, from the previous Avengers Iron Man figure is the Arc Reactor in his chest has gone from being a triangle, back to being a circle.  I actually prefer the circle, and that’s why I bought this figure. It’s a lot bigger than the circle reactor on previous figures in this scale, and it looks like just a big white dot, which is disappointing. A little blue hue around the edges would have been cool, because it really looks like they forgot to paint it. The rest of the armor is quite nicely sculpted and is completely different from the previous figures in both subtle and not-so subtle ways. I like the additional sculpted bits on the shoulders.

I’m a little happier with the paintwork on this figure over the last one. The red is more glossy and vibrant and more like that awesome “new car finish” style lacquer that Hasbro used on the Iron Man 2 figures. The gold isn’t quite as vibrant and there’s a little slop on the back of his legs, but overall, the colors and paint on this figure pop nicely.

The articulation here is identical to the last Iron Man figure, which means it’s not that great. You get nine points and all of them are ball joints. That’s the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. Yep, there’s zero articulation in the torso and that definitely hurts the figure. There’s also a lot of limitation to the hip joints. I didn’t mind the diminished articulation so much in Thor, but you can’t really get Iron Man into any great poses.

Iron Man comes with one accessory and… wait for it… waaaait for it… Yep, it’s a piece of garbage. It looks like it’s supposed to be some kind of shield with blue energy that spins around it. I was going to throw it out, but my cat took a fancy to it and now all I have to do is put it on the coffee table and spin it, and the cat goes absolutely nuts playing with it. Maybe this should have been called Iron Man “With Bonus Cat Toy!”

As much as I should, I cannot hate on this figure. It looks great standing on my shelf besides my movie Avengers. I’m not a big stickler on articulation, so the figure’s biggest stumbling point isn’t a deal breaker for me. Did I really need this one? Nah… but at seven bucks, it didn’t really break the bank either. I suppose the real issue is that I should have passed on the first Avengers Iron Man figure and waited to get this one, because I didn’t need both of them. But that’s it, Hasbro, I’m done buying 3 ¾” Iron Man figures for quite a while now. And based on what I’ve seen of the armor design in Iron Man 3, I may be passing on that figure too. You can, however, sell me a Ben Kingsley Mandarin figure… because seeing that on the pegs… well, that’s just going to blow my mind.

Mar 10 2012

Iron Man 2: (Comic Series) Iron Man Mark I and War Machine Figures by Hasbro

Marvel and Hasbro continue to blitz the toy aisles with their Iron Man 2 toys. I was really impressed with the first two figures I picked up, so I was eager to grab a few more while out shopping this week. Walmart had these things stuffed all over one of their action figure aisles and it took me an eternity to sort through the same three figures over and over again before I found the ones I was looking for, War Machine (#23) and the original Iron Man (#22). These are both from the Comic Series, although I would have been happy finding either these or the Movie Series versions. They also had Iron Monger, which looked nice, but I passed on him because he’s not in scale with the other figures.


Yep, once again, I love the packaging on these figures.

Let’s start with the original Iron Man. Hasbro really nailed the retro, primitive look of the original armor that Tony Stark cobbled together from spare parts. The sculpt obviously isn’t as detailed as the other figures in the line, but that just adds to this figure’s backwards charm as well as the fact that this design is from the comics and not the film. A lot of his rivets are sculpted into the mold, but apart from that and a few panel lines, most of the detail from this figure comes from the excellent paint apps. The figure is molded in matte gray and its scattered with silver and rust colored scratches giving the armor a nice worn and weathered look.

Despite the intentionally clunky sculpt, Hasbro worked most of the normal articulation into this figure. He has a ball jointed neck, as well as ball joints in his shoulders, elbows, upper legs, ankles and upper torso. He also has double hinged knees and his wrists swivel.

This version of Iron Man comes with a sculpted clear orange repulsor beam effect that fits over his closed fist. I’m not a big fan of these simulated fire accessories, but so long as it can be tossed aside, they don’t really bother me. He also comes with the three armor cards and a stand with a peg for the figure and a slot for the three armor cards.

Next up is War Machine, and this is definitely my favorite figure in the line so far. The sculpt is absolutely fantastic. This figure is part of the Comic Series, so the figure is a lot less angular than the film version of the suit with the upper arms and legs retaining a more muscular organic look. Besides a ton of detail in the sculpt, this figure has some nifty features like flip up shoulder plates to free up his arm articulation and two shoulder mounted weapons (a gatling gun and a rocket launcher) that swing up from his back into firing positions. He also has a pair of guns molded into his right forearm. The coloring on this figure is also pretty sweet. He’s a mix of matte silver and dark gray with some blue wash that gives his heavily plated parts a gunmetal blued finish.

War Machine’s articulation is the same as the other figurs in the line, featuring a ball jointed neck, as well as ball joints in his shoulders, elbows, upper legs, ankles and upper torso. He also has double hinged knees and his wrists swivel. While his flip up shoulders give him greater arm movement, some of his other sculpting inhibits articulation a bit, but not enough to spoil the figure.

War Machine comes with the three armor cards and the same exact stand as Iron Man. He also comes with two clip on pieces for his shoulder weapons to make them look like they are firing. I’ve already mentioned that I’m not a big fan of these, but I have to admit the one with the tiny rockets molded into it looks pretty cool.

Unfortunately, my fears over the assortments on this line is playing out, but I probably shouldn’t complain since I was able to find the exact two figures I set out to get. I just don’t know how many less determined people are going to flip through dozens of the same couple of figures before finding what they want. And even then, there is going to be a derth of the same figures hanging on the pegs once the less common stuff has been mined out. That having been said, this overall line continues to impress me.

 

Feb 28 2012

Marvel Legends: Extremis Iron Man by Hasbro

Welcome to Day Two of Marvel Legends Week. This time we’re checking out a character that has had no shortage of figures recently, and in just about every scale imaginable. Yes, its Iron Man, and I’ll bet you’re wondering what makes the Marvel Legends version so special that you should buy yet another Iron Man figure? Well, the answer is… really nothing, apart from getting Terrax’s right leg in the package.

Once again, the new Marvel Legends packaging. I’m still digging it. It’s cluttered, colorful, loud, and sort of obnoxious… just like any good action comic. Notice the bubble is actually deep enough to allow Iron Man to be packaged with his forearms facing outward. That’s pretty cool. The reverse of the card features a big piece of character art and shows off the BAF, Terrax, and the other figures in this wave.
In hand, Iron Man seems a little underwhelming. Its cool that he is a brand new sculpt, seeing as how there are a fair share of 6-inch Iron Man figures that Hasbro could have repacked for Marvel Legends. What’s not so cool is that the sculpt is a little bland. I realize that this is supposed to be the Extremis armor from the comics and not the film, and I suppose that could account for the fact that this 6-inch figure sports less sculpted detail than some of the 3 3/4″ Iron Man 2 figures. But that still leaves the figure wanting for some added panel lines. I’ll also take a little umbrage with the coloring on the arc reactor and the repulsor emitter on his open hand. They just look white and bland and I think some color was needed here. It almost looks like the armor isn’t even active.  All that having been said, the rest of the sculpt and coloring here is competant enough. But at $17.99 a figure, I want more than competant.
Like the sculpt, the paintwork is passable. I’ve already commented on the bland, white arc reactor and repulsor emitter. The rest of the figure’s paint job gets by but it isn’t particularly excellent either. I rather preferred the high gloss, new car shine look to the 3 3/4″ Iron Man 2 figures. This one just seems dull by comparison.

Another bone to pick with Extremis Iron Man is in the scale. He’s tiny. I don’t mind him being smaller than the Thor in this assortment, but put him next to Steve Rogers and he still looks tiny by comparison. He’s not even much bulkier than Hope Summers. If you’ve ever listened to the fine folks over at Fwooshcast, podcast host Craig has often made the great point that as a dude in armor, Iron Man should be at least a bit bulkier than most of his fellow superheroes. In this case, he’s actually smaller. It never bugged me so much on the smaller figures, but it sure does put me off on this one. On the other hand, this Iron Man is sized fairly well when placed next to Hasbro’s 6-inch Captain America and Thor from their respective movie lines, so at least he does have a place in my Marvel display.
Iron Man’s articulation is passable, but once again, it’s really nothing special. He has ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and hips. His shoulder armor is hinged so as not to impede the arm movement. He has double hinges in his elbows and knees. His wrists and ankles both feature hinges and swivels, and he has swivels in the biceps and thighs. He also features a ball joint in the torso. It sounds good, but the ball joints at the hips are terrible and beyond being able to achieve a wide stance, they don’t allow for much movement otherwise.
So far, the new Marvel Legends is one for two. This Iron Man is an ok figure. He looks good on the shelf and he’s fun to fiddle about with, but I don’t find him to be any great leap over past 6-inch Iron Man figures. His scale puts him at home with other 6-inch Hasbro figures in my collection, but he looks way too small to stand in this lineup with the Marvel Legends. I get that Hasbro wants to capitalize on the Avengers as much as possible, but I feel like this figure probably shouldn’t have been included in this initial assortment. At $17.99, this figure is coming pretty close to the price of a Marvel Select, and doesn’t match up. I’ve certainly had to buy worse figures to complete a C&C/BAF, but the only reason I can really recommend him is so you can complete your Terrax, otherwise he’s an easy pass.
Jul 20 2011

Iron Man 2: Iron Monger (Movie Series) by Hasbro

Yeah, there’s some seriously backdated stuff in my hopper, including some figures hanging around from the Iron Man 2 line. I picked up this figure quite a while ago. Every time I was sure I was done with this line, another figure would turn up on the peg that I couldn’t resist. Last time it was this Iron Monger from the original Iron Man movie… on an Iron Man 2 card. I’ve got some seriously mixed feelings about this one… let’s see why.

It’s no surprise that Iron Man figures are still hanging on the pegs, as Hasbro is trying to keep it relevant until The Avengers movie comes out. Hasbro has abandoned the now dated Iron Man 2 cards in favor of calling the line just plain Iron Man. This may be the last time we see the Iron Man 2 packaging here on FigureFan, but then I can’t promise anything. The package still looks awesome, and I actually like it much better than the packaging that has replaced it. Iron Monger is a big figure, pretty close in overall girth to the Hulkbuster Iron Man figure that I’ve looked at some time ago. Suffice it to say he really fills up the bubble and gives the card a satisfying, hefty weight.

Ok, so let’s talk about the good stuff first. One thing I’ve come to expect from Hasbro’s Iron Man 2 line is gorgeously detailed sculpts and Iron Monger here is no exception. Unlike many of the Iron Man armors, Iron Monger doesn’t rely on any spiffy paint jobs to make him look good. Nope, it’s all sculpt, and he can definitely pull it off. The design holds back just enough to make him look a little primitive when compared to the modern Iron Man armors, but there’s still plenty of delicious detail, particularly in the limbs and the back. I also like the way Hasbro used the soft rubbery plastic for his shoulder armor so that his articulation wouldn’t be articulated. All in all, he looks absolutely awesome.

The not so good? He’s a big figure, but not big enough to be in scale with the other figures in the line. I know, I’m being stupid picky here, since making him any bigger would put him at a higher price point, which the line didn’t really have. The obvious alternative, if you want a more properly scaled version is to go get the one released for the original movie. The only problem is, I don’t think that figure’s sculpt really approaches this one in its beauty. There’s the dilemma.

As with all the Iron Man 2 figures, Iron Monger comes with the stand that’s slotted to hold the three Armor Cards. Two of the cards are transparent and when you display them together it completes the schematic of the armor. I didn’t think much of these stands at first, but when you display all the figures together on the stands, they sure look nice. The only problem here is that the stands are dwarfed and blocked by the bigger figures like Iron Monger here, and you can really only get one of his feet on it. I know, he’s too small… he’s too big, he can’t win with me.

If scale isn’t a huge issue with you than Iron Monger is a nice figure. He still displays great next to the other figures in the line, but it’s hard to recreate the battle at the end of the original film without a much bigger figure. Still, the sculpt is impressive and this figure is a fine example of everything I really loved about the Iron Man 2 line. Which is why I’m willing to bet it won’t be the last time we revisit the line here on FigureFan.