IRON MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“To the public, Tony Stark is a handsome, jet-setting industrialist and inventor. What they don’t know is that he leads a second life as Iron Man. The armored Avenger gets his fantastic powers from his suit of micro-mesh armor. It gives him superhuman strength, the ability to fly via his jet boots, and a variety of built-in weapons, foremost among these being his devastating repulsor rays! Iron Man is dedicated to defeating those forces that would threaten the security of the nation and the entire world.”

Remember how I was spacing out my Marvel Legends reviews?  Well, I’m still doing that, if you couldn’t tell by that almost month-long gap I had there.  Certainly, there are quite a few of them on the horizon, but we’re sticking to this one-by-one thing for now.  And hey, while we’re on the topic of Legends, how about the fact that the line’s been going for a whole 20 years now?  That’s pretty darn crazy.  I mean, it wasn’t actively running for the whole 20 years there, but it’s existed in some form for almost the entirety of that, outlasting even the company that launched the brand (since Toy Biz themselves only had a 19 year run), and it’s still quite a powerhouse of a brand, even now.  In honor of the anniversary, Hasbro’s doing a set of updates based on the line’s first four figures.  I’m taking a look at the first of those that I’ve gotten my hands on today.  So, let’s have a look at Iron Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Man is one of the four figures in Series 1 of the “20th Anniversary” sub-line of Marvel Legends.  The branding is slightly confusing here, as they’re using “Series 1” a lot, but it’s hard at this point to tell if that’s just because they’re specifically doing all four of the Series 1 figures from the Toy Biz days, or if they actually plan on going through and doing updates on other TB Legends assortments.  Time will tell, I suppose.  Iron Man was the second of these figures to be revealed, following Captain America, and he and Cap appear to be arriving at stores more or less in tandem, with the slightly later addition Hulk close behind.  All of these figures are Fan Channel exclusives, so they won’t be hitting bigger retailers.  Yes, Walmart is once again missing out on Series 1 of Marvel Legends.  Oh how the tables have…remained in place?  Since we’ve gotten the Model 4 Classic Iron Man armor that was covered by the first Toy Biz Legends release twice in the last couple of years, and Hasbro undoubtedly wants to avoid too much doubling up here, this figure is based on the Model 2 armor.  It’s still got that classic vibe, and has the added bonus of having served as the inspiration for the variant of the original Series 1 figure.  So, he’s still kind of an update.  It’s also kind of a nice change of pace to get a full figure based on this design, since it usually just gets relegated to a head swap on the classic armor, which is never quite accurate.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation.  This figure once again uses the 80th body as its starting point, which is certainly a good basis for a classic Iron Man.  It does get a surprising amount of new tooling, however, which includes the head, torso, and pelvis.  The new head replicates the Model 2’s horn-headed faceplate, which turned out really well here, as well as the segmented elements of the rest of the helmet.  It’s the most visible change-up between the two main designs, and I love how well its turned out.  The torso and pelvis sport much more minor change-ups, which can be easy to miss at first glance.  The collar and shoulder guards are removed from the upper torso, and the uni-beam is also totally flat now, and the pelvis loses the power pods at the hips, as well as getting a slightly more squared-off buckle on the belt.  There’s also a much more toned down musculature on the torso overall, signifying the differences in how this armor was usually drawn.  It’s really great how the changes add up, and they make for a very accurate depiction of the armor, which, as I note above, really isn’t something we tend to see.  The color work on this figure is closer to the A.I. release, with its bright red and yellow.  It’s a good look, and matches not only the comic depiction, but also the original Legends figure (well, the standard release, anyway, since the horned-helmet variant got the gold coloring).  The red section gets some extra accenting on the lined segments, which helps to more greatly bring out those particular details, a change that adds a bit more pop to the figure’s color scheme.  This release is well accessorized, with an alternate unmasked Tony Stark head, two sets of hands (the same two pairs used for all releases of this mold), the repuslor and smoke effects that came with Ironheart, and a display stand with a cardboard backdrop.  The Tony head is a cool, all-new piece.  That said, it’s definitely a ’70s Tony, while the armor is very much ’60s, so it’s not quite right for this release.  It looks right at home on the 80th release, though, and the 80th Tony head looks really good on this one, so you can swap if you have both.  Though not accurate, I can certainly appreciate Hasbro giving us a different Tony head, rather than a third use of the prior one.  I like that the hands and effects pieces are a standard thing now, and I’m glad to see the smoke effects turn up again.  The display stand is a basic black piece, with “Marvel Legends” stamped into it.  The backdrop is two-sided, one side showing an illustrated recreation of the original Series 1 figure’s sculpted stand, and the other showing a comic book cover, so that it can simulate the full comic reprint that was included behind the Series 1 figure in the package.  Curiously, the cover chosen is Iron Man #174, which, while a cool cover, and one that does feature this armor, is not the issue that was packed with the original Series 1 figure.  It’s extra odd, since all three of the other anniversary figures are using the original issue cover, despite it not lining up for Hulk or Toad’s figure looks either.  Whatever the case, it’s a cool idea, and, like I said, a cool cover.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is the first of these I’ve gotten, and even though Cap was the one I wanted the most, it’s really appropriate I got this one first, since the Series 1 Iron Man was my first Legends figure back in the day.  It’s also probably best I got Iron Man first, because it allows me to appreciate this guy on his own, without him getting overshadowed.  And that’s great, because he’s a really fantastic release.  I love the new helmet, and I love the adjustments to the body to make him a proper Model 2 release.  It makes him a much more unique figure than I’d expected this release to be, and he’s honestly my favorite of the Iron Men we’ve gotten on the 80th mold.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.