IRON MAN (MODEL 01 – GOLD)

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“When Tony Stark decides that Iron Man needs an outfit upgrade, he faces off against the hypnotic Gargantus wearing golden armor”

In his first appearance, Tony Stark’s Iron Man armor was a simple, dull grey.  Realistic for a suit of armor, especially one bearing the name “Iron Man”, but perhaps not quite as heroic.  This issue was, in fact brought up, even in story, leading to Tony’s first proper upgrade to his armor, where he grants his armor its golden hue for the very first time.  Though short-lived, the armor is notable for being the one he was wearing when the Avengers were founded, which gives it some lasting presence.  It helps that it shares its sculptural structure with the first appearance armor, making it a really easy repaint.  Hey, that would be nifty, wouldn’t it?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Man (Model 01 – Gold) is part of the Iron Man-themed Retro Card assortment of Marvel Legends.  While this armor itself wasn’t ever released on the card being referenced, it was at least part of the 5-inch Toy Biz run, via the “Marvel Collector Editions” Avengers boxed set.  So, you know, similar vintage, I suppose.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  The sculpt is mostly identical to the Beyond release of the Model 01 sculpt, courtesy of sculptor Dan Mitchell.  It’s still a sculpt I like as a whole.  In fact, I think I like it more this time around.  One of my main issues the first time around was the helmet shape, which felt off for the first appearance look, but for the gold version, where the helmet was frequently depicted with a slightly different shape, it actually works a bit better.  The figure does get one notable change, in the form of a skirt place that swaps out for the belt piece from the last figure, in order to make him more accurate to the gold version of the armor.  It’s better than Toy Biz gave us, so kudos to Hasbro on that one.  The main change-up here is the coloring, of course.  Largely, he just swaps in gold plastic for the gun metal grey of the last one.  He doesn’t have the same scuffing details, but does get additional accenting on the panels.  He also gets painted eyes, which the last one lacked.  Like the last release, this one is packed with two sets of hands (open and fists), two blast effects, and matching smoke trail effects.  He also gets an unmasked head, which is re-used from the 20th Anniversary release.  Amusingly, for the second time, the ’70s style head sculpt (courtesy of Paul Harding) is packed with a ’60s armor.  Like, it’s not a bad sculpt at all, but it’s…well, it’s just not the right one for the armor.  They’ve got one that matches already, too, so it’s kind of funny.  Like, maybe not “ha ha”, but I get a kick out of it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t as enthused with the Beyond release of this mold as I’d hoped to be, but I was still holding out hope for a recolor.  I didn’t realize one would be here *quite* this quickly, but it’s not terribly shocking, I guess.  Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by this one.  He doesn’t change much, but I just find myself liking the mold a lot better this time around.  Maybe I’m just a sucker for the gold armor.  Whatever the case, I’m happy to have this one.

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 and their eBay storefront.