TONY STARK

IRON MAN (TOY BIZ)

Tony Stark!  Makes you feel!  He’s a cool exec with a heart of steel!  …you know, like in the song?  What, do you not all just have the ’60s Marvel cartoon theme songs on repeat in your heads?  Well, they’re pretty catchy, for what it’s worth.  Today, though, I’m not talking about the Iron Man cartoon with the Tony Stark making you feel, I’m talking about the Iron Man cartoon after that one, from the ’90s.  It had a whole tie-in line of figures, which I don’t look at super, super often.  So, you know what, let’s look at that cool exec with a heart of steel now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tony Stark was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Iron Man line in 1995.  He was one of the three Iron Man variants in the assortment, though I guess he’s only *technically* an Iron Man.  This was Toy Biz’s second go at a suit-up version of Tony-to-Iron Man, and the first to be properly marketed as Tony.  He was also re-released in 1997 under the Marvel Universe banner, though the figures proper are virtually identical.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  His sculpt was all-new, and remained unique to this guy.  It’s based on his “tech underwear” look from Season 1 of the cartoon, right down to the first season’s shorter hair style.  It’s a weird look to be sure, but it’s captured well enough here, and it has the benefit of letting him more easily interface with the rest of the line’s armor gimmick.  He’s got the same ports as the other Iron Men, so you can move over the armor pieces from those ones to sort of mix and match him, if you so choose.  The head sculpt is actually quite nice, and goes a bit further with the detailing than the animation model, with more texturing on the hair and mustache.  His paint work’s pretty sharply handled, if generally on the basic.  The silver and gold is all painted and it’s cleanly applied, as is the black for the hair and the eyes.  Stark is packed with his armor carrying suitcase, which carries his helmet and a pair of shin guards.  The whole thing unfolds to look somewhat like his unfolded armor on the show, and there’s an etched in detail for the armor parts that aren’t present.  The armor pieces are pretty nice.  The helmet’s particularly cool, even if it just covers the front half of his face.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If I’m recalling correctly, this figure is actually my first Iron Man.  Well, not Iron Man proper, of course; that was Space Armor Iron Man.  But this one allowed me to dip my toes into the Iron Man world a bit.  I’m pretty sure I got him from a trip to KB with my Dad, and I want to say I got Gambit at the same time?  I still have my original, and most of his parts, but he’s taken a beating over the years, so I got the less beaten up one seen here at Yesterday’s Fun over the summer.  He’s very much function over form, but that only further solidifies him as a fun figure, whom I very much enjoy.