Tag Archives: Happy Hogan

#3211: Iron Man Mark 47 & Happy Hogan

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

IRON MAN MARK 47 & HAPPY HOGAN

MARVEL MINIMATES

Tying the movie more closely into the universe that spawned it, Spider-Man: Homecoming leans a fair bit on Iron Man and one notable member of his supporting cast.  Not only does Peter work directly with Tony Stark on a number of occasions, but long-term Iron Man supporting cast member Harold “Happy” Hogan also gets his largest roles in the MCU as part of its Spider-Man trilogy.  As a Happy Hogan fan since way back when nobody knew who Happy Hogan was, I’m all about that.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Iron Man Mark 47 and Happy Hogan were the TRU-exclusive set for the Spider-Man: Homecoming tie-in assortment of Marvel Minimates.  Due to weird licensing, the Spidey and non-Spidey characters supposedly couldn’t actually cross over in the tie-ins, so these two are isolated off on their own.  It’s not the worst thing, though, since, you know, the two of them do kind of tie together…even if Happy and Tony don’t actually interact while Tony’s in Iron Man mode.  Still, it’s really not that weird.  I’m making it weird.  I’ll stop.

IRON MAN MARK 47

Iron Man’s no stranger to Minimates, especially not when it comes to the MCU.  This was his 72nd Minimate overall and his 31st MCU-based released.  This one’s based on his briefly used suit from Homecoming, which was itself inspired, at least in terms of coloring, by the Ultimate version of the character from the comics.  The figure is based on the standard post-c3 base body, and as such is about 2 1/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He features an add-on for his chest plate, as well as unique pieces for his upper arms and hands.  All of the non-standard pieces were new to this figure, which is mostly surprising because this armor was really just a quick recolor of the Mark 46 in the movie, and the Mark 46 minimates all just used the Mark 42 tooling again.  These parts are a lot less clunky, though, and generally follow the sleeker design of the armor, so I generally appreciate them.  Additionally, this figure has the interesting change of not getting a helmet piece, and instead just using the standard head.  I’m not entirely sure why that was the way they went, but it’s not a terrible look.  The paint work on this guy is pretty decent.  The metallic red is super slick, and all of the line-work is nice and sharp.  The figure is packed with a flight stand and a clear display stand.

HAPPY HOGAN

Believe it or not, this isn’t the first Happy Hogan Minimate.  Heck, it’s not even the first one I’ve reviewed on the site.  In fact, with this release, I’ll have a review of every Happy Hogan figure there is.  That’s commitment.  Or crazy.  Or there’s only three of them, and it’s ultimately nothing.  Happy has add-on pieces for his hair, jacket, and tie.  The hair piece is re-used I’m pretty sure, but it’s a solid match for Favreau’s hair style in the movie.  The jacket and tie are the World of the Psychic Venkman jacket and Spirit tie combo that they rocked for a while there, which is a pretty good set-up.  The paint work includes an improved likeness from the IM2 release, as well as actual detailing for the belt, which is pretty nifty.  Happy is packed with a clear display stand, which isn’t a lot, but it’s something.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had to get kind of picky with what I was buying when these were first released, so I had to skip them, on the basis that I didn’t really need another Iron Man variant, and I already had one Happy Hogan.  But, then TRU was going under, and things were marked down, and I didn’t have this specific Happy Hogan, so, you know, I went for it.  Mark 47 is an improvement on the over designed nature of MCU Iron Men at the time, and I do really like that.  Happy is an improvement on the prior version, and I can definitely dig it.

#2970: Happy Hogan & Iron Man Mark XXI

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

HAPPY HOGAN & IRON MAN MARK XXI

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Moving along the Iron Man timeline with our reviews here, we make our way to the final entry in that set of films, Iron Man 3.  IM3 had the good grace of being the first MCU film to get the Legends treatment proper, which was a pretty big deal at the time.  That said, it was just two movie-related figures in an otherwise comics assortment, which meant we just got the rather barebones Mark 42 and Iron Patriot releases, with scrapped releases for War Machine Mk II and Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin.  Later Legends treatments got those additional two released, and there’s been a slow trickle of a few additional House Party armors every so often.  We get one tribute to the film in the Infinity Saga set, featuring Stark Industries Head of Security Happy Hogan, as well as one more House Party armor.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Happy Hogan and Iron Man Mark XXI are a Target-exclusive two-pack, released in the Infinity Saga sub-line of Marvel Legends.  They started hitting retail at the beginning of October, and have thus far been hitting in at least okay numbers.

HAPPY HOGAN

“Stark Industries’ new Head of Security gets caught in the middle of the battle as Iron Man gears up to face an all new powerful threat.”

After six film appearances (with a seventh in later this month), Jon Favreau’s Happy Hogan finally gets some Legends coverage.  Not bad for a guy in a suit, I guess.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Happy is a much larger guy than any of the other suit-wearers we’ve gotten, so he requires mostly new pieces.  He borrows the arms from the Logan version of, well, Logan, but is otherwise sporting all-new parts.  I certainly appreciate getting more variety to how the guys in suits are built; things were beginning to get a bit samey.  I do appreciate that he’s even got a pocket on his shirt under the jacket, showcasing that he’s just a little bit more working class than most of the other suit wearing guys we’ve gotten.  The only downside to the sculpt is that they’ve neglected to give Happy his ID badge, which is definitely gonna set him off.  C’mon guys, everyone needs to be wearing their ID badges.  By far the best part of the sculpt is the head, which has a pretty spot-on likeness of Favreau circa IM3, which is when Happy really comes into his own, so it’s a good choice.  He’s got a good recreation of Happy’s usual “sunny disposition.”   Happy’s paint work is reserved, but works well.  Mostly it’s just the face, which is quite lifelike.  Theres a few other spots on the suit, namely the belt and buckle.  It’s all pretty clean, and it does the job well.  Though he may not have his ID badge, Happy does at least get his cellphone.  It’s a tiny little piece guaranteed to be lost, but hey, it’s still a cool touch.

IRON MAN MARK XXI

“Mark XXI, codename ‘Midas,’ is a fully loaded high-altitude suit built by Stark that’s outfitted with enriched gold titanium alloy.”

There are a great number of varieties of Iron Man suits presented by the film’s “House Party” concept.  Many of them are quite unique, while others are really just re-decos of prior armors.  This one’s one of the latter.  Dubbed “Midas,” the Mark XXI is a recolor of Avengers‘ Mark VII, done up in all gold as a reference to Iron Man’s distinctive all-gold armor from the early Silver Age.  Unsurprisingly, the figure is likewise just a re-use of the Mark VII mold.  He stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 37 points of articulation.  The sculpt worked well for the Mark VII and it works well for Midas as well.  It’s hard to fault Hasbro for the re-use, especially when the mold is as good as this one.  The color work is changed up, of course, so that he’s now all gold.  It’s a mix of molded plastic and painted sections, so there’s som variety to the finish.  It doesn’t look half bad.  Midas gets the same accessory selection as the Mark VII: two sets of hands and blast effects, all in changed up colors to match with the core figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Happy Hogan is one of those character’s I’ve always loved in the comics, and I’ve been thrilled to see him actually get to grow over the course of his MCU appearances.  I didn’t have the highest hopes for a Legends release, but they’ve been pulling out all the stops recently, so it’s not the craziest thing.  It was definitely cool to see him show up here, and I like that they went with his IM3 appearance.  Midas isn’t one of the more thrilling House Party armors, but the original base figure was nice, and so is this one.  There have been worse space fillers in these two-packs.

#1322: Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, & Hammer Drones

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

PEPPER POTTS, HAPPY HOGAN, & HAMMER DRONES

MARVEL MINIMATES

I haven’t reviewed Minimates in over a month.  That seems slightly odd.  To be fair, I haven’t actually picked up any new sets since the Doctor Strange assortment, so that probably contributed somewhat.  Since I’m leaning pretty heavily on the back catalog at the moment, it’s only fair that I look back at a small sampling of my rather large Minimate collection.  Today, I’ll be going way back to 2010’s Iron Man 2, with Pepper, Happy, and a pair of Hammer Drones!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Pepper, Happy, and the Hammer Drones were released in Series 35 of the main Marvel Minimates line, which tied-in with the previously mentioned Iron Man 2.  They were the two specialty exclusive sets; Pepper and Happy were each packed with a Hammer Drone, with Pepper being the more heavily packed and Happy as the one-per-case “chase” figure.

PEPPER POTTS

“Tasked with running all of Stark Industries as their new CEO, Pepper Potts must balance her personal friendship with Tony Stark against mounting evidence that the armor-clad hero may be unable to control his own demons.”

Definitely the heaviest-hitteriest-character featured here.  This was Pepper’s second time as a Minimate (her first ‘mate came from the first film).  The figure is a little under 2 1/2 inches tall and has the usual 14 points of articulation.  She’s built on the basic ‘mate body, with add-ons for her hair, skirt, and bracelets.  The skirt was a re-use from the Series 18 Gwen Stacy, and the rest of the add-ons were new to this figure.  I’m not sure exactly which part of the movie she’s from, but her general look is captured.  The end result is decent enough.  Not the most thrilling ‘mate of all time, but she gets the job done, I suppose.  As far as paint goes, she’s fairly bland again, but the colors seem appropriate to the movie, the application is pretty clean, and the Gwenyth Paltrow likeness is decent (certainly better then the first Pepper).  Since this series predates the standard inclusion of display stands, Pepper includes no accessories.  I suppose they could have given here, like, a phone or something, but it’s not a huge deal.

HAPPY HOGAN

“Not only Tony Stark’s bodyguard and chauffeur, Happy Hogan is also one of his closest advisors. As events unfold, however, Happy finds himself torn between his friendship with Tony and his feelings for another…”

Holy abandoned plot-lines Batman!  So, in the initial cut of Iron Man 2, Tony’s driver Harold “Happy” Hogan was supposed to at one point confess his romantic feelings towards Pepper, hinting at their pairing up in the comics.  It was ultimately cut for time, which is, honestly, for the best.  Happy got a greatly increased role in the second film (he doesn’t even get named in the first movie), and so he naturally got a Minimate.  This is, to date, the only action figure of Happy Hogan out there, which is pretty nifty.  Like Pepper, he’s built on the standard base body, plus he’s got add-ons for his hair and jacket.  The hair was new (and a decent enough match for Jon Favreau’s), and the jacket was re-used from Back to the Future’s George McFly.  The end result makes for a decent match-up to Happy’s on-sceen appearance.  The paint is pretty solid, but once again, not anything amazing.  He’s mostly molded in black, with some minor detailing for his shirt/tie, and his face.  The face doesn’t look a ton like Favreau to me, but he *does* look like Happy from the comics, so I don’t mind so much.  On his own, Happy’s another figure that’s not super thrilling.  Fortunately for him, he includes some pretty sweet extras.  He has a pair of boxing gloves (calling back to the boxing scene he has with Tony in the movie), as well as the Mark V in its un-deployed briefcase form, and a pair of handcuffs to hook the briefcase to his wrist.  You’ll need to do some very slight modding if you want one of the cuffs to actually go on the handle of the case, but that’s really the only issue.  Otherwise, it’s a really fun little set-up.

HAMMER DRONES

“Created using a fusion of technologies from Stark Industries, Hammer’s own company and Whiplash’s improvisations – the Hammer Drones are immensely powerful and potentially lethal in the wrong hands.”

That’s a great description…of the other Hammer Drones.  You know, the ones that were actually drones and that played a part in the film’s climax.  These guys?  Not those Hammer Drones.  No, these would be the prototype suits that Vanko scraps early into the film, that get no actual fight time, and aren’t even really drones.  I would guess these guys being in the main assortment instead of the ones that actually featured prominently is yet another example of plans changing in a movie after the reference materials have gone out to the licensees.  Worse things have happened.  At least it’s a decent design, right?  The figure uses the base ‘mate body as a starting point, but gets a non-standard head and thighs, as well as add-ons for the chest piece, gloves, belt, and boots.  The pieces actually make for a pretty cool little toy, though it’s rather far removed from the usual ‘mate aesthetic.  In terms of paint, it’s a lot of grey, but there’s nice work, especially on the little caution sections.  There’s a bit of slop and bleed over here, but nothing too terrible.  Like Pepper, the Hammer Drones include no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Cosmic Comix got gipped on his Series 35 orders, which meant that I missed out on my usual way of getting the specialty exclusives.  I was able to get Pepper from Midtown Comics during a trip to New York that year, but they had already sold Happy by that point.  It took a year or so, but my parents eventually got me one as a Christmas present.  Pepper’s kind of bland and generic, and the Hammer Droids are ultimately rather inconsequential, but Happy is actually a pretty sweet figure!