Tag Archives: Iron Man

#4034: The Avengers

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA, IRON MAN, THOR, & HULK

WORLD’S GREATEST SUPER HEROES (MEGO)

In 2018, Mego, the company that put licensed action figures on the map back in the ‘70s, returned from an almost four decade hiatus, to a rather different toy landscape, in terms of licensing.  Though they pioneered super hero toys in the ‘70s, the licensing for both DC and Marvel has been more locked up since they left the market.  Slowly, but surely, in their eight years back on the market, Mego has picked up some of their old licenses, first DC, and, with a lot of special work arounds, Marvel. Back in November, I finally got a chance to look at the first two Marvel sets, a little while after their initial drops.  Now, I get to look at the latest set while it’s more or less still new!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk make up the third Marvel set in the revived World’s Greatest Super Heroes line.  As with the prior two sets, these are exclusive to Disney, going up for order through their online store, as well as showing up in the parks and auxiliary locations (like Disney Springs) at the end of last month.  All four figures are packed in their own reproduction box, alongside a coin modeled after the ones available through Marvel’s in-house ads in the ‘70s.  This one’s a bit more anachronistic, though, showing the four characters included in the set with “THE AVENGERS” written along the side, which is a branding that didn’t *actually* include Hulk until shortly before the movie in the late ‘00s.  Like the FF set, all four figures included here are reproductions of original run figures, with no new characters like the Electro from the Spidey set.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

First up in this set, the figure I’ve kind of already reviewed…a little…sort of.  Cap was one of the figures re-done during Diamond’s short-lived attempt at reviving the Mego style for Marvel.  That set included a replica of the original figure and his box, alongside the updated parts, while this one is more direct.  The box is a little closer this time, notably with a window that better fits to the included figure than Diamond’s, but it’s still been slightly adjusted to add the three other figures from this set.  It’s amusing to see them change the sides, given that Spidey had a more authentic recreation, showing Cap on the sides, rather than the other figures he was included with.  Perhaps they wanted to be more properly on-brand this time?  Ultimately, it’s just a box, so I won’t sweat it too much.  The figure stands 8 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  As with the prior sets, Cap moves over to the updated bandless construction body, which has become the new standard.  It’s generally more posable (aside from the bend on the knees), and generally more sturdy (again, aside from the knees).  Cap gets a replica of his original head sculpt, which is a better recreation than the DST version, which was a little squished and narrow.  This one remains more accurate to the original, which, as goofy as it may be, remains perhaps my favorite of the Mego sculpts.  Cap gets a replica of his original outfit, with his jumpsuit and plastic boots.  The boots are closer to the material of the originals, and the jumpsuit’s star is closer to the original, than we saw on the DST release, being a decal, rather than the sort of haphazardly affixed piece of pleather.  The original star fell off a lot, so hopefully this one stays in place a bit better.  Cap is packed with his shield, which is a recast of the original, right down to the creased decal.  Once again, it’s a bit better than the DST release, with a slightly cleaner and smoother application of the decal, closer to his vintage counterpart.

IRON MAN

Certainly one of the more impressive of the original Marvel run, the vintage Mego Iron Man is largely remembered for being one of the very few toy examples of Tony’s short-lived “nosed” armor, supposedly brought into existence when Stan Lee joked about how tightly artists were molding the armor to Tony’s face, and said they might as well show his nose.  It’s so short-lived and overlooked that for years more casual fans assumed the Mego figure’s nose was a mistake, or perhaps even evidence that he was originally meant to be a Dr. Doom to go with the FF.  Iron Man is based on the same updated body as Cap, now sporting the aforementioned schnoz-bearing head sculpt from the original.  Obscurity of the look aside, it’s not a bad sculpt at all, and it’s certainly clean and distinctive.  His outfit’s more involved than Cap’s, and more accurate to the source material.  There’s more stitching and piping, so it looks a fair bit like his comics armor.  He gets plastic boots, gloves, a belt, and his little uni-beam “button.”  The belt’s a softer material, and doesn’t quite fit the waist on the newer body style, but overall looks alight, as do the other plastic parts.  If there’s one downside to this figure, it’s the paint; something about the eyes on this updated release makes them look far more dead and lifeless than the original.  

THOR

Thor’s original figure was nothing if not involved.  He got a lot of new pieces, showing the genuine improvements that Mego brought to the Marvel line as in continued.  This figure makes use of all of them, bringing his unique head, complete with its rooted hair, to the updated body.  I do find the rooting on this release to be somewhat funny, since it leaves quite a noticeable bald spot on the top, but that also means his helmet sits a little more securely, so it’s an okay trade-off.  The actual head’s not a bad one; not sure it screams Thor to me personally, but it’s got some character.  His outfit has a lot of different parts, with a multi-piece jumpsuit with attached cape and vinyl “circles” on the front, a pair of cloth wrist bands, a pair of rubber boots, and a chromed plastic helmet.  It all assembles into a nice rendition of Thor’s classic look, with a lot of vibrant colors, and almost no exempted details.  Also included was Thor’s Hammer, Mjolnir, which is using the solid head construction of the vintage releases.  It’s got small indents on the handle to allow him to better hold it one-handed, and is generally just pretty cool looking.

HULK

The most distinctive of the four included here in terms of core construction is Hulk, just like his vintage counterpart.  He’s using the updated bulked up body, introduced with The Thing in the last set, making him a 1/4-inch shorter than the other three, just like in the vintage run.  Like his original, he has his own, not rocky hands, as well as his unique head sculpt.  The body is more visible here, of course, and while it’s got more joints than the original did, they don’t break up the flow too badly, so it’s not too terrible to look at.  The head’s a good take on the ‘70s era Hulk, and is very well recreated here.  Just as in the vintage days, the only part of his outfit is his pair of tattered purple pants.  They’re not bad, but they’re obviously a different material than the original ones, which were purple all the way through, while these ones show some underlying white where the tears are.  Of course, there’s always been some back and forth about that in comics illustrations, even going back to the early days, so I don’t feel the white really makes him seem less accurate.  Other than that, Hulk’s a pretty basic figure, especially compared to the others in the set.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After the nearly instant sell-outs of the prior sets, I was surprised by how long this one stayed available, and even had time to waffle on whether to buy it.  Well, not really whether to buy it all, but rather whether to buy it online, or wait a week for my first visit to Disney in two decades.  I decided to buy it online, partially because I didn’t want to miss it, and partially because I didn’t want to contend with brining a box this size back in my luggage.  I did end up seeing it in every spot that had the Marvel set-up, but ultimately I really was glad not to have to fly it back.  This set’s the one that I feel I have the most vintage knowledge on going in.  My dad had a Cap in his original collection, and it was always my favorite of the bunch, so much so that it was unofficially mine pretty much until I got the Diamond replica in 2015.  My dad didn’t have the others, and the Iron Man and Thor Megos in our joint collection when I was growing up were both definitively mine, so it’s cool to see them get updated.  Hulk, I don’t have much to do with, but I can’t say he’s a *bad* figure.  This set is certainly fun, and certainly splashy.  That said, I’ll admit to being the slightest bit bummed that it’s four retreads again, rather than mixing in at least one new figure.  With only Falcon remaining from the original Marvel Megos, I’m skeptical about getting another set.  I’d really like to, especially because I’d like to see Falcon get his update.  I’d also love to see some new characters to fill out the ranks some more.  I guess we’ll just have to see.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0037: Iron Man & The Thing

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , , ,

IRON MAN & THE THING

MARVEL MINIMATES (DIAMOND SELECT TOYS)

Hey, it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, with even more Minimates, I suppose.  I’m going a little bit more themed this week, so at least half of this revisitation of a review is Fantastic Four-themed.  So, let’s look back and Iron Man and The Thing!

Look! It’s more Minimates! Yes, I’ll be looking at even more Minimates, once again from the Marvel line. This time I’ll be looking at a set from the “Best Of” sub series. The idea behind this sub set was keeping the definitive versions of the main Marvel Heroes and villains on the market, while trying to produce the best possible minimates of those looks. I’ll be taking a look at Iron Man and the Thing from that line.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These guys were released as part of the first “Best Of” series of Marvel Minimates.

IRON MAN

First up is Iron Man. He’s depicted in his classic red and yellow armor he wore for most of the 60s and 70s. Unlike previous minimates of this particular look, the yellow is actually yellow on this one, instead of Gold. Iron Man is built on the basic minimate body, so he’s about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. He features a sculpted helmet and belt, as well as sculpted boot and glove cuffs. Paint-wise, the details are all well done, though some of the red paint is a little thin in places, and seems a bit fuzzy on the edges of the boots and gloves. But since those are meant to be covered by the cuff pieces, it’s not really an issue. Iron Man also features an extra left hand in a repulsor pose, a flying stand, and a hairpiece to display him sans helmet. These are all reused pieces, but they work well here.

THE THING

Next is Benjamin J Grimm, The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing. Ben’s look is a bit more difficult to nail down than IM’s. I think it’s meant to be Ben in his look from the mid 2000s, after he switched back to shorts from pants, but I can’t be certain. The “4” on the belt buckle is throwing me off. Anyway, he’s built on the basic minimate body, but with sculpted hands and feet instead of the regular ones. As such, he stands a bit taller than IM and has 12 points of articulation. In addition to the sculpted hands and feet, Ben’s other sculpted pieces are: Headpiece, upper arms, torso, waist and upper legs. These are all slip over pieces, and have been used on previous Thing figures. With that many sculpted pieces, the paint work on Ben is minimal. He’s got detailing on his face, and on his belt and that’s about it. They’re both clean and well done. Ben also includes a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t buy this set when it was initially released, as I already had a few classic Iron Men, and my default version of the Thing is the look John Byrne gave him in the 80s. However, my comic book store was having a sale on minimates, and had these guys for about 40% off, so I decided to pick them up. While the Thing is still not my go to, I think the Iron Man may very well become my new default Iron Man.

Well, it’s certainly review-shaped, now isn’t it?  I feel like I didn’t much commit to much in the way of actual opinion on the figures, and the order of operations is a bit all over the place, but it’s generally okay.  I don’t know.  It’s odd, because this was an early Minimate review, and it was also an Item I’d *just* gotten, but I just wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about these guys.  I’m still not especially enthusiastic about them.  They certainly existed in an era of “buying Minimates because I buy Minimates.”

In regards to the actual review metrics, I should note that in both my original review and the revised version I wrote for Minimates Central, I neglected to mention the shoulder add-ons that Iron Man got, created at the same time as the helmet, belt, glove, and boot cuffs for the Series 25 Classic Iron Man.  They’re rather important to the whole look, and are certainly cool, even if they do sometimes make the arms fall off a little too easily.  Beyond that, things seemed to be pretty much where they were supposed to be.  Otherwise, enjoy the updated photos!

#3818: Iron Man – First Appearance

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

IRON MAN — FIRST APPEARANCE

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

And here we are, back at the Toy Biz Marvel Legends.  Sure, they’re not as numerous as the 5-inch line (especially not when it comes to my collection in particular), but there still are a lot of them, and they still make up a decent little chunk of my Marvel collection.  As Toy Biz went deeper into their run with the line (which was, admittedly, just a drop in the bucket compared to what Hasbro’s been doing), they revisited some of the main characters.  Despite not yet getting his major boost from his live action movie, Iron Man was nevertheless a consistent character in the line, appearing in six out of its fifteen series.  Towards the tail end of their run, we got him in his original get-up, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Man was released in the Mojo Series of Marvel Legends, the 14th standard assortment release, and penultimate series from Toy Biz.  He and his cohorts were a sort of under the wire release, hitting just before the holiday season, a month or so before Toy Biz handed the reins over the Hasbro.  The figure stands almost 7 inches tall and he has 39 points of articulation.  Boy, is that a lot of articulation.  It’s partly so high because they gave him individually articulated fingers, which don’t do a ton, but also manage to not look as terrible here as on other figures from the line.  He does notably lack the line’s usual mid-torso movement and toe joints, but neither of those was likely to work to well with the design.  As it is, he’s got a lot of joints that give him an okay amount of movement, but not as much as other figures, due to his bulky nature.  His sculpt was totally unique, and remained so, only being shared with his variant.  It’s honestly a pretty good one.  The articulation sticks out a bit in some spots, but not as badly as some of the other TB Legends.  He also manages to look quite a bit like the proper first appearance design, and to my eye looks more on the mark than Hasbro’s more recent offering, especially around the shaping of the eyes on the mask.  His faceplate is removable, revealing Tony Stark’s face beneath.  It was a feature share with most of Toy Biz’s Legends Iron Men, and one that works better, I think, on those than it really does here.  Still, it’s not a bad sculpt, and this one feels like it was the closest Toy Biz got to just giving us Timothy Dalton as Tony.  There were two different color schemes in play for this release.  The standard was silver, depicting his proper first appearance armor, while the variant was gold, as it was starting with his second appearance.  The paint’s pretty much the same for either, just swapping the palette out.  There’s some slight accenting on the main armor, which works okay, but they’re also a little prone to scuffing.  And, if you want to get technical, the variant *should* get a different waist piece, but that clearly wasn’t in TB’s budget at the time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I stuck with Toy Biz’s Legends to the very end, though I did get spotty on some of the releases.  That said, this one I didn’t skip.  At least the standard, who was a Christmas gift from my parents on the year of his release.  He’s one of the handful of Toy Biz’s run that I think honestly held up pretty well, hence my rather critical view of the Hasbro version.  I managed to snag the variant in the last year or so, for a pretty good deal, just before Hasbro updated that one, too.  They have some spots that show their age, but I generally really like them.

#3785: Iron Man – Hydro Armor

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

IRON MAN — HYDRO ARMOR

IRON MAN (TOY BIZ)

“When the power of Iron Man is not sufficient to meet the needs of a given situation, the genius of Tony Stark compensates – by creating specialty suits of armor to get the job done! Iron Man’s Hydro Armor is designed to withstand the enormous pressure of deep sea exploration, and is equipped with a battery of on-board weapons designed to function in the murky depths of the deepest parts of the ocean!”

Okay, I’m kicking the month off with another retro Marvel review!  It’s an Iron Man review, specifically from Toy Biz’s Iron Man.  I last looked at this line back in October, with Tony Stark, and now I’m taking a look at one of his many armored Iron Man variants from the show that spawned the line.  The Model 6 Hydro Armor was introduced in the comics in the late ’80s for use in deep sea operations, and it turned up a number of times on the show, which also netted it an action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hydro Armor Iron Man was released in Series 1 of Toy Biz’s Iron Man line.  Given the focus on the armor in the show’s first season, it made sense.  The figure was subsequently re-packed in a two-pack with Mr. Fantastic from the FF line, and repacked a few times in the Marvel Universe line.  They were certainly fond of this one.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  In terms of articulation and build, he’s very similar to the other armored figures from this line.  He uses the under-lying figure with clip-on armor set-up.  The under the armor look isn’t based on anything specific, but it’s a neat enough design.  His head is a re-use of the Modular armor head, which tracks with the show design. When fully assembled, the armor looks pretty good, and fairly accurate to the design.  The arm pieces have a little trouble staying put, but that was sort of a recurrent issue with the line.  The head dome piece is cool, even if the entire concept of the dome piece is slightly weird.  The color work on this guy is alright, but suffers from an odd clash between the yellow parts and the chromed gold armored bits.  It doesn’t work as well with gold as it did with silver and red.  The figure is packed with “Deep Sea Weapns”, which translates to a missile launcher and two missiles.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got my original copy of this figure from the KB Toys near my family’s usual vacation spot, during an off-season visit, I believe shortly before my brother was born?  He was appropriately thematic for the trip, but beyond that, he was never a major focus in my collection, especially because I lost most of his armor, and that made him extra pointless.  I wound up getting a replacement very recently, when a complete one came into All Time.  He’s neat, but perhaps not the coolest of the Iron Men this line had to offer.

#3719: Tony Stark

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

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.

#3650: Iron Man (Model 01 – Gold)

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

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.

#3538: Mindless One Series Wrap-Up

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

IRON MAN, LADY BULLSEYE, FIST NINJA, & MINDLESS ONE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0017:  The “Marvel Knights” branding exists because of Marvel’s bankruptcy in the late ’90s, which caused them to hand over the publishing rights for a handful of lower tier characters to Event Comics.  The line proved a success, allowing the characters and attitudes of the stories to be folded back into the mainstream Marvel Universe in the mid ’00s.

As someone who’s been following Marvel Legends for pretty much the entirety of its over 20 year run, I’ve encountered an issue more recently where I don’t really feel the need to own *everything* Hasbro puts out for the line.  But, I do still have access to review most of it, so, I’m embracing my new format I launched last summer, and folding it into my tweaked format I launched at the beginning of the year, and here we are with another series wrap-up, where I throw all the figures I opted not to keep into a blender single wrap-up review.  So, let’s jump into another one of these!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Iron Man, Lady Bullseye, and the Fist Ninja are figures 1, 3, and 5, respectively, from the Mindless One Series of Marvel Legends.  There are the last three figures that contribute to the Mindless One Build-A-Figure, which is built by collecting parts from 6 of the 7 figures in the series.

IRON MAN

2022 saw the release of Marvel’s Midnight Suns, a tactical RPG which is *sort of* related to the Marvel comics “Midnight Sons” but only passingly so.  They share some of the same characters and a vaguely supernatural flair, so there’s that.  Since they wanted heavy hitters that the Midnight “Sons” line-up couldn’t provide, the game added some typically less supernatural characters who are nevertheless bigger names.  That included this dude, because you gotta have an Iron Man.  Despite being a kind of forced addition, Iron Man has turned around and also been most of the merchandising for the game (Ghost Rider got a limited release Pop!, but even then, Iron Man got 2 of those, so he still comes out ahead).  And Legends is just another piece in that arsenal.  The figure stands just over 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  He’s a largely parts re-use figure, making use of most of the first  Gamerverse Iron Man body.  It’s a kind of stiff body in terms of articulation; it felt out of date when it was new, and it’s only gotten more so in the years since.  The details also don’t quite match up with the game model, but they’re close enough to fudge it, I suppose.  He does at least get a new head, torso, and shoulder pads, courtesy of sculptor Dennis Chan, to move his design a little closer to the game look.  I generally like them more than the prior pieces, but it feels like there’s something off about the way the neck works, so his head sits up too high.  You can pose it to look a little better, but it remains somewhat awkward to work with.  His color work follows the game aesthetic, making him black and gold.  It’s similar to his Marvel Now! design from the comics, and doesn’t look terrible here.  It’s at least somewhat unique.  The application of the paint is pretty cleanly handled, and isn’t missing any major details, which is a plus.  Iron Man is packed with two sets of hands (in open and fists), as well as two blast effects in red, and the right leg of the Mindless One Build-A-Figure.

LADY BULLSEYE

Hey, you know Bullseye?  Well, make him a woman, and you’ve got Lady Bullseye.  Okay, it’s a touch more involved than that…but not as much as you might think.  Lady Bullseye was introduced during Ed Brubaker’s Daredevil run and hasn’t ever really had anything of note done with her; mostly, she just gets used to stand-in for Bullseye proper when he’s not around.  At the very least, she gets a pretty cool and unique design, rather than just being stuck with some derivation of Bullseye proper’s costume.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Lady Bullseye’s base is the same combination of existing body parts that Spinneret used.  It’s not a terrible set-up, since it’s got a good articulation scheme and fairly balanced proportions.  It’s only rather frustrating point is how many holes there are on the back of the torso, just from all of its prior uses.  The WCA Spider-Woman had used the Dagger torso to avoid this issue, and it honestly worked pretty well, so it’s a shame they aren’t doing that more.  Lady Bullseye gets a new head sculpt, which is a pretty nice piece.  It matches well with her usual comics depiction, and manages to give her an expression that doesn’t look totally devoid of emotion, which is always a plus, especially for female characters.  Her paint work does a pretty solid job of capturing her distinctive design, and doing it cleanly.  Lady Bullseye is actually pretty well accessorized, with two sets of hands (in fists and gripping), a katanna, two sais, and two fans, as well as the torso piece for the Mindless One Build-A-Figure.

FIST NINJA

The Hand was lacking in derivatives, apparently, so in addition to the ones we already have, we also got “The Fist.”  You know, it’s like a hand, but more violent!  Do you get it?  Do you?  It’s edgy, right?  All joking aside, the Fist may be a pretty tried concept, but they’re part of Chip Zdarksky’s recently wrapped up DD run, which I did actually enjoy.  Also, it ties in well with the King Daredevil figure from this same assortment, which is cool.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  As a derivative of the Hand, the Fist Ninja is, unsurprisingly, using most of the same parts as the standard Hand Ninja.  Honestly, apart from the visible pins, it’s a good set-up of pieces.  The Hand Ninja was a pretty fun figure and, by extension, so is the Fist Ninja.  He gets a new torso, which looks similar to the prior release, but upgrades the articulation scheme, and he also gets a new belt/loincloth piece, which gives him a new spot to stow his sword.  With his sculpt being largely the same, the figure relies on tow things to distinguish him, the first being colors.  He’s not drastically removed from the Hand Ninja, but there’s a fair bit of black accenting the Hand’s predominantly red palette.  I did find the general application of paint to also be sharper on this guy, especially on what we can see of the face. The only thing that slightly annoys me here is the red being ever so slightly different from King Daredevil’s shade.  Why does that annoy me?  I’ll get to that in a moment, when I discuss the other notable change-up from the Hand Ninja: the accessories.  He gets the same sword, as well as one of the two kama from the Hand Ninja, but they’re joined by two sets of hands (in fists and gripping, with the gripping being shared with DD), and an alternate skull head with its own removable hood.  Now, here’s the thing: I’m glad this guy gets the two sets of hands, and it’s cool that the gripping ones are even shared with King DD.  The trouble is that with the shades of red being slightly different between the two, you can’t also use the fists for King DD, which is kind of a bummer.  Ultimately, it’s not really this figure’s fault, though.  In addition to all of his own parts, he also includes the left arm and an extra hand for the Mindless One.

MINDLESS ONE

The Mindless Ones are perhaps one of the more ingenious creations of the early Doctor Strange stories, being a great pre-made army for just about any bad guy to make use of if they so chose.  Despite how tailored they seem to be to unending army building, they’ve never gotten any action figure coverage before this point, which is kind of crazy.  The figure stands just under 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  The Mindless One is sporting a brand-new sculpt, which is honestly a touch surprising for a character of this caliber, but certainly welcome.  The sculpt patterned on a more modern incarnation of the Mindless Ones, specifically seeming to be patterned on one of the illustrations from the Marvel: Avengers Alliance game, a frequent source of inspiration for Hasbro’s Legends over the years.  It’s a good sculpt, with plenty of texturing.  He’s big and stocky as well, and the articulation is surprisingly mobile given his size.  His color work is rather on the basic side, since he’s mostly just molded in a dark grey plastic.  He’s got a separate bright red piece for his “eye,” as well as some rather subtle brown accenting on the body.  The Mindless One gets two sets of hands in fists and open gesture, as well as a really cool energy effect piece that plugs into the eye (and is also patterned on the AA illustration).

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

This set was an interesting one for me, because I was honestly not very interested at first glance, but it kind of evolved.  My initial plan was to just get DD, Clea, and Power Man.  Then I decided I wanted to keep the Build-A-Figure.  Then, after getting the set in hand, I was invested in Blade enough to keep him as well.  Then I shot the photos, and divvied up the reviews and set up the schedule, and felt really confident about what I was keeping…and then I broke on the Fist Ninja too.  I know, I broke the format!  Ultimately, I like this set a lot more than I’d expected to.  The Mindless One is a ton of fun, as is Clea, and they’re both great debuts for the characters.  Blade and Luke are great versions of the characters, and DD is a solid, fun variant.  And, clearly the Fist Ninja was cool enough to push me to keep him.  Honestly, Lady Bullseye only got cut because I have no real attachment to the character.  Iron Man is the only one that I feel is truly a weak figure, and that’s really just because there’s so many Iron Men to choose from.

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

#3487: West Coast Avengers

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

IRON MAN, MOCKINGBIRD, TIGRA, SPIDER-WOMAN, & HANK PYM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

In 1984, Marvel decided they had too many Avengers for just one team, and split them off into two separate entities.  The original team remained in New York, while the spin-off team, the West Coast Avengers, moved out to California.  Originally launching as a 4-issue mini-series, with the original plan being to alternate issues of the main book between the main team, West Coast Avengers was a breakaway hit, and got its own standalone series, which lasted 102 issues, and frequently outshined the original book.  Despite the impact of the team, the direct acknowledgement of them in toy form has been rare.  Thus far, we’ve had a single three-pack in Marvel Universe.  But, Legends is in for some more recognition, so now we’ve got a boxed set on that side, too.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Iron Man, Mockingbird, Tigra, Spider-Woman, and Hank Pym make up The West Coast Avengers box set, which is an Amazon-exclusive Marvel Legends offering.  The set is also branded under the “Beyond Earth’s Mightiest” banner, which serves as the celebration of the main team’s 60th anniversary.  Iron Man, Tigra, and Spider-Woman are all tweaks on existing figures, with Mockingbird and Hank being all-new offerings.

IRON MAN

When the WCA first got together, it was during Rhodey’s time in the classic Iron Man armor, following the fall-out of “Demon in a Bottle.”  By the time of the ongoing series, however, Tony had reclaimed the title, and was sporting his Silver Centurion armor, which is proudly showcased on the cover of the first issue.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  This guy is using the exact same mold as the Walgreens-exclusive version, which makes sense, since it’s the same armor and all.  It’s still got the visible pins on the elbows and knees, but that’s honestly pretty minor.  The notable change-up to this guy comes down to the color work.  While the Walgreens version made use of metallic silver for the silver parts of the armor, this one goes for a slightly pearlescent white.  On paper, I wasn’t so sure about it, but in person, I actually really like how it turned out.  Iron Man is packed with the same two sets of hands as his single release, as well as the smaller blast effects, in blue this time.

MOCKINGBIRD

Oh, look, it’s Mockingbird, aka the whole reason I wanted the set.  I’ve certainly never had this exact thing happen before with a West Coast Avengers boxed set…Where was I?  Oh, yeah, buying a whole boxed set for a Mockingbird figure.  As you do.  This is Mockingbird’s second time as a Marvel Legend, but the first one was decidedly more modern than what she wore during her time with the WCA.  It’s not her *first* outfit she wore with the WCA, since that version had legs on the body suit, but it’s the one she wore for the longest stretch of time with the team.  The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Mockingbird is using the frankensteined torso that once belonged to Phoenix, as well as the lower legs from Captain Marvel, and what might be a new set of upper legs between them?  They’re skinnier than the pinless ones that have been used in conjunction with the Phoenix body recently, but they are still pinless, so they’re not anything from before that.  It looks like they might be shared with the Moondragon figure, but I don’t have her to compare.  She definitely gets new parts for the head and arms, though.  I really like how the head in particular turned out; the separate piece for the mask works very well.  Mine has a spot of glue on the face, which I’m not a fan of, but it otherwise is a very strong sculpt.  The arms are a little odd; they kind of are bound to be, given the actual design of her sleeves in the comics was usually cheated for the page, so I think they’ve done their best with the situation.  Her paint work is pretty strong; there’s a little bit of fuzziness on the edges of the shirt, but the detailing on the face in particular is great, and I love the accenting on the hair.  Mockingbird is packed with two sets of hands (gripping and a fist/flat combo), as well as Gambit’s staff, and Netflix Daredevil’s billyclub.  It makes for a good approximation of her battle staves, and is certainly a closer representation than what we got with the last one.

TIGRA

Tigra was not only a founding member of the WCA, she also one of the team’s longer lasting members, apart from that part in the middle of the run where she, Mockingbird, and Moon Knight split off on their own.  She also got a figure very recently as part of the Retro line.  This one is…well, very similar to that one, really.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 30 points of articulation.  She’s using almost exactly the same sculpt as the last release.  That was a really, really good sculpt, certainly one of my favorites.  There’s not much better you can do for Tigra, so I guess it makes sense that you would want to keep using it.  The only sculptural change-up is to the calmer of the two heads, which now gets a new hairpiece, which has more volume to it, better matching her ’80s appearances.  She also gets a new color scheme; the first Tigra was far too pale, while the more recent one got complaints of being too orange.  This one meets in the middle, and it works very well.  The patterning on the stripes remains the same, but her bikini is now a very dark blue, and the faces are printed, rather than strictly painted.  The faces in particular are the biggest improvement of the bunch.  Like her single-packed counterpart, Tigra gets two sets of hands, in fists and clawing poses.

SPIDER-WOMAN

Julia Carpenter’s Spider-Woman was a pretty late-stage addition to the team, first assisting them in issue #70, and officially joining in #74.  Julia Carpenter got a Legends release back during the tie-in to Far From Home, making this one seem initially as if it’s just a retread…but it’s actually not?  Yeah, I was a bit shocked by that, myself.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Despite being the same look as the last figure, this Julia Carpenter shares exactly one piece wit her: her lower torso/pelvis, itself borrowed from the Phoenix mold.  The upper torso gave me a heck of a time ID-ing, since it’s really basic, but I eventually worked out that it was from Dagger, and it appears it hasn’t been used since.  I actually like it, since it’s without all of the odd peg holes that the Phoenix torso has picked up over the years, so it looks a lot cleaner.  She re-uses the arms and legs from Shriek, so she’s got the pinless set-up there.  She also gets a new head, with hair that better matches her earlier appearances, and a much sharper face sculpt.  The color work on this figure is very clean.  Digging the stark black and white.  I do miss the accenting on the hair, but it’s ultimately not the end of the world.  I think the current look still works.  Spider-Woman is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture.

HANK PYM

Starting with the first issue of the ongoing West Coast book, Hank Pym was a recurring supporting player for the team.  His journey back to the Avengers following his fall from grace served as a background for the rest of the characters’ antics, and slowly built him back up, until he was ready to join the team properly after 20 issues of character growth.  After four different identities, he decided to just stick to being himself, rather than going back to the costumed hero route.  He spent a lot of time in a basic red jumpsuit, which isn’t super toyetic or anything, but it’s gotten a figure just the same.  Said figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  He would have 33 is not for the seized waist joint on my copy.  Hank makes use of re-used parts from the Red Skull jumpsuit body.  He gets a new head and torso, sculpted by Paul Harding.  The head is a solid recreation of Hank of the era, and it all fits well with the pre-existing parts.  Unfortunately, that means that the figure is a little too large, just across the board.  Hank’s just an average guy when not using the particles, so he’s about a half an inch too tall.  Hank’s color work is decent enough.  It’s very basic, but that’s expected.  The face gets printing, which is definitely cool.  Hank is includes two sets of hands, a pair in open gesture, and a fist/grip combo.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The West Coast Avengers line-up is something I’ve been trying to build in toy form since the 5-inch days, always to limited success.  Legends has been the best spread thus far, but there were definitely some holes in the line-up.  The boxed set seems like a great idea on paper, but I’ll admit to being less than thrilled by the final line-up being 3/5ths re-releases.  So, I wound up holding off, at least until Amazon knocked 30% off of the price for Prime Day.  Mockingbird is exactly the figure I was hoping for, and hands down my favorite release of the three figures the character’s gotten.  Hank has issues with scaling, but I’m generally just glad to have this version of the character at all.  Spider-Woman was actually a pleasant surprise, as she winds up being just an across the board improvement to the older figure.  Tigra and Iron Man are both rather unnecessary, but I do kind of like these versions a little more than the prior ones.  Not so much that I really feel like they justify themselves, but what are you gonna do?

#3469: Iron Man – Model 01

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

IRON MAN — MODEL 01

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“When Billionaire Industrialist Tony Stark dons a sophisticated armor of his own design, he becomes a living high-tech weapon and the world’s greatest human fighting machine — the Invincible Iron Man”

In the ’60s, a lot of Marvel’s super hero books started out decidedly less super-hero-y. Things like Hank Pym being “the man in the anthill” before his proper Ant-Man persona, or the Hulk’s more generally monstrous angle. When Tony Stark first appeared as Iron Man, the focus was less on a heroic persona, and more on the sci-fi side, playing up the suit’s mechanical nature. While he switched over to the more traditional super hero fare in short order, that original design has nevertheless remained a memorable and distinctive one, and a recurring variant in the world of toys.  Today, I’m taking a look at its latest toy incarnation!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Man Model 01 is part of the “Beyond Earth’s Mightiest” sub-line of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends.  He’s much like the Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man from last year’s Spidey anniversary line; a just above standard priced single release figure in effectively a standard single figure package.  This marks the second time the Model 01 has graced Legends, following up on a Toy Biz release from all the way back in 2006’s Mojo Series.  He’s based on his original armor design from Tales of Suspense #39, without the adjustments of later appearances of the armor.  The figure stands __ inches tall and he has __ points of articulation.  Despite how bulky the armor may be, the figure remains pretty darn poseable.  Some of the joints do require a little extra care to clear the sculpted parts around them, but its not anything crazy, and it’s done without making the joints too obvious.  Iron Man’s sculpt is all-new; it pretty much has to be, because it’s not like he can really share much with any of the later armors.  Presumably, most of the sculpt is earmarked for re-use down the line for a gold variant, but until then, it’s just this guy.  For the most part, I do really like it.  It’s chunky and the detailing is clean, which is all you can really ask for on this design.  The only thing I’m not keen on is the helmet.  It seems a little too flat and small to believably have Tony’s head in there, and I’m also really not a fan of the shaping of the eyes.  The armor as portrayed in ToS has a pretty distinctive eye shape (which Toy Biz’s version actually gets down very well); they should flare out both sides from the center, but they just slant upward instead, which looks off.  Iron Man’s color work is more involved than it looks at first glance.  The bulk of the coloring is handled via molded plastic; it’s the swirly silver kind, which I’m iffy on.  There’s actually a good deal of painted scratches, which can be missed at first, since they look a bit like the swirls.  I do like them, though; it’s just a shame they’re lost a bit on the plastic.  He also gets some pretty cool detailing on his arc reactor.  Iron Man is packed with two sets of hands (open and fists), two blast effects, and matching smoke trail effects.  The effects don’t plug into his hands, since this armor predates the repulsors, but instead plug into the boots, for rocket flying.  You’ll need to supply a flight stand of some sort if you want him to actually use them, though.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Toy Biz Model 01 is one of the few Legends I still clung to as a default, in part because there was no competition, and in part because I honestly just think it’s still a pretty good figure.  That said, I’m a sucker for early Iron Man armors, and I was happy to see an update crop up.  From the neck down, there’s no denying this is a big upgrade. Unfortunately, I’m still not really sold on the helmet.  It just doesn’t feel right to me, and for that reason, he’s still not a total replacement in my eyes.  Honestly, I was rather underwhelmed by this one right out of the box.  Messing around with him for the review did help me enjoy him more overall, though, to the point that I realized it was really just that head throwing things off.  Maybe the inevitable gold repaint might get a new head, ala the Marvel Universe version?  That would sure be nice.

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.

#3458: Iron Man – Plasma Cannon

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

IRON MAN — PLASMA CANNON

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Tony Stark’s Modular Iron Man Armor gives the Armored Avenger access to an evolving range of advanced weaponry, from his repulsors and uni-beam to the devastating plasma cannon!”

Remember, like, two years ago, when I was talking about Iron Man’s Modular Armor?  Cool, well, I’m gonna talk about it some more.  As I touched on previously, the armor was somewhat short-lived in the comics, but it gained a greater cultural impact from outside media.  Since Iron Man: The Animated Series was in development at the time of Modular being introduced into the comics, as was Capcom’s Marvel Super Heroes.  Thanks to the cartoon getting a toyline and Marvel Super Heroes having its Iron Man model transferred over to Marvel vs Capcom 2, the design wound outlasting its comics counterpart by a good five years in the public eye, giving it quite a hold.  While the Legends release from back in 2021 gave us a decent, if specifically comics-based take on the armor, we got a follow-up at the beginning of the year, which really honed in on those animation and video game aesthetics.  I’m taking a look at that one today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Man is a deluxe-sized Marvel Legends offering, originally released at the beginning of the year.  He was initially a Pulse-exclusive, shown of during and going up for order shortly after last year’s Pulse Con. However, he got moved over to a wider Fan Channel release over the summer. Iron Man is technically a part of the Retro-carded sub-set, though he takes it a step further, and does the retro card for the main figure, and then a 10-inch line-inspired box for his extra accessories. The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 33 points of articulation. This figure’s sculpt is largely shared with the prior Modular armor release, which makes sense, it being the same armor and all. He gets a new head, as well as a modified upper torso. The head is patterned on the adjusted model from the first season of the cartoon, where they gave the design back the classic armor’s faceplate.  It seems just a touch on the large side, but not terribly so, and the detailing is really well handled.  The upper torso gets one change, which is easily missed; the unibeam is depressed into the chest now, rather than totally raised, allowing it to interact with one of the included effect pieces.  Beyond those changes, he’s pretty much just the same as the prior Modular (and, by extension, the MVC2-style War Machine from earlier this year), which was a pretty great mold in the first place.  The biggest change-up to the figure is the coloring.  The prior release went for metallic red and gold, which Hasbro’s done a few times for the comic-style armors.  It’s okay, but I frequently find it makes the colors too muddied.  This release, in keeping with the cell-animation of the cartoon and the 2D sprites of Marvel Super Heroes and MVC2, is done in flat red and yellow.  Boy, do those colors look so very nice on this mold.  The finish is also very glossy, which I enjoy a lot.  In terms of accessories, Iron Man gets quite a load out.  He’s got three sets of hands (the fists and blasting hands from the prior release, as well as an all-new set of gripping hands), the original comic-style helmeted head (allowing for either Animated Season 2, or Capcom looks), an unmasked head with the truly unmistakable mullet of ’90s Tony, an effect for his hand, an effect for the unibeam, the Proton Cannon from the Capcom games, and an effect and a display stand for that as well.  Now, if you want to get picky, he lacks an unmasked head that matches the Season 1 armor, since that was pre-mullet, but I’ve got plenty of non-mulleted Tony heads laying around, so I’ll give them a pass.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I ended my review of the standard Modular Iron Man with “I’d maybe have liked some extra accessories, and I’d also love to see a version with flat colors,” not expecting Hasbro to do exactly that.  I was also not in a spot of chasing down exclusive variants to figures I already owned when this one was released, so I opted to hold out on him as a Pulse exclusive.  When he stopped being a Pulse exclusive, however, all bets were off.  The changes to the core figure aren’t a ton, but they take a figure I already liked a lot, and make him even better.  The extra accessories really just send him over the moon.  I’ve got nothing much else to say beyond wow is this figure awesome.  Really, really awesome.

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.