Tag Archives: Tony Stark

#0752: Age of Ultron Minimates Boxed Set

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

FINAL FORM ULTRON, IRON LEGION 01, TONY STARK, MARK 45, & NICK FURY

MARVEL MINIMATES

AoUMatesBox1

So, Series 61 and 63 of Marvel Minimates, plus the two TRU exclusive sets and the blind bagged figures, did a pretty reasonable job of getting us just about every important character from Age of Ultron. We got the whole Avengers team, plus several Ultrons, a few Iron Legion drones, two minor villains, and the Hulkbuster. However, DST felt that wasn’t quite enough, so we’ve gotten an extra, special five figure (that’s a whole extra figure!) boxed set to fill a few holes in the collection.  Without further ado, let’s have a look at Final Form Ultron, Iron Legion 01, Tony Stark, Iron Man Mark 45, and Nick Fury!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This set was one of the SDCC-exclusive sets offered by DST this year. The sets were then available at various retailers following the show.

FINAL FORM ULTRON

AoUMatesBox3Ultron looks a little….I don’t want to say puffy…  Yeah, so this is Ultron in his Vibranium infused body from the film’s big climactic battle, which is ever so slightly different from his main look for the rest of the movie. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Ultron uses the base Minimate body, with non-standard pieces for the head, hands, and feet, as well as add-ons for the shoulders and torso extension. All of these pieces are re-used from prior figures; the head is from Ultron Prime, the hands originated on DC Minimates’ Cheetah, the feet are from Nightcrawler, and the add-ons are pieces we’ve seen on numerous prior ‘mates. It’s definitely a hodge-podge of pieces, but the end result actually looks pretty sleek. Also, he amends the issue of size that plagued Ultron Prime; he’s not huge, but he’s certainly got a level of imposing-ness to him. The paintwork on this figure is superb. The silver is nice and cleanly applied, the detail lines are nice and sharp, and he does a pretty great job of replicating the film design. Everything looks really great, and he’s even got a full set of detail lines on the normal arms under the bulked up shoulders. Ultron includes a spare set of normal hands and feet painted silver, for those that don’t want the more unique pieces, as well as a clear display stand.

IRON LEGION 01

AoUMatesBox6Okay, so if there’s one thing this set might have been okay without, it’s another Iron Legion drone. The blind bags ran into a bit of an issue by seriously over-packing drones 02 and 04, which kind of got us all down on the drones in general. That said, there are actually supposed to be five of these guys, and we only had two (three if you count the Ultron Mk 1 as drone 03), so I guess getting another of them isn’t the worst thing. Of course, if I were choosing one more, I’d probably go with 05, since you could include the scepter the drone steals, but DST went with 01. I guess having 01, 02, 03, and 04 is better than having 02, 03, 04, and 05. This figure is virtually identical to the other two drones we got (reviewed here). He’s a vanilla ‘mate, with a fair amount of painted details. Obviously, he’s got “01” in place of the preceding “02” and “04,” and he’s also got grey accents as opposed to the blue and black, respectively, of the other two.

TONY STARK

AoUMatesBox2Hey, it wouldn’t be the Avengers without another Tony Stark, right? The “trying to lift the hammer” sequence from AoU was definitely one of the more popular scenes from the movie, so it’s not a huge surprise to see Tony in his look from that scene. Tony has 5 sculpted add-on pieces for his hair, vest, tie, and rolled up sleeves. These are all pieces we’ve seen numerous times before, and they do a good job of capturing his look from the scene. His paint is pretty simple, with mostly base color work. The facial likeness somewhat resembles RDJ, though I don’t think it’s as good as some of DST’s other versions of the guy. It’s also a little bit too high set. Tony includes one of his Iron Man gauntlets (taken from the Mark 43), which is kind of key to the scene, as well as a spare set of arms and a jacket piece, and a clear display stand. It would have been cool to include Mjolnir here, but I can’t say this guy’s lacking for extras.

MARK 45

AoUMatesBox5We got the Mark 43, we got the Hulkbuster, and we got a basic Tony. What’s left? The Mark 45, Tony’s armor from the last fight scene. It’s only a little bit different from the Mark 43, but it’s still its own armor, and it continues the trend of each model streamlining the basic design just a bit more. Structurally, he’s just a basic ‘mate, with the helmet from the Mark 42/43. It’s not 100% accurate, but at this scale, it’s close enough. The paint is the important part here, and it’s handled quite nicely. The red and gold are distinctly different from each other, and they’re both nice and bright. The details of the suit are rendered pretty nicely on the body, and look pretty accurate to the source material. Under the helmet, there’s another Tony face, which is much angrier looking than the regular Tony. It looks even less like RDJ, but I much prefer a different expression that looks less like the actor than the same expression over and over again. The figure includes the same hairpiece included with the other Tony, as well as a flight stand, and a clear display stand.

NICK FURY

AoUMatesBox7At last! A character who wasn’t released in any of the other AoU assortments! Fury was originally slated to be one of the figures in the blind bagged assortment before being pulled from the lineup, so it’s not a huge shock to see him turn up here. The figure depicts Fury in his somewhat more distinct look from his earlier appearances in the film. He gets two add-on pieces for his hat and coat. The hat comes from the Amazing Spider-Man Vigilante Spider-Man, and the coat is from Punisher War-Zone’s Frank Castle. These parts match up pretty closely with the look from the film, and their well-sculpted in general, so that’s good. Fury’s paint is fairly simple. He’s got a fairly drab color scheme, with a bit of detailing for the belt, shirt, and face. The face doesn’t really look much like SLJ, but he’s a decent looking Fury. Also, I really like that the eye patch’s strap goes all the way around the head, even under the hat, though it’s a little frustrating that the head has a peg hole at the top for the hat. Fury includes a spare head with the eye patch removed, a handgun, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I didn’t go to SDCC, I picked this set after the fact, courtesy of Luke’s Toy Store. This set doesn’t cover a whole lot of new ground, but it’s still a solid addition. Ultron is a significant improvement to Ultron Prime, Fury and Stark are both valid variants, and the Mark 45 and the Legion drone are decent enough. The final AoU line-up is pretty impressive!

AoUMatesBox9

#0738: Hulkbuster

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

HULKBUSTER

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

HulkbusterML1

If you’ve been keeping up with the last week of reviews, the focus of today’s review being the Hulkbuster really shouldn’t come as much of a shock to you.

So, umm, yeah. Hulkbuster! Whoooooo! That’s…well, not really new or different, or anything. Not that that’s a bad thing! Just, everybody and there mother’s been doing Hulkbuster figures recently (gee, I can’t imagine why…), so I’ve kinda run out of things to say about the armor. Let’s just get to the freaking review already!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HulkbusterML2The Hulkbuster armor is the build-a-figure for the (appropriately named) “Hulkbuster Series” of the Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series line. This marks the second time that the Hulkbuster’s made into the Marvel Legends line, but it’s the first one in quite a while. He’s based on the design from Avengers: Age of Ultron, so he goes with that subset of Legends figures, though he also fits in just fine with the comic-based legends. The figure is 9 ¼ inches tall and has 31 points of articulation, which is pretty darn impressive for a figure this bulky. He also weighs a metric ton. No lightweight build-a-figure this time! Hulkbuster gets an all-new sculpt, and while it’s not Hot Toys level of detailing, it’s pretty great. Everything is nice and symmetrical, and they’ve done a pretty decent job of balancing the aesthetic of the sculpt with range of motion on the joints. As far as accuracy to what’s on the screen, he’s a little bit off. Not a lot, but enough to make it noticeable. In general, it seems Hasbro opted to give HulkbusterML4the suit a slightly more “heroic” build, broadening the shoulders, shrinking the head a bit, and lengthening the arms and legs. All minor nudges, but the end result is a bit different. Of course, it also ends up being something that looks more at home with the rest of the figures in this series, so I can see why they might tweak him. If there’s one area on this figure that has room for improvement, it’s the paint. Now, let me follow that up by saying that this figure’s paint is by no means bad. In fact, it’s actually pretty good for Hasbro. What’s there is bold and cleanly applied. It’s a good looking figure. However, the color palate is much too bright to be movie accurate (especially noticeable when this figure is placed next to the Mark 43) and the sculpt would very much benefit from a paintjob that does a better job of accentuating it. As is, it’s solid work, but with a better paint job it could be fantastic work.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Yeah, so, umm, see that build-a-figure part up there? Wanna take a guess as to how I got mine? As soon as this guy was shown off, I knew I wanted one. None of the other Hulkbuster stuff really excited me, but this one did. The final figure may have its flaws, but, like I said, this is still a really solid figure. Both metaphorically and physically. Seriously, in event of my house getting broken into, forget the baseball bat, I’m grabbing this guy!

HulkbusterML3

#0733: Iron Man – Marvel Now!

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

IRON MAN – MARVEL NOW!

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

IMNow1

Well, after looking at a totally new to toys, out of left field character with yesterday’s Thundra review, we jump right on over to a guy who’s had sooooooooooooooo many figures. Yep, it’s another Iron Man. Hey, somebody had to sell this series to retailers, right? Let’s look at the increasingly inaccurately named “Marvel Now! Iron Man.”

THE FIGURE ITSELF

IMNow2Iron Man is actually figure 1 in the latest set of Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series figures. He’s also one of the three figures in said series to actually get his own name on the box, but that’s not a huge shock. Hasbro was definitely not going to miss out on the chance to get Iron Man’s name on the box. The figure stands 6 ¼ inches tall and has 31 points of articulation, counting the shoulderpad movement. The hips are a little archaic in motion, and the neck is really loose, but the rest of the movement works very smoothly. Iron Man is seen here in the armor he was wearing at the beginning of the Marvel Now! relaunch from a few years ago. Structurally, this guy is 100% the same sculpt as the Iron Man 2 Mark IV figure. Since the Iron Man book’s primary artist Greg Land lifted his interpretation of the armor pretty much wholesale from the movie design (other artists actually stuck to more visually interesting look of the design sheet, but that’s another thing all together), this seems like a pretty reasonable bit of re-use on Hasbro’s part. The sculpt is certainly well-done, so that’s good. One thing I would note is that the shoulder pads have a tendency to pop off from time to time, so definitely be mindful of that. The paint work on this figure is kind of important, it being a repaint and all. Fortunately, the figure actually delivers quite nicely on that front. The gold parts are all nice and clean, and the changes are very sharp, especially for Hasbro. The various red dots don’t line up with the sculpt (except, obviously, the big central one) but they’re accurate to the design. The arc reactor even has a nice gradient bit going on, which is marred only by the small dash of missing paint at the center. Iron Man gets no accessories for him directly, but he does include the leg of the Hulkbuster, which distracts nicely from the lack of anything else. Seriously, it weighs twice as much as him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After finding four of the seven figures necessary to complete the Hulkbuster at Walgreens, I ended up splitting a full set of the series (courtesy of Big Bad Toy Store) with my dad. I wouldn’t have ever bought this figure if not for the Hulkbuster piece, but he’s actually not that bad. At the very least, the black/gold combo is sufficiently different from all the other Iron Men Hasbro’s given us, so he sticks out a little on the shelf.

IMNow3

#0724: Hulkbuster Iron Man & Rampaging Hulk

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

HULKBUSTER IRON MAN & RAMPAGING HULK

MARVEL MINIMATES

Hulkbuster&Hulk1

Keeping the discussion about character pairings going, if Hulk and Klaue are a rather unlikely duo, then today’s pairing, Hulkbuster Iron Man and “Rampaging” Hulk, are kind of the flip side of the coin. Seriously, I can’t think of a more perfect pairing than these two, so kudos to DST for making such a thing happen. Now, let’s see how the figures actually turned out!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two are the third set of figures from Marvel Minimates Series 63. They’re also available as part of the second TRU assortment of AoU Minimates, but mine in particular are from the specialty release.

HULKBUSTER IRON MAN

Hulkbuster&Hulk3An Avengers series is kind of a hard sell without an Iron Man, so here one is. At least it’s a unique, story important variant, though. Plus it’s widely different from the Mark 43 variant of the preceding series. No minor paint difference variant here! *glares at Boarders Exclusive sunglasses wearing Mark 4* This figure marks the third time the Hulkbuster has graced the line, though it’s the first time it’s made it into a regular release series. He is, of course, based on “Veronica’s” one scene wonder appearance from AoU, which is kind of an amalgam of all the various Hulkbuster looks from over the years, with a dash of the movie armor style thrown in. Hulkbuster has got to be one of the most heavily sculpted figures of late, with a whopping 10 add-on pieces. These include a torso/helmet, bicep covers, hands, thigh covers, boots, and a torso extender. With the exception of the torso extender, all of these pieces are new to this figure. The pieces are loaded with detail, and do a pretty great job of translating the movie’s design to the Minimate aesthetic. Unsurprisingly, the parts restrict the articulation, but that kind of goes hand in hand with such a bulky look. The torso/helmet is the star piece here; its very nicely sculpted, and the helmet is on a hinge, so it can swing up to reveal the Hulkbuster&Hulk4underlying smaller IM helmet. On the flip side, the thigh pieces are probably the weakest parts. They’re decently detailed, but they just kind of float around on the thighs. Hulkbuster’s paintwork is pretty great overall. The outer armor has pretty straightforward work. It’s a little messy around some of the edges, but looks pretty good overall. Under the armor, the arms and legs are solid silver and gold, respectively. The torso and head, however, are fully detailed, incredibly well I might add, depicting the Mark 43 under the Hulkbuster armor. The Mark 43 ‘mate was a touch on the bulky side, so the slightly sleeker pieces offered here are much appreciated. Hulkbuster Iron Man’s only accessory is a clear display stand, but the large quantity of new parts on the actual figure more than make for that.

RAMPAGING HULK

Hulkbuster&Hulk2Hey, remember the Hulk Minimate I looked at yesterday? Yeah, this one is really similar to that one. However, instead of just being a basic, run of the mill Hulk from the movie, this one is specifically based on the scene where Scarlet Witch messes with Banner’s head and causes him to transform into a more unsettled Hulk. He then does the rampaging bit, necessitating the use of the Hulkbuster armor. So, it’s a pretty good choice to go alongside the Hulkbuster Minimate, I suppose. He uses the same parts loadout as the regular version, which is at the very least consistent. These parts worked well there, and they work well here. The paint is where the differences occur. The basic detail lines and such are mostly the same, though the face has been tweaked to make him a little more rampage-y. Rather than the simple teeth-baring grimace of the regular Hulk, this guy’s got a full-on screaming look. The other main change is the color scheme. Hulk is noticeably much paler than his usual self. In fact, he was originally supposed to be grey Hulk during the rampage sequence, but it was changed at the last minute. It appears this figure is based on the original scheme, though perhaps with more of green tinge than an all-out Grey Hulk would have. He’s also got red around his eyes, indicating the Witch’s influence over him, which a subtle but nice touch. For some reason, his pants are also a different shade. I don’t think they were different in the movie, so it seems like an odd choice on DST’s part. Rampaging Hulk matches his regular-colored counterpart in the accessories department, only including a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After the more balanced Hulk and Klaue set, this one feels much more weighted to one of the two figures. Hulkbuster Iron Man is this set’s clear star. He’s fantastically sculpted, and his paint is pretty great too. Add in the new, streamlined torso and head for the Mark 43, and he comes out a serious winner. Rampaging Hulk is well done from a technical standpoint, but a bit drab and unexciting. Being in the same series as the regular version doesn’t do him a whole lot of favors. He’s also hindered by the decision to negate the change in his coloring for the final film. I feel like this look would have been better served as an extra head for the main Hulk, so as to free up a slot for someone else from the movie.

#0698: Iron Man Hulkbuster

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

IRON MAN HULKBUSTER

MARVEL SELECT

HulkBusterMS1

Iron Man has quite a lot of armors over the years.  Many of them have just been slight updates on the basic day-to-day operations type of armors, but there have also been a fair number of armors that are specialized.  Things like Hydro Armor, Inferno Armor, Space Armor, and, heck, even Samurai Armor.  But the most famous specialized armor by far is the one designed to tackle Bruce Banner’s Jade Giant alter ego the Hulk; the armor most commonly referred to as the Hulkbuster armor.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HulkBusterMS2The Hulkbuster armor was released this past summer as a Disney Store exclusive figure from DST’s Marvel Select line.  The figure stands roughly 9 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation (counting the shoulderpads).  Design-wise, the armor is based on the Hulkbuster look of the early 2000s, from around the time of the Extremis armor.  I’m more partial to the 90s Modular design, but this one was fairly prominent for a while, so I don’t mind too much.  The sculpt is a very nice translation of the design into three dimensions.  Its appropriately machined looking and symmetric, which is always nice on an Iron Man figure.  If you want to get really technical, an argument could be made that the figure is a tad undersized to go with the Select figures, but the bulk of the figure is substantial enough that it’s not a big deal.  The biggest issue with the sculpt is the poses on the hands.  One is closed and the other is wide open, and the fingers arent in anyway articulated, so this is a little limiting.  The prototype shots show him with two fists, so it’s likely he was supposed to have interchangeable hands at one point.  Presumably, they didn’t cost out.  While varitey is a nice thing in many cases, I can’t help but feel a pair of fists would have been a better choice here.  The figure’s paint work is pretty strong; the metallic red in particular is quite striking.  Most of the application is pretty good, though there is some bleed over on the transition between red and gold on the waist.  It’s quite minor, so it’s forgivable.  Hulkbuster includes no accessories, but it’s understandable, what with the size.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Hulkbuster here was purchased for me by my parents, from the Disney Store, on my birthday.  Did you get all that?  I wasn’t sure I was going to get this guy innitially, but seeing him in person was enough to sway me.  All in all, he’s got a few flaws, but he’s a lot of fun.

#0678: Avengers #1 Boxed Set

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

HANK PYM, GOLDEN ARMOR IRON MAN, INCREDIBLE HULK, & WASP

MARVEL MINIMATES

AvengersFA1

The Avengers may be a hot commodity now, but about ten years ago, they were mostly unknown to the public at large. This meant that they were somewhat absent from the whole merchandising thing. When Marvel Minimates was launched, the Avengers were few and far between, with only a few of the mainstays showing up here and there. Fortunately, things started turning around, right around the release of the first Iron Man. With the announcement of the Avengers Initiative in that film’s stinger, people seemed to be on board for merchandise based around Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. DST met demand by offering a boxed set based on the team’s first appearance in Avengers #1.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Hank Pym, Iron Man, Hulk, and Wasp were released as a boxed set in the fall of 2008, based around the first appearance of the team. Thor, the other founding member, was noticeably absent from the pack. He wouldn’t see another Minimate for another year, and his classic design wouldn’t be seen again for another year after that, which proved a bit frustrating for fans just getting into things with this set. This set also has the notoriety of being the final boxed set to be packed in a window-less box.

HANK PYM

AvengersFA3Henry Pym, man of many names, made his Minimate debut with this set. He had the option of being displayed as Ant-Man or Giant-Man, giving fans two of his identities in one fell swoop. Since this was an Avengers #1 boxed set, let’s consider Ant-Man the main look. The figure stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has the usual 14 points of articulation. He used the basic Minimate body, with an add-on for his helmet. The helmet was new to this figure, and was also used on the recent Best of Series 3 Ant-Man. It’s a very well sculpted piece, and it manages to capture the comic design of the helmet without looking too goofy. The paint on Hank is nice and bold; the colors are bright, and the line work is pretty clean. The face AvengersFA6under the helmet looks maybe a bit too chiseled for Hank, but it’s not bad. Hank included a separate mask, torso cover, and waist cover to transform him into Giant-Man, as well as a spare hairpiece to allow him to be unmasked. The Giant-Man parts are alright, but not great. They bulk him up a lot, but don’t add any height, so he looks rather off. It’s clear they were trying their best, but he just doesn’t quite work right. The hair is perfectly fine; it’s a re-use from the classic Battlestar Galactica Starbuck, which seems odd for Hank stylistically, but it doesn’t look too bad once it’s in place.

GOLDEN ARMOR IRON MAN

AvengersFA7Iron Man was at the top of his game in 2008, so seeing him turn up in this set was pretty much a guarantee. This was his eighth Minimate that year alone! He presented here in his second armor, which was really just a repainted version of the Mark 1. It’s the armor he was wearing for the first two issues of Avengers, and it’s also a pretty memorable look for the guy. He was built on the usual body, with 5 add-ons: helmet, torso, skirt, and bracelets. The helmet and bracelets were both generic pieces, used on numerous figures around the same time. The torso and skirt pieces were re-used from the AFX exclusive First Appearance IM, released a few years before. That’s a pretty sensible re-use, since they were supposed to be the same armor in-universe. The IM-specific parts are nicely crafted. They don’t have tons of sculpted detail, but the look from the comics is captured well. Paint on this figure is kind of a mixed bag, mostly due to the fact that, in its current state, it really doesn’t represent how it AvengersFA2looked out of the box. The gold paint seems to have not adhered very well to the plastic, resulting in a rather chipped and tarnished looking figure, which is a bit of a disappointment. Subsequent gold-based figures have remedied the issue, but this one is left looking somewhat lackluster. On the plus side, the detail lines are all very well handled, especially on the underlying torso and face, which you don’t even see in the main set-up. Iron Man is packed with a spare hairpiece, for unmasked display, a hammer attachment for his hand, and a spare set of flesh-toned arms so that you can display Tony in re-charge mode.

INCREDIBLE HULK

AvengersFA5He may not have been quite as successful as Iron Man, but Hulk was pretty big in 2008 as well, making him another heavy hitter in this particular set. Hulk is presented here in his purple shorted look, which was rather short(heh!)-lived in the comics, but was the look Hulk had in the two issues this set is based upon. So, it’s an interesting enough variant of the character. The figure has a unique head sculpt, as well as add-ons for the torso, waist, and the infamous “duck feet.” The torso and waist pieces were both re-used from Series 20’s Abomination, and are both rather basic pieces. The head was only ever used on this figure, most likely due to the negative reaction it garnered from fans. It seems to try to capture the more Frankenstein’s Monster-inspired head of the early Kirby Hulk, but it comes out looking a bit lumpy. And then there’s the “duck feet.” They were one of Diamond’s first attempts at adding extra height to figures, and they built up a rather infamous reputation in the Minimate community, due to their general goofiness and lack of adherence to the usual Minimate style. Fortunately, Hulk included a spare set of regular feet, so no one was stuck with the weird ones. Hulk’s paint is decent enough. I think this might actually be my favorite shade of green for Hulk, and I do really like the Kirby inspired line work.

WASP

AvengersFA4Wasp was another character that debuted in this set, though, unlike Hank Pym, she’s yet to actually get a follow up. Which is kind of a shame, since she’s had a boat-load of different costumes over the years. She’s presented here in her original costume, which has gotten a fair number of figures over the years. The figure makes use of 7 add-on pieces, used for her headgear, vest, gloves, skirt, and wings. The parts are a little on the bulky side, especially for Wasp, but they balance each other out pretty well, I guess. The skirt is a lot boxier than later pieces would be, which makes the whole figure look rather stiff. The wings are probably the best part of the sculpt, and they actually do a decent job of replicating the comic look. The paint on Wasp was pretty decent from a design standpoint. The line work is all pretty well laid out,AvengersFA8 and everything. The real issue is in assembly. The figure was clearly assembled before fully drying, so several pieces, the wings in particular, were stuck, almost to the point of breaking. Wasp made out pretty well on the accessories front, including a spare hairpiece, a set of normal hands, an alternate mask, and an extra wing mount so that she can be displayed without the bulky vest piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I actually ended getting a couple of this set when it was released, without even trying. I got one from my friend Lance, and then won another in a contest, and then eventually picked up a few more from Record and Tape Traders at super marked down prices. The set itself is pretty decent, if maybe a bit out of date when compared to more current stuff. Ant-Man and Wasp were definitely the stars here, and they both still hold up pretty decently.

#0600: Tony Stark – Mech Test

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

TONY STARK – MECH TEST

IRON MAN (HOT TOYS)

TonyMechTest1

Holy crap, I’ve actually written 600 of these things. Wow. And people are still reading, like, at an increasing rate, even. I think I’m actually not scaring people off! Yay! Anyway, another milestone means another “Deluxe Review.” So, we once again dive into the world of high end collecting, with another figure from renowned toy makers Hot Toys.

HT first got into the Marvel game with the first Iron Man film. Over the last few years, Iron Man’s kind of been HT’s bread and butter. It seems like no matter how many versions of the guy they release, the demand just isn’t dying down. I’ve already looked at one of their more conventional Iron Man variants, but my personal favorite is actually a Tony Stark figure. Let’s check that one out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tony is part of HT’s main Movie Masterpiece Series. He’s number 116 in the line, and he’s numerically the fourth Iron Man figure in the line. He stands roughly 12 inches in height and has…ummm….a bunch of articulation. As with lots of HT figures, the clothing covers the majority of his joints, and since I’m not really in the habit of undressing these guys, I don’t really have an exact count. It’s worth noting that the movement in the arms is somewhat restricted, due to the armature on his arms. The figure’s appearance is based on the sequences of the first Iron Man film where Tony is testing out the mechanics of the armor, specifically the flight systems. Not the lengthiest portion of the film, but certainly an important one.

TonyMechTest2Let’s start things off by checking out the head sculpt. RDJ has one of those likenesses that seems to be difficult to capture, especially for Hot Toys. That being said, even though it was only their second attempt at a full RDJ sculpt, I actually think it holds up as one of HT’s better attempts. There are still a few issues here and there. I think the biggest issue with the likeness is the eyes, which seem maybe a little off. I can’t put my finger on it, but they just don’t seem right. Regardless, the sculpt is certainly of a high quality.  It’s full of some great texture and it really looks like a real person’s head. The paintwork just enhances this, with the expertly handled detailing for which HT is best known.

Typically, an Iron Man figure from HT is going to be a fully-sculpted venture. However, this one’s a little bit different. His costume is made up of a short-sleeve t-shirt, a long sleeve t-shirt, a pair of pants, knee pads, a few belts and straps, his boots, and his arm exo-skeletons. The short-sleeve shirt is a little too big to be in proper scale, especially around the collar, but it’s passable. The pants are pretty nice, an feature working pockets and belt loops. The kneepads are a nice hybrid of tailored and sculpted parts, as actual kneepads would be. The big work here is on the armored parts, which feature some tremendously detailed sculpting. You could almost be fooled into believing they’re actually made up of many smaller parts, but they’re just solid pieces. They are also exquisitely painted, which just helps to further the realism.

TonyMechTest3Under the costume is a fairly standard narrow-shouldered True-Type body, with a few main changes (that I know of, anyway). The biggest is the upper torso, which has be reworked to feature Tony’s signature Arc reactor. In addition, the arms (and torso) have been slightly re-worked in order to facilitate a light-up feature. The arms are wired up and can be plugged into the battery pack cleverly hidden in one of Tony’s pouches, and the torso features its own battery pack. The light-up feature works decently enough, however the batteries don’t last very long.

Tony was a little on the light side as far as extra pieces went, though he included one fairly large accessory that made up for it a bit. He included:

  • 2 pairs of interchangeable hands
  • A pair of shoes
  • Dummy
  • Display stand

The hands come in “repulsor” and relaxed varieties. Both pairs are gloved and allow for use of the light-up feature. It’s certainly nice to have the option of relaxed hands, but they really aren’t that different from the repulsor hands, making choosing between them somewhat pointless.

The shoes are a fairly standard pair of HT dress shoes. They’re molded in matte black. Truth be told, I didn’t keep track of the ones included with my figure, hence them not being pictured. I guess they’re meant to allow you to display a more casual Tony, though, it’s somewhat pointless, since the arm pieces can’t really be removed.

TonyMechTest4Dummy is definitely the coolest of the accessories. He’s integral to the mech test scene, so his presence here is much appreciated. He’s very nicely sculpted and painted, and matches up pretty much perfectly to the machine from the film. He isn’t perfect, though. A lot of his pistons and joints are just mock pieces, and don’t actually move the way they’re supposed to, which is somewhat frustrating. Also, he’s rather fragile. The bottom piece of mine just snapped one day, sending the poor bot tumbling. Hence the carefully cropped photo. Still, he’s a fun enough piece.

The display stand is actually different from the normal HT stand. It’s a flight stand, which is nice, considering the scene this figure is replicating hinges on Tony flying. The base is designed to look like a section of Tony’s workroom floor, which it replicates quite nicely, and there’s also a nice little engraved name tag at the front. I do wish it were just a little bit more compact, as it’s quite a shelf-hog as it is, but it’s not the worst thing ever. He also included a tri-fold cardboard background depicting the rest of the workroom. It’s rather simple; just a screen shot of the room, which can be stood behind the figure. Not the most exciting thing, but it’s there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Tony here was a combination birthday/graduation present from my parents. Some kids get a car or something big to take off to college. Me? I got an action figure. Not that it’s really that surprising, right? Tony was only the third HT figure to be added to my collection, and he was the first Marvel HT I got, which makes him pretty special. Truth be told, he’s still one of my favorites, and I find him to be far more interesting than just a basic Iron Man.

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#0566: Iron Man – Mark 43 & Black Widow

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

IRON MAN – MARK 43 & BLACK WIDOW

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Alright, it’s the Age of Ultron Minimates extravaganza part 2 (Electric Boogaloo)! I kicked things off with two of the film’s new characters, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, but now I’ll be turning back to the “old faithful” characters that we’ve seen a few times before. Iron Man is the “oldest” MCU character, and Black Widow isn’t far behind him. And look at that, they’re even packed together. How convenient.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Iron Man and Black Widow are part of the first assortment of Avengers: Age of Ultron-based Marvel Minimates. They are one of the two sets in the first assortment to be available both at Toys R Us and as part of Marvel Minimates Series 61.

IRON MAN – MARK 43

IM43WidowAoU2It would be weird to have an assortment of Avengers merch without an Iron Man, so here he is. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and he has 12(ish) points of articulation. As noted in the name of the figure, this is Iron Man in his Mark 43 armor, which he ends up wearing for the first half or so of the film. It’s worth noting that this makes him not actually fit with the rest of the team’s final battle looks, though it does mean you can display them from the opening battle. Structurally, this figure is the same as the Series 49 Mark 42, which is rather sensible, given that the 43 was just a recolored 42 in the movie. The add-on pieces for the 42 are serviceable, and they do a decent job of replicating the movie’s armor, but they have a few issues. Chief among them is that the upper arms are sculpted in such a way that the shoulders are effectively nothing more than cut joints. That’s really limiting to the figure. In addition, the figure feels a little too built up in general. The 42/43 are meant to be rather sleek, but the ‘mates are rather chunky. All that aside, the pieces do feature some nice detail work and some nice, sharp lines. The paint on Iron Man is pretty decent, actually. In particular, the shades of red and gold that have been chosen are nice and vibrant and have a really great finish to them. The line work is all pretty decent, although it’s perhaps a touch faint. As has become the norm on Iron Men, there’s full detailing under the helmet and torso. The torso offers a cool look at the inner workings of the armor, and the head offers a look at Tony’s face. The Tony face isn’t as good as some of the previous ones; they seem to have missed the mark on the RDJ likeness. The Mark 43 includes a spare hairpiece, a rocket blast piece, and a clear display stand.

BLACK WIDOW

IM43WidowAoU3In the comics, Black Widow is a marginal member of the Avengers at best, but the movies have changed that. There, she’s upgraded herself to one of the most central members of the team. And that’s pretty cool. Her presence in Marvel Minimates is rather reflective of this change. Of the seven Minimates of the character, five of them are movie-inspired. Anyway, onto the actual figure. Widow is roughly 2 ½ inches in height and she’s got 14 points of articulation. She is, of course, based on Widow’s main appearance in the movie. Structurally, she’s similar to the Winter Soldier version of Widow from Series 55. She shares the same belt and one of the holsters, but loses the Widow’s stingers. Also, the hair has been replaced with that of Battlestar Galactica’s Pegasus Six, which is actually quite a good match for her hair from the movie. This Widow ends up being a bit sleeker than previous versions of the character, which is a plus in my book. Widow’s paintwork is certainly passable. There is a bit of slop around the edges of her arm bands, but other than that pretty much everything is clean. One thing I noticed is that the detail lines seem a little duller here than usual. Things such as the “tron lines” kind of fade into the rest of the costume, and the details on the face seem a little light. Speaking of the face, it presents a good likeness of Scarlett Johannssen, but the somewhat vacant expression is a little disappointing in light the Winter Soldier Widow’s more intense look. Widow includes two eskira sticks, a handgun and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After the craziness that was acquiring Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, getting this set was actually rather simple: I just picked them up from my local comicbook store. I can’t say that this is a set that thrills me. The Mark 42 was not my favorite Iron Man Minimate, and the 43 still has several of the same issues, plus the step down in likeness. Widow fairs a bit better, and I do like a lot about this figure. I think that swapping the heads on this one and the Winter Soldier version might provide me with my preferred version of the character.

#0557: Iron Man vs. Ultron

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

ULTRON PRIME, IRON MAN, & ULTRON – MARK 1

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

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Happy Free Comic Book Day everyone! Yes it’s that joyous time of year where we all go to pick from a small selection of pre-determined free comics and we get to hear the inevitable stories about less informed people attempting to wander out of the store with hundreds of dollars-worth of comics. Yay?

So, the official countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron ended yesterday, but fear not, the Ultron fun isn’t done just yet! I’ve looked at (almost) all of the comic-based Ultron figures. Now we start getting into the movie-based stuff. I’ve already looked at some of the Marvel Legends that were released to tie-in with the movie, and I’ll be taking a look at the first series of Minimates in a week or so. Today, I’ll be taking my first look at Hasbro’s line of 3 ¾ inch figures from the film, with two versions of the titular villain and an Iron Man thrown in for good measure.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This trio of figures was released as a Target-exclusive “Iron Man vs. Ultron”’ three-pack, which is part of Hasbro’s wider Avengers: Age of Ultron line. The figures were released just prior to the film. Iron Man and Ultron Prime are repaints of their single releases (though Ultron Prime hasn’t actually hit retail yet) and Ultron Mark 1 is, for now anyway, exclusive to this set.

ULTRON PRIME

IMvsUltron2Ultron Prime here is Ultron’s main appearance from the film. The figure is just shy of 4 inches in height and features 5 points of articulation. That presents some issues. The limited articulation is an issue to be sure, but the real issue here is that he’s just too short. In the movie, Ultron was somewhere around 8 feet tall. To be properly in scale with the rest of the figures, he should actually be over 5 inches tall. In its current state, the figure ends up being woefully small. Moving past the scale issue, let’s just look at the figure on its own merits. The figure’s sculpt is new (though it will see another use fairly shortly on the regular Ultron Prime), and, obviously, it’s based on Ultron’s final film appearance. The sculpt is okay, though I certainly wouldn’t call it perfect. The details are mostly well placed and seem fairly accurate to the source, but the sculpt seems a little bit soft. In addition, it feels as if the figure has been stretched to add some height, resulting in a rather thin figure. Couple that with the figure’s short stature and you have a rather dinky, unimposing Ultron. Paintwork doesn’t do much to help this figure, either. He’s mostly just molded in a dark, brownish grey. It’s not metallic or anything, and it’s certainly too dark. His arms are molded in a translucent red, with some paint thrown in to make the switch from grey to red gradual. Some metallic sheen shows up there, and there is some pretty decent work. The red for the eyes and the detail on the torso is also pretty decently applied, and it breaks up some of the monotony of the grey. Ultron includes a blast effect piece, molded in red, which can be placed on either of the figure’s hands.

IRON MAN

IMvsUltron3Here we have the set’s requisite heavy-hitter, Iron Man. He’s represented here in his Mark 43 armor from the movie, which is the same armor we saw in the Marvel Legends assortment as well. The figure is about 3 ¾ inches tall and has the same 5 points of articulation as Ultron Prime. Structurally, this figure is identical to the Iron Man figure from the first series of single release figures. It’s actually a fairly decent sculpt. The proportions are pretty spot on, it’s accurate to the armor from the film, and it has a more than passable amount of detail work. All-in-all, a good sculpt. Paint; here’s what sets this figure apart from the single release. The single release was rather disappointing, with only the most basic color placement and a lot of “broad strokes” work. Here, the paint is actually very nicely handled. Everything is pretty clean, with no slop or bleed over. All of the parts that should be red are red and all of the parts that should be gold are gold. There are even a few spots of silver thrown in for good measure. The end result is a paint job that accents the sculpt rather nicely. Iron Man includes a blast piece molded in blue.

ULTRON – MARK 1

IMvsUltron4Look! Another Ultron! It’s like a sandwich or something. This Ultron is, as noted by the name, the first version of the character we see on screen. Rather than being specifically designed to be Ultron, he’s constructed from the remains of several of the Iron Legion drones. It’s a look that figured pretty prominently into the early trailers for the film, delivering the distinctive “strings” speech, so it got a fair bit of notice. The figure is about 3 ¾ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation, just like the other two in this set. Though he may be built from Iron Legion drones in the film, this Ultron figure features a sculpt that is wholly unique to him. And what a sculpt it is! This figure features a ton of texture and detailing, all throughout. The inner workings of his body are all nicely defined, and all of the armor plating is scratched and dented, giving it a nice touch of realism. The head is probably a little too large, especially when compared to the Iron Man included, but it’s minor, and the sculpt of the head is fantastic on its own. The figure is also sculpted with his legs in a bit of a step, giving him the appearance of a limp, like the one he has in the film. It’s a nice change from the standard standing pose of the rest of the figures, but it isn’t so extreme that it takes away from the figure. Ultron Mark 1 probably has the best paintwork in the set. It could probably stand to be a little more detailed, especially on the grey parts (some metallic grey plastic would have gone a long way in this set), But there are some nice touches, and he has enough different colors to make him a bit more visually interesting than the others. On top of all that, the paint is nice and clean and there isn’t any real slop or bleed over to speak of, which is always a plus. Ultron Mark 1 includes no accessories of his own, though I suppose you could give him one of the other two’s blast pieces if you really wanted to.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually stumbled upon this set pretty much completely by accident. I just happened to find a rack of them at my local Target, while I was looking to see if the second series of singles had shown up yet. I hadn’t seen any news about this set, so its existence was new to me. That’s a rarity for me nowadays, so it was a fun little find. I’m still not totally sold on Hasbro’s move to the more simplistic figures for this scale. After years of fully articulated figures, the move back to the basic 5 hurts more than a little bit. Ultron Prime is easily this set’s weak point; there are just too many things against him, and the fact that he’s not even a “default” version of the design doesn’t help. However, Ultron Mark 1 is a fun figure, and more than makes up for the failures of his more advanced counterpart. The lower articulation is much more forgivable here, and the sculpt is just far superior. Add in an Iron Man that is easily the best version available in the line right now, and you’ve actually got a pretty decent set. If we can get more figures like those two and less like Ultron Prime, my opinion of the line would definitely improve.

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#0543: Iron Man

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

IRON MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

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Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 13 days remaining.

Okay, so it’s time for another Avengers review. Yesterday was Captain America, and today we’ll be taking a look at everyone’s favorite armored Avenger (provided you aren’t a much bigger fan of Black Knight, or War Machine, or Iron Patriot….) Iron Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

IronManNeoClassic2Iron Man was released as part of Series 3 of Hasbro’s Return of Marvel Legends. The prior two series had each been centered around a Build-A-Figure and given a designation to match. However, this particular series had no Build-A-Figure, so it was instead titled “Epic Heroes.” Iron Man stands just over 6 inches tall and sports 34 (36?) points of articulation. The figure is based on Iron Man in the armor he was wearing in the comics during the mid-to-late-80s. It’s commonly referred to as his “Neo-Classic” armor, due to it being his return to the traditional red and yellow armor following several years in the Silver Centurion armor. This is actually the 5th action figure that this particular armor has seen, though this is the first, and so far only, time it has been done in the 6 inch scale. Structurally, this figure is technically a new sculpt, but comparing it to the 3 ¾ inch version of this armor from the Iron Man 2 line, this appears mostly to just be a scaled up version of that sculpt. There are a few differences, aside from the obvious thing with the size, such as the different style of mid-torso articulation and a completely different set of boots. This figure is from right around the time that Hasbro really started to up their game in the sculpting department. The sculpt is nice and clean, with great proportions and a great deal of accuracy to the source material. The boots, which are wholly original to this figure, are something of a point of contention amongst fans of this particular armor. The original prototype and the 3 ¾ inch figure both featured more classically styled feet, based on the armor’s initial appearance. However, the final figure features a much bulkier pair of boots, based on later depictions of the armor. They are decently sculpted and certainly make the figure a lot more stable, but it’s not the look a lot of people wanted. The figure’s paint is fairly straight forward. The red parts are red, the yellow parts are, well okay they’re actually gold, but that’s essentially the same thing. Okay, actually it’s not. In fact, I generally prefer a straight yellow, especially on my classic Iron Man armors. But this one doesn’t look terrible, so I’ll let it slide. The red is very nice, though. Also, there are a few spots where the red bleeds over into the gold, but it’s generally the application is pretty clean. Iron Man’s only accessory is a hexagonal-based display stand, which was included with all of the figures in this series.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Hasbro kicked off the Return of Marvel Legends, I did my best to avoid it. Their last attempts at Legends before it went on hiatus were pretty lackluster, and I had pretty thoroughly moved on to the smaller Marvel Universe line. I even managed to avoid picking up a single figure from the first two series. Then I saw this guy at my local comic book store. For whatever reason, he called to me, but I remained vigilant. No more Marvel Legends for me! Well, my dad was with me at the time and took note of my interest in the figure. So, a month later I found this guy amongst that year’s Christmas gifts. Because my parents are just that awesome. Truth be told, this may very well be my favorite Iron Man released at this scale. He’s an all-around solid figure, and like the original ToyBiz Legends Iron Man before him, he’s responsible for dragging me (back) into Marvel Legends. Thanks a lot Tony….