Since Tony Stark and Peter Parker have a bit of a father/son relationship in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I feel it is appropriate to begin as such: grouping Iron Man and Iron Spider together is sure to make for a feature chock full of IRON-Y. Yeah, we got dad jokes.

I know we have been sprinting through this latest wave of Avengers: Infinity War Marvel Legends, but I wanted to get these done ASAP because we are looking to have another glut of Legends hitting soon. So, teaming these two figures up for one feature works for time, but also for the Iron theme, but for me, these figures kind of represent opposite ends of the spectrum in terms overall success. Don’t get me wrong, I think that this wave is pretty strong overall, but as surprised as I am with how much I like Spidey, Iron Man has just kind of left me at a “meh.”

IRON MAN

I get it. Iron Man changes his look from movie to movie more times than Elton John does at a concert, so all of these different MCU Toy Stark figures are certainly valid, but I am just kind of burnt out at this point. I am DYING for a new classic/iconic comic-based Iron Man at this point, so that might add to my feelings about all of the movie figures, but I am not enough of an Iron Man armor nut (in terms of all of the variations) to get overly excited at this point. I know, that is kind of a cop out, but I think we all get a bit of a fatigue with certain characters and figures at some point, and right now, MCU Iron Man is mine.

Iron Man armors, both on-screen and in comics, have gotten a rep over the past several years of being “too skinny.” As in, there is no real possible way Tony Stark could fit into it, and I think that is valid. However, now that I have this figure, the build seems a little bit more reasonable, but past iterations have skewed my eyes so much that this figure looks at little chunky to me. I mean, it is totally NOT, but the effort toward that correction has happened pretty abruptly, so it is taking some time to get used to, but the form, while still mechanical and organic all at the same time, at least is getting more realistic.

I am sure some of these new upgrades to the armor will be there specifically to battle Thanos, so again, I get it with another look, and this gives us a chance to get a figure with more blue/energy represented. So, while I am being a bit dogged about Stark fatigue, I actually like the look of this armor. The figure itself is well sculpted, and it has the typical articulation you would come to expect in ML, but maaaaaan, are the joints on this figure stiff, and the applied detents are really pronounced. So that makes the figure a difficult to move, and posing is somewhat limited to what the detents allow, especially in the knees and elbows. I don’t know, none of the other figures in this series have this issue (at least with this severity), so it is just kind of weird in terms of choice.

The good news is that that you don’t need this figure to complete Thanos (the only accessories included are those energy blasts we have seen many times before), so if the design doesn’t really speak to you, you can probably skip this one. If you need ALL THE ARMORS, this will be a requirement, of course, but just be ready for some of the execution foibles mentioned above.

IRON SPIDER

While I am pretty indifferent to Tony, Pete actually ended up with a surprisingly good figure in this wave. By the handle of “Iron Spider” alone, you know that young Parker is getting suit upgrades thanks to Stark technology. Now, there is obviously precedence for this from the comics, but let’s be real here, ain’t nobody wants to take on Thanos toe-to-toe in their Underoos, so this armored suit will be much needed. What I dig here is that the armor and tech has been presented more in Spider-Man’s image, rather than Iron Man’s look. The comic version I remember most just kind of looked like an IM armor more than anything, so I am already onboard with the design here because Spidey still looks like Spidey.

In doing so, there are not a lot of extra arms or tech bits that break up the silhouette. There is texturing and new lines added to the surface of the armor, but this is still classic Spider-Man. Also important is the fact that he is still red and blue (mostly) instead of red and gold. This is important for onscreen presence to keep him different from Tony, but it is also important in being true to Spider-Man. I will be interested to see what all this new suit can do in the movie, but again, I like the steady hand in applying the extra details. I actually like the use of gold here because it is not too out of hand, and the texturing of the suit is perfectly fine for the movie aesthetic with the tech lines cooperating with the original design, and not trying to take over. I am also a big fan of the fact that the mask is still VERY much classic Spider-Man, and for me, the shape of the eyes is just about perfect.

If I have any nitpicks with this figure is that, like Iron Man, it is kind of stiff in the articulation. It is nowhere NEAR as bad as Iron Man, but Spider-Man’s penchant for insane poses might be impacted somewhat here. I can get just about any pose I have tried because the points are there, but if you compare this to say, the Pizza Spidey, things just aren’t as smooth as they cool be. Your opinion on this will vary, but at the end of the day, I am not overly bothered by it. Iron Spider is still the best MCU figure in this assortment for me, so this is definitely a solid execution.

 

Whew! We are through the entire regular assortment, so I am sure you can guess what tomorrow will bring. Of these two figures, I think Iron Spider is pretty great, and while Iron Man leaves me a bit cold, he certainly isn’t bad. No matter what the new Avengers movie brings us, it is pretty certain that our heroes will be forever changed in some way, so there is a lot leading up to the release next month. The good news is you can bide your time between now and then hunting these down, or you can just go HERE and HERE and be all set.

Much like his drawn out arrival in the MCU, we will finally have a look at Thanos tomorrow, so check back then!