“Classic” has become a loaded word in the comic book community. Newer readers decry the concept, while longtime readers seem to demand it. Updated, modernized costumes are often lambasted by long-term fans, while older looks are condemned by the newbies as nostalgic and retrogressive. The bottom line? You just can’t please everybody.
If you purchased the Iron Man/Maria Hill Toys R Us 2-pack (either of them), then you’re well familiar with this figure. After all, aside from the new head, this is a straight-up reuse. In this case that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially for those who like to display all of their armors together — it provides a consistency that’s suggestive of the technological evolution Iron Man is known for, and the shared detail allows for a harmonious-looking group. The fact that this figure had a variant done in the “stealth” colors means that models 2, 3, 4, and 5 look great together on the shelf. But all is not well in toy-land.
Sculpt-wise, this is a lovely rendition of the classic armor. Scale-wise, well, that’s another story. When you consider the figure is meant to be a 6-inch Marvel Legend, the problem becomes immediately clear.
His proportions are fine (other than his smallish head), but he’s clearly undersized next to… well, just about everybody. His diminutive nature is clearly at odds with the concept of a “man in armor.” He’s as skinny as a 6th grader and shorter than many of his fellow non-armored teammates. It’s not as jarring when he’s standing all alone, but alongside other figures, well… let’s just say he should switch from martinis to Creatine shakes.
Iron Man features a ball-jointed neck (the head is removable), ball-hinge shoulders, bicep swivels, double-hinged elbows, pegged wrists, and a hinged torso over a swivel waist. Below that are those wonky ball-jointed hips we suffered through for a while, upper thigh swivels, doubled-jointed knees, and and pin-and-swivel ankles. Everything works, allowing the figure to get into the typical poses, but there are a few issues.
The cuffs at the shoulders inhibit the figure’s ability to get the arms too close to the body, making it look awkward in “powered down” armory poses. The power pods on the figure’s waist can also block some of the hip movement, but the hips themselves are so frustrating that the average collector may never notice. If you’re not familiar with these hips, consider yourself lucky. To move the leg, the ball hip has to be rotated into position first, guiding the hinge forwards or backwards depending on the pose. Adding to the problem, there’s a rubbery quality to the joints that gently discourages too much posing — unless bent at just the right angle, the plastic feels like it might shear. And while Hasbro has done away with this badly engineered design, that old devil reuse means they could reappear at any time.
Iron Man sports the “swirly plastic” metallic look we originally saw with the Fantastic Four Classics Doctor Doom figure, and more recently on this line’s Build-A-Figure Iron Monger. Since so much of the figure features it, Hasbro had enough in their paint fund to hit details missed on the original, notably the twin diodes above and on either side of the unibeam assembly. (Sadly, the boot jets remain unpainted.) There are some paint-matching issues that really jump out under close scrutiny, especially the odd shade of gold used on said unibeam. While the black on the mask isn’t sloppy per se, its thickness and flat tone look odd when you consider the shiny nature of the rest of the figure.
As far as extras go, Iron Man comes with the aforementioned Iron Monger’s leg, as well as the helmeted head the original 2-pack version came with. It’s a little disappointing that Hasbro chose it over that figure’s alternate Tony Stark head. Yeah, I get what they were going for — the helmet is really the only significant difference between Models 2 and 3, so collectors could have it both ways — but the Stark head is such a great little add-on that more folks should have one to spruce-up their displays. As it is, I had to ask Fwoosher extraordinaire NORM for one because I misplaced mine. Thanks, Norm!
When this figure first debuted, many collectors considered it the “ultimate” version of the classic suit, but the proportions and scale make that a challenging assertion. In spite of some unfortunate articulation choices, this reviewer maintains that the ToyBiz series one Marvel Legends Iron Man is still the final word on the subject. What do you think? Discuss it on the Fwoosh forums!
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