36 years, friends and neighbors. I have been waiting 36 years to get an action figure of the Iron Man of 2020. While this year has been an explosive diarrhea of a year in many aspects, the debut of Arno stark in the line is a personal grail.
Now I know that Iron Man 2020 actually got a figure in the 4-inch Marvel Universe line, and I bought him there as well, but I have to be honest and say that this is my preferred scale. I am actually very glad that they waited until they made what I consider the best classic Iron Man ever in the 80th anniversary version before attempting this figure, because he definitely benefited from all of that excellence.
Because he is mostly the 80th anniversary Iron Man with some new bits added, everything that was excellent about that version is repeated here. Unfortunately, he still carries over the non-poseable repulsor hands, which is pretty much my only issue with the original 80th Iron Man, and is my main problem with this one. I have no issue at all with getting a set of repulsor hands, of course, but I don’t like that they’re permanently stuck in repulsor mode. I know it’s no doubt to facilitate the plugging in of the repulsor effect, but that’s a trade off I don’t care for. I can think of many things I could use a set of non-fisted hands for with this figure, but the permapulsors don’t allow you to do any of them.
But as far as complaints go, that’s it. That’s all I’ve got.
IM2020 gets a brand new head. I have always been a huge fan of what we think of as the classic Iron Man armor, and I still remember the first time I turned the page and saw this evil version staring at me. That faceplate, with the angry teeth set inside the mostly familiar Iron man mask, was just so frickin’ aggressive. It had a twisted, spiny anger to it that made you know you weren’t dealing with a benevolent dude.
Barry Windsor Smith was the artist of the Machine Man series that Iron man 2020 debuted in, so I’m asuming this is all his design. I don’t know what made him think that the shoulders needed gears, but it’s one of the most brilliantly evocative choices to make. This was 1984, so adding gears to the regular Iron Man’s shoulders doesn’t exactly evoke “the future,” and we’re not currently living in a world where the height of high-tech design is adding gears to our clothing (I think?) but the gears just work. They work so well to differentiate this armor from Tony’s. Between the teeth in the mask and the gears on the shoulders, it made Iron Man look like he was about to grind something. I don’t know what, exactly, but it added to the overall aggression.
I can’t explain it, it just works. It works so well that the recent update to the Iron Man 2020 design keeps the gears.
The gears and different chestpiece are all a smart overlay that works seamlessly with the Iron Man body. It doesn’t feel like a tacked on piece; it feels like an all new torso sculpt. But it’s not. The gears inhibit him from putting his arms down flush to his side very very slightly, but otherwise the fit is excellent. If you’re one of those absolutely bizarre people that don’t appreciate the gears then the entire thing can just be slipped off like a gear bra.
Gear bras. Now that’s the wave of the future.
The power disks have been replaced by a new belt that features yet another gear and one of his throwing blades. They’re non-removeable, so no using them as actual weapons, but they’re made of a soft enough plastic that he doesn’t suffer the loss of any leg articulation.
The color is interesting. He has a deeper red than the standard Iron Man, but a brighter, yellower gold. I’d love to get a regular Iron Man with this gold color. I’ve already bought a number of the 80th Iron Man figures, and I’m tempted to get a couple extra 2020 versions to do some swapping around. This is the path that leads to metal madness.
Outside of the two pairs of hands he comes with a pair of repulsor blasts, a pair of boot jets and then a blast-off effect that the boot jet effects can slide into. In addition to the blast-off effect, he also has legs, something witch is making Cannonball and his zoomfart insanely jealous over. I’ve stated I’m not someone who necessarily needs effects pieces, but I do like these better than the plainer, more comic-booky styles that came with the 80th Iron Man. You can get some light under them and they look much more interesting.
Overall, I am extraordinarily happy to finally have an Iron Man 2020 It’s a great figure.
