Review – Iron Man 2 Ultimate Iron Man
I stumbled across the Ultimate Iron Man* earlier today and immediately snatched it up. The 3.75-inch scale Iron Man 2 action figure series has been generally excellent, but with the toys clogging shelves most retailers aren’t restocking and the last figures from the line are difficult to find. A few months ago I had given up hope of even seeing this in stores, so when I saw it at HEB I was completely shocked. But not so shocked that I didn’t rip it open as soon as I got home.
An Incredible Sculpt
I’ve got a number of different versions of this suit (the most impressive of which is the Marvel Milestones Ultimate Iron Man Statue*) and each has slight variations from the others. But regardless of the slight differences between each one I’ve gotta say that the sculpt of this smaller Ultimate Iron Man action figure is every bit as strong as the other Ultimate Iron Man statues and action figures on my shelves.
The shoulder pads, as with other Iron Man 2 action figures, are created with hinged overlays that can raise out of the way to give the arms a full range of motion while the forearms and lower legs are thick, powerful armored components that are beautifully sculpted. Overall this is a tight sculpt, but I do question the positioning of the pinky finger on the left hand; take a look at the photo below and notice how bizarrely twisted that hand looks. I’m not sure if that was intentional in the sculpting or a mistake in manufacturing but that hand is my only complaint with the toy’s sculpt.
Slightly Sketchy Paint
The Ultimate Iron Man* action figure seems to be cast mostly of gray plastic which means that the red, yellow, silver, and black on the toy are all paint work applied at the factory. And the paint is adequate for a mass market action figure, but it’s not the best work we’ve seen from Hasbro or in the Iron Man 2 series. The heads (see below) have rough edges where the yellow meets the red, the red slops over in a few spots, and there are places where the silver just isn’t quite right.
But none of the areas are so bad that it ruins the toy. No, what we get here is a great sculpt that’s slightly harmed by a typical paint job. Once the action figure is on display it’s really not even noticeable; you’ll find more problems with the paint when you study photos online than you will when actually playing with the toy.
Articulation
The Ultimate Iron Man* action figure has fairly standard articulation for the line, and the same articulation problems that we’ve seen with the more heavily-armored releases in the series. The feet, for example, may be on ball-hinge joints but the armor design obstructs most of the movement. I’d say that this is standard articulation for the series; you get all of the basic joints we’ve seen on other Iron Man action figures in the line so if you’ve been happy with the earlier releases then this one will work just fine for you.
An Extra Head
I prefer the standard head that’s on the toy in the package, but above you can see the second head that Hasbro packed with the Ultimate Iron Man* action figure. I think the head could have used some black details to make it look better, but even with black work I would have preferred the other head. It’s a cool extra, but one I won’t be using.
Closing Thoughts
The Ultimate Iron Man* action figure is one of those toys I never expected to find in stores, so while I rarely post toy reviews the same day that I buy a toy this one felt special enough to get played with immediately. I wouldn’t suggest going out and spending a lot on this action figure — it’s a cool design but as an action figure it’s really not any better than the other good releases in the Iron Man 2 series — but I do say that you should visit stores and take another look at the pegs. It’s possible that this same toy (and the other releases in this wave) are hiding in a store near you right now.
Opening this up and playing with it reminds me why I named the Iron Man 2 series the best mass market action figure series of 2010 (award post here) and makes me want to open some other toys in the series that’s hiding in my closet. That tells me that I like this toy.
Philip Reed is starting to think he should go back to the store and buy that armored Whiplash action figure that he passed on.
I was able to get this figure recently as well, and, like with most of the line, I enjoyed it a lot. I think the finger thing is probably unique to yours, but I did get quite shoddy paint on the heads. The mouthless head was salvagable after a couple of minutes to file away the excess yellow, but the extra head was a bit of a writeoff unfortunately. The standard head is by far the stronger design anyway.
Mine did have a very loose Ab joint though. I will eventually get around to stuffing something into the housing to stiffen the joint, but it is a knock against a figure that deserved to be released earliar so more people could get the figure. The War Machine from this wave is worth picking up if you think you can get past the lack of any upper arm swivel
And then I scroll down to find that you did buy the War Machine. That will teach me not to be content to go backwards through a week or two’s worth of posts.