Review – Iron Man 3 Titan Hero Series Action Figure
I reviewed the new 12-inch scale Star Wars Clone Trooper this past weekend (review here), but those new Star Wars action figures aren’t the only 12-inch scale toys Hasbro is releasing at a (low) $10 MSRP. Iron Man here, found recently at an Austin Wal-Mart, is another in what looks to be a new initiative by Hasbro to produce low cost toys at a larger scale than the usual 3.75-inch scale action figures they’ve been producing for $10.
Five Points of Articulation
It’s 1978 all over again, and Hasbro is supporting my insistence that all a kid needs is five points of articulation to have fun (posted here). When I made that statement back in December it generated a lot of chatter from readers which ranged from agreement to disagreement, but it’s clear that someone at Hasbro agrees with me because in addition to these 12-inch scale action figures with only five points (or seven with the Clone Trooper) of articulation they’re also producing smaller figures with only five points of articulation. I guess we’ll see how well the idea does for them.
Iron Man has swivel shoulders and hips and a ball-jointed head . . . and that’s it! I know a lot of collectors will pass this toy by, but when you see this on store shelves for $10 and 3.75-inch scale action figures nearby for the same price I suspect that young kids and many parents will go for this over the smaller toys. $10 just feels like a fantastic bargain for a toy of this size.
Hollow Man
The legs and torso of the toy seem to be rotocast and are definitely hollow; the toy feels light and you hear a faint echo when you knock on the parts. This is one way to cut costs — plastics keep rising in price — and just looking at the toy on the shelf I have no complaints with the hollow parts. This feels like a toy for younger kids and even though it’s a simplistic action figure design I think it makes a nice addition to my collection of Iron Man statues and action figures.
Recommended for Casual Fans
At $10 it is hard not to pass on this toy as a desk decoration or part of a display of Iron Man toys. The sculpt is nice, the paint is decent, and I’ve got no complaints with the limited articulation; it almost feels like something that would have been released in the early eighties . . . except that the sculpting work is way more detailed than what we were getting back in those days.
This really isn’t for everyone. Okay, I can accept that. But I find it very cool that Hasbro’s taking a chance on something new and I’m quite interested to see how well the line performs. As long as parents are the ones making buying decisions for their kids then I can see this line doing quite well at retail; it’s hard not to see the $10 price tag on this as an excellent bargain when you compare the toy to other $10 items in the boys’ toys aisle at Target and Wal-Mart.
This is the “Glass-half-full” theory, and you are probably correct in your thoughts about the new-old school way of producing the boys action category for mass market, but I am really bummed. I used to make toy runs to big box stores many times a week, now, about 4X per month, because in my opinion, the BIG toy manufacturers have cheaped-out on their product and forgot about the collector who is more discerning. I get the whole “Economy sucks” thing, but the new Hasbro IM assemblers is just plain crap ( for instance). Thank goodness for NECA ( for instance) that still cranks out great product at prices that do not cripple. On another note, you can take those Titan figs and customize them up to look much better.
I kinda like the offerings of huge ass cheapo toys (looking forward to pick that Clone Trooper up if it ever arrives here) but am kinda questioning myself why in hell after all years in crazy toy engineering they can’t hide away that horrible T-crotch design. Otherwise i can imagine how fun it would be to blow that thing up with firecrackers with no regrets, haha.
He looks like a decent display piece. I do wish he had one palm facing out to show his repulsor. But for ten bucks, how can you beat that? I’d rather have a simple, clean looking figure with standard 5 points of articulation, than something ruined with all kinds of “play gimmicks.”
At least in this case, Hasbro is adjusting the price accordingly to make the toy a good value, as opposed to Deluxe Transformers where they cut the size, articulation and paint apps and RAISED the price!
Have to say that I love the window box instead of the open-face packaging that Hasbro uses for a lot of the larger IM figures. Makes the toy feel more special, keeps away sticky fingers, etc. etc.
The two 8″ vinyl figures from the second movie line were simple, but had great production quality with a nice finish and heft. Glad to see that Hasbro has not discontinued this style of figure.
Now make Iron Patriot/War Machine.
@Zachary – Is it that companies have started ignoring collectors or is that sales have dropped and they are trying to recover? I don’t have any inside info from specific companies, but industry rumors I hear is that the boys’ toys aisle is in trouble.
@FigureFan Zero – One palm facing out would have been a nice change to the toy. I like that idea.
Re: Transformers – I think the issue is that even with reduced articulation there are so many moving parts that the toys are expensive to make. If a usual 6-inch scale action figure with 20 points of articulation requires $50,000 to $70,000 in tooling then what does a Deluxe Transformer cost? Those can’t be cheap.
@Ralph – I prefer these hips to those wacky DC Universe Classics hips.
@akum6n – I’m betting the open window box is all about cutting costs. This and the Clone Trooper boxes are one piece of cardboard folded. The Clone Trooper box has an open window so I’m sure it’s cheaper to manufacture than this Iron Man box.
I am in the minority here I think. Yes, the Titan is a good “Value.” Yes, the cheaper looking & manufactured action figures are still attractive to some collectors. But come on guys, don’t you all miss the glory days of Toy Biz- Marvel REAL Legends action figures with a piece of a 16-inch BAF? Or the best days of McFarlane when he and Spawn kicked everyone’s butt! I miss those days very much, especially when I’m looking at a 5-points of articulation, less than 4-inch badly painted super-hero that costs over $12! I agree Phil, boys-action sales are way down, I believe to Video Gaming, but I may be wrong. As I said before, thank goodness for NECA and other companies like them, that still look out for Geeks like me. By the way, the new 1/4 Neca Captan America is amazing.
The boys toy isle is At least being handled regrettably. I think it’s clear that hasbro has been bending over backwards for toys r us giving them exclusives of all must- have figures in the transformers line. These are walk-in only exclusives that take months to reach all areas where as movie toys and bot shots come out like clock work. I know that they are trying desperately to keep toys r us alive so they don’t end up in wal-mart’s pocket but it feels inevitable. Going to toys r us for dry runs gets old fast. And some things that would find a home if people could order them are sitting. There are over $3000 worth of mellinium falcons sitting at my tru. Dont get me started about the number of desired toys ending up going straight to clearance stores. This all clearly points to online shopping being the only answer but it hasn’t taken over for clear reasons. People don’t like paying extra for case allotment. The figures are packaged for single sale which and all retailers follow it but online shops make you pay for toys you’ll never see. Sorry but even if it makes a little sense in some instances people don’t like it. Department stores would be pretty boring with no toy isle, I’m sure kids would cry to go home much more often. And the most recognized toys are sitting at out of the way tru stores waiting to be distributed by a scalper.
@Zachary – “But come on guys, don’t you all miss the glory days of Toy Biz- Marvel REAL Legends action figures with a piece of a 16-inch BAF?”
In the end these are toys and the companies are businesses selling toys. If sales were strong on the existing products then we wouldn’t see the changes that are happening.
Something I’ve personally been trying to do is alter my expectations when it comes to toys. $50, $100, $200 action figures I expect far more out of than I do $20 and under toys. And if I want an amazing collectible I’ll either go for a 12-inch scale action figure from a collector-driven company of a statue.
If lines like Marvel Legends and DC Universe Classics (or, I guess, now DC Unlimited) were working well enough then we wouldn’t see Power Attack Batman or these new Hasbro 12-inch action figures.
Something has clearly not been working as well as Hasbro and Mattel would like.
@Openchallenge – The way exclusives work is the retailer either requests an exclusive OR the manufacturer offers an exclusive. I’ve been on the manufacturer side of retailer exclusives in the past (and already know of some future meetings I’ll be sitting in on) and retailers take exclusives that make sense for them and their market.
I suspect that ToysRUs requests exclusives in order to keep customers coming into their stores. And despite the Austin TRU locations, the ToysRUs stores I’ve been in across the US always feel to me like they cater to adult collectors . . . those same customers who are typically loyal enough to a line to chase down exclusives.
@ Philip reed. Yes tru caters to adults if you pick the right day in the right month to walk in. There is still room for improvement there. You must buy whatever is there and not understand what I’m saying. If the figure I want is not there… That’s all that happened. I walk out wishing there was somewhere else to get it. I used to order the takara versions but that stopped when I paid $250 for a figure comparable to generations ultra class onslaught. I’m sticking with U.S. retail versions now. I just think things work better. If tru wants in store exclusives they could offer preorders like gamestop where you go to the store and pay for the figure ahead of time and pick the toy up at the store when it arrives. That’s me at the store twice and happily making a big purchase.
* could work better. I post in a tiny window with one thumb sorry. 🙂