Review – Marvel Universe Iron Man (Golden Avenger)

So earlier this week I posted a review of the Silver Centurion Iron Man, a repaint of the basic Iron Man action figure in the Marvel Universe 3.75-inch scale action figure series. The Silver Centurion looked good enough with my Stealth Ops Iron Man (review here) that when I was at ToysRUs I decided to take advantage of their 2 for $10 Marvel Universe deal and grab myself this classic, Golden Avenger Iron Man.

What’s the best part about this action figure? The fact that it’s a completely new sculpt and that it looks a hell of a lot like the Iron Man that was pretty much the dominant design for a lot of the 80s. At $5 this guy was a steal, and I’m growing happy enough with my Marvel Universe collection of Iron Men that I’m gonna start watching for the basic figure that was released earlier this year.

But now it’s time to take a close look at this Golden Avenger Iron Man.

Articulation

The Golden Avenger Iron Man has what’s turning out to be the fairly standard Marvel Universe points of articulation, with a ball-jointed neck, ball shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows (and double-hinge knees), ball hips and abdomen, twisty wrists, and feet that are both swivel and hinged (even if the sculpt prevents the hinge articulation from even working).

The Golden Avenger Iron Man review at Articulated Discussion goes into serious detail on the articulation — including a photo — if you really care about articulation. Personally, what’s here works pretty good (even if I am starting to wish for better hip articulation). It’s not perfect, but the articulation is playable and there’s actually a pretty good number of poses you can drop Iron Man. The only real downcheck is that his balance is off and he could really use a stand.

Sculpt

I find the sculpt on this Iron Man figure to be excellent, with every detail perfectly capturing Iron Man as I remember him from my childhood (before the Silver Centurion armor, that is). The figure is lean, with the torso too lean for some. In his review at Articulated Discussion TAO writes:

“This Iron Man toy is ugly, and there’s really only one reason, his wonky proportions. There has been a lot of discussion about his wickedly thin torso, and for good reason, because it’s absurd looking for a man (let alone a woman) wearing full plate armor. I nearly called this version, “Iron Man (Corset)”.”

I disagree. I think the thin, lanky look really adds to the figure’s appeal. The classic Iron Man wasn’t a brute but, rather, always looked quite slender. In his review at Infinite Hollywood Newton Gimmick obviously agrees with my assessment of the design:

“Some have complained that the torso looks too long or that he’s too lanky, but I think he’s fine. Maybe you could shave a couple centimeters off the torso but since that’s one of the longest parts of your body I’m cool with it.”

I get the feeling we were both reading Iron Man comics at about the same time back in the 80s.

Regardless of the torso’s thinness or thickness, though, it’s clear to me — and should be clear to everyone — that all of the other sculpted details are fantastic. The boots and gauntlets have the classic ribbed design, as do the neck and skirt, while the chest has the original circular plate. But as nice as those details look, it’s really the head sculpt that makes this undeniably the classic Iron Man look. Overall this is easily one of the best sculpts in the Marvel Universe series since it works well as a toy and closely follows the character design from the old Iron Man comics.

Paint

Okay, clearly one of the paint details that I love about the Silver Centurion Iron Man (review here) — the black lines painted in the armor’s sculpted details — was first used on this guy since he was released first. Well, regardless of when Hasbro decided to start using this trick I really appreciate it.

Besides the black detail lines, and black on the helmet, Iron Man’s solely red and gold, and the gold’s a yellowish gold more than it is a metallic gold. And the red’s a bright, bright red that’s something along the lines of the red you would see on a sports car; basically, the classic comic colors.

There are a few messy spots on Iron Man’s paint job, with splashes of red spilling over on the legs and arms, but other than those minor mistakes the paint is excellent. It’s certainly better than a lot of paint jobs I’ve seen on 3.75-inch scale action figures; but that has more to do with the limited number of colors than anything else.

Accessories

Golden Avenger Iron Man comes with that same lame blast effect piece that every other Iron Man in this series carries. It snaps onto the wrist just fine, yes, but I would gladly trade this thing for a stand.

The only other accessories are the paper card, document, and the code for use with the Fury Files website. I’m enjoying the paper accessories, and the website, but I’m hoping Hasbro is building to something with the site. I’d love to see them start offering us an exclusive figure that doesn’t require a subscription to online comics (which was the only way to get the Nick Fury action figure that I already reviewed).

Closing Thoughts

With a fantastic sculpt, playable articulation, and a nice paint job this Golden Avenger Iron Man was a great addiition to my Marvel Universe action figure collection. While I’ve been a little annoyed at Hasbro for churning out multiple versions of some characters the fact that this guy’s a new sculpt makes him a great example of a way to give us variants without making us feel like we’re constantly buying the same figure over and over.

I’m sure as Hasbro adds other Iron Man sculpts to the series we’ll start to see some blending of the various pieces . . . and I’m fine with that idea as long as they accessorize the various Iron Men with unique accessories that drastically change their appearance. And we know Hasbro’s good at this sort of thing; just look at what they do with the Stormtrooper and Clone Trooper action figures in their Star Wars line.

For another look at the Golden Avenger Iron Man action figure take a look at this short review at the Past Generation Toys blog.

Philip Reed is now seriously looking for the Iron Man figure that he’s missing. It can’t be that hard to find a basic Iron Man, right?