Review – Iron Man 2 Classic Iron Man
“Built based on the primitive transistorized chest plate that keeps Tony Stark alive, this is the armor that first allowed the billionaire inventor to become Iron Man. Totally bulletproof and armed with magnetic repulsors, it allows Stark to hold his own, even against the likes of the Hulk!”
— from the back of the card
Following the fantastic Deep Dive Armor Iron Man (review here) and Stealth Operations Iron Man (review here) action figures from the Iron Man 2 toy series, this Classic Iron Man action figure — also known as First Appearance Iron Man — was a little bit of a disappointment. The sculpt is great, the paint is some of the best I’ve ever seen on a mass market 3.75-inch action figure, but there are articulation issues that bring this down from the levels of awesome that we got with the other two figures.
There’s an Ab Joint?
The toy has an ab joint, but there’s almost no movement at that joint. The action figure’s bulky sculpt prevents that body from moving at the ab joint. It’s frustrating, and means Iron Man can’t do more than look straight ahead, but that’s not the only articulation problem. The head is a swivel joint, the bulk of the shoulders keeps the arms from going down, and the thick sculpt around the elbows limits the range of motion in the arms. Man, this guy is so thick and heavy that he mostly just stands there. As I said, a disappointment.
The Weathered Look Saves the Toy
You know what? As disappointed as I am in the articulation, the weathered look of the toy is so fantastic that I’m very happy to have this Iron Man in my collection and recommend that any Marvel Universe fan grab one of these for the 3.75-inch scale Marvel action figure collection. Hasbro’s doing an awesome job on weathered paint aps these days — the Star Wars IG-86 action figure (review here) has a similar paint effect — and I can’t wait to see what they do next with their paint. This guy’s paint is every bit as good as I’ve seen on a lot of customs and high-end toys; either weathering effects are getting easier to apply or someone at Hasbro has as much love for battered metal as I do.
Am I Too Forgiving?
The articulation should bother me a lot more than it does, but the way this Classic Iron Man looks with my still-growing 3.75-inch scale Iron Man collection — so far I’ve got Proto-Classic Armor, Basic Iron Man, Silver Centurion, Golden Avenger, Stealth Ops, Deep Dive Armor, and Stealth Operations — makes it one of the cooler toys I’ve bought in the last few months. And the more I play with it the more I find I like it better than Deep Dive Armor Iron Man; the paint is just that good.
Accessories
The stand and cards are the best accessories in this line; I love how Hasbro listened to complaints about the lack of stands in the Marvel Universe toy line and answered our call. The “blast,” though, is the same sort of garbage we’ve seen packed with Marvel Universe toys. I took a photo of the plastic blast accessory, but this is another piece of plastic that’s destined for a drawer. At least the bit didn’t increase the price; I found Classic Iron Man at Wal-Mart and the $7 price tag is appreciated after paying $7.50 to $8.50 for Marvel Universe figures.
Closing Thoughts
Just how many action figures have been released for this series? The numbers on the packages go into the twenties; are there really over twenty different Iron Man 2 action figures on shelves right now? That’s insane!
Today (March 1st, 2010) is the first official day of release for the Iron Man 2 toys, so these should be in every store starting this week. I love the line, even the poor articulation of this Classic Iron Man hasn’t hurt my feelings about the line, and I recommend that all of you run out and grab at least one figure in this series.
Yeah, I’m a nut for 3.75-inch scale Iron Man action figures. I hope you guys will forgive me.
See ActionFigurePics for another look at this particular Iron Man action figure.
Philip Reed has one more Iron Man 2 toy to review, but then that’s it until April. No new toys for Philip in March; it’s gonna be a weird month of walking through stores and not buying toys. Wish him luck!
Good review. I’m liking this comic series version a little better than the movie Mark 1, which I think is also pretty cool looking. I’m being pretty stingy on which movie based IM2 I buy. Between 3 Walmarts I’ve gotten all the comic series and will hopefully continue that. I highly recommend both Warmachine versions. Sadly, I can’t find a really good paint app on Deep Dive or Hypervelocity and I like those two a lot.
The review isn’t too forgiving, but may be too harsh. I love this figure. The lack of mobility in the torso makes perfect sense. He’s wearing huge plates of metal there. No one would be able to bend over or twist much. The restrictions that this toy has are part of the design. It’s a little ridiculous to say that a toy with ball hips, ankles, double jointed knees. and whatnot “just stands there.”
Mine also has a pretty good range on the ball joint head, so maybe you have an especially tight version.
I think this is one of the best Iron Man action figures ever. I am disappointed that the rusted paint app is only on his front, but the limited articulation by no means detracts from his awesomeness in my book. The sculpt and the weathered look really make this guy pop!
I posted about the comic series version of iron man 2 war machine action figure yesterday. There’s a pic showing 9 figures of the comic series line so the movie series is probably another 9 for a total of 18.
Picked up War Machine, Dynamo and Monger tonight. Reviews coming this week. To add to what Jon said, there’s also the “Concept series” armors, so there very well may be 20-some odd figures in this line already. I was trying to figure out the numbering as well, it’s confusing that there aren’t more figures listed on the back.
@PresidentJuggernaut – Good point about the articulation. I hadn’t considered that this guy shouldn’t be as nimble as other suits; the articulation in the ab joint really bugs me, but I can see why it may not be out of line.
I really think the paint is what sells me on this one. That weathering is awesome.
I agree…great review. I also wonder if anyone else is having this issue but I opened my War machine (movie series) and my Inferno Mission armors and I noted that the right legs are slightly ‘warped’ inwards.
Also for War Machine, I was a bit disappointed that his head does not turn nor is his ammo for his shoulder gun easy to keep on.
My real problem with this figure is the paint. Although it looks fantastic on the front, they don’t carry that same wash to the back. That said….this is now my favorite 3.75″ line of figures. Movie War Machine is officially my favorite figure in this scale, even more than the para-viper.
@Aitch–I’ve had that same problem on several of these figures, but a little heat straightened them back out.
the number is topped off at 23 but i think that will be higher. alot of the inbetween number are not out yet. i have most of the released ones and love each one. all have a unique niche that make them special. the only one i have a prob is the mark 4 cause the paint on his hip ball things is sloppy and looks pink instead of red. i have seen several in stores all the same problem. also wikipedia.org has a complete list for this line under iron man 2 toyline
good luck this month let us know how it goes cause hell we all been there and probly will be again
@joe m – So far I’m staying strong. Today is the 13th and I haven’t bought a single toy in March.