Review – Iron Man 2 Classic Iron Monger

Line: Marvel * Manufacturer: Hasbro * Year: 2010 * Ages: 4+

“The Iron Monger was built by an obsessed business rival of Tony Stark. Unable to defeat Stark through his deft manipulations of the billionaire’s business and personal life, Obadiah Stane set about to destroy him. He employed dozens of super powered criminals, and eventually entered the fray wearing his own huge, immensely powerful battle suit.”
— from the back of the card

After several months of checking various stores, and just as I was giving up hope, I stumbled across this Iron Monger action figure at a local grocery store. And, despite some serious flaws, this Iron Monger action figure is an incredible addition to Hasbro’s Iron Man 2 series . . . especially for what is effectively a repaint with a few new and very important pieces.

Massive!

The Iron Monger is even bigger than the Iron Man Hulkbuster action figure (reviewed here), which is impressive since at it’s core the toy toys are the same. By taking the Hulkbuster and replacing the head, hands, and feet, and by adding new parts glued over the core, Hasbro has drastically changed the look of the toy . . . and painting it blue doesn’t hurt to give the toy a completely different look. What’s sad for the Hulkbuster is that the new head — as well as the bulkier feet — make the Hulkbuster feel even smaller in comparison to the other mega-sized Marvel Universe figures.

So What’s New?

Let’s go through the new pieces point by point:

• Head – The new head is one of the most important parts to making this more than just a repaint. Based on the comic Iron Monger (see Wikipedia), this is an excellent interpretation of the comic version and it looks great next to the Iron Monger Mini-Bust* in my collection.
  
• Shoulder Pads – These flat pieces snap on the same way as the honeycombed shoulder pads on the Hulkbuster, but they’re a bit larger and the antenna is another piece that helps this figure look new.
  
• Torso and Neck – Plastic bits glued over the Hulkbuster torso change the lines of the toy. Nice work for such tiny parts.

• Forearms and Hands – On the Hulkbuster the forearm armor is attached to the hands and rotates around the forearms as the fists and moved. On Iron Monger here the forearm armor is separate from the hands and attached over the Hulkbuster forearms. The hoses are also new, connecting neatly to spots on the biceps.
  
• Lower Legs – Under these new plastic pieces are the Hulkbuster legs, but the new parts so completely cover the old that it took a second of comparing the two toys to see what was happening.
  
• Feet – Completely new feet. Again, a great touch and it shows that someone at Hasbro really cared when they started work on this Iron Monger figure.

But, there are problems with the paint.

Something went terribly wrong in the manufacturing process, because all of the effort that was put into the toy was almost blown by the paint apps. A metallic blue finish over the shoulders and torso is a subtle but gorgeous effect that is messed up a bit on my toy; look at the above, left photo and see where a huge chunk of paint is covered by goop. Terrible quality control, and I couldn’t even see the problem until I had the toy out of the package. I did manage to flake off most of the goop, but doing so messed up a little more of the shoulder’s paint.

And that’s not the only problem with the paint. The above, right photo shows the awful slop on the red. Just nasty. And things get worse when you realize that the black wash that covers the figure — and makes him look fantastic — has caused articulation problems.

Frozen Joints

That black wash got down inside every single joint and it was only through twisting and pulling that I was able to get most of the joints unstuck. But not that right elbow, which just refuses to move. I know this is a danger with washes, but this is one of the worst examples I’ve encountered when it comes to paint sticking joints together. The wash really does bring out the details, though, so I think I can live with the frozen joint.

In fact, seeing Iron Monger with the wash makes me think it might be worth grabbing another Hulkbuster and taking a shot at applying a black wash to the toy. Hulkbuster’s paint looks cheap when he stands next to Iron Monger.

Comparison Shots

I figured that you would like a peek at the detail differences between the Hulkbuster and the Iron Monger action figures. I think the various photos do a good job of showing just what is different; click each one for a larger version of the image and then let me know if you agree when I say that Hasbro did a great job making the two toys look different from each other.

Closing Thoughts

Here’s an example of when a toy looks so damned cool that even flaws can’t keep me from loving it. If it wasn’t for the sculpted details and overall appearance of the Iron Monger I would say that the paint problems make this a wasted toy. Fortunately for Iron Monger, though, someone at Hasbro cared enough about the toy to give him all of those great new parts that drastically changed the Hulkbuster look and gave us a toy that almost matches the old comic appearance.

But don’t settle for just my thoughts on this awesome action figure. Be sure to take a peek at the reviews at It’s All True and That Figures and then decide for yourself whether or not this toy is as cool as I think it is.

Philip Reed may need another place to display Iron Man action figures and statues, because his chosen shelf is pretty packed. And that’s before he tracks down one of those giant Hulkbuster statues . . .