Review – Iron Man 2 Minimates Air Assault Drone

I’m not going to pull any punches on this toy, because it’s inexcusable for any toy to come out of the box broken. And that’s exactly the shape this Iron Man 2 Minimates action figure was in when I popped the box open — broken. Toys that break before they’re even played with are lame.

Packaging

A tiny box with the figure packed in clear plastic, there’s nothing exciting about this box. It clearly shows the other drones and there’s no mistaking which drone is in each individual box, but once you’ve ripped the box open you can feel free to throw it right into the trash. I don’t have anything good or bad to say about the packaging; it’s functional and disposable.

A Bulky Minimate

This 2.5-inch tall Minimate figure is one bulked up robotic beast. With the basic Minimate joints kinda blocked and restricted by the huge shoulder pads it’s not easy to get the toy into any of the poses that most Minimates are capable of. I love how massive and tough the figure looks, but as with most armored toys you sacrifice a little mobility for the look.

Broken

The left shoulder-mounted missile rack refuses to stay in place. I’m pretty sure glue will fix that problem, but then I’m stuck dealing with the forearms/hands that just won’t stay on. And gluing those in place will sacrifice some of the toy’s very limited articulation. I am certain that not every one of these that is opened will be broken, but opening a broken toy immediately puts me in a bad mood. I’m not sure if mine wasn’t properly assembled, but I’ve gotta say that the simple post into hole mounting of the missile rack isn’t reliable.

A Rough Sculpt

So keeping in mind that the toy put me in a bad mood I’ve gotta say that the Air Assault Drone would have benefited from a cleaner, sharped sculpting job. Look at those missile racks on the shoulders and note how rough and uneven they look. I usually think of smooth and clean when I think of Minimates toys, and this toy is as far as smooth and clean as you can get.

And the rough sculpt doesn’t stop at the shoulders. Look at the knees and calves and notice how uneven and ragged the details are. And flipping the toy over to look at the back of the legs we see details are different sizes on each leg; this toy had to have been sculpted by hand, since a computer design would have a more machined and uniform look. This sculpt is terrible for an Iron Man toy and I expect higher quality from both Marvel and Diamond Select Toys.

Paint Applications Equal to the Sculpt

Basically, the toy is molded in gray plastic with a few painted details. Unfortunately, the paint app is so rough that we all would have been better off if they had skipped the paint and reduced the toy’s price just a little. A few splotches of dark gray, silver, black, and a spot on the arc reactor on the chest is all we get for paint and it’s so rough that it simply helps highlight the toy’s poor sculpt. This is a paint app I expect to see on bootleg toys from a flea market and not from an official Iron Man 2 toy.

Closing Thoughts

Minimates are usually cute and fun, but this particular toy is a piece of plastic junk that shouldn’t be in anyone’s collection. The fact that this was an Iron Man 2 Drone and the $5 price point led me to grab it at Tribe Comics and Games in Austin, but the poor quality means I will not grab any more of the toys in this series.

Hasbro can’t get me 3.75-inch scale drones fast enough, because I need a great Iron Man 2 Drone to wipe the horrible mess of this toy from my mind.

Skip this. And warn others about just how bad this toy is.

Philip Reed needs to open another toy right now in order to forget about this thing.