Review – Marvel Legends Hulk Buster Iron Man

While it’s not quite in the same class as the Sideshow Hulkbuster Statue* (mentioned here) or the Bowen Design Hulkbuster Bust** (mentioned here), this Marvel Legends Hulk Buster Iron Man action figure is still big, heavy, and not the cheapest of the Marvel Legends action figures that you can choose from. I’ve seen this toy listed for everywhere from $40 to $120 but I ended up paying about $20 for this recently. Was it worth $20? Would it be worth $120? Keep reading and I’ll let you know what I think the Hulk Buster Iron Man toy is worth.

Packaging

Another one of those sealed clamshells with a header card, the package was obviously designed around the size of the Hulk Buster action figure because once everything’s opened the front of the header is basically blank. It’s okay, but the packaging for the Marvel Legends Heroes Reborn Iron Man (review here) is graphically superior — and a hell of a lot more fun — than this package.

Into the trash with you, packaging!

This is One Huge Action Figure

The first thing you notice when you pick this thing up is just how massive it is. Almost 8-inches tall, the Hulk Buster Iron Man feels like it could actually stand up to a fight with the Hulk. And this toy felt so solid that I just had to weigh it: 1.2 pounds! Now that’s a heavy action figure!

Fantastic!

Hulk Buster Iron Man may be the wrong scale (we really need one of these for the Marvel Universe series) but that doesn’t keep it from being absolutely incredible and fun to play with. I didn’t have this out of the package for more than a few moments before I started marveling at just what a great job the crew at Toybiz did when creating this action figure. Without even getting into the details on the paint and articulation — and before I even started looking closely at the figure — I immediately started posing it and setting it up with my other action figures.

Tony Stark Hides Inside

The first feature we look at has to be Iron Man’s opening faceplate. Hinged on the back of the figure, the helmet swings up to reveal Tony Stark’s head. Stark’s head swivels left and right — a ball-joint would have been better — and you can see mechanical gizmos and devices around Stark’s head. The face sculpt is decent but not so good that I’m going to pose Hulk Buster Iron Man with the helmet opened. It’s a cool feature, but it would be a lot more fun if Stark’s head did more than look left/right and if the sculpting was more like what I expect Tony Stark to look like.

Articulation

The Marvel Legends Hulk Buster Iron Man action figure has an excellent number of points of articulation, with even the fingers poseable (see photos, above). The figure has ball-hinge shoulders and hips, swivel biceps, waist, and wrists, double-hinged knees, hinged elbows, hinged feet that also rock left to right, hinges at the front of the boots, and an ab crunch joint. The front of the package claims 36 points of articulation and I can believe it.

Sculpt

While I’m not completely happy with Stark’s face sculpt, the rest of the Hulk Buster Iron Man action figure has a sharp, detailed sculpt that makes me think the artist behind the toy’s design sunk a lot of his time and love into the figure. While not an exact duplicate of the Hulkbuster Iron Man suit from the comic (included with the action figure), it’s close enough that any Iron Man fan should be happy. There are giant bolts on the feet, ribbed wrist pads and knee pads, great details on the chest unibeam, and a honeycombed-like design on the shoulder pads.

In his review at OAFE, yo go re shows that he also loves the figure’s sculpt, saying:

“. . . there are ridges suggesting reinforced boots, giant gears supporting his ankles, large angular kneepads, ribbed plates on his stomach and giant shields on his forearms. His fingers are thick and square, with sculpted knuckles. There are hatches ratcheted onto the backs of his hands, and beehive hubcaps on his shoulders. This guy is killer!”

There’s nothing I would change about this action figure’s sculpt. It’s perfect and one of the best Iron Man action figures in my collection. While not Hot Toys quality, this is better than I expect from a mass market action figure.

Paint

Primarily red and gold, with black details and a gloss finish, it looks like Hulk Buster Iron Man was cast in red plastic and all of the other colors are paint. And what I really love are the black detail lines that look even better than the detail lines on the Marvel Universe Silver Centurion Iron Man (review here). Unfortunately they didn’t use the black detail paint on the golden sections of the armor; it’s as if someone working on the Marvel Legends series decided that the figure needed some details painted but not all of them. The abdomen, wrist guards, knee guards, and honeycomb pattern on the shoulder pads would all look a lot better with a black wash to bring out the sculpted details. It’s a minor complaint, but it’s the sort of thing that keeps this awesome action figure from being the greatest Iron Man toy ever created.

Look, a Terrible Accessory!

Not everything about the Hulk Buster Iron Man is great, but at least the worst part of the action figure can be tossed in the box and ignored. As part of the Legendary Riders series, Iron Man comes with a massive glider that he can ride. It almost looks like the Green Goblin’s glider, but I can’t figure out why anyone thought the toy needed this chunk of wasted plastic.

So Was He Worth $20?

Absolutely! Better than the Marvel Select Ultimate Iron Man action figure (reviewed here, this toy is worth at least the $20 that Marvel Select action figures cost these days. Now that I’ve held him I might have gone as high as $30, but I don’t think I would have gone over that amount. He’s definitely not worth the $40 to $120 that I see Hulk Buster Iron Man listed for online, and the packaging isn’t worth a dime. If you can find one of these in good condition and loose — even if the glider accessory is missing — it’s still worth $20 or so. Maybe more if you’re a hardcore Iron Man fan.

Closing Thoughts

A great action figure, this is everything I could have hoped for in a Hulkbuster Iron Man action figure. (Quick question: is “Hulk Buster” one or two words? I’ve seen it listed both ways and I’m not sure which is the official choice.) He’s durable, large, has a great balance, a gorgeous sculpt, fantastic articulation, and is almost perfect. A slightly less than perfect paint job and an awful accessory keep this from being a must own toy, but overall this is superior to almost every other mass market action figure I’ve looked at this year.

And don’t just take my word for it. For another opinion of the Hulk Buster Iron Man action figure — even if it’s someone who loves the toy about as much as I do — take a look at this video review by SentryProductions.

*Affiliate link: Orders using this link earn battlegrip.com cash, which is applied to buying toys.
**Affiliate link: Orders using this link earn battlegrip.com cash, which is applied to buying toys.

Philip Reed wonders if there’s someone he can bribe over at Hasbro to get a Hulkbuster action figure for the Marvel Universe series. Anyone else wanna contribute to a bribe?