Iron Man Marvel Legends "Iron Monger" baf series; Iron Patriot, Classic, Heroic figure review

Iron Man 3 movie figures are just now hitting stores and Hasbro decided to sneak in an extra 6" Marvel Legends series with 'Iron Man Marvel Legends'. This is a six figure set with three figures available now and three come fall 2013. The first three, Iron Patriot, Classic Iron Man, and Heroic Age Iron Man come with parts to build a comic series Iron Monger. The other three figures are blacked out on the back package but according to store's UPC system will Ultron, Mark VI, and the new movie suit. How do these stack up against the newest Marvel Legends? Let's find out.

The packaging looks exactly like a Marvel legends package except with the Iron Man 3 suit across the header, so nothing special here. The new sculpt of the bunch is the Bleeding Edge Iron Man suit. It's all sorts of nice with great angles, little repulsor ports all over his body, and a great headsculpt that really looks like the comic art. While similar to the Marvel Universe version it's a completely new sculpt and not a one-up.

Paint apps for Bleeding Edge IM have crossed into the unknown with a brand new process that literally layers one color plastic onto another color plastic surface. The gold on his torso and upper hips is NOT paint. I checked, shaving part it if away with my X-acto knife.  It's super-thin gold plastic that has been poured and bonded to the red. This amounts to amazing precision of color and no possibility of scratching or scuffing paint on these areas! It looks like the new process only works on hard plastic as the rest of the gold on his softer pvc limbs is painted, looking fairly clean with the exception of a transition to his leg cuts.

Articulation for Bleeding Edge is amazing. Being a new sculpt his has full range of motion and then some, side-swivel ankles, and a ball neck that can almost look straight up. Artic for Classic Iron Man is the same as the Toys R Us 2-pack that came with Sharon Carter. It too had great range but lacks ankle side motion and the arms can't come all the way down to the sides due to the shoulder rings, tho you can easily trim these with a hobby knife. The sculpt is a classic one and stands up well, tho a little thin against other Marvel legends. Classic comes with two heads as well, a horned helmet and the classic rounded one, both well sculpted.

Iron Patriot is an almost exact mold of Extremis Iron Man I reviewed here with a new upper chest sporting the star. Unfortunately the same leg clearance issue exists and he can hardly raise his legs for a running pose unless you trim a lot of the plastic from around the hip area of his waist. All of the figures in this series are made from a really nice looking metallic plastic with very little swirl. This translates to a great glossy armor look without a lot of paint. The plastic is much sturdier than previous Marvel Legends figures with none of the rubbery feel. Patriot has the most paint apps and they're all cleanly applied, his face especially with great eyes and mouth detail.

Accessories for each figure include a piece of comic Iron Monger and a story pamphlet, classic Iron Man getting an extra head. You get the body and legs of Monger in this series but have to wait 5 months to get the arms and body, that possibly being a turn-off for some collectors. But the Monger body looks excellent from what I see here with amazing leg/ankle articulation. It's huge too and sports the same great metallic plastic as the rest of the set. The sculpt is almost identical to the Marvel universe Iron Monger so we may see a Hulk Buster BAF down the road given that it was the same body mold with different extremities.



So what's the verdict? If you didn't get the Classic Iron Man from the exclusive 2-pack, or just want a metallic looking one, pick up that figure. Iron Patriot is part of the Dark Avengers if you're making that collection so he'll be sought after. Bleeding Edge, well.... you're going to want to see this new plastic-layering technique up close and he's an amazing figure in all categories. You're best off buying all three and saving the BAF pieces. The legs attach to the body so you won't lose them and the half-built Iron Monger suit could be used as a background piece in a workshop diorama. Our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store has the set of three for a really great price along with singles and with clean paint apps on every figure I saw on the pegs you shouldn't have to worry about picking them out yourself. Snag this set and add to your Hall of Armors!