Iron Man 3 Assemblers Striker Iron Man action figure review

The incredibly popular Iron Man movie series has spawned some pretty neat looking movie armors. Striker Iron Man is one of the new suits that you actually see in the movie's final battle and is a construction suit of sorts with two jackhammer arm attachments. We now have a figure of him and it's part of the Assembler series where you can mix and match all four limbs and heads of the figures to create different combinations. Packaging is the same as all the other Assembler figures and you may miss the new series if you don't look closely as they're just now hitting. How will Striker strike you as a figure? Let's find out.

Sculpting for Striker Iron Man is pretty decent. The head looks detailed with the armored tech plates on it as does the chest with the arc reactor partially protected by the breastplate sections. The arms have large jackhammer units permanently attached there and while the sculpt is a little soft looking they still look pretty dangerous. Unfortunately these aren't the super detailed super articulated Iron Man 2 movie figures as Big Retail has dictated to toy companies they want lower a lower unit cost and they had to cut just about every corner there was to cut. Still the legs/feet look neat with their knight-armor scaled sections and large heft to them.

Articulation is immediately disappointing as is the case with all the Assemblers so far with one exception that I'll get to later. Striker has a ball head, ball shoulders, T-crotch hips, and thaaaaat's it. We're back to 1980's articulation folks and it's that way with all of the Hasbro/Mattel movie-themed 'kids lines'. His head is the only thing that can give him personality when posing and since his jackhammer arms are slightly bent they can't even be aligned for a punch. Striker's jackhammers are glued on to the arms so in theory a customizer could tear them off and affix them to other more articulated arms.

Paint application is general mass-market quality with some sparkly darker gunmetal sections, green ports, and the bright yellow arms. The black caution stripes are cleanly applied as is most everything but there's some bleed or transparency to the yellow here and there. Striker's base plastic is a really nice dark silver which feels the same as what the Iron Man Legends figures are made of.

Action features for this line are "25+ interchangeable armor combinations" according to the package. The head, arms, and legs are all easily removable and can be swapped among the figures. However because this is a kid's line the legs and arms come off very easily and will do so just posing him. You also get two extra arms and two plug-on missile attachments. The missiles are nice looking and could be used for anything. They plug on to the arms, legs, or back.

The accessories are those two arms and the missiles. One of the arms looks like a Gatling wrist cannon and the other one looks like a Plasma blade from the Halo series and even has the crackling energy around it. It also has an elbow joint. Yep. Why only one arm? It allows Striker (or whoever you affix it to) the extra posing options but no other limb does. The arms have paint bleed from the black/white/gold contrasting paints especially the Plasma-arm.

So what's the verdict here? If you're building a movie-themed Armor Vault he is one of the onscreen suits you saw and standing still looks pretty neat. I actually like the fact you can swap everything out and 'customize' your looks. But the lack of joints really kills this line especially since here we see they can add them. If you're looking for Striker to customize his parts onto a better body you can snag him from Amazon pretty cheap along with other new Assemblers like the cool looking Crosscut Iron Man. Hasbro, if you're listening, we would buy the hell out of these if they were only decently made (or just make a 6" line for us!) because these designs are just eye candy.

Iron Man Marvel Legends "Iron Monger Series" Mark 42, Movie Iron Patriot, Ultron action figure review

 The last three figures in the Iron Man Legends line have finally surfaced and you can complete your Iron Monger Build-a-Figure! These are released three per wave just like the first set, which can still be found on the shelves at the time of this writing. They're under the Marvel Legends line technically but have Iron Man card art in the corner with the packages being your basic bubble card-backed ones. We get the Iron Man III movie mark 42, Movie Iron Patriot, and Ultron. So how do these figures stack up? Let's find out.

Sculpting for the Mark 42 is straight from the movie and looks sharp. All the tech detail is there with a great headsculpt and armor separation lines. The knees look a little odd from the side when bent because of the kneepad cut but that's not noticeable head on. Iron Patriot's sculpt is also dead on to the movie with the nifty separated faceplate sections and redesigned look. The wrist-guards are glued on this time and won't be lost like the ones on IM 2 War Machine which were loosely hinged.

Ultron's sculpt is the Titanium man body with a new head and shoulder
pads. This works for Ultron pretty well and only the feet look a little off with the large treads. You can easily trim them down with a hobby knife however. Ultron's new headsculpt is a perfect classic Ultron and looks really nice with his open mouth and ear antenna. A bit of the detail is lost being that he's almost entirely silver but it's still there.

Articulation for Mark 42 is amazing. Everything twists, turns, and bends. He has the new 45 deg ankles that allow side-step motion and can even get into the ground-pound pose that's almost an Iron Man trademark now. His shoulderpads don't limit the articulation as they're softer plastic. Mark 42's ball jointed torso moves in all directions as well. Only the wrist guards hinder the ability for this palm to face forward but are still soft rubber enough for partial movement. 90 deg angle ball hips are back and allow for perfect leg posing!

Iron Patriot's articulation is a little more hindered as his feet can't move to the side because of the ankle guards and his wrist guards block up against his forearms preventing the repulsor-palm motion. Other than that he has the same style and excellent range of motion of the Mark 42. His shoulder pads are hinged and flexible allowing for any arm movement. Ultron's Articulation is the same as the Titanium Man I reviewed a while back and only lacks side ankle movement and has the 45 deg hips. Other than that he's golden, er, silver.

Paint apps are pretty clean all the way around. Mark 42 has a nice gold/red definition to him with a metallic red plastic used for the base and while there's a little slop around some edges it's nothing a dab of Testors Acrylic Gold paint can't fix. His eyes and chest repulsor are really nicely detailed, the eyes having the black outline. Unfortunately his right hand repulsor isn't painted. Iron patriot's metallic blue plastic base is stunning and the paint was applied neater than the Mark 42. None of the figures have the new plastic layering technique the Bleeding Edge Iron man from the earlier wave had however.

Ultron's paint apps consist of an entirely bright metallic silver plastic as the
base with a tiny bit of blue airbrushing in places and some red on his face/shoulder pads. He may look a little plain at first but Ultron was always a shining silver robot and the swirly metallic plastic will grow on you. Only Iron Patriot comes with an actual accessory, a removable and fully articulated shoulder gun which can aim any direction and fold up against his back. The other figures come with the parts needed to complete your Iron Monger BAF.

And what a BAF he is! Iron Monger is a direct upscale of the 3 3/4" Iron Man II figure of Iron Monger. He looks menacing and the metallic blue plastic is sharp. The eyes, chest, antenna, and hoses are the only thing painted but he still looks great. His articulation is equally amazing with a great neck and ab joint, great shoulders and legs with plenty of rage. Only his wrists are slightly blocked from turning all the way due to the arm guards. Once assembled he's a good inch and half taller than the other figures.

So what's the verdict on the second wave of Iron Man Legends? If you're building Iron Monger you'll need them. Ultron could be a pass if you already have the Marvel Select version but this one is much better to scale and has better articulation. Mark 42 and Iron Patriot are excellent figures especially if you like the movie style figures. I'd recommend picking up all six in the series to complete Iron Monger. You can always sell him or single figures you aren't interested off on Ebay if you want to make some of the money back you spent. Our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store has them here or you can snag them at Amazon with free shipping if you spend more than $25.

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!

Marvel's The Avengers Movie Review 2012

Where is your usual toy review? Not here because in this entry you are going to be treated to a movie review. It does however have a figure line on the shelves. Marvel's The Avengers movie doesn't come out until May 4th 2012 but I was treated to an advance screening the other night. It was both written and directed by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire slayer, Firefly tv series) and has in all respects has set the bar for all superhero movies from here on out. Scratch that. The Avengers has redefined the 'superhero movie' into something greater because that until now that term has generally denoted a single individual in which a movie is based around. Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Green Lantern, Blade. But here we have many, some who were the star of their own movies and some who were secondary characters in them.

No one character is the star of the Avengers. This is not Thor 2, Iron Man 3, or Black Widow 1. The lens is drawn back to show them as a group but each character is still profoundly explored by Whedon to an even deeper extent than in their own title films. Whedon has done the remarkable here and created a movie where no actor shines brightest and each role is an integral one. Leave one of the superheros out and the whole movie would collapse. There is no filler here, no last minute additions or studio exec ideas thrown in. What you see is a group of individuals brought together in a time of crisis and discovering how to work not just as a team, but as friends.

You heard me say superheroes right? Some of the internet trolls have already jumped on the but-no-super-powers bandwagon. How can Black Widow, a regular human female (tho top of her class assassin/spy) and expert marksman Hawkeye who can probably only bench what the average body builder can, be thrown into the mix with the likes of lightning-wielding Thor and repulsor-ray blasting Iron Man? Easily, because they are Avengers. Whedon reaches into the comic books and pulls from it the characters as you remember reading them. He doesn't add any bells and whistles that weren't there before. You don't get 'altered powers' to fit a movie-verse style. What worked in the comics works here and perfectly.

That being said Avengers pulls no punches. There is no 'Cloud-lactus' instead of a giant purple man wearing a giant purple helmet. I'm looking at you, Fox Studios. No attempt is made to ease the audience into understanding who or what is going on because the fans are watching. From the very beginning you are hurled into outer space amidst razor-edged floating asteroids with beings conversing there. How are they not floating off? Is there a forcefield dome around them with air? Well this is the Marvel Universe and that is exactly what happens in the comics. We took the leap into Marvel's unexplained cosmic forces with Thor and Captain America. Now you had better learn to swim.

Back to the characters without 'powers' Black Widow and Hawkeye. They have their own special abilities that make them part of the team. Combat abilities that suddenly become very clear and very deadly. Black Widow doesn't need a mystical hammer to kill you, she just needs to get behind you. Hawkeye doesn't need to slam his fists into cars or throw buildings to win, he just needs a single arrow and you will not be walking away from the fight. These perfectly matched character traits are apparent in all the superheros from Captain America to the Hulk.

Ah yes, the Hulk. He is a fan favorite to many. But this is not the hulk from either previous films. This is not Ang's or Norton's Hulk. This is Comic Avengers Hulk as if Whedon has peeled him up from the page and placed him on film..and he will be everyone's favorite. Having a different Hulk required a different Banner this time around, not a decision made lightly. Mark Ruffalo's David Banner is as perfect as can be and as the Hulk he is as much of an actor as his real-life actors. I will spoil one thing for you because it needs to be. We have been lied to, Hawkeye never shoots him with a gas arrow as mentioned in interviews. Hulk is not a mindless beast or a tool. Because that's not what the Avengers need. They need a teammate and this is Comic Hulk through and through.

You're also going to laugh throughout this movie and laugh hard. Whedon brings his quirky charm through the midst of battles and downtime. From Hulk's schoolyard-style grudges to Captain America's naivety of modern life, it's the humor that adds a special sparkle to the Avengers and creates the movie's truly most memorable scenes, one in particular. I know this because leaving the theater I continually overhead people talking about the exact scene which brought a smile to my face. People are going to talk and they are already comparing Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises to The Avengers. They're choosing sides and arguing which is better. But a comparison implies that two things have similar aspects to be compared, that they are in the same league as each other.

The Avengers is not a superhero movie. It is not a summer action flick. It is not a dark and gritty origin rewrite. No, the Avengers is the first glimpse of a comic book universe that you remember reading about and writes a whole new tale for you. Whedon takes the best of each character and weaves an incredible story in your mind that brightens the dulling comic page memories of Hulk fighting on city streets, of Captain America teaming up with Iron Man, and you will be shown that the God of Thunder is truly a force to be reckoned with. Make sure you sit through the first half of the eye-candy credits, before the scrolling full credits. You will be treated to something that opens up frightening new possibilities for our heroes. That being said, GO SEE THE AVENGERS!

Avengers: Iron Man Stark Tech Assault Armor

Once upon a time we saw test shots of some neat looking mech suits for the 3 3/4" line of Iron Man and War Machine. While they were cancelled for that line the suits were brought back for the Avengers line. Here we're looking at Iron Man's suit. War Machine's suit was repainted USA colors for Captain America and the only thing different is the chest hatch being round instead of triangular. Hey, I'm just happy we got these.

The suit stands 7" tall and the sculpting is pretty fantastic. All sorts of tech detail, armored panels, and Iron Man design is worked onto it making it look like a Hulkbuster armor of sorts. The inside of the suit and hatch are detailed too and show all sorts of cool circuitry. Even the add-on weapons, while most are hollow, have a great look to them. Open up the suit and you can fit the Iron Man figure inside nice and snug.

Articulation is pretty decent. The only thing the suit lacks is a bicep swivel, waist, and knees. But the range on the hips is ball-joint quality and the ankles is excellent, enough for a walking pose. Ball shoulders and wrists help with the upper body posing and the head is on a swivel. Articulation on the included Iron Man is better than I expected, upper body being the same as a single carded figure. But he has no ankle or forward hip movement, only side to side. But since his waist turns it allows him to 'walk' inside the mech when you move the legs giving it a good enough motion.

Paint apps are few but clean. There's some painted gold and silver sections, a little blue around the head, everything else is molded in color. The control hand-pods are clear blue. Paint for the smaller figure are equally well done which is surprising because pilot figures usually take a big hit in both articulation and paint. The weapons are removable but are sculpted to only attach one way. You get a shoulder cannon, wrist cannon (either hand), shoulder and leg missile pods. They look nifty but again, are hollow from the back.

There's a big hole in his back for something to attach to but the instructions don't show anything. Perhaps to a larger vehicle? Speaking of the instructions the borders and parchment-like colors are done 'Steampunk' style with gears and vintage designs instead of a current tech look. It shows how to put the armor on, add the figure, and fire the missiles from the two main cannons.

What's the verdict? This is a pretty cool addition to Iron Man's arsenal and with some customization could turn into a really neat 'Hulkbuster' armor. Our Sponsor Big Bad Toy Store has both Iron Man and Captain America's assault suits separately or as a set. You can also find these anywhere Avengers products are shown but they're actually selling out which never happens with the vehicle types. It just goes to prove both kids and adults must like giant robot suits!

Marvel Legends 2012 Constrictor, Klaw, Iron Man figure review

We're back with part 2 of my Marvel Legends 2012 review and here I cover Klaw, Constrictor, and Extremis Iron Man. All three of these characters saw Marvel Universe releases and now you get them in glorious 6" scale. I'm glad they included Klaw, being a somewhat B-villain in may people's eyes but still classic and deserving a release as he incited events leading T'Challa to become the Black Panther. Constrictor was last seen in the Siege arc I believe.

Klaw's body is a reuse of the Walmart exclusive Scarlet Spider with a new head/hands. It's a rather decent one and has nice range of motion but again no tilt ankles. His paint apps are very sharp and clean. However there's not a lot of them. He has no shading on his muscles just the black and purple designs. But his colors are nice and striking. His facial sculpt is great, open mouth screaming with a Dr-Doom style inner mouthplate that's perfectly painted. I was expecting not to like this character but he quickly grew on me.

Constrictor shares the Moon Knight body with new forearms, head, and lower legs. This is even a nicer articulated body than Klaw and features nearly hidden pec movement. His tentacles aren't bendy unfortunately but flexible enough to be wrapped around things. Like Klaw he has no shading on his body but instead has crisp, clean orange and black striped sections. It's interesting to note his lower legs are molded in an orange plastic that almost perfectly matches his painted orange.

The face sculpt on Constrictor is quite impressive, an evil grin full of individually painted teeth complete with fangs and inner red mouth. Again I'm impressed by the clean paint because lines like this could have easily been badly done as we've seen in the past. His sculpted forearms are the perfect look for lashing out with his tendrils. If you're looking close you can see he still has a belt line around his waist but it's not very noticeable. Another character I was 'meh' on at first but ended up loving to pose. It's not like you should pass him up either, both him and Klaw come with Terrax pieces.

Extremis Iron Man is a figure people have been waiting forever for. His sculpt is sleek with nice panel detailing, palm/foot repulsors, and looks like the Marvel Universe version just enlarged. His paint work is clean for the most part but I see where they had to do touch-ups on the gold part of his mask. His armor has a dark red wash and shiny clear red coating. The gold is bright and the eye/chest sections are an ivory color instead of just white which makes it look really unique. The head can also be removed and replaced with the Tony Stark head that came in the Toys R Us 2-pack.

IM's articulation is great with one exception. He has shoulder-hinged pads so he can raise his arms straight up, his head also able to look straight up for flight mode. IM's ball torso joint has amazing forward/back range too. The hip discs swivel up out of the way but his actual hip artic suffers, each leg only being able to raise to about a 30 deg angle like in the picture and not a 90 deg sitting one. Tho this can be remedied by taking an x-acto knife and carving away at the upper lip of plastic at his crotch-plate if you're careful.

None of the characters come with any accessories save for a "Tales of Terrax" story pamphlet and a piece to a Build-a-Figure Terrax who I'll cover in a later review. With the neat accessories Steve Rogers came with I would have expected to see an energy blast or two with Iron Man or prhaps a Klaw sound-blast. But even without them these figures are downright fun to pose and add to your 6" Marvel Legends collection.

What's the verdict? Well if you want to build Terrax you'll need them and honestly they're pretty nice. Klaw was a boss in the classic Avengers video game so there's some nostalgia value. All three bodies lend themselves to being perfect custom figure fodder having very base-body-sculpts. Our sponsors Big Bad Toy Store and Past Generation toys have these for preorder or you can wait until they pop up at local shops. But the way they're selling out so fast is an indication of how well this line was produced. Bravo Hasbro, bravo.

6" Titanium Man; Iron Man action figure review

He's mean, green, and hails from Soviet Russia, Titanium man is finally available in Marvel Legends scale. This appears to be an enlarged mold of the 3 3/4" Titanium man from the Iron Man movie line with a few tweaks. He somewhat resembles the character in the Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 video game, at least the head does. Titanium Man has a very nice sculpt to him with plenty of armor detail and angled styling.

His articulation is top notch too. From double-jointed knees/elbows to movable shoulder pads, he can be posed most any way you want and fits in perfectly with your Marvel Legends theme. The only thing missing is rocker ankles but if he was just the upscaled version of the smaller figure this is forgivable. Titanium Man also has a great ab crunch and neck hinge.

TM comes with a wrist cannon that was actually included with the first Iron Man movie series Titanium Man, the one that looked like a 'mark 1' version. It's painted to match his armor and shoots two clear plastic blasts the same as the first one. Unfortunately it hardly fits on his wrists and you'll have to bend the clamp inward to get it to stay. Since he never used this in the comic you can probably ditch it in the parts box.

The paint apps on this figure are nice and the silver parts have a black wash to shade them. The green does look a bit plain but there's no slop on any of the figures I saw. He appears to be one per case and finding him may be a problem just like Crimson Dynamo which is shipping now in the wave that follows this one.

Now it comes down to how bad you really want Titanium Man. Toys R Us has the Armored Avenger line at an astounding $18. But he's showing up at Target for $14.99 and Walmart for $13, so that's a little better. He is a super articulated figure and those DC Universe figures with only half the joints are going for $18 these days so take that as you will.