[TAO's Note: Ewan has been around long enough that he's no longer a "guest" reviewer, and this sure is a great review to start his tenure. I've been eyeing War Machine for quite some time, and after reading Ewan's thoughts on him, I've defintiely made up my mind. Maybe you will too!]
Name: War Machine
Line: Iron Man 2: Comic Series
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Released: March 2010
Price: Online: $9.99-$12.99, Retail: $7.99-$8.99
Scale: 3.75 in.
Accessories: 2 x Shoulder-mounted weapon blast effects, 3 x Armor Cards, Base (1 peg) with Armor Card stand
Before I start I'd like to differentiate between Movie Series and Comic Series figures—they're both from the Iron Man 2 movie line but the former implies the character/armor is a movie version and in is therefore in, or will be in the movies. The latter denotes a character/armor from the comics but has been done in this line to satisfy us fan boys. (Woohoo!)
On to the review!
War Machine is nothing short of impressive. Just at a glance, his darker, more heavily armored parts are full of tooled detail, while his silver areas in his upper arms, ribs, and thighs are nicely molded to look like muscle. You'll also notice his signature shoulder gatling gun (with targeting laser) and missile launcher, on which you can see each individual projectile barrel.
The other features of note are his bulky shoulder guard and chest ensemble, as well as his heavy boots and gauntlets (The right one has twin guns mounted on it). Coupled with the musculature of the smooth silver areas and the fact that he's a good half a head taller than any of the Iron Men armors, this guy not only looks powerful enough to bear the armor's full arsenal, but also to use it to its full damage-dealing potential. Up close, the head is quite a piece of work, with a sculpted frown, a down-turned mouth, and the angular cheek bones/jawline, the armor really feels like it reflects the military personality of its wearer, Rhodey. Hasbro also did a great job with the laser sight on his right temple. It's such a small but teriffic detail.
If you're a fan of utility belts then you'll love War Machine's lower torso, which has a bunch of compartments built into it that look like their part storage and part heavy protection. The bulk of the "belt" does give him a somewhat "granny panties" (can I even say that?) appearance, but I think it's forgivable and true to the comics, since War Machine was built more for firepower than style.
I'll also mention his two accessories here: the rubber "firing effects" of his two shoulder mounted guns. They're both of different shape and are molded into the blast patterns of the respective weapons. One's rounded, while the other is rectangular and looks like it's firing off white mini- rockets.
Sculpt Score: 9 / 10
I had no trouble picking a well-painted War Mack from the bunch that was on the racks. Unlike any of the Iron Men figures, especially those which are red and gold, this figure seems to not have any of the QC problems that Tony's guys do. And I really believe this is down to the gold and red paint, and specifically these two colors, that are used for Iron Man. I know it's weird, but Classic Iron Man (brighter red and yellow gold), Crimson Dynamo, this War Machine, and Marks I & II don't suffer from a problem with their metallic colors. So you're gonna be pretty safe with any War Machines you find, even if it's the last one on the pegs. Another plus point is that the eyes are painted on--but there's no problem with slops because the red for the eyes is only a narrow strip that doesn't need or have any highlighting.
To give this War Mchine's armor more depth, they've washed his metallic blue-grey areas with black. This works really well and serves to also bring out the ruggedness of the armor. There's also a little paint on one of his two accessories. The gatling's effect is cast in yellow with a little black added to the base, while the missile firing effect has a greenish hue, with a blackened base culminating in white at the tips (to represent them mini missiles).
If there's any complaints, it's that they used their wonderful silver on the ball-joints of his hips/legs. (His arms, legs, face and ribs are painted a smooth silver.) While it looks great, the moment his legs are moved around, the silver starts to flake off from the hinge part of the ball, revealing the clearish white plastic they used to cast it. It's not a big issue, just one that you might want to takle note of when playing around with him.
Paint Score: 8 / 10
Here's where Rhodey takes a hit. First off, his head's a swivel and is furthermore blocked by the rised areas of his chest plate. You can get about a quarter turn to each side or thereabouts. The other issue is his chest pivot, whch because of the size of his chest plate, is reduced to a swivel that also can only accomplish maybe a quarter turn. It seems like you could force it some more, but then that would end up scratching the paint some.
I'd also like to highlight War Machine's shoulders, which have full range swivel hinges but are limited by the shoulder guard. Actaully, bless Hasbro, but they did give the shoulder guard a hinge which can flip up all the way if need be to accomodate arms raised high. The bad thing is that W'Mach looks quite silly when the guards are raised all the way, partly because the armor suddenly looks flimsy and partly becaue his shoulders are really thin and small underneath (with huge bulging biceps.)
His hip ball-joints are also limited (by his armored undies), as are his ankles, which swivel all the way but can only point and pivot a little. However, all these don't detract from the fact that he still does have 22 points of regular articulation (with double jointed knees, I might add). That's right, regular points. Becuase here's where it gets good for Rhodey: his mounted missile launcher and gun.
Besides being able to swivel 360 degrees (except when Rhodey's head is in the way), these babies retract down the back of the armor! When they do, the can cover all angles of fire or they can be placed in standby mode, depending on your preference of war or peace for War Machine. (Is that even a chocie? Ha!) My good ol' buddy the Rangerlord also suggested pointing them backwards while they're fully retracted to produce a 'jetpack' effect. Well, I didn't have the heart to tell him no one one flies by firing guns in the opposite direction of propulsion, but we can all make believe, can't we? In truth though, doing that produces a pretty neat effect.
So that's like 4 additional PoAs from the shoulder weapons alone, with another 2 from the shoulder guards. That's pretty damn cool in my book!
Articulation Score: 7.5 / 10
I had a very easy time shooting this guy. (No not literally. No one shoots at War Mchine and lives to tell the tale, not even if he's in 3.75 inch scale!) The main reason was that his bulk and the sturdiness of his joints made him very easy to balance and hence put into different poses. But really, I had a good laugh when I put War Machine next to Iron Man and realized that the Mack was half a head taller. It was as much from surprise as it was delight at the varying height. That's proportion and accuracy for ya!
Besides posing him with ease and using him to make fun of Tony Stark's height, there's the two shoulder mounted guns. You could literally spend hours pointing them this way and that, then you could spend another few hours pointing them every which way with the blast effects. Then you could add in Russian soldiers, pretend to blow them away, resurrect the Russian soldiers, add a few flimsy crates and blow all of that away, thow in a Russian jungle cutter from the Indy Jones line... well you get my point. Hours of fun. Heh.
I like that they gave him the two blast effects instead of a BFG. It's not because they shouldn't give him a large cannon as everyone else in the movie line seems to have one. (If anyone should have a BFG it's War Machine.) It's really because it's something rather different from the usual laser blasts (or Mountain Dew, if you have the Marvel Universe verisons). They're solid and won't sag, and they actually look great on the figure, so you have a choice of whether to display him with or without the blasts.
But I also really can't complain that they didn't give him a BFG, because if you need one for him, all you giotta do is head over to the GI Joe HQ (wherever you stash your Joes) and grab one of them cannons from there. The good news? War Machine's got a left hand molded ready to fire an additional weapon on top of the three visible ones on him. What does this mean? Well, he can take down 4 guys at one go,so bring on the army!
Fun Score: 8 / 10
Seeing a figure that doesn't come with the missile launcher/projectile weapon gives me hope that the designers actually put some effort into thinking the toy's design through, instead of just arming him with some generic projectile launcher. It tends to make me look twice at him on the peg because this generally means they've probably included something else of some play value. In this case, the blast effects don't disappoint. Combine that with the bulk of the figure, add in his retractable swivel weapons, the heavy armor and sculpting, throw in a stand and the 3 armor cards and whaddaya know? You've got a winning combo. Oh yes, let's not forget the new lower price point!
Value Score: 8 / 10
9 / 10 - One of the best in this line. Hasbro really pulled no punches. He's made of sturdy stuff with crazy detail. Right up there with the Mk I & II armors.
8 / 10 - Pretty tight with no spills or major bleeding. It's really nice when you don't want to sift through piles of Classic and Stealth Armor Iron Men, and can just pick one off the peg, decent point job guaranteed.
7.5 / 10 - Not the best from this line, but this heavier, more detailed figure tends to suffer a little because of the brilliant work on the sculpt. What redeems War Machine's articulation is his versatile shoulder mounted weapons, and the effort it took to make hinged shoulder guards.
8 / 10 - This figure represents all that Iron Man is and isn't. Sure, War Machine looks like Iron Man but he's actually all about raw firepower. And it's fun that this figure can capture that, whether you're posing/playing/looking at him. You could also just play with his guns all day.
8 / 10 - A standard figure should come with 3 cards, a stand and an extra weapon (projectile). War Machine has no BFG, but has 2 accessories (blasts) and two shoulder mounted guns, both of which have an awesome retractable action feature complete with full articulation. That's just a complicated way of saying he comes with an extra accesory, an double action feature, and 4 extra points of articulation.
84 / 100 - This is a Great Toy
I can't help but like War Machine and I'm not even a fan! Right now, I'm feeling a little swept away by the new line of toys and the impending movie coming in a couple months' time. Still, I can't help but think how great a toy this is especially since he'll fit right into the Marvel Universe line as a member of the Avengers, no problem. In fact, he surpasses many of the figures from the MU line.
Most of us Marvel fans will no doubt rely on this line to build our dream 3.75 inch Iron Man Hall of Armor. But for those who are not Tony Stark fans or who simply prefer War Machine over Iron Man, this is the one good guy you can get right now who's not Iron Man and who'll have a major role in the film. Granted, he's the comic book verison, but the next wave will have the movie accurate version of him, with an unmasked War Mack to come somwhere down the line. (Don Cheadle FTW! Yee haw!!!) This means that you can now start planning for your very own War Machine Hall of Armor, starting with this excellent figure.
-Ewan
This could be the figure given away in this month's Review Commentator Contest. Join the discussion by leaving a comment on this review for a chance to win!
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