Admittedly, I'm not the biggest fan of Iron Man. Sure, I liked the movie okay and kinda enjoy the kiddified CGI cartoon (oh come on, teenage Pepper Potts with pink hair? adorable), and I have fond memories of the character from Captain America and the Avengers... and the old cartoon theme song was incredibly catchy... and I'm pretty sure I have that Iron Man X-O Manowar game somewhere around here, even though I've only played it once. At any rate, something about Tony Stark never clicked with me -- maybe it's because he's a rich drunk supergenius playboy to whom I just can't relate (not even the supergenius part, since he actually gets recognized for his intellect whereas I'm forced to write about toys to have anyone read my stuff at all).
The new 4" toys look darned cool, though, and I'm all about light-up features -- and the criticisms and photos in this Toyark review made me think that I might be able to modify the figure in a satisfactory way -- so I decided to snag the Mark VI with Power-up Glow (!) figure. Keep reading to see what I think of the toy... and whether Tony Stark ended up enhanced or maimed for life! We all remember what happened with Screw Shoulder Adora...
Name: Iron Man Mark VI (with power up glow!)
Line: Iron Man 2: Movie Series
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Released: 1st Quarter 2009
Price: Retail: $6.99 - 7.99
Scale: 4 inch (figure is roughly 4.25 inches tall)
Accessories: Display stand, armor cards
While I'd be hard pressed to identify the differences between the various movie armors, I find it bloody amazing that Hasbro was able to pack so much detail into these 4" offerings. In fact, I'm having an exceedingly hard time finding anything wrong with the sculpt. It's both streamlined and complex; simple yet intricate. It's beautiful. It's also worth noting that, while we generally refer to these as being 4" (or even 3.75") figures, Iron Man actually stands at about 4.25" -- meaning that, next to your G.I. Joes and figures from other 4" lines, it actually seems like there could be a Joe-sized guy inside that larger suit of armor. And since Ewan mentioned this in his review of the classic Iron Man, this Iron Man is also among the few figures with dual repulsor-blasting hands -- so if that matters to you, it's another reason to consider picking this figure up.
There are a few minor problems one might have with the sculpt. First, the figure's arms are on ball joints (more about that later), and there's a bit of a gap between where they end and the torso begins. Then there's the figure's back, which is broken up by the battery covering and the screw keeping it in place, but I'd rather have a figure with a battery that can be replaced than an unmarred sculpt that doesn't allow for that function. In fact, having the button for the light-up feature located in the neck -- such that the head is pressed down to activate it, as opposed to having a visible button hidden elsewhere -- is a really classy and impressive touch. Also, the right hand was warped due to being mashed against the tray in the package, but it regained its shape like magic with a little heat from a hairdryer (I imagine a few hours out of the package would have the same effect). The figures' pinky fingers also seem a touch too long... but that's getting really nitpicky, and I'm sure TAO would scold me (or Nightmare; he's our resident whipping boy) if I started giving sculpt scores of 9.7843. :P [TAO's Note: I'm still getting used to Ewan's 7.5's, so please refrain.]
Sculpt Score: 10 / 10
The sculpts on this line have been pretty excellent across the board, but -- at least from what I've seen -- the paint applications have been frequently uninspiring. It's even worse with the red-colored movie armors, and with the glowing Mark VI I'm convinced that you could go through hundreds of the figures and find less than ten with paint worthy of a score higher than 6. The exposed head also presents some problems, since it's more susceptible to damage not only during storage and shipping, but also from kids with long, dirty fingernails and little concern for poor Iron Man's noggin.
That said, I sorted through about twenty of these and picked the one with the best paint I could find. With fairly clean edges and none of the typical red bleedthrough on the gold areas, the only significant problems here are on the head: there's a bit of silver slop on the chin and, for some inexplicable reason, the indents in the cheeks are sloppily filled with silver. I've noticed this on other figures as well -- and the base plastic is white, so it's got to be intentional -- but I don't quite understand it since the box art and pictures I've seen online lack this coloring. You can also see a bit of the unpainted white plastic peeking through at the tops of the hips (the base color is white, so they either didn't paint the swiveling part or the paint rubbed off there), but it's not something you'll generally notice from a normal viewing angle.
Also, maybe it's just me, but I like the clear window for the arc reactor much better than the simple white sticker of the normal figures. The glowing Mark VI does lack the normal figure's gold lines on the torso panels, but that's understandable given this toy's particular claim to fame.
Paint Score: 8 / 10
The articulation's all labeled in the above image -- and, for the most part, it's identical to and presumably works just as well as the articulation of the other streamlined movie Iron Man armors. The ability of the hips to move forward is limited by the panels on the thighs, and moving that hip ball around to position the leg can be kinda tricky. Matters become even more complicated because some of the sculpting on the thigh looks like a hinge -- but isn't -- and I have a feeling that many of the complaints about stuck hips and subsequent breakage have resulted from people trying to move a joint that isn't there. Nevertheless, the extant articulation mostly works pretty well.
Heck, the ball-jointed neck apparently works even better than that of the regular armors. Whereas Ewan described the neck articulation as largely being limited to a swivel in his review of the normal Mark VI figure, this Iron Man can look left, right, up, down, and all around (though not up especially well) -- perhaps owing to the additional clearance around the head necessitated by its function as a push-down button. It can get a bit wobbly, but the head itself is tight on the ball joint -- it's the button underneath where the looseness lies. If you activate the light-up gimmick with the head turned to the side (I have no idea why this works), you'll generally be able to correct the looseness for a time.
That said, this figure also has some notable articulation limitations. First, because of the light-up torso gimmick, the glowing Mark VI loses the ball-jointed torso and thus has no viable ab crunch or "waist" articulation. Second, for some reason -- likely to increase the available space in the torso for the gimmick -- the figure's arms are on true ball joints rather than swivel-hinges embedded in the body. While this wouldn't necessarily be problematic, the shoulders lack the clearance for the arms to move outward on the ball joints... reducing them to simple swivels with a bit of wiggle room. You can increase the range of the joints very easily -- see above; all you have to do is shave notches into the tops of the shoulders so that the arms can rise unrestricted. (As seen, you don't need to go very far since the figure's arms would ultimately be limited by the shoulderpads anyway. Also, you should remove the arms first; they pop off easily enough without heat or boiling.) Still, the score here has to reflect the figure's poseability in its factory state.
Articulation Score: 6 / 10
Here's where personal preference kicks in. In most respects, this Iron Man is about the same as the other movie Iron Men in the line -- which, as I understand it, are all pretty fun -- but this one has a light-up feature. I love light-up features! In the restricted ball-jointed shoulders, the figure also has a limitation that is exceedingly easy to eliminate with a minor modification. I love improving figures through simple modifications! Granted, this is one of those things that should've been done at the factory -- and I have no idea why Hasbro didn't manufacture the shoulders this way; it's not as if the company doesn't know how to make an effective ball joint -- but it was still kinda fun to do and made me feel all special for coming up with it. I guess you might not feel as special about it since you'll be following my lead, but still!
Alas, I don't feel comfortable scoring the glowing Mark VI a 10 here because of the "need" to modify it to make it more fun -- and because of the limitations with the hip and thigh articulation. (That said, I probably would've scored it lower if the shoulders hadn't required the modification to improve their range -- that really was quite fun!) The stand helps here a bit, though, since it allows Iron Man to get into one-legged poses that he wouldn't otherwise be able to maintain.
Hey, did I mention that this figure glows? It glows! Really brightly, too -- the whole torso lights up. I just wish it worked like a pen (where it could click into position and stay glowing without one touching it) instead of requiring the head to be physically depressed in order for it to maintain the glow. It really is a lovely glow, and it'd be nice to be able to admire it from a distance -- and without my hands getting in the way of its brilliance.
Fun Score: 9 / 10
$6.99 for a 4" figure still feels like one dollar too much. It's certainly a better value than we've seen with other lines, though, and the amazing sculpts and impressive articulation on these little guys makes it easier to swallow. (I mean, even with the apparent part reuse, a collection of repainted Iron Man armors is going to look way more visually impressive than a lineup of muscular guys in their underwear DC Universe Classics figures.) The stands and armor cards -- while hardly amazing or on par with the multitude of accessories that accompany G.I. Joe figures -- also help to improve the perceived value a little. They're even more welcome here since they're all the glowing Mark VI gets; apparently Hasbro felt that the glow feature was sufficient to replace the giant missile launcher or energy effects that come with most of the other figures. The glow really doesn't help to make the figure seem like a greater value -- it's a typical bootleg feature, after all -- but I don't miss the missile launcher enough to dock the figure for it.
Value Score: 8 / 10
10 / 10 - Such detail at this scale is bloody amazing.
8 / 10 - Aside from some problems (notably with the head), the figure features great paint -- and the clear plastic arc reactor looks pretty darned cool. Good luck finding one with paint this good, though.
6 / 10 - An otherwise great articulation model suffers from awkward hip/thigh design, the understandable lack of a torso joint, and needlessly restricted shoulders (but you can fix that last one).
9 / 10 - Mostly great poseability, a wicked light-up feature, and an opportunity for easy modification? Oh, joy!
8 / 10 - Could be a dollar cheaper, but the fantastic sculpt, great articulation, and few accessories make it easier to swallow.
85 / 100 - This is a Great Toy
Given the limitations of the original figure, I probably like the Iron Man Mark VI with Power-up Glow a bit more than I should -- I imagine if you got it and didn't feel up to modifying the figure, you'd probably be a little disappointed given the articulation problems with the shoulders and the hips/thighs. For me, though, the lovely power glow feature and the pride I got out of modifying it -- and the subsequent delight I get out of posing it, since I know that I helped to augment Iron Man in this way -- make it a truly enjoyable action figure. I generally prefer the 6" scale to these smaller figures, but I can honestly say that, if I were more into Iron Man, Hasbro would have made a convert out of me with this line. Now the company just needs to secure the Street Fighter license and make me a 4" thunder-thighed Chun-Li... and I'm sure Tony Stark would enjoy that, too.
-Wes
This could be the figure given away in this month's Review Commentator Contest. Join the discussion by leaving a comment for a chance to win!
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