Friday, May 16, 2008

ACTION FIGURE REVIEW: Iron Man

Here is Sebastian's review of Iron Man... the action figure!

Photos by Damon Wellner


IRON MAN:

ACTION FIGURE REVIEW

by Sebastian O'Brien

Iron Man action figure

If you're anything like me, ie a total nerd, you saw IRON MAN this weekend -- twice -- and then ran out to buy the toy. After witnessing Robert Downey Jr.'s superb performance as Tony Stark/Iron Man in the superlative Jon Favreau film, I decided I simply must have one of the movie action figures.





John Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. introduce Iron Man at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, CA, May 1st, 2008.

Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. introduce

Iron Man at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, CA,

May 1st, 2008.




Iron Man (action figure) suits up.






click to enlarge

Tony Stark/Iron Man action figure





Iron Man (action figure) suits up.

Flying blind, I hoped that there would be a version with a removable helmet and Downey's likeness, and thankfully my prayers were answered. IRON MAN WITH SNAP ON ARMOR (HASBRO) had the features I wanted and then some. Actor's likeness are rarely perfect in regards to action figures, but the makers at Hasbro really managed to capture Downey's soulful eyes and angular features.




(click to enlarge)

Iron Man figure ready for action.

The figure itself is pretty much everything you want an Iron Man figure to be, with decent articulation and a cool metallic paint-job. I did notice that some of the gold painting is a bit sloppy, but that's to be expected with a mass produced figure like this one. Another complaint I had was that his wrists were not positioned or articluated to face palm-upwards in "repulsor" mode, which is kind of the first pose you'd want to strike with the figure. Oh well.


The snap on armor is easy to secure and features a chest plate, a helmet, shoulder pads and switchable bare hands/gauntlets. When fully armored, the figure looks really cool and has none of the awkwardness that these type of "removable outfit" figures usually have, and that is a result of good toy design and the fact that Iron Man's armor lends itself to this sort of thing. I was pleased to see that the toyline sticks pretty much to what you see in the movie and doesn't bore you with endless counterfeit variations on the armor. (Batman toys, I'm looking at you.) All in all, a great figure and a must have for fans of the film and the one-and-only Robert Downey Jr.








Iron Man (Tony Stark) action figure with bender action!





Tony Stark with Bender-Action!






Tony Stark and Spidey celebrate the success of the new film.






Iron Man and Spidey toast the success of the new franchise!








1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I even had to spend the money for the Generic Viagra to gain this magnificent figure of action. Nevertheless I have to say that I'm not sorry of my decision.