Toy Review: Stealth Armor, Mark V & Ironmonger

Iron Man 2 Stealth Armor,
Mark V and Ironmonger

Say what you want, but there are perks about living here in the Philippines. Low cost of living, availability of public transportation, affordable higher education, and malls that are bigger than some towns in other countries. One of the best perks in my book is that we are so close to China and to the factories that make our favorite toys.

Overruns, rejects, bootlegs. We get them all, and a lot of them. If you’re not too particular about your figure having two thighs, or paint chips, or having no accessories, then you’re in luck. DC Universe, Marvel Legends, Transformers, all of these can be had for low low prices if you know the right places to look. You have to be careful in choosing and you need to know your stuff before you attempt to find those bargains. There are figures available in these places that belong in that evil workshop from Toy Story; parts from DC figures on Lord of the Rings figures, Marvel heads on DC, etc.

Imagine my surprise when I find some figures from the upcoming Iron Man 2 movie line on my local vendors shelf. Amazing!

I was a little late apparently so I wasn’t able to score the Mark III suit or War Machine, but I got myself a 3.75″ Stealth Suit and a Mark V, plus a smaller version of Ironmonger.

Like I said, you need to be careful when selecting these. Vendors normally only have a few pieces of each figure and most have two left legs or thighs, two right hands, missed paint applications, paint chips, etc. The 3 I found still had some chips and sloppy lines, but at Php 250 (Php 350 for Monger), I can live with that.

They’re a little hard to compare to the Marvel Universe figures since the MUs have more cartoonish proportions. Heads and hands tend to be bigger compared to the size of the torso. The new Iron Man 2 line seems to have more realistic proportions so their hands and feet may feel a little small at first to those used to style of the main Marvel line. Personally I like this new asthetic better.

Compared to the Modern Armor (and repaints) molds, these new ones have better designed articulation. They are small tweaks and offer only so much in the way of added flexibility, but it works much more naturally than the old joint scheme.

The two biggest differences are the return of ball-and-post hips and double hinge knees.

In my opinion, ball jointed hips are much preferred over the ball-sockets that the Marvel Universe figures sport. The ball-socket may may for a nicer silhouette, but the ability of a figure to achieve a wider stance is affected. You’ll also notice with a ball-socket joint, you need to place the thigh and leg parts at odd angles that don’t really line up as they would in real life. With the ball-post design, the thigh looks more natural compared to the position of the leg.

The double hinge knees are icing. There are many collectors who don’t like this kind of articulation because it affects the look of the sculpt. For me, the flexibility if offers outweighs any problems that show up. Plus, Iron Man is one of the few characters where the double knee isn’t too visible, especially behind any knee pads.

Of the two Iron Men, I like the look of the Stealth upgrade the best. I have the Classic Iron Man from the MU line and I always thought he looked a little on the scrawny side. This mold (which from the looks of it is another repaint from the classic yellow and red version that will be released with wave 1 of the movie line) is beefier and thicker than the original. It seems more like it could be a man in a suit. I know that’s a bone of contention amongy Iron Man collectors.

I also like it because of the fact that I once saw the Toys R’ Us exclusive boxset with Daredevil, Stealth Iron Man & Silver Surfer at a whopping P3,500+ at a local shop. I was tempted since that little blue man looked awesome, but it was insane to pay over a thousand for a single 3.75″ figure. Since that boxset never reached retail here, I’m glad to have this Stealth Armor to add to my armory without having to fork over that much scratch.

That’s not to say that the Mark V Armor isn’t impressive. It is. During the first movie toy line, the Mark V exclusive was just a straight repaint of the original mold. What maid it even worse was that the silver paint applications faded and in just one year, you were left with a Pink Centurion. This smaller version looks to be a brand new mold which looks unique from the Mark III (or is it IV in the new movie?).

The design features some elements that look almost like plate mail in front, along the legs and across the stomach area. It serves to further set the figure apart from the other armors in this series. According to some speculation on other websites, that’s because this is Tony Starks “portable armor” which folds into a brief case when he isn’t suited up. I guess we’ll have to wait till the movie opens to find out.

The articulation is blocked in some places by the various parts. The shoulder and hip movement are the two that are most affected, but they have the same range as their Marvel Universe counterpart anyway. I love how the hand is sculpted to look as if he’s firing off a repulsor blast. It’s one area where this armor really wins over the other, which has it’s hands sculpted for a more relaxed standing pose. Unfortunately, the wrist swivel is awfully loose on mine. I can’t tell if it’s a factory defect, the result of dozens of people inspecting it before me, or just a flaw in the sculpt. The hand doesn’t come off easy, but it does come off.

It was surprising that my favorite among the ones I found turned out to be the one I almost didn’t get. Since I already had a 6″ Ironmonger (open-cockpit version) I was on the fence about getting one that was only about 4.5″. Supposedly, the figure inside the Legends scale figure is supposed to be in the 1/18th scale (it’s really not) so it should be about the right size to mangle the Universe figures. If you ask me he’s a little too big.

I played with the thing for about 10 minutes at the store trying to decide whether or not to get him. What finally sold me was the articulation, which is great for a figure this bulky. He’s got even better joint work than his big brother, with ankle swivels and hinges that let him keep his feet flat on the floor. He’s also got a swivel neck, ball-post hips and hinges on his wrists.

He has all the detail of the bigger figure, too. The pistons and hydraulics are all there, the huge gears that move his arms, and the rivets on his back. He’s even two-toned, with some parts a dull gray, and others a shinier bluish tone.

All in all, this guy is really worth the projected retail price of Php 550.00. Like the Hulk figures in the Marvel Universe line (which are actually a bit shorter than this figure), the sheer amount of plastic used compared to the other two warrants the recommendation.

I’m okay with buying these 3 at the bargain price since according to pre-release photos, the figures aren’t coming with a lot of accessories that really matter. I wouldn’t mind if I wasn’t able to score better copies of these during the March 7th Philippine launch.

I’d recommend waiting for then to try for the War Machine or some of the other figures that have guns and missle launchers with them. Factory rejects usually come as the figure only. You’re likely to get a War Machine that doesn’t have anything to shoot the bad guy with.

If you watched the first movie and want a nice new desktop toy, I’d say get a few of these to goof around with. But unless you’re a completist, try and cherry pick the ones you like. Right now, I’ve heard there are going to be about 15-20 or more figures included in the first and second waves and it’ll likely retail for abou Php550-600.

That’s going to be hard on the wallet.