Toy Review: Crimson Dynamo

03/19/10

Iron Man 2 Crimson Dynamo

Crimson Dynamo. Sounds like a porn name.

Despite that, there have been no less than a dozen Marvel characters to hold the title. The Crimson Dynamo is a Soviet Super Soldier; a suit of armor created by Professor Dr. Anton Vanko that could control electricity. This was of course during the the Cold War, a time where ever US kid was told that the Reds were the antithesis of everything the US stood for. Hence Vanko was a man who worked for the Soviet government, made a suit to kick Iron Man’s ass, then saw the error of his ways and defected, eventually going to work with Tony Stark. The Reds sent Natalia Romanova to assassinate him. This is of course where all the geeks in the audience start picturing ScarJo in skin tight black leather.

The story sounds pretty good, and I can’t wait to see how it’s adapted on the screen. We know that Mickey Rourke will be playing Ivan Vanko (Anton’s son in the movie universe) and it’s been said that he’ll become the Dynamo later, but I’m curious if we’ll get a glimpse of the armor in this movie.

If it appears or not in the movie, at least we get to have a plastic representation of it. Thanks to Bim and Abumelt, I was able to get one of the 3.75″ action figures from the 2nd toy launch organized by Cybertron Philippines. It’s a good thing, too, since there are already reports that the figure is hard to find on the pegs, along with the comic version of War Machine. I was able to make it in time to get both.

The mold is based more on the armor worn by Yuri Petrovich, the fourth man to hold the mantle of Crimson Dynamo, than it was on Vanko’s original design. Though the back says that this was the armor made by Vanko, the original one was… visually evocative. What it invokes is those big tubes that look like bellows; You know, the ones that they used to use in all those chintzy science fiction films where space aliens all looked like silver washing machines. But in red of course.

I say it was a good call to use the ver 4.0 in this case since it seems to be the strongest, most iconic design among the 12 or so Dynamos that litter Marvel Universe. The toy brings out that design very well and seems to me to be very close to the illustrations of the day. The armor has ribbing where it’s supposed to be ribbed, has those funky gauntlets and greaves, and retains the gnarly shoulder pieces. All the geeks who go on and on about something being “comic accurate” can rejoice. This here, as they say, is the shit.

Paint-wise, the figure is very nicely done, though that’s usually the case when the majority of the surface is all one color. The toy is cast in a crimson (duh) plastic, that then looks to be finished with a nice glossy coat. Some of the nubs and joints are unfinished, but you can’t really see it unless you’re looking. It’s a very nice effect, and works well with the mold.

The only places that Hasbro could have messed up would be the black inside his intake vents on his chest and the cyclops “eye”. The Iron Man movie armors in this series have been using stickers for eyes, but I think this one’s been painted. You’re going to want to make sure your’s isn’t crooked. Mine is a bit of unpainted plastic in the very corner of the eyeslit, but it’s barely noticeable.

The figure isn’t really that tall. Personally, I like my villains big, bad, and with the ability to pound the hero into the dirt before he’s able to best them with his strength of will, intelligence, or awesome rock band prowress. Having grown up as a nerd and a geek, I equate big with evil. It’s stupid, but it’s my brain, so shut up.

Dynamo is a tad bigger than the Mark VI, but a skotch shorter than the Iron Monger. In terms of girth, he measures about the same; somewhere in the middle of the two.

Articulation is pretty standard for the line, which means far better than the Marvel Universe figures and closer to the old Toy Biz Legends standard. Here’s the list; swivel neck, swivel/post shoulders, swivel/post elbows, swivel wrists, ball jointed torso/ab crunch, double swivel/post hips, double hinged knees, and swivel/post ankles. Impressive considering the crappy joints we’ve had to put up with in the main 3.75″ line.

Accessories are pretty scarce though. All Dynamo gets is a strap-on eye zap. This is a weird choice in my opinion. His write up on wikipedia says that he has control of electricity, but this zap is PURPLE. It’s not the color I would have thought of for electricity.

It fits pretty well, but it goes all the way around his head. Not really a “snap-on” piece as the packaging states, and it looks kind of odd when viewed from the side.

It’ll also fit on some other 3.75″ figures.

I felt it would have been nicer if Hasbro had including pieces that went on his hands instead, like they did with the rest of the comic series. or why not re-use those great little pieces from Electro? I’m kinda kicking myself for not buying one of those when he was available.

Since I don’t really buy the pieces that came with the Classic Iron Man suit and the 1st Appearance as repulsor blasts, I’ve given them both to Crimson Dynamo. They look nicer on him in my opinion.

Overall, this is probably my favorite of the new batch I bought on that second day. Yes, even over War Machine. Sure Rhodey’s got the guns, but this guy looks like those old school robots you used to see in those 60’s and 70’s movies. Like some kind of tricked out Cylon dipped in blood.

Wouldn’t that be cool?