Iron Man 2 Mark IV & VI
So I went to the Iron Man 2 Toy Launch, held last Sunday at SM Megamall by Hasbro Philippines, Toy Kingdom, and Cybertron Philippines. Rather than the tiny activity area where the Transformers toy launch was held, the organizers were able to secure the nice, roomy area where the skating rink used to be. It was nice to be able to leisurely browse through the ailses without causing grievious bodily harm to people unfortunate enough to try and squeeze past me (I’m a fat bastard).
These events are normally well organized and they seem to get better with each iteration. It’s a lot easier to get the toys I’ve targeted by attending than it is to hunt for a particlar hard to find item later. There’s usually a distribution system in place where popular items are distributed to customers with a first come first served priority. Sure it’s usually a whole day affair since you need to sign the priority list and then wait for the stocks to arrive, but considering how much I spent on transportation alone during my last great hunt, I’m glad I can rest easy.
This time out, my target for the day was the 3.75″ movie collection:
On the pegs were the first wave of 10 figures. Most of them were pretty nice sculpts, though I was disappointed that the shipments with the Comic Series and the War Machines didn’t make it. Since I already had an Iron Monger and I wasn’t really wowed by the Mark IV night light, I only went home with 8 figures.
Of those 8, 3 were short-packed. I had figured that Hasbro would choose the enemies like Iron Monger and the variant armors to be chase figures, since kids aren’t all that keen on things they don’t see on the screen. I was right about Monger; those figures were gone before lunch. However the other 2 figures were surprising to me.
The regular Mark IV and the Mark VI were very scarce on the pegs. If you were gunning for a set of 10, you could list your name to get a shrinkwrapped set including those two figures, but there were only a few on the sales floor. I had thought that since these are new armors that I suppose are from the movie, Hasbro would have ensured that these are the ones that are out in force. I guess I don’t know all that much after all.
Luckily, some of the cool Toy Kingdom reps were able to help Bim, Timster and I finding the few that were on shelf. They weren’t the best examples, but at least I didn’t have to shell out for an extra Iron Monger or the light-up Mark IV which was warming the shelves.
I like the new packaging. Very small, very tight, very little wasted space. Easily stackable in a box, or small enough to display the whole thing on one wall if you’re an MOCer. The figure and the accessories, even the cards, are easily visible. An important detail in this case since quality control seems to have been pretty lax in the case of this line.
The back of the cards has the standard Hasbro product shot. It’s aggravating that the prototypes are always so much nicer looking than the final production figure. You can see the sculpt is there, but there are so many problems with the paint that a close evaluation is warranted when choosing your figure. Since there weren’t that many pieces on the shelf, we settled for sub-par examples. Since I’m less particular with paint (it tends to wear after awhile anyway) I can live with it, but you may have to pass on the first few you see.
The package is easily opened (with a letter opener or something) and you can still put everything back in the tray when your done if you want to store it. Of course it won’t be MINT… but who are we kidding. Toys are only fun if you open them. The rest of the time it’s just an excercise in frustration.
The thing I really like about this new toy line was the included armor cards. Sure, most collectors couldn’t care less about these inserts, but if you think about it, they’re very well thought out. You get a schematic of the armor you bought that fits right into the included stand. It makes for a great display and it’s making me thinking about getting another Stealth Operations and Mark V so I can get the stand and cards as well. If you have the patience to really create a 3D diorama of Tony Stark’s Armory, these would be great to put in the background.
There’s only two real differences between the Mark IV and Mark VI; the first is the unibeam shape on his chest. The Mark VI has a triangle while the earlier model shares the same round one that the first 3 had. A tiny distiction that really doesn’t affect the rest of the mold. If you’re not a completist, I’d suggest just picking your favorite shape and leaving the other on the shelf.
Personally, I was waffling on whether or not to buy both myself. I’m glad I finally decided to get both. If you play with toys like I do, then accessories are a big plus. Mixing and matching gear on GI Joes is half the fun. In this case, thought the 2 figures only come with a BFG (the second difference) the stand and card (none of which is a really “accessory” in my book), you can switch the 4 hands between the two.
Sure you only have 4 hands between the 2 Iron Mans, but it makes playtime a hell of alot more fun. They’re sculpted with one fist and one open palm each, each on the opposite hand. You can switch and have Iron Man either do an all out repulsor attack with both palms open, or use the BFGs and have him blast enemies to kingdom come.
Look at the hand pegs and the wrist holes and you can see he’s cast in gold colored plastic. Hasbro used that weird paint they used on the first movie’s toyline. It always looks tacky even when dry and never looks even; clumping in places, and going on to thinly on others. The figures, especially the red and gold ones, have an unfinished look to them, which saddened many of the old Marvel collectors. And after a few months, you just know they’ll go the way of my 6″ Silver Centrurion, which is pink now that the silver paint has faded and the red underneath is showing through.
There’s also a great deal of slop, especially where the gold meets the red. One of mine has a great big gold blob right on his stomach. Sure we can fix it, but we shouldn’t have to. It really makes me wonder how we we’re seeing factory refects for sale when these are apparently just as bad. What kind of threshold are we talking about here? Do they have to have melted heads before they’re tossed?
Because of the terrible paint issues, I can’t fully recommend these toys. However, there’s a lot of good going on here. You’ve got an excellent looking sculpt, more than enough articulation (with ball jointed hips, double hinged knees, ankles, wrists, and a mid-torso joint), some nice inserts, a stand, a BFG that isn’t too ridiculously big and
At only Php450.00 a pop, it’s a relatively good value in today’s market. Sure you used to be able to get a Marvel Legends Juggernaut at the same price, but that was like a decadeago. Considering oil and plastic isn’t a renewalble resources, and the current value of the peso compared to 10 years ago, it’s a pretty good deal.
3.75″ Iron Man 2 figures
I had a pretty good haul at the recent launch of the new Iron Man 2 toy lines. They had a ton of product there ranging from the first wave of 10 3.75″ figures, nice new micro playsets, role-play items like nerf blasters and Iron Man helmets, and some great looking 8″ and 12″ figures.
I was pretty much set on the 3.75″ line. Despite my misgivings about the scale, I can’t resist the temptation of having a tiny little armory of my own on my desktop:
Still the fun ain’t over folks. Sometime in the next week or so, we’ll be seeing a lot more Iron Man product as we get closer to the end of April and the premiere of the movie. And like any hobbyist with that Collector’s Completist Compulsion, I want to get as many unique molds as I can (as well as a few more repaints) to fill in my armory.
I’ve heard that the next few being brought in will be from the Comic Series, and since I already have the Stealth Armor from this series I’m pretty stoked to get the Classic version and the Comic War Machine. I’ve been surfing the net looking for what will be available and came up with a few more I really want:
I also came across a very nice sub-line from Hasbro that has me excited; the deluxe Armor Tech toys.
These are similar to the deluxe packs from the X-Men Origins: Wolverine line like the Deadpool missle launcher and that Logan with the bike, but instead they have armor upgrades with a gaggle of weapons. While they might look like the BFGs that come with every single toy nowadays, the fact that they are mounted sells them for me.
My wallet is going to hate me.
I also heard that there will be several new 6″ Iron Man to join my Marvel Legends squad. Too bad that they’ll be exclusives to various retail chains. This is going to suck for most of us who don’t happen to be next to a Walmart that carries them. Not to mention that Toys R Us Philippines seems to feel the need to jack up prices for any exclusives that come their way.
On the bright side, the new Mark VI and War Machine have some nice alternate hands and the 3-pack of re-paints looks to be using the nicest molds from the first movie’s Concept Series. There’s also been a test shot of a 6″ Mark V floating around.
To whom it may concern:
I’m writing to express how disappointed I am with the service of your branch/franchise in the Raffles Corporate Center building on Emerald Ave (F. Ortigas Jr.), Ortigas Center, in Pasig.
I have eaten there many times as the location is very convenient for me. However, every time I patronize your restaurant, there are problems relating to customer service and these problems are consistent.
Long lines, long wait times, and incorrect orders are frequent. When I’ve asked for water, or ketchup, or just to ask what happened to the rest of my order, there is no follow up from the employees. I often have to remind them 3 times before I see action on it, and it’s not uncommon for me to have to get up from my seat, go to the counter and stand there before the concern is addressed.
Since I have only an hour for lunch, you can imagine how this infuriates me. There have been instances where I spend the entire time following up an order, only to have it delivered 10 minutes before I need to report back.
I’ve witnessed employees having there break times on the floor while there used dishes to be bussed, or tables to clean off. This is particularly aggravating when there is nowhere else to sit except for one of these un bussed tables.
Just today, I witnessed the customer in front of me storm out of the establishment because she was not informed that her order would take longer than expected.
When it was my turn, I had to repeat my order 3 times before the cashier was able to communicate it properly to the staff in the kitchen. I ordered 1 regular lasagna ala carte to go and 1 large lasagna with drink for dine in. Later when my order arrived, there was no breadstick/garlic bread. When I asked the manager about it, he said that they were low on stock and were only including the bread with the other orders of pasta, not the lasagna.
I was neither informed of the shortage when I ordered, nor was I offered an alternative. If I was, I would have chosen to go with another choice of pasta. I was not offered compensation, refund or another solution. I have experienced service in other restaurants where if a mistake like this is made, the manager would offer some solution, perhaps a coupon, or a substitution. No such gesture was made in this case.
While I understand the demands of the service industry, and am willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, this particular branch has displayed no change in it’s performance since it’s opening several years ago. I would easily rate it as the WORST restaurant among the ones open here during the graveyard shift lunch hour.
I would suggest one of your Customer Service trainers do an audit of this branches performance ASAP.
Thank you for your attention.
Play Arts Kai FFXIII Lightning
I’m sure Final Fantasy buffs (I know several) would rant about what I’m about to say, but I hate hate hate the way most Japanese video game stories are written. Fans of the games keep telling me that the story is one of the reasons they like the series so much, expecially FF VII, but whenever I get to the end of one it’s like “what the fuck was that?”. I’ve always thought video game stories were pretty weak at best, and every time I experience those from Japan, I come away feeling unimpressed.
From the what I’ve read and seen, Japanese culture tends to glorify ambiguity. Plots often seem to be obfuscated behind a lot of unnecessary little complications. Characters often have nebulous motivations and endings tend to be open to interpretation. I’ve seen it in Japanese cinema, anime, manga, etc and it seems damned lazy. Really, what the hell was up with Evangelion?
I’m an Westerner when it comes to my storytelling sensibilities. I like closure. I like a clear beginning, with a nice action-packed middle and an end that ties up everything nicely. I want that rising action, that climax, and that little part at the end where everyone gets drunk, sleeps with the other protagonists (or surviving antagonists) and then get amnesia and forget it ever happened.
The write ups of FFXIII seem to show that it’s much the same. There’s this whole history about individuals that are chosen by mechanical gods who are created from crystals and who see visions of their dictated destiny and if they don’t fufill it they become monsters but if they do they become crystals themselves. Then there’s a story about a war between two cities and some dude in a trench coat who meets some gal with a sword and how they need to defeat some ancient enemy of someone or other who is making an ass out of himself so they get a whole gang of outlaws and exiles to do it some of whom of course need to die at the end.
I’m sure they’ll work in one of those nice Jpop slow mo montages in there somewhere.
HOWEVER… while I hate Japanese storytelling, I love Japanese video game design. I still remember how fun those early FF games were, and even though I thought the story for Crisis Core was retarded, I did have a blast playing it, easy or not. I love the look of many of the characters that have come from this series as well. Even if it’s story was all over the place Advent Children was pure eye candy. That’s the reason I collect the Play Arts FF series. Because the figures are just that good looking on your shelf. Poseble, detailed, and usually with a few decent accessories and a stand.
Lightning is the first of the set that I bought from Wasabi Toys in the Shoppesville mall at Greenhills Shopping Center.
As you can see in the picture above, the box for these new Play Arts Kai toys is bigger compared to the old FF lines. That’s because the figures themselves are bigger. There’ll be more comparison pics of her next to the older figures, but she stands about an inch higher than them. These aren’t 8″ scale figures anymore; they’re 9″. Sadly, that means I can’t really pair them with alot of the Sigma 6 GI Joes. They stand like supermodels next to figures like Destro.
The rest of the packaging is more of the same old Play Arts plastic trays. They’re big and flimsy, but they’re molded perfectly around the toy and accessories. I love this type of packaging since it’s completely reusable. Just cut some Scotch tape around the tray cover, take out the figure, then put it back when you’re done and cover it back up. Slides right back into the box. Very neat.
The only thing is, it’s hard to keep that box since it’s pretty huge and not really that sturdy. There was a time I kept the boxes from the previous FF lines, but around the time I started on Advent Children toys, I had to give it up. There’s just no space.
Out of the box, Lightning looks like a spokesmodel showing off some designer’s new collection. She’s built like the girls you see in Sports Illustrated, with long limbs, a long body, a tiny waist, and little itty-bitty hands and feet.
While that all looks good on the drawing board, it makes for a kind of annoying toy. The high center of gravity, the lack of mass, and that tiny tiny footprint make her a real chore to stand up. She comes with a stand, but it’s of little help (I’ll get into that later). If you want to get her to stay up, you really need to fiddle with her legs and body to balance her. Wide stances seem to work the best.
She has wonderful articulation. Really amazing. I would go so far as to say that she is the most well articulated toy that I have ever seen. There are a ton of joints and it’s all USEFUL.
In total, that’s 28 points of articulation.
“What?”, you ask? “28? That’s only 27″
Well she has one more joint and that’s a combination swivel/post joint on her back where that thing that looks like a scarf is connected. It allows you to do stuff like this:
More shots of her joints in action:
The only problem with the joints is that they are very very loose for a new toy. Her knees can’t hold a pose for long and the swivels will give way if you put weight on them or hit them the wrong way. It’s the same deal with her torso ball joints and this aggravates the posing difficulties.
Which brings us to the stand.
I don’t like it. It’s a pretty good stand compared to the old Marvel Legends ones, but the Play Arts lines have always had those beautifully simple black ones. They always worked well and were sturdy enough to use for some of the big Transformers.These can barely hold up a GI Joe. The small ones.
The thing shares the same problems as the figure itself, floppy joints. Even with the ratcheting built into them, they sag as soon as you put the figure in the transluscent claw at the end. To make matters worse, the base isn’t really up to the job of keeping the arm straight up in the air. The arm tends to sag sideways.
The only real help the stand gives is if you have her with one foot on the ground at all times, and sometimes not even then, since the arm tends to flop from side to side.
Fail.
She comes with 2 accessories. A sword and, what looks to be, a gun. Both fit in her hand very well and are held there by a peg on her right palm and a hole in the hilt of the weapons. it’s a very sturdy solution, but I’m worried I’ll break that post every time I pull off or put on one of the weapons.
Both of them are highly detailed. Enough so that you can see that in-game, the sword folds up and is packed away in the big-ass holster that hangs from her belt. When I saw the product photos a few months back, I was thinking that the weapon transformed, which would have been all kinds of cool. Unfortunately I was wrong. So wrong. Not that the accessories aren’t cool. They definitely are.
Despite the problems with the joints and the stand, this is a figure that is worth the Php 2,300.00 asking price at WasabiToys because of one thing; the sculpt.
It’s rare that you see a toy of this scale with this much articulation with such a detailed sculpt. Even some 1/6 scale figures don’t have the kind of detail Play Arts worked into this. These new figures have all kinds of little features that really get my geeky juices flowing. Pockets, pouches, belts and buckles, the sculpted hands (with a second pair of fists), the hair and the scarf, buttons and boot laces.
I’m glad they went with the more realistic sculpting for the face, and not the cartoony look of the Star Ocean and Full Metal Alchemist figures. I’m not really a fan of the overy stylized or deformed designs, like the upcoming Bayonetta figures either. I think this time around they really did a great job in balancing that anime aesthetic and proportion.
About the only part I have issue with is the look of the double hinged knee. It would have been nice if they gave it a more seamless look when she’s standing straight at least. Can’t have everythign I guess.
So to sum up this long review, Lightning is worth it.
Though she’s got her problems (expensive, not readily available, odd scale, loose joints, and that assinine stand), she more than makes up for it with her numerous good points. She is nicely sculpted, highly detailed, very well articulated, and has logical accessories.
You can get her HERE, but I’m not sure if Pat and Nick still have stock.
If you're looking for biased, one-sided views of toys and other assorted geekery, then you're in the right place. If you want objective, you'll need a blog written by someone who isn't an obsessive geek.
These are my views on various toys, movies, places, and things, along with assorted pictures and the the occasional link to stuff I find sufficiently geeky.
Enjoy your stay and leave a comment.
Slangards
I may give you a half-way serious answer.
