Toy Review: Punisher & Iron Man 2-pack

Punisher & Iron Man 2-pack

I don’t really know how Hasbro chooses the characters they’ll include in a multi-pack. Sometimes it’s obvious like the Amazing Spider Friends or the Henchmen 3-packs, but sometimes you’ll get something like the Silver Surfer, Daredevil, Iron Man 3-pack that makes no sense. Sure they’re all Marvel characters, all male, and they all have special powers or abilities, but they never have been strongly associated with one another.

That’s the case in this new 2-pack in the Marvel Universe line. Both Punisher and Iron Man are well established characters, but despite my well-honed Google-Fu, I can’t find anything that would connect the two together. I’m sure they were both part of the Civil War crossover, but since that was a flagship event involving pretty much ALL Marvel licences, that’s like saying you’ll see both Mickey and Alladin in the Disney Land.

Then again, most members of the market couldn’t care less about the logic of market assortments, so we’ll let it pass. The new package design is nice, toning down the insane waste of space that was the old 3-pack box for a nice, compact one that does the job of protecting the figure without that extra empty cardboard. The chopped off corner is also cut from two down to one this time.

The back has the required photo of the two toys and smaller photos of the other sets in this wave; Spidey and the Green Goblin (connected), Wolverine and a Hand Ninja (connected), and Iron Man and Black Panther (connected). The blurb explains that the methods of the two heroes are polar opposites that anything can happen if they meet, blah blah blah. Oh, well.

The figures are locked in their cardboard prisons by a molded plastic tray and some rubber bands. I’m sure some sets are going to have some problems with warped limbs due to the poses the toys are placed in, but mine came out fine.

As with all these sets, the figures are basically just re-colors of previous figures. Iron Man is a straight re-paint of the first Marvel Universe figure, while Puny is made up of a SHIELD Agent body (which I’m sure has been used elsewhere) and a new head that differs from the two previous releases.

Iron Man is really the throw away figure here. He’s a straight re-color, no new tooling, no new acccessories, an the new paint is really just a darker shade of the first release. Really just a filler so that Hasbro can make it’s money back on the mold.

That said, I really like the new hue they chose, and the way it’s painted on. It’s the sort of shade I expect the new movie line was supposed to have, but the application is cleaner and even, not tacky looking like the paint on the Mark IV and VI. It’s become my favorite of the 4 colors I own.

Every thing else about the figure is exactly the same. Articulation excellent (it’s the Iron Man figure that can get closest to that iconic ground punch pose). Sculpt is nice (though if you had problem with the “he’s too skinny to be a man in suit” sort, then pass on it). Accessory wise, they skimpped. He doesn’t even come with that limp repulsor wrist clip on that comes with EVERY OTHER 4″ Iron Man figure.

Punisher is the real reason to buy this set. Though he’s a re-color, it seems that the sculpt was made for the vigilante. The new head fits very well on the body, not like the first version whose head seemed like a melon on a smurf’s body. Personally, I prefer the head of the second, all black version, since it looked sort of like Tim Bradstreet’s version. This one looks as if it’s based on Jim Lee’s rendition, complete with headband.

Articulation is what you’d expect from the Marvel Universe line. It’s good until you get to the hips, where the lack of thigh cuts really throws everything off. The Iron Man figure circumvents this by having a combination peg and hinge joint at the knee, but this bad boy forgoes that in favor of the double hinge knee. The double knee hinge is great if you have that thigh swivel, but without it, it’s useless.

He’s got a hip holster connected to his belt, and a shoulder harness as well. The belt looks as if it would be removable if you’re willing to dis-member him. I am not.

Sadly, there’s no second holstered pistol attached to the shoulder harness. It’s also weird that the harness and holster is brown, while the belt is inexplicably white.

What excites me though is that the pistol is REMOVABLE! That’s right, Frank can pull the hand gun from the holster and threaten to pistol whip the bad guys into submission! Awesome!

He also comes with that boring old M-16 that seems to be in all the Marvel Universe figures these days. It’s made of very soft plastic, which is better than brittle plastic, but it turns limp in the heat of summer.

Really the great thing about a 4″ Punisher though is you can deck him out in GI Joe gear! Here he is with some stuff from Beachhead, Shockwave and Snake Eyes:

Despite the fact that I really like this figure, there are some glaring problems with it that prevent me from recommending it.

The obvious re-purposing of the original mold is one thing. As I said, there should have been some re-tooling to make it seem like this is really a Frank Castle loaded for bear. Casting the whole harness and holster in either white or black would have been one way to do that. Giving him a second gun and holster would have been a second. Putting a strap on the M-16 would have been a third.

Most importantly, Hasbro SHOULD have given him a left hand that could hold things. There is a reason that GI Joe figures are always sculpted with 2 gripping hands and that is so that they can hold 2 accessories at once. The fact that this Punisher can’t seem to do that is a huge point against it.

And only 2 guns Hasbro? When has the Punisher ever gone out of the house with only 2 guns? Seriously?

So no, even if I really, really like both of these figures, I can’t recommend the set. Despite great sculpting, nice paint and fair articulation the obvious re-use of figures, lack of accessories, and the higher price tag (the set costs P1,000.00 or p100 more than 2 single card figures do now) makes this an above average attempt, not a must have. And this was probably the best one in among the 4 2-packs.

It’s a close one, but I’m gonna say this Frank and Tony set is a loser.