Toy Review: Walmart Iron Man Mark IV

09/8/10

Walmart Iron Man Mark IV

Just like the Walmart Exclusive 6″ Mark VI and War Machine (and to a lesser extent, the Mark V), the new Mark IV has been hard to come by a the malls lately. They’d been announced as being included in distribution lists of the recently concluded Toys R’ Us World of Heroes event at Robinsons Ermita, but they started showing up in other TRU branches several days before the event. As you can imagine from my previous post about the toy market in the Philippines, stocks for this figure aren’t plentiful and price is way up there (Php 1000 retail).

Still, I wasn’t about to pass this up and I’m glad I didn’t. He’s easily better than the Mark VI, though I still consider the War Machine the best of the bunch.

The package is the same as the previous 3 releases; a carded blister with a big window so that buyers can see all the kit he comes with. As is normally the case with Hasbro these days, the photography in the back fails to really show what this figure can do. I’m telling you, that prototype shot can’t begin to tell you how fun this toy is (though it does have a better paint job than the production units).

It looks like Playkit is sourcing thier stuff from Canada now instead of the US. The first ones I bought at Toy Kingdom sported the Walmart sticker out front. These don’t. Plus there’s the small, bi-lingual print in the back. And the “Hasbro, Canada” printed in on the card.

Sherlock Holmes I am not.

Now, why would I pay another Php 1000 for what is esentially the same figure as the Mark VI? Well, the biggest draw of this new figure is the Robert Downey, Jr. head.

That’s right, for a limited time only, you can own your very own 6″ Robert Downey, Jr.! The star of such films as Heart and Souls, Only You, and Ally McBeal (I do watch other things besides nerd films) can be yours to display on your desktop! Own a piece of Hollywood with you’re very own IRON MAN! Order now and we’ll give you a free rocket launcher! It really works!

You get the idea.

The RDJ head is a pretty good likeness of the actor. Hasbro kind of cheated by giving him sunglasses. That means they didn’t need to worry about the eyes at all (ask any artist and they’ll tell you they’re the hardest thing to get right). Still, the result is very nice, and I honestly don’t mind that they aren’t removable. He looks cool in them, which is what Tony Stark should look like I think.

You shouldn’t try to remove them. I’ve heard people say that they are a seperate piece, but that they’re glued on there hard and fast. If you do manage to take them off, they’re going to be a mess and you’re not going to be able to display it without some heavy re-working of the head. I don’t have the skills for that, so the shades are staying on.

The heads swap fairly easily, and are secure. The neck is a combination of a swivel and a ball-joint:

Either head pops off and pops back on smoothly without any problems, but limit the times you do this, since it’ll probably weaken the plastic over time and you’re ball might just pop out of the neck.

Unfortunately, Hasbro didn’t engineer any of the other Walmart armors with this kind of neck joint. None of their heads can pop off this easily, which means that the ball joint underneath those noggins are probably not a fit for these heads. Too bad.

You can switch him with the Hasbro Marvel Legends 2-Pack Tony Stark head though. The ball joint for the 2-Pack Iron Man is a little bigger, so it’s a loose fit, but it works.

Sadly, you can’t do it the other way around since the the other one has a longer neck. Downey, Jr. looks like a giraffe with the Classic Armor.

Aside from the head, the Mark IV also comes with 2 extra sets of hands, just like the other armors. There are 3 pairs in all; the closed fist, the open palms, and one in between.

The palms can be positioned so he can fire his repulsor blasts, and the relaxed pair double as gripping hands. Iron Man with guns!

He also comes with the same dinky looking rocket launcher that’s come with all the armors since that first dinky looking Iron Man from the first movie. They sould retire this stupid thing. I don’t think I’ve ever displayed any of the armors with it. It doesn’t really fit at all. If it was shoulder mounted MAYBE, but not like this.

Since I’d already tried the Classic Iron Man with this body, I decide to try another as well. Forge’s hand sort of fits in his socket, but it’s a tight fit and it’s kind of messed up the plastic in there. The real Iron Man hand is kind of loose now. Stupid stupid stupid.

The Iron Man hand doesn’t fit in the old 2-pack figures either sadly. I don’t know why I’d want to do that, but you never know. I hope Hasbro moves to true interchangeable parts with their new Marvel Legends line.

Paint is a little different from the first one in so much as there are no longer any silver accents. I actually prefer it. They didn’t really work. You need to be careful in the one you choose, though. When I was going through the examples they had at the Cybertron PH distribution table at the event, I went through about 6 figures before I found a good one. The rest had angry red splotches on the face or other blemishes. Of course, since they’re so hard to find, beggers shouldn’t be choosy.

Articulation is also the same (see the previous review), with one exception. They’ve fixed the torso crunch joint. While he still can’t do a sit up, he isn’t stuck in that painfully straight pose that the Mark VI is. Thank you, Hasbro.

If you’re not a completist and just want ONE 6″ Iron Man toy, this is the one to get. Sad to say though, it’s unlikely that they’ll ever be easy to obtain. If you have relatives in the States, tell them to be on the look out for it now, so they can score it for you. It should be much cheaper there and relatively more accessible.

Me, I’m just happy I didn’t have to run all around Metro Manila looking for him.