Iron Man Armored Adventures Crimson Dynamo
Toys are for kids.
At least that what everyone keeps telling me. I guess it’s good then that Hasbro likes to run multiple concurrent lines, some geared for them there young ‘uns and some for us craggy, old farts. The Spider-Man Fiercest Foes line and many of the large scale Iron Man toys aren’t really meant for collectors.
The Iron Man Armored Adventures line is one of those Hasbro lines geared towards a younger audience; specifically, the kids that are watching the cartoon of the same name. The line was released in September of 2009 and Wave 1 had 5 figures (3 Iron Man variations and 2 enemies) and 1 vehicle (a 4×4 truck). It ended there, though a second season is supposed to start this month, so hopefully there’ll be more.
Sadly, we probably won’t see them here in the Philippines.
The first wave has stagnated on the shelf since they were put there a while back. The stocks I’ve seen at Megamall (the main Toy Kingdom branch so a fair measure of the market) did not dwindled at all. It could be because the characters have all got that Japanimation look to them. It could be because articulation has been nerfed big time compared to the Marvel Universe or Iron Man 2 lines. It could be because they were Php 50 more than other comparable toys from the same company. It was probably all of the above.
I myself passed on them for the above reasons, only giving in when they were marked down to 50% off.
The package is about what you’d expect from Marvel/Hasbro by now; carded bubbles, with a plain photo of the suspiciously nicer looking prototype in the back, with an assortment line up near the bottom of the card.
The front of the card isn’t much better. It shouts, “EXTRA POWER SMASH!” there in the corner, but I’m not sure if it’s grabbiing anyone’s attention on the shelf.
The blurb in the back talks about how Ivan Vanko was an astronaut, caught in the corona of the sun and left for dead. He got out and comes back for some good, old fashioned vengence.
The figure is pretty bulky, which is why it’s the one I chose to get over the others. I just love the big characters in comics; Hulk, Juggernaut, Abomination, Wink, Venom, etc. Size matters when it comes to toys, even in 1/18th scale.
The heft isn’t really there. Most of the toy is hollow, which I suppose is to allow for the spring assembly inside. It kind of feels like a Happy Meal toy.
It comes with one “accessory”.
It’s nothing of the sort, in my opinion. It’s a weird backpack/propeller/fin thing. It’s triangular in shape and has a post that fits into a hole in his back like a GI joe. The fit isn’t perfect, there are gaps between it and the figure, but it does stay where it’s supposed to and that’s all that really matters to me.
Sculpt is a far cry from the comic version of Crimson Dynamo, the one I’m more familiar with. I like the Astronaut-Out-For-Revenge twist instead of the Russian-Physicist-Out-For-Revenge better,but the old version looks more like a proper arch nemesis. This guy looks more like an arch nemesis flunky.
I do like it though, since it looks like one of those space robots those old scifi movies. The cyclops “eye”, the “headless” torso, the over developed arms and spindly legs. You have to admit it’s a pretty striking design, even if it departs from the Marvel Superhero style.
Paint though is almost non-existant. Aside from the red stripes, there’s nothing here. The rest of the figure is cast plastic. The main figure is made of a sturdy, hard material, while the backpack/propeller/fin thing is of a softer, more pliable plastic.
Articulation leaves something to be desired though. He’s got hinge shoulders, hinge elbows, hinge hips, hinge knees and… that’s it.
To make things worse, his legs are slightly preposed with one in front of the other. Pair that with an obviously top-heavy toy and a small footprint, and you get one that tends to fall over.
Then again, it is made for the kids, who would most likely use their IMAGINATION to fill in the gaps here. I’m sure I wouldn’t have minded the lack of points of articulation back when I was wearing hot pants, knee socks and fitted tees (for those I know personally - there’s a mental picture that will haunt you).
Till next time.
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Slangards
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