REVIEW: Hasbro Iron Man Mark II

Released 2008 

Hasbro off to a rocky start with their Iron Man Movie line

It's all downhill from here

   This isn't going to be an easy review to remain objective while writing.  You see Hasbro has come a LONG way since taking the reigns of Marvel based figure production from Toy Biz in 2007, and it's difficult to put that in context when viewed through the lens of present day quality.

  To put it simply, Hasbro is kicking out some nice figures these days... but that wasn't always the case.  When looking back, it's hard to not judge Hasbro's early efforts harshly.  Early figures are absolute crap by comparison.  

Back of Packaging

  What makes this especially painful for me is my love of the Iron Man films and ILM's spectacular work on updating the look of the armor for a 21st century audience.  I want to LOVE the Mark II and III (review to come) figures... but I don't.  Even considering their original retail price point, they suck.  So how do they fail and why?  Let me explain.

SCALE and HEIGHT

This is an approximately 6 inch figure, but comes off as being a bit short for the scale.   It fits more closely with Hasbro MARVEL LEGENDS figures than the older Toy Biz figures.  But it's close enough to not really matter.

 I wouldn't recommend it to be used with the larger scale MARVEL SELECT figures since they are in a 7 inch scale.  The difference would be glaring.

Sclupt

  As I mentioned in my HEROIC AGE Iron Man review, Hasbro's sculpting chops were in a sad state (as was their Quality Control, apparently) when this figure was released in 2008.  Only a year had passed since the release of their horrendous Emma Frost figure, and there was still a good deal of road ahead before they would get their act together.  The overall look of the sculpt resembles the film, but it falters under close examination.

Front View- Anorexic Iron Man

  One of the first things you notice when looking at the Mark II is how sickly and anorexic it looks proportionately.  Tony Stark would have to look like Christian Bale did in THE MACHINIST to fit inside this armor.  90 pounds of pallid virility.  Having re-watched the first film today for good measure, I can say definitively that this was NOT the case onscreen.

Rear View

  Making things worse is inaccurate detail (flare launchers on the hips spring to mind), womanly hands (that look more like fitted gloves than armored gauntlets), and pencil thin wrists.  Add to that spots all over where you can see where each part was crudely ripped away from the sprues of the mold.

  There are even areas intended to be smooth and armored that look like regurgitated concrete bits sprayed in big globs across the surface.  One of the rear heel plates is particularly guilty.  I wish I could chalk this up to damage from a previous owner, but I got this figure fresh from new packaging in this condition.

And I may be asking too much here but one detail that sets the Mark II apart from the Mark III is the inclusion of visible rivets all over the armor (especially evident in the chest).  That detail is nowhere to be found on this figure.  Guess I'll have to wait for the Revoltech Mark II if I want a film accurate sculpt.

  

Paint Apps 

I've got two issues with the Paint Apps on this figure.  First, the paint is simply NOTHING like the Mark II appeared in the film.  Those expecting a mirror polished chrome sheen are going to be sorely disappointed.  Then again, when this figure was released it had an MSRP of about $15.  At that mass market price point you can see Hasbro's dilemma.  True metallic chrome finished paint likely isn't cheap.  So they painted it in a semi-metallic sliver where you'd find gold on the Mark III and dark grey semi-metallic where you'd find red on the Mark III.  Not a bad solution, but again, a far cry from how it *should* look.

Sloppy Paint Apps and scuffs

  The paint that IS there is sloppily applied as well as being thin so you can see the underlying plastic through it.  Would it have been so hard to add a second layer of paint?  Seriously.  There are also scuff marks right out of the packaging.  And paint bleed can be seen ALL over this figure.  The end result is exactly what it seems like... a cheap way to crank out a bazillion figures to cash in of the films release.  I guess they figured that kids wouldn't care or be able to tell the difference, but collectors will find the work here disappointing.

Yellow Markings

  One detail that wasn't present in the film but that I do kind of like is the inclusion of yellow "test" or "safety" type markings on the legs.  This adds a bit of a "Prototype" feel, and helps break up what otherwise is a pretty monotonous look.  Again, not film accurate, but better than nothing.  For those wanting paint apps that are screen accurate, you'll need either a Revoltech Mark II or to bite the bullet and step up to a HOT TOYS figure.

Articulation   

Articulation is not this figures strong suit

  Here too, this figure under performs.  To call the articulation here "limited" is perhaps too generous.  And again, maybe I'm expecting too much from a 2008 figure.  But it's not just that the points of articulation are lacking, but that the range of motion of each joint is especially limited in some crucial ways.  Looking to strike that awesome "Ground Pound" pose?  Well too bad.  Pretty much any dynamic pose you'll try will be undermined somewhere by the articulation on this figure.  In the end I just gave up and posed the armor as if it was standing in the Hall of Armor.

  And here's a simple one that boggles my mind:  For some reason, ALL of Hasbro's movie based Iron Man figures have No WAIST joint.  It's not like this is a difficult or complex joint to manufacture.  You cut the damned figure in half at the waist and put a peg in there.  The amount of bang for your buck that this joint gives collectors is immense, and it seems like pure penny pinching to leave it out.

Forget that Flight Pose

  Instead you get not an ab crunch but a crap diaphragm rib pivot joint.  This is the ONLY way to get the Mark II's shoulders to rotate off axis from the waist.  As for any sort of forward or backward bending, your options are pretty limited. Forward bending is nigh impossible and you can eek out *maybe* five degrees or so of backward bending. WEAK-sauce.

Re-seating the head on the ball to get a few more degrees out of a crap joint

  The head is mounted atop a basic ball joint that's range of motion is so limited that trying to tilt his chin up or down whatsoever results in the head popping OFF.  You *might* get a whole 5 degrees of play out of this joint.  TOTAL.  So you can forget about that flight pose, even if you pop the head off and lightly seat it back on the joint.  His head does rotate left and right.  Whoop-ee.

POP goes the shoulder armor-- expect to see this often

His shoulders rotate and raise just like most MARVEL LEGENDS do, however this is again limited.  This time the limiting factor is poorly designed shoulder armor which pop off when his arms are raised above say 75 degrees.  Shoulder armor is held in place by a shallow "bump in dimple" type setup which seems to lead to the loss of these pieces on nearly every used example I've seen.  Crap.

Mangled Elbow Joint: EPIC FAIL Hasbro

Biceps swivel nicely as this is nearly impossible to mess up and elbows are double jointed.  But here too, my figure amazed with its mediocrity.  Fresh out of the package my figure contains a major factory defect.  His right elbow is horribly mangled with the forearm being splayed open so far at the joint that it barely touches the joint securing peg.  This is an EPIC FAIL on the part of Hasbro's Quality Control and never should have left the factory.  I'm going to attempt to crush this joint into place with needle nose pliers, but you'd probably need a small vice to be sure.  Shame on you, Hasbro.

Who thought limiting the wrist pivot to THIS was a good idea?

But c'mon, this figure couldn't possibly fail in other areas right?  Well you'd be wrong there too.  You see on paper, the Mark II DOES swivel AND pivot at the wrists, just not in any way that is useful.  Wrists flex but don't extend thanks to an overzealous hand armor sculpt.  This makes Iron Man's iconic Repulsor poses physically impossible, forcing limp-wristed poses instead.  And that's not particularly heroic looking or in keeping with the way Stark likes to bust a pose.

  Both hands are pre-posed... (into not fists, gripping hands or a Repulsor friendly position, but instead) into a weak looking pointing pose.  Again, not especially useful.

  His lower body articulation is similarly limited.  Hip joints are bizarre.  In their default position his legs can be raised to the side but CAN'T move forward (dorsiflexion) without first rotating the hip joint by 90 degrees or so.  Even then, his leg motion has a slight arc to it and you have to use the upper thigh swivels to get his knee joint top side again.  What the hell was Hasbro thinking?

Hip Joints designed in Bizarro world

  Knees (like the elbows) are double jointed and work surprising well, though I do notice that they get loose easily.

Which brings us to the ankles and feet... which SUCK.  5 degrees seem to be the magic number of rotation on many of this figures joints, and that's about how much vertical pivot you can expect from the ankles.  Want some camber out of those feet to support a wide heroic stance?  Well forget about it.  But hey, the ankles allow the feet to ROTATE!!! (Which is basically useless).

This doesn't make the Mark II a particularly stable figure, nor easy to stand in any position aside from a stiff standing position.

Special Features

SUCKING especially hard.

Who needs Foot Peg Holes?  Not YOU, biotch.

  Want some Foot Peg holes to offset that ankle instability with a stand?  Well me too.  But this figure doesn't have them.

Accessories 

"Sperm Launchers"

Being that Hasbro was clearly targeting this figure at kids, they decided to spend part of their budget on an included "Action Feature" instead of making a figure that didn't suck.  That feature is not one, but TWO spring loaded projectile weapons known affectionately in collector circles as the "Sperm-Launchers" or "Snot-Launchers".  GO Hasbro.

Other versions

Save your money and buy THIS instead

One company that took the Mark II seriously in this scale was Japan's Kaiyodo.  They produced a Mark II in their REVOLTECH line that looks vastly superior to this piece of trash in every way.  It's got a better sculpt, stellar articulation, accurate paint, and even an LED that lights up the Arc Reactor in the chest.  Yes, it does cost at least double the price of Hasbro's figure.  But you're getting 10x the figure for 2x the cost.  I hope to have one soon to review for you guys.  When I do, I'll spend some time comparing the two.

Size Comparison

The only difference is the paint

I've shown the Mark II along side one of Hasbro's other efforts to produce a quality Movie based Iron Man figure (note, sarcasm).

Opinion, Value and VERDICT 

For completionists, it might be worth adding this figure to your collection.  I know I was bitten by the bug to collect all of Hasbro's movie armor figures.  But now I'm regretting that.  If you can get this guy loose, in good shape on ebay for cheap, then by all means consider it.  But had I to do it again, I wouldn't drop more than $10 on this figure... NEW... in the package. 

Closing thoughts

  It's clear that Hasbro knows how full of FAIL this figure is based on how much improvement later figures (Starting with their Mark IV) displayed.  And these days, Hasbro has really corrected much of what made this figure such a wasted opportunity.  It's a bitter pill to swallow to see a figure that could have been awesome, suck so much.

  For more REVIEWS like this one, keep checking back on yer' old pal Evotaph and GEEKISH PURSUITS.  In the meantime, please COMMENT and SUBSCRIBE!