War Machine (Iron Man 2 Comic Series)

Height: 11cm to top of head

Articulation: 26 total points - restricted ball joint head; mid-torso ball joint; 5 points each arm: Universal shoulder, pre-elbow swivel, hinge elbow, swivel wrist; 7 points each leg: swivel + universal joint hip, double hinge knee, double jointed ankle.

Colors: Silver, gunmetal, blue-silver, red, light grey, white, clear green, clear yellow, light grey (stand only).

Accessories: Blast Effect parts; Stand; Armor Card x3

Release Data: US street date March 1, 2010 at a suggested price of US$7.99

Author: ExVee

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Way back in 2005 when we first got started, it didn't take long before we were putting together our first special feature, themed around toys based on revivals of 90's properties. One of the included toys was the then-recently released Marvel Legends War Machine. It holds a double distinction as being among the worst action figures I've ever handled, and as the first (and I think still only) figure to ever score our lowest rating. But that was Toy Biz for you. Fast forward to today, or at least nearer to it, when word comes that among the Iron Man 2 offerings would be a comic-based War Machine, and my previously dashed hopes began to stir once more. How appropriate then, that the official launch date for Iron Man 2 figures happens to be this site's fifth anniversary, though most retailers are already stocking them a day early - lucky me!


Sculpt and Deco

Most importantly, this War Machine actually looks like the one I remember. Based firmly upon the mainstream War Machine that debuted in the late 200's of Iron Man Vol. 1, the important details are present. Things like the gauntlets and boots are also correct, but the details don't stand out near as much as the chest armor and helmet, which can immediately be seen to be dead-on perfect. In fact, I'd say the figure's likeness is better than the art on the included Armor Cards.

Some of the molded details on the gauntlets and hands seems a little bit soft, which is a shame, but the thick coats of paint including an extra wash may not be helping matters much. All the plate armor sections on the toy are done in a slightly bluish silver then topped with a gunmetal paint wash. All at once it brings to mind comic book coloring and shading styles of the period, while looking like metal that's maybe a little dirty and the finish is wearing off it. Great effect, and from a distance when you can't make out the edges between the colors all you can tell is that it looks like metal, and it looks like the comic.


The Figure

One problem I had with the figure immediately is that just about all of the hinge type joints, including in the universal joints were somewhat paint locked. It only take a moment of gentle coaxing to open the joints back up, but I still have bad memories of Toy Biz Marvel figures breaking as I gently tried to loosen their joints up enough to be able to move them. This is just a side effect of how the paint wash was applied, so there's not really anything to worry about unless you try to force some joint or another before the paint seal is broken.

Once it's all limbered up, the figure has a pretty good range of movement. I could have done for the hips to be able to move a little more, but there's a few things working against it. The shape of the crotch armor, plus the muscles sculpted into the thighs get in each others way, plus the unusual construction of the universal hip joints makes posing the legs difficult just to start with. The knees are effective double hinges, but in this case their usefulness is kind of limited. I'm also concerned since the hinge itself is on the soft side, and may be a risk for deformation. I'm reminded of the first Iron Man movie toys where warped knees weren't uncommon right out of the package, and this seems like it could crop up again. The ankles are good and solid, but they also aren't very articulated. There's an ankle hinge and swivel, but again the armor shape on the shins limits much of their movement.

Still, for whatever problems this War Machine might have with its legs, it's a good bit better than Marvel Legends which appeared extremely and irreversibly bow-legged.


On the upper body, the designers did something interesting I've never seen on one of these figures before. The shoulder armor is mounted on hinges, so it can move out of the way if you want to raise the figure's arms out to the side. This became a somewhat common feature on later Gundam figures, and certainly has a good place here as well. The only problem is that the hinge is the only way the shoulder pieces can move. The hinges are part of the chest armor, so the shoulder pieces can't swivel along with the arms. You have to flip up the shoulder armor just to point the arm forward or any simple move like that. It's a step in the right direction, don't get me wrong. Hopefully someone will figure out for next time that the hinges need to be connected in a slightly different place.

The elbow joint has a limited range, with less than a 90 degree bend. It also includes a swivel to replace what would normally be an upper arm swivel. The wrists swivel smoothly, though the right hand doesn't have far to go on account of the small cannon coming out of the gauntlet. The open left hand is unrestricted, though. While not quite as wacky as some of the previous movie line's hand poses, Comics War Machine does continue the odd gestures trend.

The upper torso joint will move at least a little bit, but seems afflicted by the same paint fusing that most of the joints suffer. It can't rock much in any direction, front and back way more than side to side though. It can turn a little ways and give a natural sort of twist before parts start bulging around the edges that shouldn't. Kind of hard to make this kind of joint on something human shaped without getting that eventually. The neck seems to be on a ball joint, but so restricted as to be basically unidentifiable. It swivels effectively, though, and it feels like the head will pitch very slightly. From most angles it does look like the figure is looking downward a little bit.

What I really like that that they did War Machine's shoulder weapons right. Basically copying the engineering of the Wal-Mart exclusive We're Not Going To Call It War Machine, the weapons are on hinged arms so they can retract down the back. But these weapons are connected by ball joint as well, so they can swivel and angle around slightly, giving them a fantastic firing arc and letting them very effectively get out of the way when you don't want them.


In all, the posability of the toy isn't that great, but a couple things offset this for me. First is that War Machine was always meant to be a walking tank, even when Stark operated his version of it. You're not really expecting it to be able to turn backflips or anything. The other thing is that even in its limited range of posing, the limbs are held are more natural and much less ridiculous looking positions than the previous ML War Machine. That plus the attempt to keep the shoulder armor out of the way, even if it didn't work out perfectly. All in all, this is acceptable to me.



Accessories

-Blast Effects

Taking a cue from said Marvel Legends version, War Machine comes with clip on effect parts to simulate launching missiles and shoulder vulcan firing at full tilt. The effect parts were the only thing I really enjoyed with that older War Machine, and sadly these are understandably not quite as nice.

The missile shot is painted a little bit. A light coat at the bottom for a slightly translucent smoke cloud, and the missiles at the ends are painted white. I'm a little unnerved as the paint feels a little tacky. Being painted over a chunk of soft, clear plastic I can't help wonder if there was a paint issue of the sort that affected several Transformers toys between 2008 and 2009.

The muzzle flash for the vulcan cannon is just unpainted, clear yellow plastic, and I think it really could have done with a thin coat of orange to help bring out the sculpted detailing. In any case, it's not very impressive under normal lights, but I bet if you got a good backlight thing going and could make it glow it'd look much better.


-Stand

Thankfully the figure does not need it, but it does come with a stand. Fairly normal looking for the most part, though there's a big smooth bit on the front that looks like it should have a name tampographed on it.

Off a back corner of the stand is a holder for the Armor Cards. It looks like this is a kind of mix and match game. If you have cards from multiple figures, you can create funny new armors with combinations of the opaque backing card and any two other clear front cards. Assembling three cards creates a string of letters and numbers. I presume this is a code that can be entered in the ironmancard.com website printed on each card, but as of Feb 28, the URL redirects to marvel.com

Notably, the stand has three slots, I'm sure meant to be one for each card. But the fit is abysmal. The cards don't stand properly in them at all. The only way I can get that to work is by cramming all three together in one slot.


Closing Remarks

I was kind of put off by the $9 price tag at K-Mart, but for something I've been waiting to get done right for half a decade I kind of had to go for it. I'm not disappointed, but I wasn't expecting miracles here. I'd probably be happier if the figure's articulation was able to work a little better, but right now I'm pretty pleased just to have a War Machine that looks right and whose existence is not like an insult to me as a collector and reviewer.

In the end I figure this is the best comic style War Machine figure that's likely to come along any time soon. As a War Machine figure I'd call it Very Good but even the objective Good I'd give it just on its merits as a figure is far and away better than what I gave the Marvel Legends version.

-ExVee