Senate Hearing Tony Stark and Iron Man Mark I (Iron Man 2 Minimates)

Height: 5.5cm tall.

Articulation: 14 points each figure: ball-joint head; 3 points each arm- ball-joint shoulder, hinged elbow, swivel wrist; swivel waist; 3 points each leg: ball-joint hip, hinge knee, swivel ankle.

Colors: Senate Hearing Tony: Molded gray, white, black, and fleshtone. Painted dark gray, black, white, yellow and blue(tie). Mark I: Molded black, white, fleshtone, and gunmetal. Painted black and blue(ARC reactor) with black paintwash on armor.

Accessories: hairpiece, jacket, extra hands and feet for Mark I.

Release Data: Released in early 2010 as a TRU exclusive at an SRP of 6.99.

Author: RAC

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How does anybody keep up with stuff without the help of friends? I only have Animated Arcee and unmasked Iron Patriot courtesy of Matt Guzy, and if it weren't for ExVee I'd never have so much as seen this set- along with a lot of other figures. (On a related note, I just made my first Pit Commando sighting in-store, a full year after the fact.) Granted, I might be a bit more limited in when I can get to stores, but still I miss a lot of stuff and as I get older the hunt itself is not as appealing as it once was.

But more to the point, I'm so glad ExVee turned up a set of these! As I've mentioned before I'm a sucker for removable armor, and so the Mark I caught my eye- it's the only of the IM2 Armors to my knowledge that is fully removable. (If I feel like spending the money, I understand the Iron Monger from the first movie is also completely removable, though!) It's part of the long-since-past first assortment of TRU-exclusive IM2 Minimates in a two-pack with Senate Hearing Tony. I missed it entirely, as happens to me with Minimates far, far too often, but ExVee was able to turn one up in a Nashville TRU for me.


Senate Hearing Tony

Guy-in-suit Minimates are about the least-interesting kind there is, from my perspective- the last time I bought one it also came with a heavily-armored guy (for the line he was in, anyway.) No hairless cat this time, sadly. I have to give them credit on their ability to caricature once again, though- it's definitely recognizeable as Robert Downey Jr, and that is impressive. The hairpiece is nicely coiffed as well which helps the overall likeness. I'm also pleased to see that his tie is a separate piece- the less printed-on detail the better. Though I do like that he has a printed belt- not practical to do that as a molded piece and it looks pretty good. And the articulation is totally unrestricted, so it's the best you get from the Minimates body.

There's really not much else to say about him. Decent figure if a bit dull.


Iron Man Mark I

This appears to be a repaint of the first-movie version of the mold in a darker, more gunmetal kind of metallic finish. It also has the added benefit of having the arms molded in black- the bare arms of the original figure look odd peeking out from under the armor. Besides the fully removable armor, which is one of my favorite toy features in general, we have a lot of sculpted detail on that armor, which is the part of Minimates I enjoy the most. It still has the rough, patched-together look of the movie suit, only shorter and blockier. In all there are ten tiny pieces of armor for the figure: one for each upper and lower limb, the helmet, and the chestpiece. As with some other Minimates with unique footwear, the boots technically are the feet.

The armor does interfere with the usual Minimate articulation, but not as much as you might think. The size of the tunic-like chestpiece restricts the head from turning smoothly, but not the helmet. So you can turn the helmet to the side sometimes and see Tony's goatee through the lower edge of the helmet's side. The arms move out to the side okay, but there's a very restricted arc of front-to-back movement in the shoulders because of the armor's shoulderpads. The elbows work okay, though the upper arm pieces tend to spin around on their own and block stuff in much the same way as the Ghostbusters' elbowpads. The waist turns respectably, being able to move until you hit the crotch plate. Hell, I've had unarmored figures with waists that didn't work that well. The knees get a full 90 degrees.

So yeah, the armor is removable. Once you remove it, you have a big pile of parts, and a Tony Stark in need of the other loose parts in the package. Pop on the spare hands and feet, pop off the head and slide on the jacket, hair on head and head on shoulders, and you've got Stark Expo Tony, in the tux he was wearing under the Mark IV armor at the beginning of Iron Man 2!

There's a few ways to look at this. First, it's not like Tony was wearing a tux under the Mark I, but if we had the appropriate Iron Man 1 Tony underneath he wouldn't have the black arms that make this Mark I look so nice. More of a disappointment for me is that we end up with two Tonys in one set. They have different expressions at least, but still. Meanwhile we have a set in this assortment with no Tony whatsoever, the set with Black Widow and Rhodey in the Mark II. Of course both of those figures have more complex molded parts than Senate Hearing Tony- at least I'm assuming it's more expensive to make Widow's belt and gun than it is Tony's jacket and tie. If not, this strikes me as poor planning. This isn't a knock against the Mark I itself- it's great; I love it. But even more than I would have otherwise, I'm leaving him in the armor so I don't have two Tonys standing around. Another sizeable strike against taking him out of the armor too often is that the hip joints are getting looser disturbingly quickly.


Closing Remarks

This is probably the beginning of the end for me in terms of Minimates- that's two different lines with really nifty figures, and I think I want to get more. I'm doomed. But more importantly, this is a really great set if it's still lurking about at your local TRU- even if two Tonys are of no use to you, the Mark I figure is just great. I'm rating it as Excellent, and Senate Hearing Tony as Very Good. If the Mark I interests you more than Senate Hearing Tony bores you, go for it.

-RAC