Nov 9, 2021

It came from the Toy Chest: I liked Iron Man before Robert Downey Jr. made him cool

 But I cannot take the full Comic Book Hipster approach because it was the 90s cartoon what made me love Iron Man... SPIKE!! roll the clip!

No, not that intro... The Good one... you know the one that goes:
I
I am 
I am Iron Man
I am Iron Man
*Cool guitar riffs*
IIII am Iroooon Maaaaaaaannnn!!

Also, I must give credit where credit is due...

Capcom might have hand at me learning to appreciate Stark's SUPERIOR TECH!!


Modular Armor Iron Man is the 90s version of Iron Man and one I appreciate. Some people love the classic red and gold, others love silver centurion, some even love extremis, but my reasons to love the Modular Armor, aside it being ingrained in my brain by the 90s lie on its design being different but familiar. It still keeps the superheroish primary colors scheme from classic Iron Man, but it changes the look so it doesnt look like he's an armored Strongman...

Spider-Man: Oh great we get to fight Dictators!!
Captain America: Is that sarcasm, I hear from you, young man?
Iron Man: Cap, it's Spider-Man... everything's a joke for him...
Spider-Man: Um, I was pointing it out, because I'm FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, not INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SPIDER-MAN!
Magneto: I am technically the leader of a minority group, punching me in the face would be consodered a hate crime.
DOCTOR DOOM: AS RULER OF THE GREAT NATION OF LATVERIA, I HAVE DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY! PUNCHING ME WOULD BE CONSIDERED AN ACT OF AGGRESSION BY THE UNITED STATES!
Bison: You can TRY to punch me, but you won't be a match for my Psycho Power!!
Magneto: I also am a survivor of Nazi concentration camps and leader of a small nation. But if you still want to fight, your metal will be your downfall...

Look at many superhero outfits.  You will see Circus Strongman and Wrestling Entertainer influences on them. Iron Man is no exception. And as much as I hate PANTS!! They look better on Iron Man than the wrestling trunks and tanktop look from classic. Also, unlike more modern Iron Man designs, a beginner can draw a somewhat decent take on the Modular armor without having to worry too much about physics and engineering of the excessive amount of panels and tech thingamabobs.

Articulation 
As a Marvel Legends figure, he has standard Articulation for the line. He even has a boot cut. Most of it is reasonably hidden by panel lines and the only "ugly" Articulation point is his waist. I point this out because he has nearly the same articulation as his ToyBiz counterpart, but it's more aesthetically pleasing in the Hasbro figure. Also, I have to point out that the Repulsor hands FINALLY have a hinge on the wrists.
4.5


Paint and sculpt
He mostly captures the look of Modular Armor Iron Man. The paintnis where I have issues since Hasbri skipped a small detail. The grooves atop his head should be gold. I didn't notice the HUGE difference it made once painted. I was lucky to have some gold paint CLOSE ENOUGH to the gold used by Hasbro.
The candy apple plastic looks pretty good and luckily the pour swirls are on the back of the figure and even then aren't THAT noticeable.
4.0

Accessories 
Let me get my disappointment of the figure lacking a Proton Cannon out of the way:
I am extremely disappointed that this figure does not include a proton cannon. Having to buy a ridiculously expensive MAFEX Iron man shouldn't be the answer to my Proton Cannon problems. With that said, the accessories are a bit disappointing.
2 extra hands (fists)
2 repulsor blasts (same blasts as previous releases)
Not even a BAF part or an extra head... a 90s Mullet Tony head would have been sweet.

Ignoring my desire for a Proton Cannon, he gets a 3.5
Iron man: What the Hell is this!?
Nefty VO: This is your replacement in the comics...
Iron man: What kind of Mickey Mouse company would make a little girl Iron Man!?
Nefty VO: Disney... because girl power... and one stupid joke that Iron Man means Ferrum Male.
Iron Man: I may not have a Proton Cannon, but I have my Cirrhosis Cannon!!


Overall
It's a bit hard to properly gauge this Iron man due to my biases, but he gets a 4.0 as his final score. He's not only lacking accessories, but I had to break out the paints to fix him. That should have knocked him a bit further down on the score, but the figure looking this good and the decent range of articulation helped him to barely stay on the high ratings.

I suppose you out that the next piece of this review is Iron heart. Riri Williams totally not a Mary Sue, reverse-engineered Tony Stark's technology and made her own suit of Iron Man armor. Before people complain, no, it's not about Riri being black. My issue with Riri is that she's an unrelatable character shoved into the comics to be Iron Man's replacement. Not to mention how quickly she became accepted as Tony Stark's successor. If anyone was to be Tony's successor it should've been James Rhodes... but since he was dead, then Lila Rhodes, the Iron Patriot should've been Stark's successor. Not only she existed 2 years before Riri, she already had experience with Stark Tech and she actually KNEW Stark. The whole came out of nowhere and everybody suddenly loves her is what rubs people the wrong way far more than the whole genius child trope.
2 extra repulsor blasts for her feet would make her 20% cooler... trying so hard to not make Iron Fart jokes.


Articulation 
Riri has double jointed elbows. It's incredibly weird to see a female Marvel Legends figure with double jointed elbows on the Hasbro era. Her head allows for some dynamic movement and sassy poses. Anything most Stark figures can do, she can do... just as good... I know the song reference needed the word better, but she isn't better. She has the same flaws as most modern Iron Man figures.
4.5
I can't see the similarities between Stark and Riri...


Paint and sculpt
The figure looks like Iron Heart in her earlier Red and gold Iron Man wannabe look. I suppose that we might get the "Not Samus inspired" look a bit down the road. Problem is that I'm not a huge fan of Iron heart. Like I said earlier I only bought her because I promised I would do so and that was with bad intent. I was planning to make fun of the whole replacement Ironman thing but, I was unable of getting a Comic book War Machine... I kinda wish we had gotten the full bushy haired Riri than the shorter haired version we got.
5.0

Accessories 
Extra fists
Repulsor blasts
Smoke trails
Riri head
BAF piece
Ignoring the BAF piece, this Riri got EVERYTHING needed for an Iron heart figure... unlike Modular Armor Stark.
5.0
Cap: Your replacement is a girl!? I thought Doctor DOOM was your replacement... please tell me she isn't a N-
Riri: I double dare you to finish that statement...
Cap: Nubile teen... because Wolverine likes those.
Riri: I thought you were going to use a racist term because you come from the 40s...
Cap: Now listen here you little shit! I'm much more progressive than your TikTok generation. I PUNCHED ACTUAL 'KILL THE JEWS' NAZIS IN THE FACE, ESPECIALLY THE CHAPLIN MUSTACHE SPORTING BITCH CALLED ADOLF HITLER! MY SECOND BEST FRIEND IS THE FALCON, NOW KNOWN AS THE OTHER CAPTAIN AMERICA. LONG BEFORE YOUR DAD LEFT YOUR GRANDFATHER'S SCROTUM, I WAS FIGHTING FOR MINORITIES EVERYWHERE. SO TAKE YOUR FALSE MORALISTIC OUTRAGE AND PERPETUAL VICTIMHOOD BULLSHIT ELSEWHERE. WHEN YOU ATTACK EVERYONE FOR EVERY MICROSCOPIC PERCEIVED OFFENSE, YOU LOSE ALLIES TO FIGHT THE ACTUALLY OFFENSIVE THINGS. Instead of being antagonistic towards everyone, try helping others to improve themselves and help make the world better. Make allies instead of enemies. Also, be careful around Wolverine... he likes them young.
Tony: People wonder why I'm an alcoholic...

Overall
Rir gets a 4.83 as her final score. I'm not a fan of the character but her toy is really well-made and  has plenty of accessories to give us a definitive version of the character in that outfit. I actually had tons of fun playing with her while the character May suck ass the toy is really fun. Now if we could get a Viv Vision and a Cho Hulk, the Champions would have a decent roster represented in Marvel Legends... (and still no Power Pack)

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