{"id":16655,"date":"2014-08-10T00:00:06","date_gmt":"2014-08-10T04:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/?p=16655"},"modified":"2014-07-27T15:18:13","modified_gmt":"2014-07-27T19:18:13","slug":"minimate-mini-review-195-marvel-series-49-iron-man-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/2014\/08\/minimate-mini-review-195-marvel-series-49-iron-man-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Minimate Mini-Review #195 - Marvel Series 49 (Iron Man 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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#195 - War Machine\/Maya Hansen<\/h3>\n

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Tony Stark allows one Iron Man armor to be used by the US military under the auspices of his close friend, Air Force officer Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes<\/a>. Heavily armed with Hammer Industries weaponry, \"Rhodey\" is the armor's sole pilot.<\/i><\/p>\n

War Machine apparently lost weight between movies, because this armor is much less bulky than the last one<\/a>. Of course, he did a lot of things between movies, including being busy on the other side of the planet, so stop asking why he wasn't in Avengers<\/i> already! Although War Machine didn't appear in Iron Man 3<\/i>, concept art was created for him, and this Minimate is based on that. The chest cap only comes down to mid-torso, and the upper arms are new molds. The gloves and boots are new, and you can remove his helmet to reveal Rhodey's face<\/a> beneath. In fact, you'll have to if you want the cannon on his shoulder to sit straight - the helmet's really big! The grey of the suit is so dark that it's nearly black.<\/p>\n

An old colleague and romantic interest of Tony Stark's<\/a>, Maya Hansen was more interested in the biological side of science than the technological, and she ultimately developed the Extremis formula that could turn a human into a living weapon.<\/i><\/p>\n

Despite being about the same age as Tony, Maya Hanser dresses like she's in college. This is the outfit she was wearing when she dropped by his house (10880 Malibu Point): a dark jacket, maroon shirt, and a skirt that in the movie was a faded partially floral print over black and white, but the toy just treats as a black skirt with green around the lower edge. It's not a direct match, but it's a good effort. Her feet are grey with pale stripes on the sides because she wears Adidas. Her bag is slung across her chest, and we actually get an approximate likeness of actress Rebecca Hall.<\/div>\n
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#196 - Cowboy Disguise Tony Stark\/Aldrich Killian<\/h3>\n

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Deprived of his home and knocked out of the sky by the Mandarin's men, Tony must repair his latest Iron Man armor in secret, hiding in a rural area where the right tools (and the right clothes) are hard to find.<\/i><\/p>\n

Calling this figure \"Cowboy Disguise\" Tony Stark is misleading: he wasn't disguised as a cowboy, he just happened to be wearing a cowboy hat he lifted from someone. And this Minimate doesn't do a very good job of looking like a cowboy hat anyway. It's like they predicted Pharrel's Grammy hat debacle a year ahead of time. We're sorry, but whoever translated this hat<\/a> to Minimate form did a bad job.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, you can discard the hat if you like: Tony's got hair to replace it. He's wearing a blue flannel shirt, a red vest and a blue scarf (all painted on, not extra pieces), but you can also take his arms off and give him a big grey coat to wear over it all. The only problem with that is that in the scene where he was wearing the coat - ie, walking around Rose Hill (a real town, just in North Carolina rather than Tennessee) - he didn't have a bare head, he was wearing a hunting cap. Two hats and no hair probably would have been weird for this toy, though. They did a great job painting his clothes, and the distinctive wounds on his face.<\/p>\n

The founder of Advanced Idea Mechanics, a scientific thinktank, Killian hired Maya Hansen to pursue her research into biological enhancement. But Hansen didn't realize that Killian's plans for her work were far from benevolent.<\/i><\/p>\n

It's nice to have plain figures of guys in suits (they make good \"victim\" fodder for villains to threaten), but this figure really missed an opportunity. Aldrich Killian definitely wore this outfit<\/a> (it's his \"macking on Pepper\" get-up), but wouldn't it have been better to get his white suit, maybe with a removable jacket\/extra arms so we could make him bare-chested? You know, the exciting parts of the movie? It's possible AA didn't get to see that when they were developing the line, but it still would have made for a better toy. At least it's not a living spoiler, the way the Legos were<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking of missed opportunities, the movie kind of dropped the ball on AIM, too. We're not asking for an army of beekeepers<\/a>, but would it have been too much to ask to show us a couple guys in yellow hazmat suits? That's all we needed, just a little nod somewhere.<\/div>\n
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#197 - Iron Patriot\/Extremis Soldier<\/h3>\n

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\"IronTony Stark allows one Iron Man armor to be used by the US military under the auspices of his close friend James \"Rhodey\" Rhodes. But a new, media-friendly paint job doesn't mean a thing if the suit once known as \"War Machine\" is compromised.<\/i><\/p>\n

Usually with their Marvel Minimates<\/i> line, Art Asylum releases three two-packs and one variant. But Series 49 changed things up a bit. Iron Patriot uses all the same new molds as War Machine - helmet, chest cap, upper arms, gloves, boots, and back-mounted cannon - so you'd think one would be the variant of the other (especially since IP comes with an army-builder), but nope: they're both unique offerings.<\/p>\n

Like the bio intimates, the reasoning behind War Machine being repainted and rechristened Iron Patriot was purely to do with PR. Public relations, not Power Rangers. The world saw superheroes, not the military, successfully defend New York from aliens<\/a>, so the armor was redone to look more superhero-y. You can remove the helmet and chest cap to see Rhodey's face and more tech detailing, respectively.<\/p>\n

But not always Rhodey's face! As you'd already know if you saw Iron Man 3<\/i> when it came out over a year ago, the suit gets taken over by Eric Savin, a completely forgotten character from the comics named Coldblood. So this set includes a second head representing James Badge Dale, an actor who's been in lots of things you've seen, but not that you'd recognize.<\/p>\n

The Extremis formula rebuilds the body from the ground up: replacing organs, strengthening tissues and turning each subject into a living power plant. With super-strength and incendiary attacks, one Extremis enhancile is more than a match for any Iron Man armor.<\/i><\/p>\n

Savin wasn't the only Extremis Soldier in the movie with comicbook roots: Jack Taggart (the one from the Chinese Theatre) was a guy named Firepower, while Ellen Brandt (the one in the diner) was Man-Thing's wife. This Minimate doesn't represent either of them, though: it's clearly one of the nameless minions, wearing dark pants, military boots, black gloves and a dark green vest. He's armed with a gun, but his real power is the Extremis energy glowing through his skin (in very precise, straight lines).<\/p>\n

It's a bit weird that Iron Patriot and War Machine aren't variants of each other, because the Extremis Soldier is clearly<\/b> an army-builder. The face is generic, and the set includes a second piece of hair you can give him. It's suspiciously the same color as Aldrich Killian's hair, though a different cut. You can also remove the vest, to show more red lines of power (and if this was supposed to be Killian, he'd have his Fin Fang Foom tattoos).<\/div>\n
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#198 - Iron Man Mark 42\/Mandarin<\/h3>\n

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Since the alien invasion<\/a> that turned Manhattan into a war zone, Tony Stark has been hard at work upgrading his Iron Man armor. His latest suit is a technological masterpiece, separated into individual components and able to assemble with a thought.<\/i><\/p>\n

The Iron Man 3<\/i> Minimates are divided between Toys Я Us and the specialty market: two sets are exclusive to TRU, two are exclusive to specialty stores, and two are available everywhere. That's pretty average for the way these things work, but this time Art Asylum did something weird: the Mark 42 Iron Man at TRU is red and yellow, while the Mark 42 Iron Man at comicshops is red and gold. They're identical otherwise, so what's the story on that?<\/p>\n

Whichever color he is, the figure is given some very complex paint apps, red and goldyellow and silver, and fine black outlines separating them. He has a solid helmet, a helmet with a removable faceplate, and a piece of black hair. The boots, gloves, upper arms and chest cap are new molds, which does present a bit of a problem: the chest cap sticks out far enough that the squarish shoulders on the new upper arms can't move past it without popping off.<\/p>\n

Who is the Mandarin? Where does he come from? What are the \"Mandarin\"Ten Rings? His objective seems to be chaos, throwing the world into disarray by targeting innocents. And When Iron Man gets too close, the Mandarin will strike at the people he cares about.<\/i><\/p>\n

Some fans got upset by the way IM3<\/i> handled the Mandarin, but the idea of a mass market terrorist delivering his threats via social-media-friendly snippets? That's pretty damn clever. The figure wears an ornate green and gold cloak over a fancy shirt and belt, brown pants, and army boots. He gets new forearms to create his sleeves, and his hands are molded with five rings apiece. Since the rings weren't magical, he's also armed with a gun.<\/p>\n

Ben Kingsley did a great job playing the Mandarin, and this Minimate does just as good a job of re-creating his look. His dark grey hair is pulled up into a bun on the crown of his head, and his long beard falls down over his chest. For some reason, he also includes a second hair piece without the beard. I guess so you can turn his head? No idea.<\/div>\n
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#199 - Silver Centurion Iron Man\/Skeleton Armor Iron Man<\/h3>\n

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Iron Man 3<\/i> introduced 35 new suits of armor<\/a>, each with its own cool design. The Iron Man 3<\/i> toyline, however, turned almost none of them into figures. How do you drop the ball that badly? Thankfully, the Minimates at least did some<\/b> of the armors.<\/p>\n

Since the alien invasion that wrecked Manhattan, Tony Stark has withdrawn to his workshop, developing different iterations of the Iron Man armor for every possible scenario. The Silver Centurion is one of them.<\/i><\/p>\n

This is technically the \"Enhanced Energy\" armor, which has a magnetic forcefield and the wrist guards slide back to reveal pulse cannons. The Minimate does a superb job with the armor - this isn't just a repaint that looks kind of like the movie armor, we actually get a bunch of new molds to make it as accurate as possible: the boots, thighs, gloves, upper arms, chest cap, and helmet were all created specifically for this Toys Я Us exclusive! Even the paint masks on the chest, waist and back are unique for this toy. If they redid this figure with blue instead of red, it would be a perfect match for the Mark 30 \"Blue Steel\" armor.<\/p>\n

Each new Iron Man armor, from Mark 8 to Mark 41 (the \"Bones\" armor), is designed to operate in a particular environment or deal with a specific threat. In addition, each can now be operated without a human pilot.<\/i><\/p>\n

The Skeleton Armor is the movies' version of the Modular Armor<\/a>: indentations and open areas in the suit allowing interlocking pieces to fit into place and function seamlessly. Since the Silver Centurian armor had so many pieces, it's understandable that this one is just a straight black-and-yellow repaint of the Mk.V<\/a> Minimate, meaning he gets boots, gloves, a belt, a chestcap and a helmet, plus non-standard thighs and biceps. It's not a perfect match, but it's close enough to be recognizable.<\/p>\n

Both these figures have removable helmets, showing the same Tony face<\/a> underneath. The only difference is that the Silver Centurion head has his mouth open slightly, while the Skeleton Armor head just frowns. They both have identical hair.<\/div>\n
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#200 - Heartbreaker Iron Man\/Tony Stark<\/h3>\n

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Since the alien invasion that wrecked Manhattan, Tony Stark has withdrawn to his workshop, developing different iterations of the Iron Man armor for every possible scenario. The Mark 17 \"Heartbreaker\" armor is designed for artillery.<\/i><\/p>\n

More accurately, it's designed to deflect<\/b> artillery. The repulsor in the center of the chest is larger than usual, because it can either fire a normal beam or power up for a stronger blast - and like the spray on a hose, it can be adjusted from a straight shot to a wide spread. The chest cap and and waist are new, and their sculpts match up nicely. We also get new boots and gloves, plus unique thighs and biceps (though AA totally could have repainted this black as the Mk. XVIII \"Casanova\" or gold\/brown as the Mk. XXIV \"Tank\" armor). The new limb pieces are thick enough that the elbows and knees don't bend as far as usual. Under the helmet is a Tony Stark face, and there's hair included so he's not bald.<\/p>\n

Tony's latest Iron Man armor, the Mark 42, incorporated a new technological feature. Operated by synaptic link, the individual components of the suit are independently mobile, and can fly to the user with just a mental command.<\/i><\/p>\n

At last, a toy that doesn't claim Tony can control all his armors because of<\/b> the Mark 42! Hooray! This is \"dicking around in the basement\" Tony, wearing the headset eyepiece that he only wore while he was making the empty armor interact with Pepper. He's got his black and grey T-shirt with the light from his repulsor shining through, and is wearing the boots and gloves from the Mark 42 - in Toys Я Us yellow, rather than specialty market gold - but includes plain hands and feet if you want him to look like that, instead. Well, one of the hands is painted with a bandage<\/a>, but it's still the normal sculpt.<\/div>\n
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