{"id":28968,"date":"2019-08-18T00:00:35","date_gmt":"2019-08-18T04:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/?p=28968"},"modified":"2019-08-19T19:17:25","modified_gmt":"2019-08-19T23:17:25","slug":"minimate-mini-review-370-the-iron-giant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/2019\/08\/minimate-mini-review-370-the-iron-giant\/","title":{"rendered":"Minimate Mini-Review #370 - The Iron Giant"},"content":{"rendered":"

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#370 - Iron Giant & Hogarth Hughes<\/h3>\n

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Arriving on Earth from an unknown point of origin, the Iron Giant explores his new environment and befriends a young Hogarth Hughes. But as agressive actions are taken against him by the military, he must battle his violent programming to be who he chooses to be.<\/i><\/p>\n

It was 2016 when Diamond Select Toys announced they had the license to cult favorite\/acclaimed flop The Iron Giant<\/i>, but so far they haven't done a lot with it. We had visions of a massive action figure (without having to pay Mondo's \"we think people should pay $80 for a movie poster\" mentality mark-up), but so far things have been small. Very small! When you're building on the standard 2¼\" Minimate body, there's only so much you can do - even with a waist extender and tall boots, this is still barely taller than average. Using arms as the legs was a smart move, keeping true to the movie's design, though the head is missing the dent on the forehead, which is kind of an important thing to have. They did a great job molding all the rivets on his new chest cap, however.<\/p>\n

You'll perhaps recall that The Iron Giant<\/i> was based on a rock opera<\/a> that was based on a book<\/a>. In that book, the young boy Hogarth is a minor player at best, while the movie makes him the main character (and gives him for the first time a last name, borrowed from author Ted Hughes). The \"Hog Hug\" Minimate at least shows an effort to make the Giant look bigger by comparison: he uses the child limbs and the extra-small torso introduced in the NBX<\/i> line<\/a>. Still, he comes up as high as the Iron Giant's shoulder, which is, well, giant<\/b>. Hogarth's jug ears are molded as part of the hair, and his face is painted with that bright friendly optimism he displayed so often in the film. He doesn't have any acccessories - not even his space helmet or pellet gun. All we get in this set is Hogarth, the Giant, and two clear stands for them.<\/div>\n
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#371 - Metallic Iron Giant exclusive<\/h3>\n

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For those who found the Iron Giant Minimate too small, DST also released a Vinimate, meaning that Cthulhu<\/a> is no longer the only one to be an integratable size.<\/p>\n

Arriving on Earth from an unknown point of origin, a colossal robot explores his new environment and befriends a young boy. But as aggressive actions are taken against him by the military, he must battle his violent programming to be who he chooses to be.<\/p>\n

Vinimates<\/i> use the Minimates<\/i> style, but are preposed vinyl figures, not actual action figures, so the only movement here is a balljoint for the head. He's standing with his hands on his hips - the classical \"Superman\" pose. The Iron Giant's metal body is well suited for the Minimate<\/i> style, thanks to all the straight lines and easy angles. The hands get Minimatized, obviously, but the forearms look right, and the upper arms are sculpted with metal bands. The elbows just curve directly between the upper and lower arms, rather than even faking the kind of joints Minimates always have. Unlike the Minimate, the legs here are square rather than round (ie, meant to look like Minimate legs, not Minimate arms). The little rivets on his torso all stand out very nicely, and at this scale, the chest is able to have more depth than the Minimate chest cap allowed.<\/p>\n

There are three Iron Giant Vinimates available: the standard edition; Super-Hero Iron Giant, a 2017 SDCC exclusive with his homemade S chest shield (and side note: if the S had been a removable accessory instead of something permanently attached, I'd have gotten that one); and this, the Metallic Iron Giant, which was exclusive to ThinkGeek. As the name implies, the figure's paint is shiny silver, not flat grey. It's not chromed though, so it still looks good. Additionally, this one's eyes glow in the dark. It's a very weak glow, but it's a decent addition that sets the exclusive further apart from the others.<\/p>\n

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The Iron Giant Vinimate is still not as big as he should be next to Minimate Hogarth, but the size comparison is better between them than between Hogarth and the Minimate Giant.<\/div>\n
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<i>And now, some more OAFEry:<\/i><\/H5>