Poor Tony, being the only character available from his franchise.
After a deadly bomb blast, millionaire-playboy-genius Tony Stark perfects a hi-tech suit of armor and decides to use his technology and privilege to reshape the world.
Thanks, that says nothing! This figure is based on Marvel's Midnight Suns, a tactical RPG where "The Hunter" and several appropriately mystical characters (plus a bunch more inappropriate cash-grabs, like Iron Man here) attempt to stop Lilith, the Mother of Demons, from fulfilling a prophecy that would allow her to free her master, Chthon. The official game bio is no more specific than what Hasbro printed on the box, so we don't really know much about his role in the game.
This figure represents the "Midnight Sun" suit, which can be unlocked for all 17 characters in the game. And side note: how confusing is it
that Marvel Comics has a group called the Midnight Sons, s-o-n-s, but this game is Midnight Suns, s-u-n-s? Is this an inclusive language thing? Because that only works in a laguage where the two are homophones - "Los Hijos de la Medianoche" and "Los Soles de Medianoche" don't sound alike. The old version implied they were born of the darkness; this version implies they're lighting the darkness, and allows for inclusion of characters who really don't belong. Like Iron Man.
The bulk of this figure is the same sculpt as the Crystal Dynamics's Marvel's Square Enix's Marvel's The Avengers Iron Man, meaning many of the parts are shared with the Starboost
and Atmosphere armors, as well. Guess this is the go-to mold for Gamerverse Iron Men! The head, chest, and shoulders are new Dennis Chan sculpts, though let's be honest: accurate to the game as they may be, the only distinct part of those new sculpts is the pentagonal chest beam, which has magical sigils sculpted into the surface around it. Hasbro could have used any movie helmet or pauldrons and people would never have noticed. If you're one of the maybe 20 people who made it to the end of game and saw Iron Man wearing this armor, you'll recall there are meant to be small flames erupting out of the shoulders, but Hasbro didn't do that.
Articulation is the same as those previous figures:
balljointed head and hips; hinged neck and chest; double-hinged elbows and knees; swivel waist, biceps and thighs; and swivel/hinge shoulders, wrists, and ankles. He's got alternate hands - either fists or open - and some dark red repulsor blasts that contrast with the black and gold of the Suns suit. This is a colorscheme we've seen Iron Man use before, but it's the standard for everyone in the game when they similarly gear up. There's one feature you'll never notice, though, and that's the tiny filigrees painted along the edges of the armor: they're just a slightly darker gold than the parts they're painted on, so I didn't even know they were there until I took these photos.
A lot of times, Iron Man is the figure in any given series who doesn't get a Build-A-Figure piece, but this one does: the right leg of the Mindless One.
Midnight Suns didn't light the videogame world on fire, but neither is it a punchline (unlike other recent Marvel games we could mention). Midnight Sun Iron Man isn't a thrilling figure, either, which may be why he was the first one I could actually find.
-- 01/01/24
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