INTRODUCTION:
Iron Man (Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, and was created by legendary writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. Iron Man made his first appearance in Tales of Suspense #39 (cover dated March 1963).
Stark is depicted as an American billionaire playboy, business magnate and engineer with a genius-level intellect. He suffers a severe chest injury during a kidnapping incident, where his captors forced him to build a weapon of mass destruction. But Stark manages to fool them, creating instead his own powered suit of armor to escape.
He later refines this suit with weapons and other technological devices to eventually create the Iron Man.
Iron Man has been a founding member of the superhero team the Avengers and has been featured in several incarnations of his own various comic book series, as well as several animated TV shows and films.
Many contemporary fans will identify Iron Man with the character portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. In fact, many of the current comic depictions and figures are loosely based on Downey Jr's depiction of Iron Man.
There have been some reviews/complaints about Sentinel's 1:12 scale Iron Man figure, mostly due to the fact that the armor add-on limits the figure's articulation especially in the shoulder areas. While this is not untrue, there are ways in which you can get around this snag.
PACKAGING- 7/10
Iron Man comes packaged in a boxed tray which can be removed to reveal Tony Stark. The armor add-on is tucked away behind the Tony Stark figure:
ACCESSORIES- 8/10
This Iron Man figure comes with:
- a HECK of a lot of armor pieces in which to "suit" Stark up. Very sturdy pieces, think its die-cast so no fears of breaking them
- One pair of gripped hands (left, right)
- Two pairs of opened hands
- Optional Tony Stark head part with articulated eyes
FIGURE- 7/10
There are going to be some people who will disagree with me, but I don't hate this figure. In fact, I think I prefer this to SH Figuarts' Iron Man series- reason being is that the latter version is plagued with paint issues (red paint chipping away and turning pink after a while). Armorize Iron Man is a solid piece and quite heavy and its Tony Stark headsculpt is more faithful to the comics version rather the movie adaptation.
That being said, however Iron Man definitely looks better suited up rather than without the armor. (Too skinny!) And I like the fact that the armor pieces can be easily attached without the use of excessive force.
ARTICULATION- 6/10
This is the part I think many reviewers have an issue with, especially with regards to the figure's ability to move his hands more than 30 degrees without resulting in his shoulder armor popping out. The figure's arm movement is limited in the sense that you can't really stretch his arms all the way up.
BUT you can fiddle with the shoulder armor and place it in such a way that it sticks out just ever so slightly. This allows the arms/hands some freedom for poses. But other than that, the other parts of his body are pretty well articulated. You can pretty much get his legs to do just about any pose you want, and there's a nice ab crunch. The figure also comes with a decent waist swivel so these kind of make up for the lack of articulation above the chest.
POSEABILITY- 6/10
Despite the limitations in terms of articulation, you can still get some pretty decent poses from Armorize Iron Man. Its just a matter of messing around with the figure and a bit of trial and error.
VALUE- 6/10
I would recommend you get this figure IF:
1. You're not blown away by SHF's version of Iron Man and want an alternative in the 1:12 scale (although he is just about 7 inches tall);
2. You want a figure that complement the old Marvel ToyBiz line.
Big Bad Toy Store is selling him for US$139.99 (RM619.32). Toypanic has him for US$76.90 (RM340.20).
OVERALL SCORE- 6.7/10
What did you think of the review? Give me a shout by leaving a comment below. Please like, share and subscribe to The Abah-Geek!