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Writer's pictureOnyx

Marvel Legends Unleashed: Iron Man


Whoa! A #Marvel_Legends Unleashed? What is this? This is a blast from the past! One of my older toys that I just decided to open quite recently! Why? well, just cause. Let's not dilly-dally! Let's get right into the review!



Again, this is a very old Marvel Legends spinoff line. I used to have regular suit Spidey and Symbiote Spidey but gave them away. I can't remember off the top of my head but I believe this was during the 'dark ages' of Marvel Legends? Maybe? But regardless of that, if this was during those times, this is actually a pretty decent action figure--at that time--how it holds up today, we'll talk about. The transparent window plastic case made it ideal to be MIB display for a long time. That said, I found myself consolidating and packing a lot of my collection and this guy took too much storage space so I decided to just display him. Throughout this review, I will say that it's a good and bad thing to have this guy out of the box and being displayed like a proper action figure.



Inside the box, it has a pretty good presentation. There are good artwork and window to see the action figure. It's a good mix, actually and I didn't mind it displayed how it was.


This is also back in the day that Hasbro spent the time w/ bios--not that people really cared about them back then. Also, some effort was spent on the action figure's pose so the collector can have a clue how to display it.


Just from a quick glance, these accessories don't look too impressive. They hardly resemble the fireworks and energy projectile they're supposed to be and that's understandable since it's only within the last couple of years that we started getting repulsor blasts and hex magic. But given that they made an effort to make them and give a dynamic base is actually step-up from the common lack-of accessory Marvel Legends that we usually get.




Fun fact: I once thought that this was going to be an armor that was going to connect with a major Marvel Event... guess I was naive with how toy companies worked in junction with their source material, eh? At any rate, speaking of armor, I'm not even sure which one is this. As far as I'm concerned, I have yet to see this in comic books. The design looks like an amalgamation of Tony Stark's post-Modular armor, inferno armor, and his classic red and gold armor. All in all, whatever it is based on, it's actually not that bad looking. I wouldn't say it's his best one yet, but clearly, it's not entirely something I would truly say I would pick out of all the armor he has at his disposal. I would hardly even put it in the top ten list.


Pulling away from the concept of the armor, when we are talking about how it comes out as a plastic action figure, it's got some really odd areas. The anatomy sculpt is questionable especially when we are considering that there is supposed to be a man inside an armor. Those are some skin-tight metallic armor. The vanilla pose I have was also hard to get which is odd--I'll go over that in the articulation department. That makes the armor look a bit peculiar and it's not at all the design's fault.


Color-wise, there's not much to really say. It has two tones: mustard yellow and dark red which is accurate to Iron Man's color scheme. No shadowing, no shading, no color variations. Though I will say that the paint job is done quite well and no complaint on my end.



The unfortunate thing is that the figure really falls apart when we start really getting into the articulation section. As I mentioned, vanilla posing him is rather awkward and putting him in certain dynamic poses also doesn't feel that great. His joints are stiff and unresponsive (might be due to being inside the plastic case for years) and with the design of his armor, full range of movement is highly impeded (example: his shoulder pads and his gauntlet). His 'flame thrower' can be placed on either left or right arm but the way he has his fist and open palm hands, it's clearly obvious that the best choice is already made for you. No waist movement and his head can hardly look up so goodbye to a lot of the flying poses one was planning to put him in. All in all, the best dynamic action shots I got him in is what I got with this review.


Me saying all that, I do have to really keep in mind that it's an older figure. At that point, I don't think Hasbro really understood just how strong the collecting community really is and/or they were still experimenting on certain aspects. But it's also weird since bigger action figures really mean for easier joints or whatnot, but hey, it is what it is.


At the end of the day, this is an action figure I wouldn't have sought after now. Back then, I was a different collector and also, back then, the standards were not so high so it's more than understandable why I bought him. Not so great articulation, subpar designs and aesthetics along with the very weird anatomy really puts this action figure back. Knowing all this, I might have just left him in the package had I known it was going to be this much of a hassle, but a part of me really enjoyed the fact that I took this out-of-time action figure and compared/contrast it with today's standards. Also, he doesn't look too out of place with my Iron Man shelf.


Until Next Time!



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