I haven't read any Ultimate Iron Man, but I've admired this action figure for some time. The Marvel Utimate imprint of comics began publication in 2000, the characters given new origins, freeing them from the sometimes convoluted back-histories of the original versions. In Ultimate Iron Man, Antonio Stark's genetic structure was changed due to a laboratory accident his mother suffered while he was still in the womb. Neural tissue normally found in the brain covered his entire body, causing Antonio extreme dermal sensitivity, motivating his inventor father to develop a biological armor to ease the child's suffering, and allowing him to interact with the world normally.
Like the other Iron Man 2 3 3/4" Hasbro figures, Ultimate Iron Man came with the 3-part armor specs card. Instead of a translucent repulsor blast accessory, he came with an interchangeable head- I'm assuming this is two looks he had in the series. His ball jointed head is pretty expressive, and was surprised to see he has swivel-hinged wrists- very unique to such a diminutive scale! And I'm thankful these figures feature the hinge-swivel hips, never outfitted with the dreaded ball & socket hip like some of the Marvel Universe figures.
While he's not part of the mainstream Iron Man continuity, I love a variation on a theme, and I thought this guy's armor looked tough! His chunky build restrict his movement somewhat, but not too badly- he's still fun to pose! His articulation is considerably better than my Air Assault Drone:
Ultimate Iron Man with Golden Avenger Armor Iron Man and Classic Proto-Armor Iron Man:
I'm not sure how many of these 3 3/4" Iron Man 2 figures I have, but Hasbro did a pretty good job on them. While it may be due to all the different armor variations and the result of Iron Man's technological aspects/nature, some of them have much more complex sculpts that a lot of the 3 3/4" Marvel Universe figures. I'm especially a fan of the Concept & Comic Book series from this line. As Ewan said over at Chase Variant, Ultimate Iron Man takes the character closer to robot territory visually- he really looks like a machine, and reminds me of an Italian sports car, the smooth rounded helmet and chest piece painted red & yellow. Mine has a small mark between the eyes, but the paint is good otherwise.
*Ewan's review of this figure at Chase Variant
*See The Iron Man Armory for all the other Iron Man armors through the years!
More Later- Make It FUN!
Happy Thanksgiving Super-D. : )
ReplyDeleteVery different in ways to the non-Ultimates armor but other ways close to the normal Marvel Universe version. I kind of like it. : )
ReplyDeleteThe other head is almost alien-like.I did a post on some mini MARVEL figures the other day and i think the Iron-Man mini figure is his ULTIMATE version..hmmm i'm not sure though.Great looking Iron-Man SDTB and Happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteI really like the design of the Ulimate Iron Man armor....and that figure looks like it stepped out of the book or cartoon.
ReplyDeleteVery cool. I will have to keep and eye out for that one since there are so many Iron Man figures still choking store hangers. :)
Nice! This is one of my favorite 3.75" Iron Men. It was so much better than the old Hasbro Marvel Legends one, and so much more impressive (considering relative scale). It's just too bad that the IM2 toyline's QC issues still haunt me. Mine has a stuck elbow that I can't break loose, no matter what tricks I use. It just pisses me off.
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