Iron Monger – Iron Man 2

While I was waiting for Iron Man 2 to come out, I thought it would be a good time to revisit the first film on DVD. I was surprised to find out there was a good part of that I hadn’t remembered.

One thing that I didn’t forget was the battle royal at the end between Iron Man and Iron Monger. In the film, Stane twists the Iron Man (Mark I) technology more towards being a weapon, and creates Iron Monger. A larger and more powerful suit, the Iron Monger proves to be a worthy foe for Iron Man.

Appearance:

I passed on this figure a few times before watching the DVD. After re-watching the first film, I decided he would make a decent figure to get as one of the few real opponents for the multitudes of Iron Man figures. There just aren’t enough bad guys in this line.

Frequent site readers will know that I like Steampunk stuff, and this figure has some of that styling to me. The character’s design is heavy on the mechanics and less on visual appeal. Where as the regular Iron Man suit is more of a sports car, the Iron Monger suit is like a large piece of construction equipment.

And by large, I mean huge. I didn’t really have a good sense of it in the blister, but once I got him out I realized he was quite a bit bigger than Iron Man figures. Scale is a bit of an issue though, because while he’s big, I don’t think he’s quite as big as he should be. It would be hard to crack open this figure and turn him into a custom open I.M. with an Obi at the controls.

Of course, I don’t know if that’s an issue with the figure or the general design of Monger. In the film, we get a pretty good idea of how Tony fits in his suit by watching him get fitted up with it. However, we really only see Stane’s torso when the top is opened up towards the end of the film. Because this suit is so much larger than the standard armor, I really have no clue how somebody would fit in it if it was a totally practical device.  (If somebody has a blueprint or something let me know).

The paint on Iron Monger is subtle, which is cool. There are areas of a blueish metal to mix with grey and the molded grey. The blue metal reminds a bit of Robocop, as does most of the paint work. If anything the suit looks a little too clean compared to the one in the film, but in general, I’m pleased with the look. It’s not overdone and has a realistic look to it.

There is a seen in the film where Stane points a wrist mounted Gatling style gun at Pepper. The gun is sculpted on the figure, but it’s on the wrong side. In the film, it’s on the right, on the figure, it’s the left. What I don’t know is if it stays on the right through all the scenes. It might be a continuity thing.

I do have one other slight issue with the figures appearance. It involves the shoulder pads. In order to free up the shoulder articulation, the shoulder pads hang in space from two hydraulic cylinders coming from the back. This is a great idea, as doesn’t really limit the ball jointed shoulder like a fixed piece might have.

Mrs. Nerd was amusing her self at my desk while I was loading software on here PC. She thought it would be funny to have the Iron Monger doing the Macerana. So she put his hands behind his head. I didn’t realize this right away, but the next day when I put him back in a normal pose, the shoulder pads didn’t want to set back down in place. They did with some coaxing, but long term extreme poses could have deformation issues.

Fun:

As you can tell by my description above of Mrs. Nerd’s escapades with the Monger, it’s one of those figure that just begs to be played with. There’s just something about a big robot looking guy that you can play with.

That being said, I really don’t have any major complaints with this guy. Like all of the other Iron Man figures I’ve picked up they are just plain fun to pose and have sitting on your desk.

There are some limitations in the articulation, but really I think they are understandable. The ankles and feet are pretty limited. The most notable spot is the head. It’s pretty much a left right thing. I’m guessing like the other figures it’s a ball joint that just can’t move anywhere. A little more movement here would go a long way in posability.

I’m guessing due to the size of this guy, there’s not much else in the blister with him. No projectile or gimmick piece. It’s just the figure and base. Based on the film, I’m not even sure what a good accessory would have been for him.

There is one of the standard bases for the line included, but you really don’t need it for anything. He stands perfectly fine without it. There are also three of the mix and match cards, as well.

Overall:

I’m pretty glad I picked up Iron Monger. Since Hasbro really hasn’t brought out any of Tony’s opponents from the second film yet, Iron Monger provides a great foe for an Iron Man display.

It doesn’t hurt that he’s a pretty well done figure either.

Engineernerd Score: 97/100

Tags: Action Figure, Hasbro, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Iron Monger, Review

Category: Featured, Iron Man, Marvel, Toy Reviews