Official solicit:

Iron Man Concept Series- Captain America Armor

Driven to heroism by personal tragedy, billionaire industrialist Tony Stark resolves to change the world, becoming the invincible Iron Man!

Programmed with every possible piece of information about the fighting style used by Captain America, this armor allows Iron Man to mimic the moves of his friend and fellow hero. With the power of the armor, and the moves of the world’s foremost fighter, nothing can stand in his way!

Detailed with awesome armor deco, this articulated figure comes with a Captain America shield and missile-launching accessories. The shield accessory attaches to the figure’s arm or back, and the missile launcher accessory clips to the figure’s arm.

AUGUST 2008
MSRP 9.99USD

Well it’s been awhile since we’ve seen an Iron Man toy on this site (or any toy reviews actually - but don’t worry, there are a bunch in the pipeline ready to go!), not since way back in April before the movie even came out and we got the Stealth Operations figure and the Target Exclusive as well.

Since then, the movie has come and gone, and is even out on DVD and Blu-Ray now too. It’s a decent flick, clearly the best movie it could have been thanks to RDjr, because can you imagine how bad that thing would have been without him? YIKES.

As for this review, we’re looking at the Concept Captain America Armor version - that’s right, Captain America. Because two things that have no business being together should make a great toy, right?

We’ll see…

The story behind this armor is really tied into Civil War, the headache of a crossover series from Marvel Comics last year where Captain America and Iron Man went head-up against each other over a disagreement of politics. And then Cap was killed. Marvel later planned a What If? story to publish, and were going to use an image of Iron Man holding Cap’s shield as the cover (or possibly just an image placeholder), which then had IM’s armor colored red, white and blue as a tribute or homage to Captain America’s own uniform. Here is the tricky part - from my sources, I’ve always heard that coloring job was a joke, just something done internally that got passed around and people laughed at and then made its way onto the internet later and people dug it. Marvel though seems to want to pass off the idea that they had always meant for the colorway to be what it was, so who knows. I tend to think the joke part makes more sense, but YOU decide.

Either way, it’s not a real armor colorway or design, and so for it to end up as an actual toy in the Iron Man movie figures line really makes no sense, and kind of explicitly highlights the cashgrabbing nature of Hasbro lately by trying to milk every last cent from fans by repainting every mold they have no less than 5 or 6 times at least.

As for the figure itself, packaging is standard to the rest of the line, and IM here comes with the standard arm repulsor blaster thing, as well as Cap’s shield. And to be honest, wanting the shield for a custom figure I was working on was the only reason I even bought this figure to begin with.

Since this figure is essentially the exact same as the other two reviews I’ve already done, I am just going to talk about the differences and failings here, and if you want the good stuff go hit up those other reviews.

First off, this thing looks ridiculous. It doesn’t even actually match the colorway of the Silvestri image it’s based off of, and the colors are neither rich enough or varied enough to really indicate it’s supposed to be the American flag anyways. Take away the shield, and IM here just looks like he’s gone colorblind and was a victim of a graffiti incident gone wrong. UGLY.

Lets talk about the mold some too, because this thing has about had it. I’m no expert on toymaking or the processes behind it, but I do know that after so much work or use, toy molds will begin to degrade and will no longer put out the same quality figure it does at the 1 millionth as it did the first batch. And I’m pretty sure this figure suffers from a case of that, and pretty badly too.

All the arms and knees and joints fit funny, and are loose. The details around the edges of things seem to be kind of warped, the outer edge of his helmet is very wavy not to mention his head pops off the neck joint by barely being touched at all. Overall, it doesn’t feel to be of nearly the same strength and beauty as the original figures I got 6 months ago, and considering how reused this mold is, it just makes me wonder if Hasbro hasn’t use this thing all up. After all, how many repaints/variations have there been on this thus far? 7? 8?

A lot.

As for the new addition of the shield, it is a pretty cool design. I’ve no idea if this is a copy of any of the Marvel Legends shields or an all new design for Iron Man specifically, but it works really well. Aside from the 2 spandex straps which can wrap around his arms (or back too!), there is a clasp on a movable hinge which attaches to IM’s forearm for added stability. It’s a really great shield, and like I said, since I only bought this figure for it, it was a good purchase.

Even though the original figure was never designed with the shield as an accessory in mind, you can see poseability with it isn’t really hindered that much. What you can see is how badly warped the plastic on IM’s legs are warped, bowed even, and really hinders him being able to stand. Especially with how loose all the joints are on this one, which again, were not an issue with the figures I bought 6 months ago.

You can also see in the above far right picture how bad the details around IM’s knee and upper calf look, kinda mushy and not as clean as before. All clear signs of mold degradation I would think (either that or someone microwaved this figure before it was shipped out of the factory).

And I’ve already made fun of the colorway, but let’s get into the paint. Because despite there being a lot of color on this, most of it is just tinted plastic. The only paint apps on this are the silver. And just look at them. Awful. Had I seen this particular figure on the shelves, I would have tried to find one with better paint - but since I had to order this figure directly from Hasbo (since neither Targer nor Toys R Us are restocking this line where I live for some reason) I was at the mercy of their shipping & receiving department to give me the fine, fine figure you see before you.

That was sarcasm btw.

Overall, this thing is a duck. It’s ugly, it’s not up to par with any sort of standards I would expect from a 10 dollar action figure, and worse it doesn’t even actually tie into the movie or line it’s from at all. Sure, I know this is clearly a variant figure aimed at guys like me, with disposable income and a crack-addiction for toys that’d make Marion Berry take pause. But even a toy junkie like me wasn’t being fooled here, this figure sucks. Plain and simple.

Unless you absolutely have to collect the entire line, really love stupid repaints, buying this as a gag-gift for a friend, or just want the shield, I’d otherwise tell you to steer clear. The kiddies won’t want it, because lets be honest, what kid under 10 even knows who Captain America is? He hasn’t been in a cartoon in the last decade, there’s no movie of him, they’re hardly any toys of him other than the occasional Marvel Legends, and kids don’t read comics so again, no frame of reference. Any kids you know will want figures from the movie, not this nerd-fetish repaint, so save your money on this one, trust me.

And Hasbro, shame on you. Blech.