We'll be going in Armor Model order, so here we have Iron Man Armor Model 1. Being the first-ever Iron Man suit Tony Stark made in his superhero career, it's quite clear how entirely different it looks in contrast to every subsequent design he's ever utilized. Obviously, it's monochrome instead of the traditional red and yellow/gold, but more importantly, it's a lot bulkier and seems impractical in terms of combat; not to mention how limited the arsenal is for this design. You could sum it up with the line from the first movie mentioning how Tony built a metal suit with a box of scrap, as this hunky junk design is the epitome of primitive, but in a good way! I feel Hasbro was able to perfectly capture how this suit looks in the comics, though artist renditions over the years have made things seem a bit inconsistent, not to mention the evolving use of ink and drawing skills going up throughout the 20th century before things peaked in the 2000s and fell in the 2010s to now thanks to Disney's meddling with Marvel. There are a few intentional splotches of paint apps that make the figure look dirty, either as sand that Iron Man got in or some scratches he received in combat. The swirly nature of the metallic plastic is handled fine for this release compared to the more recent Ultron from that Quantumidia wave.
His helmet design is appropriately round and primitive-looking, especially considering how it was made from scrapmetal before he had the more refined armors after this look. The helmet also has the aforementioned paint apps that make it look dirty or scratched up, but on the mouth region only. His articulation consists of a limited double-ball peg, shoulder rotation as well as a hinge for outward movement, double-jointed elbows that work well if the lower joint bent first, the wrists swivel and hinge, there is one diaphragm joint, hips move front and back, in and out, thigh swivels, double-jointed knees, and ankle hinges as well as pivots but no boot swivels.
His sole accessories other than the alternate fists are blast effects with swirly smoke pieces to go with them. No alternate Tony Stark head, so points are getting taken off for that. Next to the Toy Biz version, this guy has way better proportions than the older version of the suit, but I have to admit that the Toy Biz one not only holds up alright but it even has a better paint job with the silver and dry-brushing applied to make it look more like proper metal rather than metallic plastic. If you have that version, you won't probably won't need this new one. It is a good release, but more work could be done.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Up next, here we have the 20th-anniversary version of Iron Man, themed after the original Toy Biz version of the character made waaaaaaay back in 2002, the same year Transformers Armada, Star Wars Episode II, Spider-Man 1, and Pac-Man World 2 came out among other examples. While the original Iron Man was a wholly new mold, this guy is a reuse of the 2019 80th anniversary Iron Man buck that was themed after the Alex Ross aesthetics. We had a few other versions of the character, from a non-metallic version representing an AI version of Tony Stark in 2016's Infamous Iron Man comics to the stealth version that I heard suffered from broken crotches. This guy isn't exactly the same as the AI Iron Man figure in terms of coloring, as the yellow is slightly richer, the ridged areas have black lines, and the unibeam on the chest is retooled to match the appearance of this suit. This suit design was pretty simple like many older superheroes were, but the translation into a three-dimensional action figure was done very well here. I do believe the torso is retooled lightly to make the abs less prominent, though the red being unpainted plastic might mean it's still the same, kind of hard to tell.
His helmet is newly sculpted for this release, as the horned upper section and the more grill-like mouth gave the mouths of Iron Man a more robotic look versus the way it'd look more like a proper mouthplate as seen in later helmets. The yellow on the front is a mask after all. The articulation is similar to that of the previous shellhead, but with a ball and neck hinge, instead of a double ball peg, a waist swivel with an ab crunch rather than a ball-jointed torso, and boot swivels. He has alternate hands that are not able to hinge at the wrists, which I found made sense for some of the MCU Iron Man figures because of the panels that go on the outer sides of the hands, but it doesn't really make much sense here. His blast effect pieces do have a bit of white paint, which is appreciative.
His effect pieces can also be wrapped with black smoke effect pieces to represent him flying if you like. and he also comes with a Tony Stark head, which is nicely painted with blue dry brushing to make it look reminiscent of the comic art with a very handsome likeness to the character in a realistic setting. This is my favorite Tony Stark head that I own and he'll easily beat the 90s version when it comes to likeness. Granted, he doesn't have the mullet that I love from the 90s, but still!
The backdrop that comes with this figure is the signature for the 20th-anniversary releases, and I realized how late I am with reviewing these, so on one side, you have the Stark sign on a building that can clip on the Marvel Legends stand, while the other side has the comic cover showcasing 2 of Iron Man's suits flying with him. The comic cover appears to be copied from #174, with all of the armor made up until that point. Yeah, Tony got busy and I don't mean that kind of way. Get your mind out of the gutters, true-believers.
And real quick, here we have the Tony Stark head onto the other Iron Man bodies I own. The head is appropriately fitting for Armor Model 1, and it also goes very well with the Modular design, and moreso than the one that came with the 90s animated series/MvC colors. As for the Extremis armor, it may take a better angle since it looks like Tony is a bit fat on the face with how thin the body is.
For a comparison with Toy Biz's Series 1 Iron Man, Hasbro basically amalgamated the third and fourth iterations of Iron Man into the AM3, with the colors from AM4 being added onto the AM3 version. It's an interesting way of mixing up the chase variant with the original, though it makes me wonder if Hasbro would have added a gold sheen on this to match the actual one or stick with the brighter colors. I would appreciate some shading to go with the panel-lining on the gloves and waist, among other areas.
And here is the hall of armor I own so far. I love the dose of 60s armor that makes the classic designs feel like appropriate starting points for Tony's history of making Iron Man suit designs. It's also great to see how far he progressed in terms of engineering. Becoming more advanced and sleek by comparison. So as for the 20th anniversary version of Iron Man, getting him for cheap while he is at the price of $23 online is better than the nearly $40 price tag some shops had him at. If you can get this guy, I recommend it so you can have another addition to your hall of armor.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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