Let's first cover Ultimate Iron Man. Unlike prior versions of the character I covered, this design aims to go for more of its identity instead of the using the classic Armor Models from the Silver and Bronze Ages for inspiration, resulting in a suit design that feels a whole lot less superhero-y by comparison. The gunmetal being prominent instead of the gold results in a more militaristic design, with only the gold on the face and the bits of red here and there being the sole traits of Iron Man present in terms of coloring. The proportions could fit for a more realistic take on Iron Man, with Ultimate Marvel being grounded in terms of tone and fantasy elements than Earth-616. The aesthetics for the figure are generally goodz though with the gunmetal being the more prominent color of this figure (with a bit of gold on the face), I wish the red was somewhat metallic to add an extra bit of synergy. That being said, the sculptwork is always appreciative, especially for a figure that is 100% original in tooling as opposed to being a reuse of an existing armor. Some of the areas where the red is painted could be a bit sharper, though it may have to do with the kind of red used.
His head sculpt a little weird since it tried to go for the multi-layered look to the gold faceplate, yet it being somewhat see-through results in the corner looking a bit off in the eye. Still, the design of it feels a little more like a turtle shell than the traditional Iron Man look. As for the articulation, the head is on a ball and disk hinge combo, with the neck on a swivel as well as the shoulders. The arms move in and out, biceps rotate, the elbows bend at two points, and the wrists swivel as well as hinge in and out. Surprisingly, the torso is on a double ball joint system comparable to the McFarlane and Jada Street Fighter figures! Watch that be a one-time only thing. The hips are on ball joints, the thighs swivel, the knees are double-jointed, and the ankles can swivel, hing, and pivot. He has his open palm hands on display, but his accessory-holding hands will be shown later. While he lacks blast effects, he does have holes ready for any spares you have lying around if you're okay with the figure not coming with any.
As for Rom Spaceknight, this figure also appears to be entirely new tooling. The arms may be pulled from a Silver Surfer, but the hands certainly are not. While he has that organic musculature, the design is meant to evoke the old style of robots we'd see in the 70s and 80s, though the linework on the hips, torso armor, and abs represent some of the detailing that armored characters sometimes were drawn with. While the proportions on most Marvel Legends come across as lacking if it regards their builds, they make sense for a non-human like him. The best part is the silver coat of paint all throughout the toy as well as the bits of red on the torso and jetpack. Much better than the marbleized plastic Hasbro sometimes uses!
His head sculpt is all kinds of retro simplicity. A body head with a black slit meant for the red eyes. Works fine for me! Articulation is the same as Iron Man's, though he has the reverse ab crunch and diaphragm combo. With his weapon-holding hands (which are meant to look like mittens), he can wield two blasters of different sizes. The blast effect is even the cherry on top this possible Marvel Legends figure of the year!
The reason why these figures are labeled as part of the "comic wave" is because they come with comic books! Don't get too excited, though. If you saw those packaging shots, you know they're not going to be like the Page Punchers or ToyBiz days of long ago. And if you thought we'd get some magnifying glasses to read them like with the ones that came in a version of Spider-Man 3, then stop having too much faith in Hasbro. All we get are mini comic accessories I'd see people make for the Articulated Comic Book Art site, not something Hasbro would do as a gimmick! Sure, the printing is good, if a little fuzzy, but would it have been hard for Hasbro to get Marvel to make some QR codes so fans could scan them and download a PDF file of the comic associated with the figure? Sure, it's not the same thing as getting a physical comic book, but if 2015 Hasbro could convince Transformers fans to scan stickers on their RID15 toys a decade ago, why not do the same here? Hell, that's something Hasbro could have done for their ToyBiz Tribute wave!
On a more positive note, why not we compare the new with the old? The original Ultimate Iron Man was one of the worst figures Hasbro made, and while most figures made today that people shit on could be seen as just average, this older mold was hideously proportioned, has weird ratchets in the hips to go with the dated ball shaped articulation, and had a tiny Tony Stark head under the helmet. The one nice thing about it is the chrome, but the light gray and banana yellow make the whole thing inconsistent. Both the 2017 Rom figure and the vintage versions are the closest we have worth comparing considering how niche the character is. I'm fine with us getting the original design since I don't know how easy it would be to get the IDW version that soon.
And what about the other figures? I kind of want to get Adam Warlock for his role in the Infinity Gauntlet story, but he looks kind of average for a big deal. Still better than his gold ass in GOTG3, but still. I wanted to get Miles Morales, but my younger brother showed me the figure he got, and the hips are embarrassing combined with the inaccurate lenses and the head being older than he was in his debut. I never had any interest in Daken as a character, and the same could honestly be said for Banshee. Plus, with them having the same piece of plastic only useful for toy photography, why bother with collecting more of these if they're less enticing than BAF parts?
Overall, Ultimate Iron Man and ROM Spaceknight are two figures you should get in the mini comic wave. Don't bother with anyone else, especially if the gimmick itself sucks ass. Both figures are new molds with enough accessories to make them worthwhile, especially Rom Spaceknight. Ultimate Iron Man just needs a few more tweaks and maybe blast effects or a Tony Stark head to complete him. Oh and no sex tape with Black Widow allowed (seriously Ultimate Marvel writers wtf).
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Ultimate Iron Man)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Rom Spaceknight)
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