Marvel Legends War Machine (Endgame) review

Avengers Endgame is one of the most overblown movies out there. It's self-proclaims itself as a big deal and rewarding of all the praise when it comes to what it offers as a movie. The film has so many plot holes, too reliant on fan service, and it instead wants is the big money while the Russos bs their way through why they're totally the best directors in the industry. It doesn't help by the fact that Infinity War was honestly decent compared to Endgame, or the fact that fanboys spent too much money to boost the box office of the film just to beat Avatar (even though Disney now owns that, but hey, gotta support product and be excited for next product, right?). Still, there were a few good things about the movie. One was Steve wielding Mjolnir and the other was the new suit design for War Machine. While Iron Man's suits haven't been too great compared to his older suits, War Machine's armor somehow gets better over the years, as the designs distinguish themselves from Iron Man's. Now in Endgame, War Machine has a beefcake design that works almost like a mini-Hulkbuster while still remaining at a normal height, and the moment I saw its price was cut in half, I had to buy one! So, here are my thoughts on Marvel Legends War Machine!

Here is War Machine in-hand, and right off the bat, I have to mention that when you hold him in your hand, you can definitely feel a nice weight to the toy. It's almost got the density of a build-a-figure without being a build-a-figure thanks to the lack of hollow parts and the weight of the materials used in the toy. It's just a cold touch away from feeling like it was made from die-cast. The paint used on the figure is also applied well, what with the silver highlights, the red around the pecs and arc reactor, and the military markings that reflect the Rhodey's involvement with the military. The figure looks fairly bland from the back aside from the circular disks around the shoulder blades.

Head sculpt is certainly meaner than the normal look of the Iron Man/War Machine design, and it helps make the character design a little more identifiable from the normal look Iron Man has. I even love the silver face and the red eyes with the white centers (both are better done than the eyes on my Iron Man).

Articulation is slightly limited due to the bulk of the design, but it is still there. Head can look left and right on a ball joint as well as move up and down on a neck hinge. Shoulders move front and back as well as in and out (while the rubber shoulder pads don't get in the way. Biceps swivel, the elbows bend at 90 degrees, and the wrists swivel while also hinging up in and out. I will say I do wish the hands could be swapped. The diaphragm works in leu of a waist swivel and ab crunch, though it is hard to not make it look slightly off because of how tight the joint is. The hips move front and back, in and out, they swivel at the thighs, bend at two very tight knee joints, and the feet can barely hinge and pivot due to the boot designs.

He has a shoulder cannon that can peg on his right side, which is also able to turn left and right. Also has a bit of red paint added. Additionally, there are some underslung arm cannons that give the toy even more weaponry. Those have holes that could allow some Iron Man effect parts to fit in.

In terms of remolds, here we have the Iron Patriot, which, to my knowledge, was seen near the end of the movie (whereas Norman Osborn was the Iron Patriot in the main Marvel Comics). This suit has even more firepower, what with the shoulder cannons, that are likely to snap off from getting damaged in-universe. It also comes with two heads from a homeless guy, one with and without shades. Wait, I'm sorry. You're telling me that's Thor? Oh, right...

Here he is with his friend, Tony Stark, in the Mark 7 suit worn in The Avengers. Initially, I thought that War Machine was going to be slightly bigger than Iron Man, but as it turned out, he's about the same height but is only beefier and probably slightly taller than Iron Man. Still, it's not a bad thing as the figure still manages to be beefy. I also love how different the sculpting is when put next to Iron Man, resulting in similar but not identical suit designs that take War Machine from palette swap to having his own look.

Getting this figure at 10 bucks was a bargain! I was already interested in getting this guy when he first came out, despite my disdain for Endgame and the recent MCU stuff, but the fact that this version of War Machine was put at 10 bucks made me pick him up with no regret whatsoever. The figure itself makes me glad War Machine's suit doesn't feel entirely identical to Iron Man. Weird as it may seem, but War Machine is almost like Luigi to Iron Man's Mario; both are seen as the sidekick type of characters that initially began as palette swaps before slowly gaining their own looks and personalities. (though in the case of War Machine, it's just getting armors that don't look like grayscale Iron Man suits). I'm happy to own a new War Machine as he's not as common as all the barely altered 9000 Iron Men out there, and I might get Rescue just to have a neat trio of characters in armor. And the best part? No stupid BAF piece of Culk!

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐