The Lucky Streak Continues!

In my last column, I took a look at the recalled Marvel Legends Scarlet Witch figure. You may remember that I stumbled across Wanda on the shelf at a newly-opened toy store near my office. I hadn't planned on reviewing another Marvel Legends figure right away, but I seem to be on some kind of roll lately - see, I just found this Marvel Legends Series 1 Iron Man.



I was on my way back to the office after a meeting downtown. I decided to pop into the Eaton Centre to check out a toy store. I don't check that particular store too often, but every now and then they have something great on the shelf. This was one of those times. Tucked away behind three Series 3 movie Daredevil figures and covered in dust, there hid Tony Stark. Even at the sticker price of $22.99 CDN, this was a no-brainer. I grabbed it.

One word of warning here. When you find something out of the ordinary, give the package a close look. You're looking for any sign that the package may have been opened and resealed. Sometimes there may be a fine slit at the bottom of the clamshell, or the seams may have been heated and will look melted or "globby". I've heard of unscupulous retailers and collectors repackaging loose or altered ML figures, so be forewarned. In this case, Tony looked fine.

Personally, I think the flying characters look better when you can get them into an airborne pose. I rigged up a little harness using the clear twist-ties that were in the package to lash Iron Man to a flight-stand. If you're going to jury-rig or balance a figure on a flight-stand, I recommend you use the stands from the Sentinel series. They're nice and sturdy, a much better design than the early stands. Just to be clear though, this figure does not come with a flight-stand.

The only accessory is a base on which you can pose the figure. I'm not really sure what the heck the base is supposed to be - maybe a sign on the top of one of Tony's buildings? Truth be told, I haven't read much solo Iron Man, so if anyone recognizes this . . . thing . . . from the comics, let me know what it is! There are two foot pegs on either side of the base. A flight-stand would have been nice, but I guess I can forgive Toy Biz for not including an accessory that they didn't introduce until the Series 6 Deadpool figure.

This is a solid figure, a nice sculpt that has been used as the base (especially the legs and pelvis) for the Series 7 Silver Centurion Iron Man and the Series 9 War Machine. The biceps have an odd hinge that allow the shoulders to swing forward so that Iron Man can extend his arms straight out in front of him. It works fine, it just looks a bit weird - if you extend both arms, you can look through one "shoulder hole" and see out the other side.

Here's all my Marvel Legends Iron Man figures - the only ones I haven't got are the gold and blue (stealth) variants of the Series 1 figure. Personally, I like the Silver Centurion Iron Man best - I've got him balanced on a flight-stand too, he didn't come with one. Also pictured: War Machine, Hulkbuster Iron Man and Modern Armor Iron Man. I'm looking forward to the upcoming First Appearance Iron Man with the gray armor, and also Iron Lad in the Young Avengers box set. I probably won't get the House of M box set, even though I would like to get the HoM Iron Man figure. By the way, that U.S. flag came with DC Direct's JLA Series 1 Superman.

I very nearly called this column "In Praise of Your Local Toy Store" - after all, I've had two lucky finds that netted me two hard-to-find figures at a good price. When you consider what shipping is likely to cost you on eBay, buying from a real bricks-and-mortar store will often net you a better price.

Now if you'll excuse us, Tony and I are going to go get 'faced.