First Spotlight - Assembled!

I can't believe it's taken us this long to get our first real spotlight done!  I offer no excuses, just Alexx's personal and heartfelt apologies.

Indeed!  I personally offer my heartfelt apologies for Zach's slothful and altogether reprehensible behavior. 

It's been a while since we did our intro posts and explained that we're going to talk back and forth, person to person, so when the text changes color, that's us changing author.  So for now and future reference:  Zach = blue, Alexx = red.  It's that easy!

So about half a year ago, back when Iron Man 3 was still new in theatres, we decided to each buy three figures from the Iron Man Assemblers line to do a spotlight on.  The catch was that we couldn't tell each other which ones we got.  We would just go right into the spotlight and reveal them there.  I can't really remember what the point of the secrecy was, but I think it had something to do with letting the pieces of the figures speak for themselves, instead of us going "This one's cool because of this", "Aw yeah man, I agree, let's get the same ones!", "Good idea, and then we can blog about the same few figures".  I dunno.  Both of us said we wouldn't go crazy with this line, but we wanted to review a nice chunk of them.  There's always the possibility we chose the same three, but we've kept the secret from each other this long, so we might as well get right to it.

For those of you who don't know (or didn't pay much attention to them), Iron Man Assemblers is a line of figures with interchangeable parts.  You can get various versions of Iron Man with different accessories, and mix & match them to make your ideal armor.  It would have been nice to get some characters besides Iron Man (like maybe some Hammer drones), but the line is what it is.

My first choice was Hypervelocity Iron Man.  When I was a kid I rarely used my figures as the characters they were meant to represent, so I liked it when they looked different than the standard characters.  I still do.  This Iron Man isn't that vastly different (he actually looks like he could be War Machine), but it's the little things that count.  With this line, most of the "little things" can be found in the secondary parts, like the arms in this case.  That secondary machine gun right arm is what really sold this figure for me.  It's not even that big or imposing, but.... Man, it's just cool!  I love the wave those cobalt blue arms stand out from the rest of the colors too.  Are they cobalt?  What's cobalt?  I think they're cobalt.  The "shin missiles" are pretty useful parts too.  They can be attached to the legs, arms, or back to serve as a jetpack.

And here we have the situation I figured we'd get into:

Yes, I bought Hypervelocity as well!  I knew this was going to happen.  Like Zach, I bought this baby for that wicked gun arm.  I mean he's also cool looking, but the arm sold it.  Hell, I bought mostly for the arms involved!  When it's a modular toyline like this, I tend to buy for parts unless a figure is SO awesome that I gotta have it no matter what.

This guy also came with another...arm.  Looks like a blade comes out of it, but it does nothing.  Also comes with some rocket things that - as Zach pointed out - can be used as rockets or boosters and peg into the arms, back, or legs (depending on how the sculptors situated the holes).  Overall this one is pretty slick and works with the items he comes with...of course, I threw on a muthafuggin' CHAINSAW that came with another figure (I mean it matches the color of his arms!  It's perfect!)

Now lets see what Zach chose as his second...

Speaking of figures that don't look like their intended characters, here's Starboost Iron Man!  Okay, I think most of these armors might show up in Iron Man 3 (I wouldn't know, I haven't seen it yet (They all show up in some capacity; mostly in the background)), but still, it doesn't look like your "standard" Iron Man.  That in itself was enough to make me buy this figure, but it's also pretty nice looking!  It seems to be a decent set of deep space armor, and that jetpack will go well with the various combinations you could make.  One of his secondary arms is a big golden cannon that shoots... Plasma pinchers (AW YEAH)?  I don't know what that projectile is supposed to be, but it looks pinchy (That's what she said?).  But the REAL scene stealer in this set is the chainsaw arm!  That's how you know you could use this as someone other than Iron Man.  I don't think Tony Stark has any "no-kill" rule like Batman, but I still can't see him using a chainsaw on his enemies.  Chainsaw!  It's the difference that counts.

How can I not agree with Chainsaw Arm?  I already showed my love for that by matching it with the Hypervelocity armor, so I'll go into why - yes - I ALSO chose this one.

...oh right, it was because of the chainsaw arm.  That's pretty much it!  Well okay, I was hoping the space armor would come with something cool, 'cause I did want it for the looks.  Thankfully the chainsaw was there to confirm my wants!  The armor stands out in the pearly white with black (and some gold accents).  The cannon arm worked out nicely for another guy, but I'll get to that on my third choice. 

Now I had a different mix for this guy, but...well I cheated a bit on our deal of three each.  You dirty cheating bastard!  I wouldn't have if we had done this post earlier, but just the other day I found some of the newest sets, and one of them had some arms that were just MADE for this one!  And it also had a cool armor, but I'll get to that too.

YEAH, energy sword arm!  So far that arm ALSO sports the only elbow joint I've been able to find in this toyline, so there's a plus.   Anyway, the the thing about these figures is that they sorta give you arms that are specifically made for some other figures.  It's a neat way to sell more toys, but I can't help but think that this might have worked better if all of them weren't so different.  But, lets move on to Zach's final choice...

My final choice was Stealth Tech Iron Man ("Stealth Tech" being that one title that shows up in almost every action figure line).  This version looks more like a "standard" Iron Man, but he has a bit of bulkiness to him.  If it wasn't for the way the secondary parts look on him, I would have probably skipped this one.  If you liked the way the cobalt (maybe) arms "popped" on Hypervelocity Iron Man, you'll love 'em on this guy.  They really stand out against the champaign-y colors of the rest of the figure.  The shoulder cannon is another story though.  It's funny looking, and I don't know what purpose it could serve.  I mean, unless Iron Man's foes are directly above and to the right of him, there's not a whole lot he could use it for (Might work well if he were in a side-scrolling shooter and needed a shot that angled up to take care of things above him).  But it looks like he's expecting some foes to be above and to the right of him, because that missile is huge.  He also comes with the shin missiles that Hypervelocity Iron Man has, which is fine by me since they're useful parts.

Funny thing about the "Stealth Tech" figure is that his design is based on an Iron Man 2 figure that was called Hypervelocity armor!  Can't seem to make up their minds.  Anyway, hey: I made a different choice for my third!  Yay!

I was having a heck of a time finding a third, 'cause the ones I chose weren't lining up well with the rest of the arm choices.  I couldn't choose based on looks, 'cause I pretty much got the best looking ones (for me) in the Hypervelocity and Space figures.  So, I chose based on War Machine coming with a second big 'ol arm cannon with the "pinchy" missile thing.  For long-range pinching.  *wink* (Gross.)

Now...other than the cannon, this one was kind of a poor choice (it's also the one I was sure you were going to pick, so I stayed away from it.  That, and I never really cared for War Machine...).

First off, they sort of tried to make him a standard War Machine figure by giving him his trademark shoulder cannon...but it rests listlessly on his shoulder rather than above it.  And then if you wana do anything else with it...well, it's useless.

It's funny, 'cause it sticks way too far up on any arms, but not far enough on his back.  It's a silly little item.  This is one of the few cases where I really think they should have enlarged that and made it a missile launcher coming over his shoulder on a small backpack so others could use it without it looking stupid.  Well...less stupid than the tiny thing.

Now, like I said above: I bought the Space armor for the arm cannon, and I bought War Machine for a second one, so I could do this:

I also added those rocket things to his legs to get some more OOMPH, or CHUTZPAH or however you wana say it (unless you're saying pizazz, 'cause no).  This makes him more interesting to me, but he's still weak on his own.  He's an addition, but not a stand-alone.  Mostly because the other arm he comes with is just...well it has a larger shoulder.

I think it's supposed to be some sort of "powered arm", but it's barely bigger and doesn't add much.  Maybe it would look better with another one, I dunno.  Oh, and while this pic is up: I was going to put those rockets on his guns rather than his legs, but as you can see on the side of the gun on this pic, the hole is facing him!  It's facing out on the gold gun.  Sooo...there's only one gun mold, and they just put it on an opposite shoulder, so that inside facing peg is kinda useless.  And it stops me from making BIG MISSILE CANNONS.

Anyway, I guess I don't regret him 'cause of the cannons.  'Course that gives me two Super Pinchy Missiles for...doing...things.  Bad things.  You know, as opposed to those missiles that build schools and feed the homeless... FIRE THE CHARITY MISSILES!!

I guess they ain't bad if you think of them as big loader arms for pushing away Queen Aliens 'n such.  

HAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!  "Boing!"  Second funniest explosion sound ever.

Isn't it, though?  Moving on!

I have to take a bit more of the spotlight because like I said: I bought one extra because of those arms on the Space armor.  That is cheating!  I can still only find the first wave here!  The later waves look much better... 

It's not my fault you're stuck in Canada!  And yes, they do look better.  It's like they didn't want to sell the line until the second wave; I don't get it.  In my defense, however: I did only find these new ones at Wal-Mart, so I dunno when they'll show up elsewhere.  As it was, they only had this and another with circular saw arms - and only two of each amidst TONS of first wave product.  I wouldn't be surprised if we don't even see most of the next waves.

Anyway:

This one wasn't a bad extra choice, mostly because it improves the Space armor SO much!  Love those arms.  This one also stands alone pretty dang well!  He's a bit larger than the others, but I LOVE those punching arms!  Though it's hard to get him to really...do anything, because of the way the arms are posed.  I think he's awesome!  Yours even has some scarring in the plastic on the face, but it actually improves the look!  It looks like he's gotten into some scraps.  

Lets wrap this up.

I don't have a lot of complaints with this line.  Having more pieces available right off the bat would have been nice, but they're still trickling out.  Joints at the elbows and knees would have been cool too, but I can live without them.  My biggest issue is that there doesn't seem to be a firm scale set for across the board here.  This is a line where all the figures are supposed to interchange the parts, yet some figures are taller or shorter than others!  That means that some combinations aren't as nicely proportioned as others.  

As you can see, the legs of Starboost Iron Man are noticeably shorter than on Hypervelcocity's.
  
I agree, the differences in size make some of the matchups awkward (especially when I bought the Striker armor)  I can't help but feel that this line wasn't thought out properly.  There have been plenty of toylines that were built for mixing and matching, but I haven't found a lot of items that actually mix well in this one.  Some arms are built for other figures, and that's cool, but there isn't much point to mixing otherwise (for the most part).

At least the short Starboost legs could make the Striker armor look even more massive (in a cartoony kind of way).

That being said, he's some of the combinations I was able to make (along with me!):

See?  Told ya!

The last thing I'd want to mention is that I tried using a head from one of the regular, non-Assembler Iron Man 3 figures, just to see if the ball joints were universal.  They're not.  The neck length and ball size on the figure I got is too big to use with these guys, and you can take that how ever you like.  It's a shame too, because the head from the Hydro Shock Iron Man figure would have looked great with some of these parts.  The best you can do is just rest the head on the torso.



On a final note for myself, I have to say that these are kinda disappointing for me.  I think they could have gone a lot further with at least some knee joints to give them some more dynamic play choices.  Not that a kid wouldn't be smashing these together, but when I was a kid we at least had some knees and elbows to add to a jumping motion or (especially) a flying motion.  The stiff legs kinda kill it for me when I'm messing with the figures.

I'm assuming like most movie lines, the toys were rushed into production to be ready for release along with the movie.  Not that I think this line is a dud at all.  It could have been better, but it probably could have been worse too.  

Granted, these were not meant for some old dude to pose and photograph, so I'm not complaining that they can't strike a pose (woah, easy there kid, I'm older than you (We can both be old!)).  I just find figures lacking articulation in the knees to be a bit boring unless they are molded in some sort of actiony way, like with the knees bent a little (use the Marvel Secret Wars figures as a good example of what I like to see when you take out the knee and elbow joints).  Generally these guys are stuck with the inaction pose of standing straight up, so aiming weapons 'n such looks awkward and plays awkward. 

Now of course the main draw is mix and match, but as I've said...it's just not as fun when every one out of five mixes are any good.

You can pop off heads, legs, arms, and almost none of the combinations look any good.  Certain arms are made for certain other figures (like the blade arm for the Space armor) but otherwise you're just mixing things that are meant for mixing that weren't....meant for mixing.  If you see where I'm going. 

*sigh* And yet I bought a FOURTH one to add to them, even when I'm not amazingly happy with them.  Not sure what that says!  

It's because you're a sucker, and it's because Striker Iron Man is WICKED.  I won't go out of my way for too many more of these, but there are still a few coming out that I'd pick up.  It might be too little too late to really recommend the line to people, but overall, I like it for what it is.  But just imagine how cool a toy line would be if it were really based around interchangeable parts and there were a massive amount of parts to choose from.  Someday, childhood fantasy, someday.

I agree, and you know how much I love mix-and-match toylines (we gotta go over Xevoz someday).  And as I mess with the Striker Armor more I see it as superior to the others because it's legs are splayed out a little more; making it a little more dynamic.  But then...when you're "punching" with him, his arms are just so awkward.  If you raise the arms above his waist he just looks like he's going "Oh well!" and if you move the arms outward he looks more like he's handing you a martini than punching you - still very "Iron Man" but not when I want him to be punching robots.

And since Alexx got to show off a fourth guy, here's Hydro Shock Iron Man in all his hydro shockin' glory!

Not to mention perfectly displaying the thing I was talking about with figures that are prepared for inaction.  Look at that perfectly straight posture and "ready to sit and do nothing" pose!

He's almost as cool as Striker Iron Man!  In the color department, maybe!  *Sigh...*  You dirty cheating bastard.  Yeah, I feel bad that my figure is SO much cooler!  Mine looks good when flying...