Review of Iron Giant - Battle Mode

Introduction

The Iron Giant is a classic film, a wonderful heartfelt tale of childhood and friendship. Okay, so it gave us our first Vin Diesel performance, but nothing is perfect.

A number of companies have produced collectibles, from the expensive to the cheap, from prop replicas and statues to busts and action figures. Diamond Select Toys is the latest, and they are covering a number of markets.

Tonight I'm checking out the Battle Mode version of their action figure in the Select series. This guy has is available now, and will run you around $30, depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ***
The packaging is the usual book shelf style box and bubble, standard for their various Select series. It shows off the figure and accessories well, with some useful text on the back, but you will have to utterly destroy it to remove the contents.

Sculpting - ***1/2
This figure is about 8 1/2" tall, which isn't really in scale with anything, but looks fine on the shelf with your smaller figures.

The detail work on the rivets and screws is good, and they have nice, sharp cuts to the various edges, making it look like the metal they are trying to emulate. There's not a ton of surface detail, but that's in line with a) a metal surface and b) an animated character.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the sculpt is the eyes. The usual Iron Giant has big yellow or blue eyes...but in battle mode, the shape and style changes. That's reflected here, a nice touch.

The sculpting also works nicely with the articulation, giving you a best of both worlds scenario. The design allows most of the joints to still have a good range of movement, while not damaging the look of the sculpt.

Paint - ***1/2
While the sculpt might be simple, the paint work is absolutely spartan. Again, this is in line with his look in the cartoon. The colors are clean and consistent, there's very few surface imperfections, and the lines and edges between the colors are sharp. The heads on the tiny rivets could be a smidge better, but it's a minor complaint considering the price point.

Articulation - ***1/2
While not every joint is perfect, you can get some very good poses from what's here, and the articulation does little to interfere with the sculpt.

The ball neck is a bit restricted, but that's in part due to the light up feature. The jaw is also jointed, and you can open or close the mouth for various looks.

The rotating shoulders, elbows, and wrists work good, with a cut joint at the elbow as well. This joint is really there so you can swap forearms - more on that in the Accessories section.

The ball hips can move forward and back, but any spread is limited. The hinge knees and ankles work well, but I do wish there was a bit more rocker movement for the feet.

The torso sports a cut waist as well as a rolling ball at the chest. This is a really useful joint, allowing you to break up a bit of the straight line in the upper body.

Also worth noting, the claw hand on the weapon arm is also articulated.

While there's a few issues, I found the posability better than expected, and all the joints were tight and strong.

Accessories - ***
He doesn't have a ton, but what he has can be useful.

There's an extra set of hands, sculpted in grips. There's nothing else for him to grip, but you might have something handy in the extras box. These swap easily, with little worry about breakage.

He also has two separate arms, battle weapons extended and ready for a fight. You can use one or both, and they can be swapped on either arm.

Light Feature - ***
The tiny eyes on this guy light up, thanks to a LED bulb in the neck. He comes already equipped with batteries, and the small switch that activates the light is in the center of his shoulder blades.

While it's an easy to use feature - always a big plus - mine were a tad on the dim side. This might simply be due to the batteries already being installed with no plastic to block them prior to opening the package, which can shorten their life. A new set of batteries could very well brighten things up.

There's also a little bleed of the light into the mouth, but I thought the effect looked pretty cool.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
Thanks to useful articulation and useful accessories, you have a figure that's a lot of fun to pose. While he's not really in scale for any of your other displays, he'll still make a nice addition.

Value - ***
With prices rising on many of the figures in this scale right now, you might want to enjoy the $30 price point. I don't think it's going to last.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing!

Overall - ***1/2
While there have been a number of Iron Giant action figures, many have been high end with the price tag to match. This figure is well done, and is far more in line with most collector budgets. And if you have a kid in your life that loves the character, you can feel good giving them this without worrying about them playing with it. And who knows, you might just be creating another collector!

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - ***
Light Feature - ***
Fun Factor - ***
Value - ***
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth is also at just $28.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Surprisingly, this is the first Iron Giant collectible I've reviewed!

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