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Iron Man 2 Cosbaby Figures
Hot Toys
"The
following is a guest review. The review
and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford
or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the
guest author."
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Jeff loves him some Iron Man
and some cosbaby, so it's no surprise he loves them together! Tonight
he's looking at the second series from Hot Toys - take it away, Jeff!
A couple of years back I covered the first set of Iron Man Cosbaby figures,
it was a licence that lent itself well to the switch and swap ethos
that the line utilises. As with a little repainting here and slight bit
of retooling there they made six distinctly different figures by simply
reusing and repainting different parts in different ways. It’s
something they have managed to do again here, but although the re-use
is evident, the specifics of the characters in the new selection meant
a whole lot more original parts were needed, especially as the set has
swollen from a lowly 6 figures to 8, admittedly the first set did
actually have seven if you managed to secure the ultra rare ‘Stealth’
chase version, but sadly I didn’t :(.
These look great standing with the first release, but there is one
glaring omission that I hope they pick up on, even if it’s a special
exclusive, but more on that later.
This set pretty much manages to encompass all the major players from
IM2, well the visually interesting ones anyway, and is another great
addition to the Cosbaby ranks.
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Packaging
- ***
Hot Toys have played around with a few variations for Cosbaby
packaging, we’ve had a few ‘double’ sets with window boxes and they
even put the US release of the comic book Batman figures on bubble
cards. However I’m glad to see a return to form here with the classic
little oblong blind boxing. The box shows a promotional shot from the
movie of the Iron Man MK IV backed up by War Machine. The sides show
the seven standard figures in the set (there is a seventh chase
variant). However, once you open up the box you’ll see the big change.
Whereas before the blind boxed figures came in a simple polly-bag, this
new release has them sandwiched and held secure in a little vac formed
tray, akin to a scaled down version of the ones used on the 1/6th
figures.
I never suffered an actual broken figure the old way, but occasionally
a little re-construction was called for where a hand, foot, leg, arm or
even head may have come loose while in transit, but no such problems
now!
Sculpting
- ***1/2
This time round, as I just said above, we get 8 figures in the set
(including the chase) and four of those are variations on the standard
armoured mech-suit. I don’t include War Machine in this as every part
of him is remoulded to show his bulked up frame and exclusive
detailing. We have the MK IV (circular ARC on chest) in both helmet
shut and open variants, the MK VI (triangular ARC) and the MK II
(silver) with the mask up showing Rhodey within. Now these are all done
in the inimitable Cosbaby way so don’t go expecting a likeness of Don
Cheadle, in fact if you take the time to look closely you’ll see that
both the ‘helmet up’ figures share the exact same head sculpt, in fact
the basic face is the same throughout the whole Cosbaby line, even
Black Widow and Nick Fury have the same basic face sculpt before it’s
made to look like the character with the specific paint apps. The only
series to have had a different face so far was the Michael Jackson set his
estate obviously took exception to him being shown with a bobbed nose…?
Any way, what I’m highlighting for those new to the Cosbaby game is
that they very much have their own unique aesthetic. Meaning that poor
old ScarJo as Black Widow doesn’t quite look like the devastatingly
gorgeous seductress she is in real life, we all know she has ample
curves in all the right places… and oh, those places!
Instead, here she looks like she’s spent too much time in Dunkin
Donuts, but hey, it don’t matter cos she’s in the Cosbaby style and
still manages to look cute and like a slightly chubby toddler dressed
as Black Widow, which is of course what she’s actually meant to look
like (the clues in the name).
The Nick Fury figure is also very cute, and kind of manages to be a two
in one… how I hear you shout. Well, the eye patch is actually
removable, so all you have to do is slip it off and you’ve instantly
got a Cosbaby figure of Shaft!
At first glance you might think War Machine has reused parts of the
other armour suits, but he’s all new. The helmeted head shows all the
retooled differences, as does the bulked up armour, he even has a tiny
gatling gun on the back of his left shoulder.
Lastly we get my favourite of the set. Why? Well, because it’s actually
managed to make Mickey Rourke as the sweaty, lank haired and over
tattooed Ivan Vanko/Whiplash look cute. He comes in his full body
harness and a pair of ARC powered whips and is the star of the set as
far as I’m concerned.
But what of the oversight I mentioned earlier. Well, it’s nice that we
get the figure of Rhodey in the MK II suit, and I guess the alternate
mask-up version of the MK IV is a cute touch, but it’s at the expense
of the MK V suit… which was quite frankly my favourite suit and indeed
scene from the whole of the new movie. So as I said, I hope HT might
consider doing him as some kind of one off or variant in the future,
because without him the line-up is looking a little incomplete.
Paint
-
***
As Popeye said, I'yam wot I'yam! And the paint apps on Cosbaby figures
are what they are. They’re always clean, crisp and well carried out,
especially when you consider their scale and pocket money price point.
All the armour has a nice metallic finish and the detailing is well
applied across the board. Whiplash is again my favourite, his paint app
isn’t anymore outstanding than the others but the streaking of the hair
coupled with his lo-fi armour, tattoos and yellow whips makes him stand
out in his own way. Ultimately this set is on par with those that came
before, and as such works very well.
Outfit
- N/A
No actual clothing, everything is sculpted.
Articulation
- ***
Cosbaby figures all have the exact same articulation (bar a few
aberrations along the way). So we get the same treatment here as
always, tiny ball and cup ‘push-on’ joints at the neck, shoulders, hips
and ankles and little peg joints at the wrists. Just enough
articulation to allow for a little personality to be injected to your
display, nothing extreme or deep, but enough!
Accessories
- Whiplash **** the rest N/A
Whiplash is the only one that comes with an accessory, namely his twin
ARC powered whips, and to be fair it’s all he needs. I guess a gun or
something might have been nice for BW, but at least she has her utility
belt and ‘Widows bite’ dual bracelets.
So the whole line is a little on the light side when it comes to
accessories, but most Cosbaby figures are so it’s hard to hold it
against them.
Value
- ***1/2
Sideshow normally carry most of the Cosbaby figures, and with this
being a Marvel license I figured they would have them, but I can’t find
them on the website anywhere. They were originally going for between
$8.99 to $9.99 but the prices are already rising on eBay where you can
expect to pay between $10 to $25 each for them, depending on
popularity/scarcity i.e. BW is $9.99 and the MK II Rhodey is $25.
So if you can get them at $8.99 I think they are approaching a full
score, but at $25 it’s less so (obviously).
Fun
Factor - ***
I guess if you wanted to, you could play with your Cosbabies, and my
kids have been known to, and so far without any damage. But really they
are more of a little display item, ideal for desks and shelves. Kind of
a way of showing your particular ‘geek’ allegiance when away from home
or at work. So as such they are a cool compact, space efficient
collectible that will give you just about as much fun as you’ll let
them. On this particular occasion that means a solid 3 stars from me.
Overall
- ***1/2
They don’t cost too much (if you get them quick enough), they don’t
take up too much space and they are instantly recognisable as the
designated character they represent… well, most of the time.
I’m
happy to have these flesh out the ranks of my first IM Cosbaby set, but
I seriously hope they address the issue of a MK V version… we needs him
Hot Toys, we needs him real bad!
I’ve
got it!
We
need a special edition window boxed 2 pack. Tony in his race suit with
‘THE’ suitcase and the MK V, c’mon Hot Toys make it so!
Where
to Buy -
Sadly I can’t find these with any of Michaels sponsors, but if you search
on eBay you’ll find them for the prices I quoted above. Good
luck hunting them down.
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This product was provided free for the review by the manufacturer.
Photos and text by Jeff Parker.
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