Ironman Movie Ironmonger (Open Cockpit)

Originally posted at slangards.multiply.com on  Jan 12, '09


The Iron Man movie line didn't really wow me. The figure I like most from it is one that wasn't even in the film (Titanium Man). The articulation is lacking, the sculpts have little nagging things that bug me,and the paint is just really bad (not to mention it tends to wash out after some time).

Still, I thought that the Iron Monger toy was pretty cool, mostly due to it's size. It's a little smaller than the Hulkbuster from Toy Biz days, but it was still a hefty toy.



I had bought the original one (with the ridiculously ineffective smash action feature) when I bought the wave one set. For Christmas, one of my favorite people gave me an "open cockpit" version from wave two. Here's how the new kid stacks up.

First you'll see he looks a lot shinier. There are very little paint applications to these toys, so what you see in the photos is mostly the bare plastic. The Wave One Iron Monger (W1) is molded from a plastic that looks more bronze,or maybe rusting metal, while Wave Two (W2) has a more silvery plastic, making him photograph more like steel. I'm not sure if you can see it in the pics, but W2 also has some swirl marks that add some character to the figure.

Second, W2 is slightly bigger and rounder than W1. This is a good thing, since he is woefully undersized if you look at his scale in the movie. With the glaring size discrepancy, any increase is welcome

The most welcome change between W1 and W2 is the right hip joint. in W1, the hip is the trigger for the smashing arms action feature. This has the effect of eliminating any hip movement there. That means Monger W1 is stuck in a plain standing position. No fooling. You can't do anything with him.

In W2, they added a much needed ball joint in the right hip to allow it to turn. This lets Monger W2 extend his range of motion somewhat. I say "somewhat", because he's still limited by his lack of an effective ankle joint.

In the next few pics, you'll see that the W2 is slightly more detailed than the W1. His hoses and gaskets and gears all have a little more tooling than the first version, and the silver finish makes the new details pop. The sculpt is pretty much the same however. The guns are in the same place, the grooves and holes, etc.

The best part of W2 is the gimmick; the opening cockpit with a little Obadiah Stane inside. I say little because he is. He is noticeable smaller than the 6" figures that make up the superhero lines out now. It's a poor likeness, and he looks as if he's been dismembered, but it's a play feature that is much more welcome than the annoyance that was W1's.

There is one thing in the first Iron Monger's favor. He has a cut joint to swing his head left and right. Still, that's too little too late. The clear winner, and the one you need to hunt for for your Iron Man Armory is the Open Cockpit Iron Monger.