Originally posted at slangards.multiply.com on Jan 23, '09
Back when I collected comics, I preferred X-men, or the Hulk to Iron Man books. I only really started noticing him after I had stopped, around the time Olivier Coipel began drawing the Avengers "Red Zone" story arc. I wasn't buying comics on a regular basis, but Coipel's art was gorgeous enough to grab my attention and the story was one of those that made you believe that these guys were HEROES.
After the arc, Coipel took a break and I lost track. It wasn't until I started collecting toys that I returned to Iron Man. When the movie came out and product started hitting shelves, I went nuts. Bought the entire first wave of movie figs and several from the second wave.
Old Tony Stark is one of those characters that gets copious amounts plastic love. If we're just talking about the modern action figures, he was there way back in the first Toybiz series with three variants, in series 7 with the Silver Centurion, series 8 with 2 versions of Modern version, series 11 with the ginormous Hulkbuster, in the Mojo series in his classic 1st appearance armor (both gold and silver versions) in the Annihilus series with the Ultimate Universe Ironman, in the Young Avengers Boxset as Iron Lad, in the House of M Boxset with his ginormagantuan jetpack, 2 more variants in the Faceoff two-packs, 2 Icons, an Unleased figure, several whole waves of 6 6" figures each from the movie, 3 different 12" figures from that movie line, and 2 more in the Ares wave. And if you really want to get crazy, there's the new Hot Toys versions coming out for the Mark I, II, and III at P9,000 a pop.
Ridonculous.
I want them all. I'm a sucker for these things, so I have a good number of them already.
The Thorbuster armor was made for exactly what it sounds like; to give Thor a butt kicking. It all had something to do with Thor going nuts and Stark creating armor based on the Destroyer. He powered it with a bit of Asgardian crystal that Thor had given him and this is what came out.
The toy came out a few years back with the Modok series. There were two variants, the Thorbuster and the Destroyer which was the chase figure (a figure with a lower product run to make it exclusive).
Due to a weird move by the local distributor, the normal figure was alot harder to find than the chase figure (that is if you didn't want to pay a reseller twice the value). During the time this came out, they would release the heavypacked figures and hoard the shortpacked ones and variants. So you could never find a Thorbuster on the shelf until the whole series went Buy One Take One, and at that point, you had to be the Flash to catch a pair with Thorbuster. Destroyer was easier because he was released later at the suggested retail price, after demand was dead. I heard he eventually went 50% too. I'm glad to say, they seemed to have learned their lesson and now sell the BAF sets as sets.
I finally got a 2nd (or 3rd?) hand one, loose. Translated from the Geek, that means "on the cheap".
There are good things and bad things about this toy. Good things include a nice sculpt, simple paints (less quality concerns),and the best thing, mass. It's pretty imposing next to the movie line, and very bulky compared to the more sleek looking Modern Armor. Sort of like a wrestler next to an Athlete. It's no where near as big as the Hulkbuster, but then it's a THOR-buster isn't it? He's perfect next to King Thor.
But the bad things are numerous as well. The Modok wave of Marvel Legends wasn't known for it's good quality, the plastic was sub-standard (hello armless Spiderwoman!), paint was horrible, etc. All the usual suspects. Also, this was during the time where it was apparently wrong for toys to have closed fists, hence the boring open palms. He can't do much but bitch slap Thor into submission. bleargh.
Articulation is another thing that hurts this figure. Because he's so bulky, he doesn't move very well. Even his double hinged elbows and thighs don't help since stuff is always getting int he way. Also, His crotch is huge for some reason, almost like he's wearing iron diapers. It totally defeats the purpose of the ball joints.
If you are an Iron Man or Thor fan, a completist, or just like the look of him, he's a nice looking addition to a collection. But I wouldn't pay too much for him.
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