Saturday, February 20, 2024

Iron Man 2 -- War Machine

With Hasbro knee deep in 3-3/4-inch figure lines at the moment, it's nice to see that they've managed to get the jump on a new film's release by putting figures from the Iron Man 2 line into stores so early. It's also nice to see that the line is--with few exceptions--a well handled mix of figures that Iron Man fans of all types can enjoy.

I really like the fact that they've broken things into three categories: Comic Book, Movie, and Concept. I've laid eyes on about half the line, which consists of around twenty-six figures so far, and they all seem extremely fun.

So, what did I buy first? Well, seeing as how I've already picked up a few comic book Iron Man figures from the Marvel Universe line, I couldn't resist this awesome little War Machine.

War Machine 

Small scale superhero figures from both Mattel and Hasbro are seeing the addition of all kinds of bonus items this year, and Hasbro has done something really cool (and really smart) by including a kind of info card/figure stand combo.

War Machine

War Machine is a fine toy on its own though, as it features a great sculpt, good paint, nicely handled articulation, and very snug joints.

War Machine War Machine

This figure (#23 for the line) is handled as well, if not better, than just about every Marvel Universe figure that I've had a chance to play around with. And that says a lot for Hasbro's ability to pull out the stops when they've got a film behind them that will most likely be a hit.

War Machine

I also wanted to do something that I haven't done in a very long while, and give a public thumbs-up to Toys R Us (where I purchased this figure) for leveling off their prices in order to compete with the big-box stores like Target and Walmart. TRU had these, and pretty much all of their 3-3/4-inch figures, priced at a (nearly) reasonable $6.99, which is around a dollar less than many other places at the moment.

For the most part I consider Toys R Us to be a "big-box" store as well, but for whatever reason, they're unable to be as competitive as they should be in a market that they might easily dominate. Hopefully the recognition that affordable and competitive pricing is key to their success, is a sign that Toys R Us is making the right kind of efforts in order to survive.

3 comments:

Reis O'Brien said...

Nice! I just picked up Mark II tonight. These figures are super hot looking! I was looking for MArk I, but no luck.

Matt Williams said...

Nice review. I went to my local ToysRus today to check out the range for myself. War Machine was the only one they did not have.

Jay said...

That is one awesome action figure. I may need to build an army of them!