Iron Man 2 Movie Series 3.75" Mark V

By now you've probably read dozens of reviews about this suit of armor, the Mark V, otherwise also referred to as the "Suit-case."  Get it?  Suit.  Case.  Suit-in-a-case....Ok never mind.  (You can find one of those excellent reviews here at Articulated Discussion.)

What's important is that this particular suit has the coolest concept behind it but didn't have an instant "like" factor to it--at least that's what I gather from most netizens and people who watched the trailer when it was first released.  I was of the same mind.  Something about the armor bugged me.  I mean, it's awesome that a suit can fold into a suitcase but something that I'd seen about it so far was off.  It didn't help when this toy hit the pegs because of one or two things like the paint and the fact I didn't instantly take a liking to the armor at first.

By now, most of us have probably seen the movie.  I've seen it twice already and will watch it once more at least when the DVD hits the shelves. (Yeah right, probably more like another two or three times when I first get my hands on it...heheh.)

And the more I watch the movie, the more I love it.  Why?  Well, the devil is in the details.  The dialogue, Nick Fury, Caps' Shield, Black Widow, Justin Hammer, Mickey Rourke's bord (I mean his bird.  Parrot.  Really.)

The same goes for this 3.75 scale of the Suitcase Armor.  When I first saw it, I was put off by the silver to red ratio and by the sloppy red paint in general.  Lots of the sculpt's detail gets hidden because of the poor application.  But after a few weeks and the pegs being swamped by this figure, I managed to snag one with good paint.  And just like in the movie, after I had a closer look, I was suitably impressed.



Like: The Sculpt. This thing is chock full of detail but it's hard to see because of the thick, shiny red paint. He migt turn out to be a good choice for a custom repaint though.  Redo his silver and replace that red with something less waxy-looking and more shiny. Yeah.

Like: That tilver is the right tone and shiny-ness.  It's done well but again, it's let down by the red, which dominates most of the Mark V.

Like: The concept/idea behind it.  A suitcase that transforms into a suit of armor?  Sign me up!  We're suckers for things that appear to be something else rather than what they are.  Things that are more than meets the eye.  Robots in dis....Wait a tick, I was talking Iron Man here.  Man, gott awatch out for those evil alien robots.  They'll take over your mind I tell you!
 

Dislike: That the sculpt's design hinders articulation.  This is especially noticeable in the front of the upper thighs--they block the forward bending of his leg, preventing him from getting a 90 degree bend out front.

The swive/hinge hip ball joint works fine and you can swivel the thigh so it works.  But what you get is a Mark V looking like he's a contortionist trying to place his leg over his head.  And I just want him to bend the knee!!!

He's also got shoulders that are really tight when trying to raise 'em straight out to the side.  The glued-on shoulder pads get in the way and have to fit into his torso arm cavities for him to raise his shoulders.  It works nicely for now, but in the long run could chip the paint at the shoulders.

Like: That he comes with a decent amount of ccessories, including an extra hand. But the extra hand can't grip the suitcase snugly, but'll prob hold a BFG or any weapon of the scale well.  The gripping ahnd is also great for grabbing on to oh, let's say, a whip!

Dislike: That he armor is not movie accurate or at least that they seemed to take creative lisence with certain portions of the armor.  I guess some details were a little too intricate to be made in this scale.  His chest needs to be more silver and the silver areas need an extra tinier layer of plating.  His shoulders are also not that armored up in the movie.  Here, it looks like he's packing some heavy armor around the neck that goes down toward his back, which has even more red than the front and is definitely not movie accurate at all.  But again, lots of libes and detail, so lots of repaint potential!

Dislike: Suitcase shoots missiles?  'Nuff said.

Like: That the suitcase opens up and offers more options to pose the figure.  There's lots of tiny details sculpted, but not painted.  But I'm glad that they did this, because the 6" version of the suitcase doesn't do anything.  It just hunks in a corner looking like it could maybe transform...

RATINGS

Aesthetics: 6/10 - As the army personnel in Singapore like to say about how certain people look good  from a distance but poor up close: "Good from far but far from good."  Mark V here is quite the opposite.  He looks terrible from far and is actually pretty darn splendid up close.  The downside is that you have to have him up close and in hand.  It's a pity the poor paint really hides the great detail of the sculpt.

Poseability: 7/10 - I really do wish he was more poseable than the rest of the line.  He didn't need to be super poseable, just the "average" for this line.  But he's just slightly hindered on the wrong side of average.  A ball-turned-swivel head, difficult, tight fitting shoulders, and a restricted forward bend of the thighs just add up to make him rather stiff.

At least he does have the great chest pivot of this line and the "Hasbro joints" in the hips.  Double jointed knees are always a plus.

Fun: 8/10 - Just imagine this guy with any villain that uses whips or has a whip-like power.  Whiplash, of course, Catwoman, Whiplash (from MOTU fame), and of course, everyone's favourite...

Value: 8/10 - An extra hand and an opening suitcase that fires not one, but 2 missiles!  Wow!  But I wished they'd given the suitcase more play value with like holes for him to put his hands in or having it unfold just a little but more rather than fire 2 missiles, whihc he does come with. Maybe they could've given him one more open hand or maybe an alternate unmasked Tony Stark head?

 
But for what he comes with, he's still quite a steal.  Completely new parts except for his head and probably feet make him worth getting.

Overall: 7.3 - He's decent, and not because I don't like the design of the armor--I rather like it actually.  I like it the more I look at it.  Poor pooled paint, slops and spills kinda ruin the Mark a little bit.  It also doesn't help that he's not as poseable as some of the bulkier suits.  He is, after all, the lightweight portable armor and should be more flexible, not less.