Iron Man (Marvel TF Crossover)
Vehicle ModeRobot Mode
Difficulty of Transformation: Medium
Color Scheme: Dull pale brownish gray, dull red, and some light chalky gray, yellow, and transparent dark red
Rating: 8.3 (initial release); 8.1 (Iron Man 2 release)*

    Iron Man's alternate mode is, appropriately enough, a jet, given that the dude can fly. In this mode he generally looks pretty good, and is almost kibble-free-- his robot arms can be seen fairly easily under his wings, but other than that it's a solid mode. The red-and-brown color scheme is a little on the unusual side, but it works moderately well with the yellow accents and the gray missiles. (Under each wing, attached to each arm, is a spring-loaded missile launcher in addition to the smaller, non-launching missiles under each wing.) The mold detailing is also quite good, though Iron Man's jet mode has a nosecone that is waaaay too stubby-looking. In fact, given the age group this toy is aimed at, the jet mode as a whole just looks a tad too "kiddy". Other, minor, problems I have with this mode are, first, none of the rear wings lock securely into place and tend to flop around a tad, and second, there's no landing gear, something that's pretty much expected on a jet toy of this size.
    Iron Man's robot mode is also generally good, though like his vehicle mode is suffers from a few problems-- none of them particularly major, but together they do subtract from the toy a bit. For one, the wings just sort of fold behind his main body without pegging in anywhere exact. The nosecone sides on his waist also look a little out-of-place, as well, and a small flap that's supposed to close up the hollow gap between his robot head the front of his chest doesn't click into place anywhere. In addition, his lower arms are hollow, given that the hands fold out of them, but no attempt has really been made to make them look more "solid". I do like how the missiles have been relocated to his lower arms to give Iron Man some firepower, though, and his proportions are excellent, even though he does look a bit stiff for some reason. His articulation is quite good, however, as he's able to move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points), hips (at two points), and knees (at two points). The mold and paint detailing continue to be quite good in this mode, and capture Iron Man's "look" quite well, though I have to say the yellow doesn't look as good of a secondary color in this mode as the brown did in jet mode. There are also a few minor things done in this mode that, though not necessary for the transformation, are nice extra little "steps" that help everything mesh together better. One of these is the sliding out of the bottom of the "boots" to make the feet wider, and the other is the sliding down of the jet cockpit to have it sit more flush with the stomach and expose some details on Iron Man's upper chest.
    Overall, Iron Man is a fairly good Marvel TF, though not particularly outstanding-- he doesn't have any MAJOR flaws, but he does have several minor ones that add up. Mildly recommended.



Iron Man Bio (initial release):
The very first battle suit developed by Iron Man was his own. It is the only one of the mechs built so far that can fly in both modes. It is also extremely powerful in battle, with a huge array of lasers, missiles and other weapons. Iron Man also incorporated an override system that lets him take remote control of most of the other battle suits he has built.


Iron Man Bio (Iron Man 2 release):
For some battles, not even the massive firepower of the Iron Man armor is quite enough. That's why Iron Man built this enormous, converting suit. It has the speed and maneuverability of the armor, but carries the overwhelming ordnance of the world's most advanced fighter jets.

Review by Beastbot

*This mold was re-released in a near-identical color scheme for the Iron Man 2 "Concept Series" Transformers Crossovers sub-line. The only really notable difference for this second release was that the brown-gray plastic was replaced with the same dull red plastic used for the rest of the toy. Since this made the toy a bit too monotonous in color, I'd recommend the inital version over this subsequent release.

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