Iron Man 3 Assemblers Interchangeable Armor System Battle Vehicle

When I saw this toy at a local Wal-Mart, I was only excited about the vehicle and not the figure. The figure does not disappoint, but it's the car that is the main selling point for me. Hovering around the 19 dollar price range, Hasbro gives us fans a bargain with two toys in one package. The name of this product I feel is kind of long and can be easy to forget . The vehicle is more suited for Marvel Universe figures size wise than it is for Marvel Legends, however some small stature M. Legends can be squeezed into it. For these reasons alone I feel that this toy is perfect for both kid and adult collectors. When you view the packaging it makes notice of both the Iron Man and The Avengers franchises. I think this is good marketing by Hasbro to make notation of both franchises, to get the attention of fans from both.

When you remove the toys from the packaging, the interior has some nice black and white artwork of the Hall of Armor . I did not notice this artwork until I removed the toys from the packaging. It is kind of hard to notice with the car , figure, and the accessories covering a majority of the space inside. If I had known this artwork was in there, I would've been a little more careful when removing the accessories. As you can see in the pics below I kind of messed up a bit, inadvertently damaging the art a bit with small holes, due to those plastic ties used to hold accessories in place. So I'm warning you so that your art piece does not end up like mine, for those of you whom may not yet own this product , be careful when removing the toys if you want the artwork to stay intact.

I think this Hall of Armor artwork would have looked a lot better if it were colored. But if so a colored version might have jacked up the price a bit, plus due to deadlines this process would have been time consuming. I really don't know the real reason why the piece is not colored, I'm just making assumptions / guesses, although there is a slight shade of a dull blue mixed in with the black and white as you can see.
Now on to the action figure . This Iron Man figure is in scale with Marvel Universe figures. He is around four inches tall with very limited articulation. The head can move all around and side to side. The arms can move up and down and outward. The legs are spring loaded with only up and down movement.
     I love the jet pack / back pack he comes equipped with. It is very well detailed with the propellers and gold trimming. Underneath the jet pack there is a compartment that snaps open and closes.

This toyset comes with four accessories . Three gun / arm attachments and a foot device similar to roller skates, please forgive my ignorance as I do not know what they / it is called. The arm attachments can attach to both Iron Man and the car. When attached to Iron Man they give him extra fire power. And when attached to the car the automobile instantly changes from an ordinary ride to a battle vehicle. The foot accessory rolls really well and makes Iron Man just a tad taller than without.

Now on to what really made me purchase this product, the car itself. I think it is a very cool looking car, with a nice shade of gray and red trim to match Iron Man's colors. However the doors do not open and close. There is no trunk or dashboard or even a steering wheel. The seat in the car is spring loaded and can be pushed back and forth. Despite missing a few basic pieces, this is still a neat vehicle to add to your Marvel vehicle collection. Adults should enjoy displaying it on their shelves and kids should have fun playing with the vehicle.

Sorry about the whited out areas, but I did this to cover the cracks in the white papered background. This wont happen again in future reviews. But for now just ignore that and focus on the car. Nice paint job . For those of you whom are interested in the action feature, Hasbro provided an instruction sheet just for that. One set of instructions shows you how to prepare Iron Man for the car and the other displays the illustration of the main action feature. As you can see the real purpose for the foot accessory is to propel Iron Man forward once he is ejected from the car.

Even though the car was made with the intentions of 4 " scale figures in mind, certain 6" scale figures can fit into the vehicle as illustrated below. As you can see the seat can be pushed back for taller figures, and pushed up for shorter figures.

As you can see shorter versions of 6" scaled figures from various lines can fit into the vehicle after you squeeze them through. I tried to pose the figures as if they are holding on to an imaginary steering wheel. As for the Iron Man figure for which this vehicle is made, he must first be inserted with the seat pushed back so that you can operate the mechanism that controls the action feature.
In the pic below I posed a normal Marvel Legend figure next to the car to give you idea of  the scale of the car. The pic below may also weigh in on your decision on rather you want to purchase this product or not, if you do not yet own it.

                                                        FINAL   THOUGHTS
(1) ARTICULATION - As many of you know this category applies to the figure and not the car. There is lack of elbow articulation, knee articulation, and up and down head movement. However I think this is because of the presence of the action feature involving Iron Man and the car. Extra articulation would probably inhibit the action feature somewhat.
(2) STANDABILITY - Another category that applies only to the figure and not the car. The jet pack makes Iron Man a little top heavy making him difficult to stand without falling. You may have to lean him against something to get him to stand properly. But when you place him into the foot accessory there are no balance issues. He stands well while placed in the accessory.
(3) WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT THIS PRODUCT ? The car itself. As I mentioned earlier it is the main selling piece for me in this package. The interior artwork of the Hall of Armor is nice and makes for a great diorama piece. Even though I do not know what it is called, the foot accessory is a fun piece to have as it rolls really well across smooth surfaces. I even like the Iron Man figure despite his limited articulation.
(4) WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT THIS PRODUCT ? The limb on the arm attachment with the triple barreled gun . It is extremely tight and difficult to move.
(5) WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE TO IMPROVE THIS PRODUCT ? Add just a little more articulation to Iron Man, add a few of the missing basic pieces and functions to the car. No steering wheel, doors do not open and close, no trunk and no dashboard. Color the Hall of Armor artwork inserted inside. Also make the vehicle bigger.
(6) GRADING  SCALE - On a scale of 1 - 10 I give the figure an 8.0 . The minuses are for missing some basic points of articulation as I mentioned earlier in this article. I give the car a 9.9 . Almost a perfect 10 but it's not perfect due to some missing basic features of a car as already mentioned. However this does not bother me much I am still pleased with the car. Overall I give the entire package a perfect 10. You get a ot for the price, a neat figure, some nice accessories, a cool car and some nice artwork inserted inside.
(7) FINAL  ANALYSIS - I love this toy package. Like I said you get a lot for the asking price, a new figure , vehicle, etc. I highly recommend this toy for both kid and adult collectors. Iron Man can be displayed with fellow Marvel Universe figures, and the car can be displayed with both 4 " scaled , 5" scaled and some 6" scaled action figures. I think the best action feature of the car is the ability to adjust the seat, and not the main action feature. The ability to adjust the seat allows you to display a variety of different figure scales sitting in the driver's seat.

THE WALKING DEAD SERIES 4 - The Governor

The Governor became an interesting figure for me to purchase because he comes with alternate heads. For those of you that love to customize figures, you may want to purchase two Governor figures. This way you can have both versions of him without alternating heads or customize one of the figures into a different character altogether. The choice is yours. Since money is tight these days I just purchased one Governor figure. A decent price at that, around the $13.00 - $14.00 price range, from the same Walgreens store I purchased Carl Grimes and Andrea from.

When it comes to McFarlane toys, they refer to some accessories as items that are sculpted on to a figure or painted on. Notice on the packaging their is notation of his watch and keys. However both his watch and keys are actually sculpted onto the figure and can not be removed. I've always considered accessories to be removable items or any extra items that comes with action figures, and I'm pretty sure many of you do too. This does not seem to be the case with McFarlane toys, although I see no harm with these intentions however.
The Governor comes with two knives, a pistol and an extra head. The alternate head includes an eye patch.

The above pic is The Governor illustrated with all of his accessories, including his alternate head. The small knife is placed in his right pouch, the pistol in his left holster and the big knife in his right hand. I've made a comparison pic between The Governor's two heads to let you decide which look suits him best.
I've also compared his eye patched face to a very well known Marvel character. The original Nick Fury. When I first saw that alternate head the original look for Nick Fury immediately came to my mind, as it probably did to a lot of you out there too.

In the above pic The Governor is being compared to a Toybiz Marvel Legends Nick Fury. So for you customizers out there that may have had thoughts of turning your extra Governor head into an extra Nick Fury figure may have second thoughts after viewing the above comparison pic. As you can see each man's eye patch covers a different eye, The Governor his right eye is covered and for Nick it's his left eye that is hidden.
The Governor , as do most male figures in this toyline, stands at about 5 inches tall. I've posed him next to Andrea and Carl to show you how much taller he is than they. Also I stood him next to Star Wars Black Series One Luke Skywalker, whom is in the 6" scale. I posed him next to Luke to give you an idea of how he looks next to a short stature 6" scale figure. Surprisingly he does not look that much shorter than Luke.

                                                     FINAL    THOUGHTS
(1) ARTICULATION - Articulation is perfect with the exception of the difficulty of displaying into sitting poses, as this same issue addresses just about all of the Walking Dead figures.
(2) STANDABILITY - The Governor stands perfectly with no balance issues.
(3) WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT THIS GOVERNOR FIGURE ? His alternate head and weapons. Ability to blend in with short stature 6" scale figures without looking undersized.
(4) WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT THIS GOVERNOR FIGURE ? There is nothing that I dislike about this figure.
(5) WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE TO IMPROVE THIS FIGURE ? Improve sitting ability. Plus his gun does not fit all the way down into his holster, so a wider holster would have been nice.
(6) GRADING  SCALE - On a scale of 1 to 10 I give The Governor an 9.0. The minus is for the difficulty displaying into a sitting pose. Other than that he is a great action figure with cool accessories.
(7) FINAL  ANALYSIS - The main selling point for me with The Governor is the alternate head. As I mentioned earlier the extra head almost makes me want to purchase an extra figure. Just to display him with both heads. Plus if you do purchase two Governor figures that'll give you another extra head. And with all those extra heads you customizers can have a field day creating different characters. I highly recommend you purchase a Governor figure or figures for the above mentioned reasons.
 To purchase a Governor figure from Amazon.com , you may click here THE WALKING DEAD SERIES 4 - THE GOVERNOR ACTION FIGURE
                 

Tribute to THANKSGIVING . Action Figure Style - Some highlights of 2013 Macy's Thanksgiving Parade plus a flashback.

No toy review here. Just a few pics and highlights from the 2013 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade involving characters that have action figures of themselves. Of course all of these characters did not start as action figures. Some of them debuted as comic book or cartoon characters rather than action figures. However at some point in their existence they ended up becoming action figures anyway. I was not in New York City by the way. I simply just stood in front of my television and took pictures with my camera, with no flash. Here's a look at some of the characters at the parade.
             

         As you can see there were floats of Spider-Man and Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story franchise. Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles and ( not pictured ) Smurfs also made an appearance . Here's a small video clip of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle appearance.

If you want more video footage you can go to Youtube to find footage from the pics above. Also if you may not know, there was a Masters of the Universe float at the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade back in 1986. Here's a link to a Youtube clip with Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak introducing the float MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE MACY'S THANKSGIVING FLOAT 1986.     I thought it was kind of hilarious when Sajak referred to the float as frightening.
There you have it folks. Action Figure Imagery Toy Reviews Tribute to Thanksgiving . HAPPY THANKSGIVING AND MANY MORE EVERYONE !!! GOD BLESS !!!

THE WALKING DEAD SERIES 4 - ANDREA

I purchased Andrea from the same Walgreens store that I purchased Carl Grimes from. Here's where the height scale becomes a problem. Since Carl Grimes is a kid anyway, I had no problem with the figure being small. A majority of the male Walking Dead figures around around exactly 5 inches tall. Almost perfect to pose next to 6" scaled figures. But when it comes to the female Walking Dead action figures, they stand at a slight shade over 4 inches. This is somewhat disappointing, the height of the female figures. I wish the female figures were slightly over 5 inches and the male figures be right at or near six inches. Other than the displeasure of the figure's height, I am pleased with Andrea.

Although the packaging makes notation that Andrea comes with three accessories, she actually comes with four. They are (1) a pitchfork , (2) a pistol , (3) a rifle , and (4) a vest . My favorite accessories of hers are her pitchfork and her vest. Especially the pitchfork, since it is such a rare accessory rarely seen with any action figure character. If you do not want to pose Andrea with the pitchfork , the only action figure I can think of off the top of my mind representing a farmer would be any WWE Hillbilly Jim action figure. Posing Andrea's pitchfork with him would be neat since he does represent a farmer.
I was not excited about her pistol or rifle at all, since guns come with soooo many action figures. Thousands if not millions of action figures throughout the history of toys come with some type of gun accessory. Vests on the other hand are nothing new either, but they are kind of rare just a little. Not too many action figures come with a removable vest. As you can see in the pics below, Andrea's pitchfork is almost as tall as herself.

As I mentioned earlier, although I rarely get excited over gun accessories , I do like them as far as how realistically detailed they are, and the fact that they provide various display options with action figures. As you can see you have the luxury of having Andrea hold her rifle with one or two hands, and having her pistol tucked inside her holster attached to her right upper thigh. However it will take a bit of work from you to try to pry her hands open to get her to hold the rifle. Good luck with that though, as you can see I just simply laid the rifle across both of her wrists when displaying her holding the gun two handed.

As you can see Andrea's vest is not packaged with her wearing it. You will have to place it on her after you remove her from the packaging. And it is not a simplified task. It's somewhat of a struggle getting it on her but you can do it the more effort you put into it. To put the vest on my Andrea figure, I simply raised both of her arms upwards in the air over her head. I then popped the head off. Struggled a bit to squeeze her arms together, putting the vest over her shoulders one sleeve at a time. Once I got the vest on, I popped her head back onto her body. I think she looks cooler with the vest on than she does without it, but I'll let you be the judge of that with the comparison pic below.

                                                             FINAL   THOUGHTS
(1) ARTICULATION - Other than the difficulty of placing her in a sitting pose, the articulation is nice and decent everywhere else. Mcfarlane Toys did a nice job of using ball riveted joints for smooth movement.
(2) STANDABILITY - In order to get Andrea to stand properly without falling, just lean both her back and her legs back just a little.
(3) WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT SERIES 4 ANDREA ? Nice facial sculpt, decent articulation , how cool she looks with her vest on. Also I like her vest and pitchfork .
(4) WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT SERIES 4 ANDREA ? I wish she was just a tad bit taller.
(5) WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE TO IMPROVE THIS FIGURE? Simplified sitting pose stances. More height.
(6) GRADING  SCALE - On a scale of 1 through 10 I give Series 4 Andrea an 8.5 . The minuses are for difficulty in displaying sitting poses and for my displeasure with the height of the figure. Still a great action figure though.
(7) FINAL  ANALYSIS - I love this figure. She is nicely sculpted and very well detailed with her blue eyes and the different color striations in her hair. If you look closely at her hair you can see streaks of brown strands mixed with blond. Very nice attention to detail by Mcfarlane Toys. Plus she comes with some nice accessories. If she was a little over 5 inches tall I probably would have given her a perfect 10 in my grading scale instead of an 8.5, as the height of the figure is really truly the only thing that bothers me about it. Other than that flaw she is a perfect action figure.
To purchase The Walking Dead Series 4 Andrea figure from Amazon.com , you may click here The Walking Dead Series 4 ANDREA action figure