Saturday, November 13, 2010

Hot Toys War Machine Collectible Figure REVIEW 1

Finally, Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece Series MMS120 "Iron Man 2" 1/6th scale War Machine Collectible Figure is HERE and it is FANTASTIC!!! This is NOT a toy - this is a piece of ART and the engineering that went into making it is simply AMAZING. Hot Toys 1/6 War Machine is a thing of beauty :p--- (drool)

In the "Iron Man" films, James Rhodes has the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and serves with the U.S. Air Force as the United States military's chief liaison to Stark Industries and their weapons division. Rhodes is forced to don the Iron Man Mark II armor to intervene when an intoxicated Stark in the Iron Man armor endangers the lives of all the guests at his birthday party. The confiscated Mark II armor is reverse engineered into the heavily armed War Machine armor at Edwards Air Force Base by the U.S. Air Force.



Hot Toys 1:6 scale War Machines comes in a box with a slipcase cover (sleeve) which is printed on a card with a shiny metallic surface, similar to their Black Widow packaging


Remove the slipcase cover (sleeve) and you find War Machine and all its accessories in a tray, all ready to be assembled for battle but WAIT! don't do anything until you have read the instructions thoroughly


Hot Toys has included a very detailed "Iron Man 2: War Machine" Instruction Sheet in English on one side and Japanese on the other covering almost everything from the magnetic removable mask, LED light-up eyes, LED light-up Micro ARC reactor on chest, articulated shoulder-mounted cannons, flying jet system at the calves, articulated shoulder-mounted gatling gun, deploying air flaps and flying jets on the back, repulsor palms, mounting the machine guns on the arms etc

In short, READ before you FIX otherwise, BROKE before you PLAY and CRY you will (click on the picture to get a bigger and better view)


And here are roundabout views of Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece "Iron Man 2" 1/6th scale War Machine Collectible Figure straight out of the box with his armaments / weapons. I wanted to see the basic War Machine figure without the add-ons. And it is AWESOME!



I like the bulkiness of the War Machine armor versus the sleekness of Tony Stark's Iron Man suit. The reverse engineering gave the suit a whole new look, more tank than machine and I like the contrast.






Hot Toys War Machine from "Iron Man 2" has red LED light-up eyes and ultra-bright white LED light-up Micro ARC reactor on its chest, not to mention repulsor rays on his palms


And this is a headless War Machine, showing how the light-up is being done, at the neck post. I took off the War Machine head / helmet to put on the alternate head / mask


This is the Hot Toys alternate 1/6 head with authentic likeness of Don Cheadle as Colonel James 'Rhodey' Rhodes in the movie "Iron Man 2". Terrence Howard portrayed James Rhodes in the 2008 "Iron Man" film but due to a contract dispute, the part of Rhodes was recast and Cheadle was selected for the role.


I like how when they first introduced Don Cheadle as Colonel James 'Rhodey' Rhodes in the second Iron Man movie by showing his back to the camera and the following conversation:
Tony Stark: "I didn't expect to see you here..."
Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes: "Well, it's me, and I'm here, so get over it and move on!"


The alternate head with Don Cheadle as Colonel James 'Rhodey' Rhodes (the resemblance is amazing and the paintwork makes it look life-like) has a movable chin cover which is like the lower jaw of the helmet


And this is the removable faceplate / iron mask that belongs to War Machine, seen from the inside - pretty cool details if you ask me


The coolest part of the face plate is that it connects to the head via a built-in magnet. The magnetic removable mask stays on the top of War Machine's head like the way a Medieval Knight raises up his visor without any hassle


The mask / faceplate stays on the face via the same magnets without any problem and you can almost make out Rhodey's eyes under the mask. Not so for the light-up head which seems hollow underneath when viewed through the eye slits.


These are the extra hands that come with this Hot Toys War Machine Collectible Figure - One (1) pair of open palms with light-up repulsors (white light, battery operated) and One (1) pair of relaxed palms with light-up repulsors (white light, battery operated), besides the One (1) pair of fists that are already on the figure


The COOLEST 1/6 scale hands of all is this pair of hands with movable fingers which have individual articulation for each joint and light-up repulsors (click on the picture to get a bigger and better view). The thing that the hand is holding is the bunker buster missile, or as Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) described it: "It's capable of busting a bunker under the bunker you just busted. If it were any smarter, it'd write a book, a book that would make Ulysses look like it was written in crayon. It would read it to you. This is my Eiffel Tower. This is my Rachmaninoff's Third. My Pieta. It's completely elegant, it's bafflingly beautiful, and it's capable of reducing the population of any standing structure to zero. I call it "The Ex-Wife."

With this pair of hands, you can forget about the rest. This one will do it all


"Iron Man 2" War Machine's external armaments: dual arm-mounted FN F2000 Assault Rifles and a M134 7.62 mm minigun to be mounted on the right shoulder


Click on the picture below for a bigger and better view of War Machine's multiple external weapons


NEXT
: War Machine fully loaded, functional and operational!

REVIEW III: It's all in the details - close-ups and more close-ups

Check it out: Hot Toys War Machine and the Iron Man Mark III suit - SIZE comparisons

10 comments:

laME boy said...

Looks good, but i can't help but comment on the fact that the body kinda looks too bulky as compared to the legs :/

desmond said...

Wow bro, took photos already..so fast!! HAHA!!

CheungKinMen said...

cannot wait to get this figure and to see your next review, WM is one of my fave Marvel characters.

Eiji said...

pure awesomeness..this is truly a masterpiece..i also like the way they introduce Rhodey by showing his back first..such an element of surprise for the audience to see the new Rhodey..the heavy artillery that comes with war machine is MASSIVE..my personal favorite is the M134 Minigun or "Uncle Gazpacho" :D Its called being a badass~

Little Plastic Man said...

you are fast bro!

ethan said...

Alex, thanks for the 1st hand review of this beauty. Now i just can't wait for my preorder to arrive...darn it....what keeps the store so long.

alex teo said...

hi zi yi, like those body builder types (Johnny Bravos) TOP heavy haha but personally, i feel it's quite well balanced - everything's been BULKED UP

hey desmond, couldn't wait to open the box... too good to resist

@CheungKinMen, hope the review lives up to your expectations :) War Machines is just too damn COOL

hi eiji, totally enjoyed Don Cheadle's turn as Rhodey and Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer is even funnier - some of the best quotes came from him too

hey adrian, not that fast lah ;p just wanted to share this figure sooner haha

@ethan: you are most welcome. ENJOY WM when you get it - it's a beauty CHEERS

TenaciousMC said...

Awesome review! Just got mine yesterday. The only problem I'm having is that the light-up eyes aren't working. I even pulled out the plastic tab and it's still not working. I noticed the switch being set to "On" when I got it so would that have drained the battery already, even w/ the plastic tab still in there? I may just have to go out and get new batteries and see if that was the case.

As for the rest, it sure was kinda hard to pry open the launcher for the "Ex-Wife". Almost broke my function stick doing this. Had to use a mini-flathead screwdriver instead.

Also, how do you put the figure onto the stand? Do you rest WM's buttocks on top of these hooks? Plus, is the head easy to come off? I'm afraid I might break something trying to pull the head off. Sorry, this is my first Hot Toys product so it's sort of a learning curve for me.

Thanks!

alex teo said...

Hi TenaciousMC, sorry to hear about the light-up eyes not working :( I hope new batteries is the solution.

As for the figure stand, what you described is the correct way of putting the figure on the stand i.e. with the butt sitting on the curvature of the two hooks and the hooks pressing on the inner thighs of the figure.

The head comes off pretty easy. A bit of twisting and pulling. It's a ball and socket joint so it locks itself when fully inserted and detaches quite easily (not at all like the "Ex-wife")

ENJOY glad you like it! CHEERS

TenaciousMC said...

Hi Alex,

I was able to pull the head off and then tried the switch again. It seems to be lighting up now and when I put the head back on, the eyes do light up then as well.

Seems I can now fully enjoy this figure since everything is working now. I've also pre-ordered the Hot Toys Iron Man 2 Mark IV figure which will hopefully arrive in January (I wish it was much sooner). Can't wait to get my hands on that one.

Thanks again for your help!