Admittedly, this review is a little late. I had trouble finding this wave when it was released last year and, when I did find it, I had a ton of DC Classics reviews to get through. Well, I’m caught up and I’ve got some time before Bane gets here to take a look at the Iron Man 2 Comic Series III figures.

I covered the Iron Monger in a solo review already, so check out that link if you’re looking for more info on the big guy. The other three figures are reviewed below.

Comics Series # 34 – Silver Centurion

The Silver Centurion armor first appeared in 1985. In the early 80s, Tony Stark had fallen on hard times due largely to the machinations of Obadiah Stane. Stane ruined Tony financially and personally – and paved the way for decades of alcoholic Iron Man jokes. Tony lost his company, Rhodey had to fill in as Iron Man, and Tony wasn’t sober for more than a few issues for nearly three years. But, by issue #200, he’d gotten himself back together and took on Stane (Iron Monger) with some new, advanced, and silver armor. He defeats the Iron Monger (protagonist’s luck?) and goes on to keep the red and silver look for a large chunk of the second half of the 80s.

The Centurion armor reuses most of the sculpt from the Oversized Armor in series 2, but features a new upper torso and head to get the little details right. And it does. This combination really captures the look of the classic armor and I’m excited to own it. It’s fulfilling a long held desire for a Secret Wars figure of this armor.

The articulation is standard for the line: ball-joints on the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and ankles, double knees, swivel wrists and thighs, and the torso articulation. The shoulder pads are articulated so they move up and out of the way as the arm is raised. This works well, but looks odd in some poses. It’s hard to choose between function and aesthetics when deciding if I like it or not.

I had no issues with the figures paint – the metallic red contrasts well with the silver, but all the SC armors I’ve seen don’t always have the arc reactor plugged into the chest cavity correctly and a gap is visible. Silver Centurion Iron man also included a repulsor blast (it’s the screw-like one in yellow, I didn’t realize that I didn’t get a good picture of it until it was too late), the base, and the three armor cards.

Comic Series # 32 – Advanced Armor

The “Advanced” Armor is called Pentagon Armor in the comics. It’s just a few years old – Toy Biz made a Marvel Legend of it when it was the current look – and has a design that’s relatively similar to a lot of the recent armors. This particular version was worn by Tony during his time as the Secretary of Defense.

This armor featured an all-new mold and it brings some great parts and annoying drawbacks. The look itself is spot-on for that armor with a lot of little details sculpted in. The shoulder pads are clip-on pieces which have a tendency to shoot it off in some poses, but I haven’t lost them yet.

The paint overall is mostly nicely done with metallic red and gold, but I have a couple nitpicks on the design choices. One, there are red eyes (dots) painted in the armor slits. These might be comic accurate, but it just looks weird on the figure. The other nitpick is about where paint isn’t: right in the middle of the chest. The red paint on the abdomen doesn’t extend high enough to cover the chest joint, leaving a gold patch in most poses. Oops.

Articulation is a little different for this figure. The head features a full ball-joint instead of the single piece found on most of the line. It’s a much nicer joint and it helps the figure with some expressive poses and looks great “in flight”. The elbows, however, are simple hinges and without a swivel at the bicep are much more limited than nearly all the other figures in the line. The rest of the articulation is standard: balls at the shoulders and ankles, double-hinge knees, swivels at the wrists and thighs, and the torso joint. The Advanced Armor also includes a “fireball” accessory, base, and the three armor cards.

Comic Series # 33 – Arctic Armor

I’m not entirely up on more recent Iron Man armors, so I’m not sure if this one has actually appeared in the comics or not. The details on the head sculpt make it look very similar to Extremis, but I don’t recall ever seeing an Arctic version of that armor. Nonetheless, that’s what this figure appears to be. Plus, it’s purple. That’s cool.

The figure is almost entirely the Advanced armor, but features a new (but very similar) torso, shoulder pads, forearms, hands, and a head. The torsos on the two figures are basically the same, but the Arctic armor doesn’t have the Advanced Armor’s fins. The shoulder pads are again clip-ons, but are a simpler design. The new forearms and hands are a nice touch, but the head is the main part of the sculpt you notice when the two figures are side-by-side. It’s more angular and has a great look to it.

The paint does most of the work for differentiating the figures. He’s mostly done in a high-gloss purple with dull silver in the recessed areas. The paint is decent on this figure, but I remember going through a lot these at the store to find a good one back when I bought him. The articulation is the same as the Advanced Armor with the great neck joint and crappy elbow joints. One thing I didn’t mention about the Advanced Armor is the visible peg holes in the hip balls. It’s not really a big deal, but again it looks out of place on the figure. The Arctic Armor also includes an ice blast accessory, base, and the three armor cards

Overall, these are three more figures I’m happy to add to my Iron Man 2 collection. The Silver Centurion was my favorite of the three because his simple armor and silver/red paint really stand out in the sea of red & yellow on that shelf. Plus, it evokes memories of reading that comic as a kid and you can never get too much of that, right?

The Advanced & Arctic armors are okay figures. The limited arm articulation and hip joints are drawbacks that have to be overlooked, but I wish that head joint had been used on all the figures. It’s much easier to like the Arctic Armor because I get a kick out of the purple/silver color scheme, while the lack of red paint and the painted eyes on the Advanced Armor make him my least favorite of the trio. Still, all the Iron Man 2 comic figures have blown the MU versions out of the water (well, all but one) so I’m really enjoying all three of these figures even if I pick on them for little things here and there.

For more Iron Man 2 reviews, check out our
Iron Man 2 Collector’s Guide.