I am a big fan of War Machine and had to add the movie armor to my growing War Machine collection. For some reason, I enjoy the alternate hero costumes. For Marvel, I’m a big fan of the symbiote suit, U.S. Agent, and War Machine. I’ve never asked myself why, but I’m just more intrigued by these than the traditional colors. In the first Iron Man, I was excited to see Terrance Howard eyeing the Mark II and say “next time”. Sadly, he didn’t get that opportunity after the awkward Don Cheadle switch-a-roo, but I was happy to see the War Machine armor debut in this movie all the same. I like the look of the movie armor, though I do wish it were even more different from the standard armor. I understand why it looks the way it does, but I miss the furled brow and frown of the classic War Machine.

Once again, the sculptors for the line have gone above and beyond. The movie War Machine armor is a decked out Iron Man armor covered with extra protection and weapons. That’s where the sculpt impresses too. The heavy shoulder pads are hinged to allow for movement yet stay flush with the arm in most poses. The shoulder cannon and the oversized missile launcher are both retractable, storing upright on his back. The non-moving parts are similarly well done. The torso looks as if it were layered from the recessed arc reactor up to the raised panels across the shoulders. The paneling is done through sculpted detail from the back of the head on down to the bottom of the feet. War Machine has an intricate 6″ figure, but that same level of detail was carried over at this scale too. The only thing I’m knocking it for in the sculpt department is the flexible plastic ammo belt that goes from the back to the shoulder cannon. I’ve yet to find a way to get it to stay in well, and I’ll probably end up leaving it off or gluing it in place.

I didn’t have as much trouble picking a paint job for War Machine as I have for some of the other figures, but that might just be because this armor is allowed to look a little dirtier than the others. The silver and blue* areas are all painted well on this figure, but the rest of the figure is open to some interpretation.

There is also a version of this figure with red eyes and arc reactor. I’ve seen a lot of red ones, but I specifically sought out a blue one because I liked the blue/silver combination better even though red is movie accurate.

The rest of the figure is a mix of dark greys, gunmetal, and some black. This War Machine is relatively “clean” compared to some of the others I’ve seen, but I placed a higher value on obtaining a blue one instead of a really scuffed up one.

War Machine has balls at the ankles, hips, elbows, shoulders, torso, and head, double-hinged knees, hinged shoulder pads, cuts at the wrists, and the aforementioned retracting weapons that can also swivel on their pylons. The hinged shoulders allow for the ball-joints to have great range and the ball hips are well hidden by paneling and decoration. Again, the ball-head is limited to a very minute swivel, blocked by the armor on either side. Continue to Page 3…