2011
13.09


Marvel Minimates wave 35 focused on one of the biggest films of 2010, the summer blockbuster Iron Man 2. The amount of merchandise tied in to this film was incredible and Minimates were no exception. Iron Man 2 had one specialty store wave and a host of exclusives, such as this set, which was exclusively available at Chicago’s C2E2 convention in summer 2010.


Packaging

The standard Marvel package, this time designed to fit in with the Iron Man 2 movie merchandise aesthetic. The fact it is a C2E2 exclusive is clearly promoted on both sides.

  

 




The Figures

Stark Expo Tony Stark

I mentioned in the Iron Man 2 Hammer Drone review that sometimes characters can be chosen for toys without quite knowing how they will turn up on screen in the finished film. This set is another good example of that, as the Minimates here featured together in trailers for the Iron Man 2 film, but were cut out of the film proper.

Stark Expo Tony Stark is our usual civilian attire combination of excellent Robert Downey Jr-style detailing and somewhat underwhelming look. We all love Tony in the armour, and here, whilst the expression is great and the hairpiece fits, there’s just a small, nagging doubt saying “Don’t pick me, I’m not as good as the others”.

The detailing on the casual shirt is also well done, with the Stark Expo emblazoned above one shirt pocket, and the arc reactor shining out from under it. It’s an interesting shade of green, not quite as flamboyant as some of Tony’s other outfits.

In order to sell the casual look and show that this is a long shirt that has not been tucked in, there is another green piece that goes over the pelvis piece. It’s that small that it seems a bit strange to have created a piece just for this, although I can’t think offhand where else it has appeared. I’m sure that it has appeared in another set before, as reuse in exclusive sets is very high.

Stark Expo Tony Stark has no accessories, although his pack-mate is a beautiful woman, so perhaps she is!

In conclusion: A reasonable civilian-looking Tony Stark, if that’s what you are after. There have been plenty before from the first film and more for the second, so it’s not like this is going to be the only one you ever see, but what’s there has been done well.

MMC Score – 6 out of 10

More pictures

 

 



Natalie Romanova

I’m sure the name “Natalie Romanova” wasn’t actually used in the film, which is apt because as mentioned above, this figure doesn’t feature either, except in the trailers. However, it means more Scarlett Johansson Minimates, so I’m not complaining!

Sadly this Minimate doesn’t really look like Scarlett, but the big blue eyes and generous lips look attractive enough. The hairpiece is a new sculpt that got reused for another Iron Man 2 exclusive figure, keen fans will know exactly which one. It’s quite a detailed hairpiece with an attempt to define the longer bangs that frame her face.

Natalie is wearing a party dress, which makes her stand out from most of the other females in any of the Minimates line so far, except for maybe the Sand Saref exclusive from the Spirit. The detailing on the front is nice, with a pattern on the dress, but the lengths they go to to try and show the female Minimates with a less blocky waistline these days just starts to look a bit silly. There’s nothing you can do about it DST! All that it’s done on this figure is leave an ugly expanse of orange on each side of the block.

The figure has a dress piece that goes over the pelvis, which is detailed with the same vaguely leopard skin pattern as the torso. From certain angles there is a slight but noticeable gap between the two where the flesh tone colour can be seen. There is no detailing at all on the back of the Minimate. A shame that the print couldn’t be put on the back too. Thankfully underneath the dress she is not in full “party girl” mode, so at least that wasn’t missed!

Natalie Romanova has one accessory, a repulsor glove. In the trailer she wears this whilst Tony gets close and shows her how to use it. Smooth, Tony! It’s a nice accessory to have and it can obviously be used on an Iron Man armour also.

In conclusion: A mixed bag, some good points are countered by some problems. Again, this is not an essential figure and so does not come highly recommended.

MMC Score – 5 out of 10

 

Review and pictures by Danny Mills