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The Minimate coverage for Iron Man 2 was quite expansive.  Some of the offerings were strong, but at some points, the line seemed to be stretched a little thin.  Colonel Rhodes and the Air Assault Drone from the second TRU-exclusive wave are a set that is perhaps emblematic of this.

The Packaging

The Iron Man 2 packaging was a variation of the standard Marvel stuff.  It was designed to fit the official Iron Man 2 branding, and it showcases the figures well enough.  I no longer have mine on hand, so the Minimate Database entry is your best bet if you’d like to take a look.

The Figures

Colonel James Rhodes

Iron Man 2 was pretty good for our pal Rhodey here.  Prior to the movie, he’d made two appearances as a Minimate, but IM2 gave us four new ones.  This one’s…probably the least exciting when you get right down to it.  Still, Rhodey spends a decent enough chunk of the movie in this uniform, so it’s not the worst inclusion, I suppose.

He’s built on the usual body, with an add-on for his jacket, borrowed from Wave 22’s General Ross.  It’s a reasonable piece.  It’s not a perfect match for Rhodey’s uniform from the movie, but it’s close enough to warrant the re-use.

The paint work on Rhodey is respectable.  It’s all pretty cleanly applied, and the blue is fairly bright. The head is a match for the one that was under the War Machine ‘mate’s helmet.  While it’s not particularly strong Cheadle likeness, at least they went for some consistency.

Rhodey included no accessories, which is a bit of a bummer.  Not even a file folder or a clipboard or something?

Colonel Rhodes isn’t a bad ‘mate.  He checks all of the boxes, and there are no glaring issues (well, except perhaps for the lack of any extras), but he isn’t really anything to write home about.

MMC Score – 5 out of 10

Air Assault Drone

Rhodey was new, but this figure was re-packaged from the army builders case.  This one’s dubbed the “Air Assault Drone” on all of the merchandising, because due to licensing things, it couldn’t be called the Air Force Drone.

This particular ‘mate makes use of a lot of the same pieces from the first Hammer Drone, but with a new head, hands, and a backpack glued onto the chest piece.  The new pieces fit in well with the previously existing ones, and he makes for a pretty faithful recreation of the Drones from the movie.

The paint’s not super thrilling or anything, being mostly dark grey with just a small bit of white accenting.  But, I suppose it matches the movie.

Once again, no accessories for the Drone, but it’s slightly more forgivable given all of the sculpted add-ons.

Slightly more exciting than Rhodes, I suppose, but the Air Assault Drone isn’t the most exciting of the available choices.  It’s a quality Minimate, but sort of drab and lacking of any real flair.  This pair really feels like DST just needed two fill two slots as easily as possible.

MMC Score – 6 out of 10

Agree? Disagree? Why not vote for yourself below, or comment further over at the Minimate Multiverse MMC Review Forum.

Review and pictures by Glantern.

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