Hot Toys War Machine Age of Ultron figure review – Mark II

My Avengers collection clearly needed a War Machine. Don Cheadle’s done a great job of making Rhodey more than just another guy in a suit of armor. No, the bigger question was which version? The Avengers: Age of Ultron armor or the Captain America: Civil War armor.

Judging by the title of this review, I’ll assume you guessed which version won. It was close and this one is so good I’m half tempted to go on and get the Civil War armor. The power of a quality project.

Packaging:  Like Iron Man, you’ll notice that die-cast material long before you open the package. To accommodate for the additional weight, Hot Toys whipped up a different packaging style. It’s a sectional deal where you lift the harder outer shell.

There, the figure is enclosed in a Styrofoam case with an embossed War Machine logo. I loathe the sound of the stuff, but this is the best way to make sure there wasn’t any damage done during handling. And it makes for an even classier presentation. I like it.

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Likeness:  Rhodes isn’t in his armor long for Age of Ultron. He gets the big cavalry moment to lend support atop Sokovia and his arrival as part of the New Avengers. That doesn’t allow for a ton of close-ups.

But from my hardly unofficial recollection, this is a great recreation of War Machine’s AOA look.  The armor looks solid and Hot Toys has done a tremendous job with the armored figures giving enough bulk to reasonably appear there’s a person inside.

All of the required detailing with the various panels and segments are captured well. In this larger scale it’s easier to appreciate the intricate details of the armor. And for whatever reason I’ve always liked the unique Crow-like face plate and ridged helmet.

It’s the unmasked portrait where you can really see the fantastic likeness to Cheadle. Hot Toys does a stunning job on the actor likenesses here capturing his thoughtful expression very well.

Scale:  Most of the time the armored characters aren’t around other characters on the same plane. I’d assume that’s to make the CGI armor easier to implement.

The main thing on the scale front is that War Machine doesn’t tower over Thor or come up shorter than Black Widow. He’s taller than regular characters like Falcon and gets the armor boost to stand taller than Captain America, but he looks just right.

Paint:  I love the gunmetal/silver paint scheme of this armor. Typically, I like my superhero outfits flashier, but I’ve always been a fan of this look for War Machine.

Rhodey’s armor has seen better days and you can see the random armor scraps and paint chipping. It’s not done too excessively to overwhelm the paint job, but it adds a nice bit of realism. All the printed details like Rhodes’ name and the military logos are a lot cleaner than I was ever able to apply G.I. Joe vehicle stickers.

It’s not like Rhodes has a lot of time to repaint the armor after every fight. As expected the paint job on the Cheadle portrait is fantastic. The craftsmanship painting the faces is one of the big expenses with the line overall.

Articulation:  Surprisingly, this was the most exciting aspect of the figure for me. After I worked through my initial nervousness of breaking a $300+ figure.

War Machine’s articulation is intuitive and really allows for some dynamic posing. There’s a button on the butt that allows you to lower the legs to a 90-degree angle. This allows for sitting poses. The hip panels will lift up as needed and Hot Toys set them up to pop off if you approach a breaking point. Smart move.

The torso similarly has a lift and release point. That provides the torso turning poses. You’ll get excellent range out of the shoulders as well thanks to the pop up nature of the shoulder pad covers.

With the clever articulation scheme, the only real limits are your imagination and your supports. Keep in mind War Machine is a heavy figure so I wouldn’t rely on stands to keep him up too long. But his base is stable enough to stay up without being a figure domino threat.

War Machine has:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders
• bicep
• elbow
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• torso
• waist
• hip
• thigh
• knee (double-jointed)
• ankle

Accessories:  War Machine primarily just gets some hand pieces on the accessory front. Considering War Machine’s limited on screen time that’s not terrible, but an Ultron drone would have been welcome.

He’s got seven palms: pair of fists, repulsor palms, saluting right palm, pair with movable finger and light-up repulsors.

Additionally, War Machine’s trademark chain gun plugs into his back. The gun rotates providing more of an authentic feel and can be attached to five points along the back to provide some versatility. As usual, Hot Toys included a stand. War Machine doesn’t need this, but it does help for some in-flight poses.

 

Light Up Feature:  The LED feature is a little trickier to use this time since Hot Toys included the batteries and didn’t put them in. These batteries are tiny so make sure you have a steady hand when placing them. Also be mindful when using the enclosed screwdriver so you don’t strip the screw.

Once you get through installing the batteries, it’ll prove worth the challenge. The light is strong and stands out well even in regular light.

For some reason the right forearm panel wouldn’t lift up on my figure so I couldn’t flip that switch. I wish Hot Toys could find a discreet way to hide the switches on the exterior, but we’re paying for movie accurate likenesses over ease of LED features.

Worth it?  At $340, War Machine is not a cheap offering and is high even by the normal Hot Toys standards. But when you factor in the die-cast parts and the light up feature, you can see where the additional costs went. Since he’s been in stock longer than some other figures, you might be able to catch him on a Sideshow Collectibles sale and knock off $50, $75 off as well as free shipping.

Rating: 10 out of 10

I liked this figure more than I was expecting. The terrific paint job and exceptional articulation make this a great addition to my Avengers display.

Where to get it?  The secondary market won’t be your friend, but this is the best option at this point. He’s in stock at Amazon.com with a ‘slight’ $50 markup. That’s better than some instances for other Hot Toys figures.