Marvel Legends Iron Man Model 09 review

Hasbro hasn’t been a stranger to knocking out Iron Man’s signature armors. Way back in 2012 they released the Model 09 or Neo-Classic armor. Only problem was that mold was severely undersized compared to the modern Marvel Legends figure at that time and aged even worse. Hasbro didn’t exactly rush to update that armor until this year’s Retro Iron Man wave.

Addressing the scale problems was the main priority. Not just height wise, but making it clear this armor could actually house a non-malnourished Tony Stark was also key.

Packaging: The Marvel Legends team is using the 30th anniversary of the Iron Man Animated show as a way to get out more figures. Whatever works.

This packaging is done in the retro card style from the original Toy Biz line. A large image of the cartoon Iron Man flies ahead next to the logo and a digital readout of the character.

Over on the back is a bio that again does a nice job summarizing the purpose of this particular suit of armor. The bottom image can only do so much as a showcase of the accessories.

Likeness:  The Model 09 armor is called the Neo-Classic as it was a return to the classic Iron Man look. The Silver Centurion armor was bulkier and wider while the Model 09 was more streamlined like the Classic Armor with a few holdover elements. Namely the gauntlets and oversized boots.

Some artists drew the boots less chunky, but the figure version is accurate to how the armor was drawn by George Perez in Infinity Gauntlet. I’m of the mindset of when in doubt, go with the Perez version.

I do wish the Neo-Classic armor had the same little touch as the Model 01-Gold, which featured visible eyes in the head sculpt. The wider neck piece serves to create an illusion that this is a smaller head, but it seems to be scaled around the same size as the Classic armor.

What’s really cool is the extra effort to get the sculpt down. The red centerpiece along the chest and mid-section is actually sculpted. This limits its use to just this figure so maybe there’s a chance Hasbro will revisit it with a darker paint job.

Additionally, the slots in the gauntlet and boots are also intact. The one thing off from the comic book model is the feet. They should be more in line with the usual Iron Man feet. I suspect their extra height and width was to accommodate the boot shell.

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Paint: This is the one area where the Model 09 figure could use some work.

Hasbro went with a bright red done in the pearlescent to provide a faux sheen. The shade of red is too light and really needed to be a darker hue. And the yellow parts might have looked more eye catching if done in gold as well. That way we’d have a better match to the Marvel Comics’ 80th Anniversary Iron Man figure.

What is here is nice and clean but would have benefited from darker colors. Also, Hasbro does its frustrating deal of coloring the chest spotlight blue instead of the far more comic accurate yellow.

Scale: Iron Man should be slightly taller than Captain America in this armor though not by a large amount. He’ll be looking up at fellow Avengers She-Hulk and Thor. The scale is pretty accurate as his head is a tad taller than Cap.

Articulation: Although there’s some new parts, most of the Model 09 is based on the 80th body.

That means you can hit a strong variety of poses. The shoulder pads are made of a flexible plastic allowing them to rise and lift when raising Shellhead’s arms.

His neck ball-joint has plenty of range allowing for better flying poses and arched back channeling a chest beam stance as well.

Even with the thicker gauntlets, they’ve got the same range with the double-jointed elbows as the standard IM figure.

Iron Man Model 09 has:

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

I think his boots might throw folks off at first, but his articulation is actually well-engineered and he’s a lot of fun to pose. Once you get a hang of balancing the boots out.

Accessories:  Iron Man Model 09 gets a pretty decent haul of accessories with what I think is a new piece.

He’s got a swappable set of repulsor ray shooting hands.

In addition to the translucent blue repulsor rays/boot exhausts, Iron Man has two smaller energy trails. They can plug into either the hands or the bottom of the boots.

Worth it?  Iron Man Model 09 is the regular price of $24.99, but Target had a sale going that took him down to $17.49. Getting a Marvel Legends figures under $20 will always work for me.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Hasbro largely did right with this update to the Neo-Classic armor. I definitely would be down for a darker color repaint and a slightly changed head sculpt to show the eyes underneath.

Where to get it?  Target has the Iron Man Retro wave in stock now. GameStop has the wave on their website. You can also grab the Marvel Legends Iron Man Model-09 figure from Amazon or Entertainment Earth.

As an Amazon and Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.