Neutron Jammer: Hot Toys: Iron Man 3 - War Machine Mark II MMS Diecast Review (Part 3)

Hot Toys: Iron Man 3 - War Machine Mark II MMS Diecast Review (cont'd)

Part 3: Accessories & Lighting-up

Before anything else, let's talk about the included accessories an option parts.

Hot Toys: Iron Man 3 - War Machine Mark II MMS Diecast Review

Seen on the photo above are all the accessories that comes with this figure. We got the option part for the left arm which is meant to replace the left forearm armor to reveal the hidden machine gun underneath. It's odd that they've included one for the left arm none for the right. We should have two for both arms right? Would it cost too much for production to include just one small part? We payed a huge chunk from our salary you know? It's still forgivable though, since that accessory was never included in the promotion pictures. I'll just take that as a bonus accessory.

Anyway, we got of course the shoulder cannon which isn't actually an optional accessory. War Machine isn't War Machine without it. Aside from the pair of hands with articulated fingers which are already attached to the figure, we got another pair of palms that is meant for repulsor blasting pose (more on that later), a pair of closed fist, and a right hand which is meant for the saluting pose. All these optional hands have non-articulated fingers. Notice that each of these hands has its own wrist guard or wrist armor attached at the back of the hand.

Unlike the pair of hands with articulated fingers which are made of plastic, all of these optional hands are made of rubber, except for the wrist guards. So far these are the only parts that I have discovered to be made of rubber material throughout the figure. The rest are made of metal and plastic.

The shoulder mounted weapon looks really great and is impressively articulated. There's markings here and there to show how dangerous this weapon is. Those raised panels and grooves made this a nicely detailed weapon. I still like the Gatling gun of the 1st war Machine, but this one has a more hi-tech aesthetics.

I'm really not sure what to call this weapon. Hot Toys referred to this one as machine gun, but the barrels seem to be too huge for a machine gun and they omitted the bullet chain that was on the 1st War Machine. It's design is more like a laser cannon to me. So I might as well refer to this as the Shoulder Cannon® (pronounced with deep voice and echo).

Hot Toys has given it a number of articulation so that it may be able to shoot you wherever you are. The cannon can be folded up and down,...

...rotated from side to side...

...and swing like this. The lower joint can also be rotated...

... and that small tab that attaches to the back of War Machine can rotate 360°. It is basically fully articulated and can point and shoot on anything anywhere.

The batteries, unlike other previously released Hot Toys Iron Man armors, wasn't installed shipped. You'll have to put it in yourself, which is actually a smart move since there's a lot of complaints before about leaking batteries when not in use. It works best for those collectors who want's to keep the figure in the box for years.

Hot Toys is kind enough to include a small Phillips screwdriver to be used on those battery covers. I just find not too good for it's purpose since it tends to deform the heads of the screws after being used for quite some time. But still, it's great that they thought of what us collectors need.

This is the metal rod and the holding clip for the display stand. As stated in the manual, Hot Toys only recommends this specific metal rod as a display stand for this diecast figure, because other stands with plastic rod or flexible pillar will not be able to support its weight.

This is the base of the display stand. I'm not sure if this same base was included on any previously released Hot Toys, but I find it really cool for an Iron Man armor. The foot clamp design though is already familiar to every Iron Man MMS collectors. That design was already seen before on previous releases including the Hall of Armor. I wish all the upcoming Hot Toys Iron Man armor, even the non-diecast MMS will have the same base.

The foot clamp by the way is movable to actually clamp hold the figure's feet. I'll show it to you later. It has a nice metallic nameplate and movie logo which was different, but a lot better than the one they used in the promotion pictures.

This is the manual included. It also comes with that small clear plastic tool. It can be used to separate small hard to reach parts and can help in putting the batteries. I find it also useful in turning on those small LED switches.

This is the entire page of the manual. It shows how to put on those batteries, where are the switches and articulations. I'll cover all of these on the way, but the most important thing is the caution to avoid letting it fall on your foot because of the figure's heavy weight. You'll cry, not because it'll hurt your foot, but because, you just broke your expensive toy :)

Let's now put on those batteries and light those LEDs up.

First the batteries for the LED-lighted eyes. I find it easier to put on the batteries by popping the head off. The head is in a ball-joint by the way and there's also a bit of a lower neck articulation.

The battery compartment is underneath the top head panel. Removing that panel is not easy as it seems, as I don't want to scratch any paint. Start by lifting from the back as per instruction. Be careful in doing so as you may damage the small tab on the front.

Once the panel is removed, the battery compartment cover is revealed but it is secured by a small screw. This is where you need the small screwdriver.

It took me a while to put the batteries. I had to use the help of that clear plastic tool. Make sure it's arranged properly and in correct polarity. Notice small the switch near the battery compartment. Just slide it and if there are no problems with the light circuitry, you'll be happy to see your first set of lights come up.

The light-up head alone is totally cool to look at. My only problem is that I had to open the top-of-the-head panel everytime I switch on and switch off the lights. It's a bit tight and I'm always having a hard time pulling it up, especially that I'm being careful not to scratch anything. I'm not sure if it will loosen after sometime of taking it off and back on.

The head is now attached back to the body. Looking great. Now let's light-up the chest RT.

The chest RT battery compartment is underneath the panel at the upper part of the back. This time, it's not too hard to take off the panel, but you still wanna be careful not to scratch any paint. You can use the small clear plastic tool to lift the attachment a little before pulling it out all the way. This panel is made out of metal by the way.

Again, make sure the batteries are arranged properly and in correct polarity. The switch is also just next to the battery compartment as well.

Here is the shot with the RT on the chest activated. It's shines brighter than the eyes.

For the light-up repulsors on the palms, the battery compartments are located at the back of the upper arms.

Batteries are now set on the right...

... and batteries are now set on the left. At this point, the small screwdriver is already a little worn out and it has a tendency to deform the screwheads. I had to use a better small screwdriver to avoid damaging the screws.

The switches this time are not located next to these battery compartments, and it's odd that switches on the left and right arm are not is located symmetrically with each other.

The switch on the left arm can be accessed underneath that forearm armor which that can be replaced with the forearm machine gun option.

The switch on the right arm can be accessed underneath the back forearm armor where the ammo clip is. I find it strange why they have different switch locations for the left and right arms. They could have made it symmetrical and given us that forearm machine gun option for the right arm as well.

For the base of the display stand, the battery compartment is under the base as well as the switch. Batteries unfortunately are not included. For a Hot Toys collector, be sure to stock up some Triple A batteries. It's frustrating when you don't have some whenever you need it, and you would end up borrowing the batteries of your TV remote control.

Display stand assembled. It looks great with that light-up gimmick. It's just a pain when you have to lift up the base just to access the switch, especially when the figure is already there. I prefer to have the switch accessible at the back instead.

That nameplate is slick. It still have its thin plastic protector. I think I'll just gonna keep that plastic on.

Like I said, War Machine isn't War Machine without the Shoulder Cannon®. So let's mount it.

As you can see on the photo above, there are 5 mounting channels for the shoulder cannon. You can just insert the little tab on the cannon to either the left, right, middle, or on those slanted sections.

So here it is mounted on the left channel. Remember that the small tab on the cannon is narrow enough the slide on those mounting channels, so the movement of the cannon around the back is very flexible. The problem with it is that cannon can be easily detached and falls down. It does not fall if the figure is left untouched, but once you work on some pose, you'll find it falling very frequently.

So here is the War Machine, completely with lit-up and with his signature weapon. It's really hard to see those lights in bright environment so let's turn off all the lights in the room..

You can now see the lights clearly. The War Machine color scheme is perfect for stealth missions.

And here's a close-up shot on the upper body.

Now back to my mini-studio lamps. The lights are almost unnoticeable in fully lit environment, but it still looks a lot better than with those LED lights off.

My only problem with this light-up feature is the way to switch on and off. You'll have to open panels here and there which is not only troublesome, but you also have a high chance of scratching the paints of the nicely painted armors. I wish they could added some circuitry in the lights so that it can activated by hand claps alone. I suppose it won't be that much expensive to add that feature, but if they added $50 bucks for that, nevermind.

Placing it on now the display stand.

While it looks nice on that stand, there is not much pose you can do with is aside from posing the arms, and the upper body, that's if you wanted the feet to sit properly on those clamps. This works perfectly though, if you're wanted to do a standing straight museum pose. Well, you can still actually use that display stand on some other interesting pose.

But before that, let's check on the armor details first. Click the link below for the next page.