[En Sabah Nerd]

My Pulse order of Ultron and the Stane/Iron Monger pack arrived today.

I had been sitting on my Dorkside pre-order since April but when I saw Hasbro had Ultron in stock themselves I went ahead and got one through them instead. As with Dr Doom and Kang last year I feel like this a near-perfect figure of a classic villain. I like the Kirby-crackle effect for his "mouth" even though there are few instances of it leaking out like that in the comics that I'm familiar with. Including grabbing hands was a peculiar choice since he has no other accessories to hold, similarly odd is that he only has a left "power" gesture hand but no corresponding right hand. All in all Ultron is already a strong contender for my favorite Legends figure of the year.



The initial item I was checking Pulse for was to see if the Iron Monger pack was in stock, obviously it was. In hand I think the likeness to Jeff Bridges is solid, it's not spot-on but you can still recognize it as a grumpy bald version of the Dude. The pattern on his tie turned out really nice so there's that too. I can't lie that a different figure like a new Iron Man mk I would've been more appealing but I guess Hasbro didn't want to put too much new stuff into this pack.

Speaking of new stuff we have Iron Monger as the real reason anybody's getting this set. He's an appropriately big figure, roughly Hulkbuster's size, as he should be. They did a good job giving him a rough texture emulating pounded metal, overall he looks quite nice despite being such a monochromatic design. As bulky, lumbering mech-suits go he's fairly well articulated. I really like the bullet casing discharge effect for the minigun arm but conversely don't care for how they made his shoulder-missile just a piece that clips on to the pistons. Overall I dig this set but unless you've really been hankering for an MCU Iron Monger like I have you can probably play the waiting game and get this down the road when it's on a sale. I don't think the pack's necessarily overpriced at full retail (especially given that Iron Monger is completely new and has little reuse potential) but those uninterested in Obadiah will likely find paying $70+ just to get Iron Monger a sour deal.