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Ultimate Iron Man - Mavel Select, ToyBiz Meat and Potatoes; 4.9 Perks; 4.0 Homer Factor; 4.0
						Description;  Iron Man Meets Gundam and Ultraman. The Ultimate Iron Man is approximately 7" tall and has been heavily influenced by Japanese anime' the piece is covered in vents and penels, and even sports a little crest and a blue uni-beam, ala Ulltraman.  IM sports limited articulation in the neck, shoulders, hips, and torso. IM also comes with a armor mounting rack and a removable gaunlets.
	Ah, the 'Ultimates.'  At the risk of sounding like a heathen... I haven't read 'Ultimate Spider-Man' or any of the other titles yet.  I know, I know, stop yelling.  'But they're awesome, man!!!!!!'  et al.  So I've heard.  Hey, unless I wing the lottery or sell my scripts, my pick for not spending is monthly comic titles.  Still, the idea of trimming down the mess which is a comics loooooooooooooooooooooooooong history can be a wonderful thing.  Face it, the Silver Age Superman needed a SERIOUS house-cleaning, and bless you John Byrne for starting that.  Granted, some of that is COMING BACK (Um, yeah, Krypto is cute, but we DIDN'T need him back.) but just the same, Supes is much more streamlined then before.  So what's up with Iron Man?  Well, as often as Tony Start has changed his suit, there's always been the general look; red torso, booties, and gauntlets, the rest being gold and once silver (my personal favorite), and that helmet of his.  He's called 'shellhead' for a reason.  Lordy.  So what does it take to 're-do' the Crimson Avenger?  Simple; rather then looking at what he was, look at what's out there NOW and build up from there.  Is this THE Iron Figure for your $20?  Yes, $20.  Unfortunately, no.  Yeah, that's something worth wincing over.  But it's a pretty dang good piece of work just the same. Meat and potatoes on this thing are pretty solid.  The biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig plus is the sculpt.  The figure is based on the Iron Man armor from Ultimates #2.  Rather then re-hashing AGAIN the older designs, this sucker is part Ultraman, part Gundam.  The sculpt captures the new Manga-inspired look very, very well; lots of panel lines and vents, all lending to the new look.  The disappointing part is the articulation.  Although the Legends Iron Man figure went over the top with joints, this one has too FEW.  Shoulders, waist, neck, hips are the major ones.  Fortunately, this thing isn't a statue, but if you're looking for a ton o' posing options, look elsewhere.  Perks are pretty solid.  The figure comes with a giant armor rack that IM can stand it.  It's disassembled in the package, but it's pretty simple to put together.  Another touch is the gauntlets can be removed, showing a few plug-ins on Tony's arm.  Personally this is a biiiiiiiiiiiiit too ghoulish for me, especially since there are wires on the armor rack that you can connect to the plug-ins on Tony's arm.  I know, it's not THAT bad, just me. Homer factor?  After DC Direct started the 'Action Figure War', Marvel has jumped in fast and hard with amazing product.  Although the Marvel Select stuff my be questionable in terms of play-value, they are very nice pieces to look at. Over all, it's a SOLID Iron Man figure; the sculpt is a terrific interpretation of the newest incarnation of Iron Man, and the extras you get aren't bad.  The thing is, for $20, one would expect something besides a 'solid' figure, especially since the Legends Iron Man was going for less then $10 SRP.  In the end, the figure isn't horrible by any means, but if you're looking for value for your buck, be warned.