This figure was kindly sent over to us to review courtesy of Hasbro UK
Both Thanos and Iron-Man in his Mk 85 Armour had been released in 2019 as part of the Marvel Legends figures for Avengers: Endgame. There was not a lot wrong with those original figures, but Hasbro saw the opportunity to cap off their 2021 Infinity Saga Series with the scene that brought a close to the first three phases of the MCU. The Infinity Saga set of Iron-Man and Thanos from Endgame was released in the Summer of 2021 as the tenth and final set of the series.
Like all of the Infinity Saga releases the box is squared off rather than following the usual scooped sided design of the mainline. It has a black colour base with the Infinity Saga logo at the forefront under the window. The Avengers Endgame logo sits directly above this on the top rail, and the two side panels carry montage images in a metallic finish of key characters from the Saga. These two panels are different views of a larger image. These are the same on all the packs and do not connect in any way.
The rear of the box has a central movie poster from Endgame, and on either side of this, we have a short overview of each of the included characters. The text is generic and doesn't go into any significant detail about the plot of Endgame.
"Iron Man steps onto the battlefield against Thanos in the ultimate fight for the fate of the universe."
"Thanos is a destructive force that will stop at nothing to achieve his goals."
Out of the pack we have Iron-Man and Thanos in the usual inner plastic tray surrounded by their accessories and alternative parts. This itself sits in the inner cardboard tray that carries an array of circular icons relating to the many MCU heroes and characters.
We start with Iron-Man in his Mk85 armour, and this is based on the original 2019 release. He is cast in a red plastic across the torso and lower arms/legs while the upper legs and arms have a dark grey base. The armour colour detail is then painted over the base colour. On the red, we have trims of dark grey and gold with the arc reactor in the chest applied as a decal with a bright white centre and blue hue around the edges. The majority of the gold is painted onto the dark grey base and that does present a few sloppy edges if you get up close.
The armour sculpted detail is well done and the proportions for Iron-Man are much improved on earlier releases which were undersized. The Mk85 is a similar height to the more recent Mk7 and Mk3 armours and stands over 6.75 inches in height.
The original 2019 figure had no unmasked head for Tony and that is one of the selling points of this new 2021 release. It comes with the battle-worn and bloodied Tony Stark head and the likeness is absolutely spot on with the photo-real paint used to perfection not only for the facial features, eyes and beard - but also for the various cuts and bruises which are pretty realistic.
The figure has also had the right forearm and hand updated into the Nano Gauntlet complete with all six Infinity Stones painted into their appropriate slots. This hand is then sculpted to a finger-clicking position ready for those immortal words...
You do also get the masked Iron-Man head although this now looks too small on the body. And a clean version of the Stark head is included - also a fantastic likeness for a pre-battle Robert Downey Jr. One of the innovations on the set is a swap out the neck with the head. Rather than having an unmasked Tony with a red armoured neck, the whole piece can be swapped so the neck is appropriate to the look - masked or unmasked.
The neck still retains a joint top and bottom so is tricky to exchange as you can often pop off the head and leave the neck in the body.
Hasbro started including some of Tony's Nano weaponry in the Infinity War 2-pack with Iron-Spider and they have returned to this set to repurpose the shield. This is cast in translucent blue to represent an energy shield and uses a clip to connect to Iron-Man's forearm. Sadly, the clip is designed for the bulkier Mk50 suit from Infinity War and does not clip securely into the forearm leaving the shield really loose on the arm.
We also get a new dual bladed weapon, also complete with translucent blue energy blades. This is designed to be held by the figure rather than being an extension of his suit. It looks OK, but I doubt many will use this or the shield on display.
As per usual for Iron-Man the repulsor effects are thrown in, also in translucent blue. And these clip into an alternative pair of firing hands, or can be used on the feet for flight poses. Your final accessories are a pair of clenched fists allowing you to have Tony ready for hand-to-hand fighting.
The Mk85 is about the most articulated Marvel Legends suit to date, benefitting from a sleeker design and a lack of large shoulder or thigh armour panels. There are 19 points of articulation, with a dual joint neck - but no butterfly joints at the shoulder. As an older figure, all the joints have visible pins too which can detract a little from the overall look of the figure.
Every joint is tight and secure, and with a ratchet where required. That does pose an issue at the ankles which like the original figure aren't set right so getting Tony into a flat foot stance and keeping him standing is difficult as the neutral flat position is partway between two of the ratchet teeth.
If you are going to recreate the Endgame final "I am Iron-Man" scene then it was crucial that Tony could kneel into that final position and be posed ready to click his fingers. The double jointed knees and unencumbered hips make this a breeze and he holds the pose beautifully.
The armoured Thanos has only been available as a build-a-figure to date, coming with the original 2019 Endgame wave and then having a re-release in the Far East with a 'Best of MCU' wave in 2020. You may think upon first glance that this is a re-release. but the Infinity Saga figure takes the original figure and gives it quite a bit of updating.
Thanos stands a touch over 8-inches tall so is well scaled against Iron-Man and the other MCU figures. His armour has been given a full new chest section vs the original release and this is now dinted and pitted with dark grey streaks across the front. The left arm - which was the original Infinity Gauntlet arm has a new forearm left-armwith the correct lower armoured bracer and this too has been sculpted as though worn and damaged. Conversely, the right-hand forearm that was armoured original is now the new Infinity Gauntlet and cast in a clicking pose, but without any of the Infinity Gems - each socket sculpted as though empty.
Taint work is OK with the base parts cast in either the purple skin tone or The ina grey with the gold parts painted over the top. Like Iron-Man there are a couple of rougher edges, but this is a battle-worn Thanos so they actually fit in with the overall look.
The head that comes fitted to Thanos is an odd one to look at, with Hasbro trying to replicate the moment Thanos realises he has been dusted by Tony Stark. This looks pretty good from one side, but head on it makes him look like he has been in a mud fight. I am not clear at this stage if the grey streaks as mentioned earlier from the chest armour are an extension of this 'dusting' decor or is actually weathering?
Thankfully Hasbro have been very generous with alternative heads for Thanos, including the original armoured head with bared teeth. They have then borrowed a couple from some of the Infinity War Thanps figures with a solemn head and the one with a slight smile on his face.
All of the included heads are very good in terms of a likeness to Thanos on-screen with both sculpted definition on the chin and forehead and then further enhancement from the decor - which I assume is photo-real application - to pick out the eyes beneath the large brow, as well as shade some of the scarring and facial features. These heads can all also be used on other Thanos releases.
Thanos is also supplied with a secondary right hand for the Power Gauntlet, allowing you to replace the finger-clicking hand without the Infinity Stones with a clenched fist with all the stones in place. This is accurate to the end of the battle, but it would have also been good had they included the original right arm so you could display Thanos solely in his armoured form without any gloves or gauntlets.
Hasbro has indicated you can achieve this yourself by picking up a spare BAF right arm. I tested that theory and while the arm is hard to remove at the shoulder, it is possible to warm up the elbow joint and swap out the forearm. When you do this there are some decor differences between the two bracers.
The final Thanos accessory is his twin-bladed weapon, a direct carry over from the original BAF. Cast in grey the metallic grey the only paint app is the central golden grip. There is plenty of detail on the blades which would have stood out with the application of a wash over the top. Thanos can only hold this in his left hand, ideally, it should be the right looking at key scenes but without an alternative right hand, this is as good as we are going to get.
Despite his bulk, Thanos is still well articulated with 16 points of articulation in total. The legs include double joint knees which would allow him to kneel if that were something you wanted him to do. The arms are less poseable with only single joint rotating elbows and some resistance at the shoulders where the shoulder armour clashes with the chest armour as the arms are raised.
The neck is a single joint for the head and was designed for use with the armoured head. The other heads included will move but are held in place more by the underside of the head which would have been shaped for an unarmoured Thanos figure.
All the Thanos joints work as they should and despite his weight, he is easy to stand and stay standing in multiple poses from the basic stances to more dynamic action poses.
The Infinity Saga set of Thanos and Iron-Man is not cheap and retails at circa £65. This is perhaps a touch high considering this is a single figure and Deluxe figure combined into a 2-pack, but we are given quite a lot of accessories to offset this.
Thanos as a re-work of the original does add some great new features and I do like the sculpting of the damaged parts but not the paintwork. The 'dusting' head is a miss for me, but the other three heads all work really well. He is perhaps missing a spare right hand, allowing collectors to have a fully armoured Thanos without Infinity Gauntlets as seen when he arrived at the Avengers compound - while there is a solution, it should have been planned into the pack.
Iron-Man is a fantastic figure with the new Tony Stark heads and the likeness and face print decor is really on point. The masked Iron-Man armour head does now look a little small when in situ and most of the accessories feel unnecessary - particularly the nano-weapons and a shield that doesn't even fit the figure. He is tough to stand, but that can be solved with a bit of patience. We can now, thanks to the Infinity Saga, recreate the scene where Iron-Man, Thor and Captain America all line up to take on Thanos - although the more recent Worthy Cap is now undersized compared to Thor & Iron-Man.
The set is not the best of the ten releases within the Infinity Saga - that title probably sits with either Surtur or the Iron Monger set - but it represents such an iconic final moment for the Saga itself that it feels like a must for us all.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...