Do I get the missing armours in 6"? The missing armours are the Hulkbuster, Mark 46, 47 and 50. Shall I get all of them perhaps?! The new Mark VII 10th anniversary figure looks pretty sweet, perhaps that figure would be a good starting point.
In thinking about this I realise why I love the Internet, what I particularly enjoy. It's having an idea, doing a bit of research and then working out what I want to buy. Which usually ends up with going on eBay or Amazon. It's all about wanting and buying. My favourite websites are those about my favourite franchises, but ultimately what I really want is news about stuff I can or want to buy. I'm utterly addicted to the cycle. Collecting the movie armours is the idea, but much like Classics Transformers or 3.75" comic Marvel, it's not contained to one toyline, there's exclusives, there's box sets, there's more to it.
Sometimes when I have one of these ideas, I find myself trying to find out about lines from years ago (2008 in the case of some movie armours) and wishing I'd bought them at the time. If I could send a message back in time to myself, what would I say? (Ignoring the practical stuff like lottery numbers and for god's sake ask that girl out.) Top of the list would be ignore third party Transformers. In the end an absolute waste of money. There are plenty of figures I've bought which have been superseded, but that's part of the journey, part of the fun. But third party transformers were mostly expensive and overly difficult to transform (which some people appreciate, but not me).
I'm not sure whether I'd advise my younger self to collect Marvel Legends. It's clear to me that I love Marvel more than I did in 2009 (or thought I did). I'm not keen on the Toy Biz aesthetic for the most part (funny hips and frequently funny faces), and again, most of them have been superseded. Get into Legends when Hasbro started producing them? I still agree with my 2009 self that 3.75" was the way to go considering I don't really care about a lot of the characters.
What then is the all important message for my younger self? I think with Transformers start from the end. The end is Beast Wars, collect all of characters who appeared in the cartoon. Then move onto expensive Japanese G1 (Masterforce, Victory and Zone). Those are the characters who mostly haven't had Classics updates.
Anyway, that was a bit of a tangent. Movie Iron Man armours. All of them? Well, I might as well give it a go. With toys I will never be happy with what I've got, it will always be a process of trying new lines and seeing whether they stick. (Kreo, I recently realised did not.) If a collection is completed by expensive or hard to obtain figures then so much the better. My interest is maintained by new stuff.
Having already decided to buy the X-Men, I have this gnawing thought in my mind; don’t I need the Fantastic 4 as well?! This is the problem, one idea leads to another. I have rewritten this section several times as I have changed my mind and changed it again. I have now settled on collecting the main characters from the various 90’s cartoons (X-Men, Fantastic 4, Spider-Man, Iron Man and Hulk). Then, having realised how many figures that is I tried to decide between the armoury and these classic cartoon figures. I then realised there is a third way. Money and space are always the main concern. What if I didn’t buy Masterpiece Megatron and Shockwave? Jointly they will cost about £320. That’s a good number of Legends figures! What if I make my Masterpiece collection Autobot only? Yes. I only really got into that line because I like the real car alt modes, so it really does make sense.
Like any collection, a toy collection is something that is refined over the years as you work out what you want, but also what you want evolves as your interests do. Marvel Legends 90’s cartoon characters and an MCU Iron Man armoury it is then.
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I’ve got me some Marvel Legends! Wolverine and then Deadpool have arrived (I made an exception to the cartoon for him because he's the complete package). I then bought the Mark 50 armour and Iron Spider, remarkably both still available at UK retail.
I’ve looked at Legends figures before, but I have to admit the detail on these things is fantastic. On Iron Spider particularly, the texture is something you’d never get on 3.75”. I really liked Iron Man, but after opening Iron Spider he looks a bit plasticky. Overall though, very impressed. The Legends armoury starts here!
Opening Deadpool, I realised he has shoulder/chest articulation. Looking at Iron Spider, he also has it. These are just amazing to me, I am a total convert. It's going to take all my willpower not to buy more! Okay, so I just ordered Vintage Spider-Man and Human Torch. Anyway, very impressed. That Wolverine's claws are separated really lifts it above the 3.75" version. So much character! It's funny, the thing that ultimately really sold the line to me was the high resolution photos of these two.
I have found a reason to include Deadpool (I like to find tenuous reasons for my spending if I can). In the X-Men cartoon, Morph was also a member of the team, at one point he briefly turns into Deadpool. It's not Deadpool, it's Morph!
Incidentally, I realise it's a strange case of history repeating itself, when I started collecting Marvel Universe, it was when the Wolverine Origins line was also out. The first two figures from that line? Wolverine and Deadpool. My first few figures from Universe? Iron Man, Spider-Man and Human Torch.
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