War Machine

Looks like it's time to jump into the future. When the fate of humankind is at stake, there is no mission too great for US military officer James "Rhodey" Rhodes, aka War Machine. The last figure we got was the War Machine Mark III armor - aka "the Civil War armor." But you may recall, that armor got a bit... damaged. When Vision's robo-boner ["roboner" --ed.] got in the way of his targeting software and he shot Rhodey out of the sky. Whoops! So Infinity War introduced the Mark IV armor, but we didn't get a toy of that other than the Walgreens exclusive Minimate. The Mark V never appeared anywhere (the plan was Rhodey would fight help Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight in Edinburgh, but his armor would get wrecked, so he'd have a new suit by the time they got to Wakanda, but that didn't happen), so Endgame went straight to the Mark VI. The previous War Machine helmets had very squarish lines, which was a feature taken right from the comics. The new one is more angular, giving it a distinctive look in the lineup. It's disappointing that we don't get a Don Cheadle head, either fully unmasked or just with the faceplate removed - maybe that would have been too expensive here? The armor is entirely new. None of the pieces come from older figures, because the Mark V is bigger and bulkier than any of those. Who is doing these upgrades for him, by the way? Just because Rhodey can pilot the armor, it doesn't mean he knows how to repair or rebuild it. There's a reason Air Force pilots don't do their own maintenance. Did Justin Hammer survive The Snappening? And would he be allowed to work with high tech equipment from within his jail cell? The chest is massive, while the limbs are thick and blocky. He looks even more like a humanoid tank than usual! The suit is dark grey and silver, with red for the eyes, chest beam, and nipples. There's a logo with stars and stripes (not the official Air Force logo, but that's probably what it's meant to suggest) on the left shoulder, and the number 006 on the left breast. It's worth nothing that this is not the armor as seen in the film - like many times before, the official design changed after toymakers were given access to the concept art. So, like, those Nike swooshes on the chest? They're not there in the final movie. War Machine moves at the ankles, knees, thighs, hips, chest, wrists, elbows, biceps, shoulders, neck, and head. The fact that the elbows and biceps both have swivels seems superfluous. The three guns he has as accessories also swivel where they plug in (on the right shoulder and under both forearms), but that seems more like a reality of making toys than like something that would happen for real. The suit is so bulky that he doesn't come with any Hulk BAF pieces. This figure may not accurately represent War Machine as he was seen on-screen, but he does look big and intimidating, and that's pretty cool in its own right. Another one for the Hall of Armor! -- 08/10/19

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