Note: This classic review page preserves the original review links. Once all classic reviews have been updated, we will update the links.

Click here to go back to the new Minimates Central

---

Marvel Minimates wave 35 focused on one of the biggest films of 2010, the summer blockbuster Iron Man 2. The amount of merchandise tied in to this film was incredible and Minimates were no exception. Iron Man 2 had one specialty store wave and a host of exclusives, including two Toys R Us waves.

Packaging

The standard Marvel package, this time designed to fit in with the Iron Man 2 movie merchandise aesthetic. Unfortunately, this makes for a slightly plain-looking box, as we are used to the comic panels for the background now.

---

The Figures

Hammer Drone

Toy companies have to work very closely with the movie studios on licensed products, and because the lead-in times to get the toys on store shelves before the films release are so long, sometimes things can change. The most famous example of this being Snaggletooth in the Seers Star Wars Cantina Set. I'm sure DST jumped on the chance for the Hammer Drone to be part of this wave - after all, it's a huge armoured drone, there's a whole army of them that's gonna fight Iron Man, right? Wrong. Perhaps in the initial proposals, these things were badass, but in the film, they weren't even shown as working properly. Must've been a real let-down to DST when they found out, especially as this figure is the army builder for the wave.

The Hammer Drone's portrayal in the film aside, this is actually a very cool Minimate. It won't surprise you to know that the Minimate design has had tons of armour put on it, compromising articulation to a large degree, but the trade-off is that it looks pretty good. The head is a normal-sized Minimate head, but with sculpted lines and details rather than just being painted on. It turns, but has no lateral movement as the chest piece is a huge armoured piece, much like the Cylons or Iron Monger from the first film. This stops the arms moving at the shoulders too, but this is common with the armoured characters.

The extended crotch piece flows seamlessly from the chest piece, giving the drone a real feeling of size, brute force and power. Interestingly, the thigh pieces are sculpted with technological details rather than having overlaying pieces as with Iron Monger. The hands and feet are large sculpted pieces, with a lot of detail packed on.

The paint job is good too. The drone is really just a big lump of grey, but yellow and black "hazard" stripes and circles have been put on it in several areas, most noticeably down the chest, but also on the sides and back. These are very clean and clear, and manage to break up the greyness somewhat.

The Hammer Drone has no accessories.

In conclusion: A real shame about its portrayal in the film, as the Minimate itself is a bit of a standout figure and would make a great adversary for many different Minimate lines. If the armoured characters are your thing, you'll love this. If you hate the level of sculpting on newer Minimates, this won't really do much for you.

MMC Score - 8 out of 10

More pictures

---

Pepper Potts

Tony Stark's invaluable aide, Pepper Potts becomes the CEO of Stark Industries. We had a Pepper Minimate in the last Iron Man movie wave, let's see how this one fares.

Looking very closely, there is a very tenuous likeness to Gwyneth Paltrow in the facial expression, however as she has quite a long face the limitations of the block figure's cylindrical head doesn't help matters. It's not overdone, but the smirk seems perhaps a little off. She was usually more exasperated with Tony than smirking at him. The hairpiece is new, and has a lot of detail, with the fringe and bangs. I think to be film-accurate it needed to be a tad longer.

Pepper wears an armless dress, and so gets a skirt piece to go with it. Thankfully this isn't the huge monstrosity that has plagued other skirted Minimate women in the past. The detailing on the figure is quite simple, but works. Pepper doesn't have much of a bustline, after all, but is thin enough to have a very prominent collarbone which is captured on this figure. She also gets a separate, sculpted bracelet which is another new piece.

The shoes are excellent, I think these are the first slip ons we have seen, executed by just colouring the bottom edge of the foot piece. I don't think this is related but I'll add it here - this figure has one of the worst lists I have ever seen. I just could not get her to stand up straight. A lot of Minimates have this problem but it was really noticeable with her.

Pepper Potts has no additional accessories, but with her new sculpted pieces, it's not really a surprise.

In conclusion: You can see that DST have tried really hard with this figure but it still suffers slightly for being a civilian.

MMC Score - 6 out of 10

More pictures



Review and pictures by Danny Mills

Discuss this review at the Minimate Multiverse

---

Back to Marvel Reviews Index Click here to go back to the new Minimates Central