((WARNING! Made a mistake thinking that there was a Mark VII War Machine Armor! Will talk about it in the review so bear with me with the few mistakes on the first few paragraphs!))
And another very crooked shot of a #Funko #POP box! Oh well. Been some time since I reviewed one of these guys! Well with #Endgame coming out and the slew of merchandise supporting it, it's time I get my hands on one of them. Surprisingly it isn't an Iron Man but one of the more prominent character in his lore: War Machine. So let's just jump right in with the review of the POP War Machine.
If I ever get around to reviewing Endgame, I'd like to talk about the characters and how most of them got a pretty interesting run time. War Machine, having been there since Phase I (Don Cheadle, anyway), got his share and he had some pretty hilarious moments. That said, he had three suits including the Quantum Realm suit--this #POP is more or less his standard suit that gets damaged before the last battle. Between the three suits, I like this one a lot more. It's definitely got that War Machine look that is as close as you can get wit the comic books. Rhodey has had a few good looking suits through hteh #MCU, but just like Iron Man's first few versions, the differences are very small; and no, I'm not including the Iron Patriot armor. That was a completely different suit that can be seen from a mile away. Besides, by the end of Iron Man 3, I feel as if the Iron Patriot suit was everyone's suit. With that said, I'm glad that #Funko picked this to be a POP representation of War Machine, though I wouldn't be surprised if there would be the Quantum Armor and the Final Battle suit somewhere down the road; if anything else, I'm sure other toy lines will jump on making this and the other suits in Endgame. MCU is a lucrative business in all types of medium for collectors.
While I'm perfectly fine with what the Quantum Suits represent and what they were good for, I am not that fond of them aesthetically, which means I won't exactly jump at the chance on having them as part of my collection. So honestly, War Machine in this form is just fine.
War Machine's presence in Endgame is pretty important; it's heavy and he has a lot of dialogue that is substantial to both exposition and humor. I still stand by my initial reaction with Cheadle when I first saw him in Iron Man 2: too skinny to be the gattling-gun totting soldier. But his personality and the way he delivered himself as James Rhodes definitely did the character justice, or at least gave him more flesh. Now a far as how War Machine was, we definitely saw his 'raw' comic book form in Iron Man 2. Later versions of the armored Avenger show him with more fire power and definitely an asset against the ever growing danger that looms before them. By the time Endgame comes around, War Machine was well equipped to take on stronger foes. We didn't see this armor in action as much in Endgame (still thought this was pre-final battle armor), but just how he looks, it was an impressive looking armor. I wanted to see what that gun on his shoulder can do--looks like it can fire lasers or at least something stronger than bullets. Overall, his aesthetics definitely still resembles the suits we saw in both Infinity War and Civil War. I'm very thankful they kept his color consistent with the "War Machine" coloring theme which definitely distinguished him from Iron Man. Not that the not so discreet guns on his back doesn't set him apart enough. Though I'm curious if .... nah who am I kidding? #HotToys or #POP is going to jump at the chance to do a toy version of War Machine's final armor in Endgame.
As I have mentioned before and will continue to talk about: Funko does a fantastic job capturing some of the details of the characters in their stylized #POP form. There are sculpted details throughout War Machine that definitely gives him depth despite him being a smaller figure with a deformed head. The pose given for James isn't as dynamic, but hey, it works. I like it.
The paint job and the choice of plastic on this guy is just spot on. One can't really tell with some of the shots I took with the camera but it is mostly black, gunmetal grey, and silver. Again, very War Machine looking. To top it off, the peppering of red for the reactor and for his gun really gives an offset. There are also stickers of his US Air Force insignia and 006. I assumed this was the suit before the final battle but the Mark VI is the bulky and hulking looking War Machine armor James Rhodes wore in Endgame. The POP just hid all that bulkiness! My mistake!
If I had the money, I'd also get a couple of the War Machine suit in some kind of action figure form (Hot Toy anyone?). The Mark VI is not my favorite War Machine armor... again, I thought this was the armor he wore before the final battle, but I was wrong. This armor looks good in POP form! Alas, with all that said, I do like this POP and I will most definitely get the other Armored Avengers like Rescue and of course, Iron Man himself. With all that said, I recommend this guy! Definitely a good first POP War Machine if I do say so myself.
Until Next Time!
