LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 76206 Iron Man Figure [Review]

The cinematic story of Tony Stark came to an end with the release of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. But, for the true icons of pop culture, the merch doesn’t stop just because the story has ended. Robert Downey, Jr.’s portrayal of Iron Man is joining the likes of Darth Vader and Optimus Prime as someone who lives on in the toy aisle long after they’ve passed away on screen. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 76206 Iron Man Figure is a 381 piece-set that releases from LEGO on January 1st for US $39.99 | CAN $49.99 | UK £34.99. But is it a worthy celebration of Iron Man as an icon of the toy aisle? Let’s find out.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with early copies of these sets for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Unboxing the parts and instructions

This set comes in an “thumb punch” style box featuring the logo of the Marvel Cinematic Universe catch-all branding, “The Infinity Saga.” The fully constructed figure appears hovering in the air, with his palm-mounted repulsors ready to be raised for battle. Stark wore many, many different armors during his tenure in the MCU. This set specifically is modeled after the Mark XLIII armor, which was featured in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. An image of Thanos holding up the Infinity Gauntlet appears on the right-hand side of the box.

The back of the box features an image of Iron Man in mid-flight, with his back booster rockets deployed. At the bottom of the box is an image advertising the set’s light brick feature. There’s also an image of the completed model standing next to its specification panel, of the type you often find in Ultimate Collector’s Series sets. On the right-hand side, photo-real Thanos has been replaced with a LEGO version of the villain.

Inside you’ll find four individually numbered bags of parts, an instruction book, and a sticker sheet. My sticker sheet was packed flat with no visible warping.

The parts

There are a few notable new parts to be found in this set. The first is five of the 2×2 round plates with rounded bottom, available in glitter trans-light blue for the first time. The 1×1-1×2 inverted bracket is available in dark red here. This piece isn’t new, but has previously only been available in set 10290 Creator Pickup Truck. You also get 4 of the 1×1-1×2 bracket, available in tan for the first time. The final interesting part is three brand new 4×4 curved wedges in dark red. One of them is printed with Iron Man’s face shield, while the other two remain blank and are used as his shoulder pads. On the back, this wedge has a connection point identical to the underside of a 2×2 round brick.

The build

Unsurprisingly, the build will feel familiar to anyone who has built a mech in a line like Ninjago or Legends of Chima. There’s a lot of sandwiching ball joints between brackets and inverted brackets, and then building onto the brackets with tiles and small slopes to create the shape of an arm or a leg. Bag 1 is devoted to the waist and upper legs.

Bag 2 completes the legs.

Bag 3 builds most of the torso.

And Bag 4 finishes things off with the head, arms, and Arc Reactor light up feature.

Oh, and of course the spec panel.

The final model

Once the build is done, you end up with Iron Man action figure that stands about 9 ½ inches tall and has a decent number of articulation points.

There’s lots of nice build detail that does a nice job of replicating the on-screen armor, such as the layered dark red spoilers on his abdomen. Although the armor can be more obtrusive to his movement than I’d prefer. This is especially true in the arms. His shoulders sit lower than they should. Their actual connection point is at about the same level on his torso as his Arc Reactor. The new curved wedge pieces fill out the space above the shoulders, making them look anatomically correct. But this means his arms can’t be raised very high at all. If you want to pose him with his arm extended, firing his repulsor at something, then it had better be a short target.

There’s a decent amount of detail on the figure’s back, including the aforementioned rocket boosters. These are on Mixel joints so they can be angled for flight in a variety of ways. From this angle you can also see his head is on a very thin bar that acts as his neck. It allows his head a great range of movement, but it does keep him from looking as cool as he might from certain angles.

The Arc Reactor in his chest is powered by a light up brick. Push the button on his back and an orange light appears in the center of the Reactor. It’s a neat idea, in theory, but lacks a certain dramatic punch. I feel like a torso that wasn’t built to accommodate the light feature might have yielded a figure that isn’t quite so hampered by articulation issues.

Conclusion and recommendation

At the end of the day, despite its flaws, this version of Iron Man has a ton of character. Scroll back up and look at the image of him holding his spec panel. Adorable. But he’s not the most action-stance ready Avenger in the toy aisle. Kids looking to play out their favorite Iron Man scenes might be better served sticking with minifigures. However, this set will look great standing on the shelf of diehard Marvel fans who might only pick up the occasional LEGO set. And LEGO diehards less interested in the MCU will enjoy this set for the new parts and colors it provides. It’s not a perfect Iron Man figure, but maybe it doesn’t have to be. Because, when you’re an icon, you’ve always got another figure coming out soon. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 76206 Iron Man Figure comes with 381 pieces and will be available January 1st for US $39.99 | CAN $49.99 | UK £34.99.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

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3 comments on “LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 76206 Iron Man Figure [Review]

  1. GJBricks

    Got to say, it looks a little awkward. Kind of reminds me of one of the prototypes in Robocop 2. And the Disney tax makes it feel like it isn’t value for money sadly. Maybe one to skip – although I love iron man so will probably end up getting it. Thanks for the review

  2. Magnus72

    GJBricks, it does look a bit odd. In my opinion the main thing that strikes out is the weird oversized helmet mould. Modern versions of Iron Man have always been lean and while mini-figure sized helmet can be excused, this one has weird angles and really, first thing that comes to mind looking at the silhouette is the classic Wolverine with his U-shape hair.

  3. Bill McQuown

    In mentioning new parts, you didn’t discuss the socket joint brick, which is a new mold for an old part. I’ve been looking at reviews of this set as they pop up, and nobody thus far has mentioned them. My hope is that these new joints have increased friction over the old parts thus negating the need for the friction extender elements which are useful but impose limitations as well. A new socket with increased friction would solve that limitation.

    As for the hip joints, the hollow ball joints through which an axle can pass completely is a great part, but in this use, where a bush is required to cap the axle ends to prevent the ball from coming off, the articulation is hindered and it looks unsightly. Regular ball joints with a single axle opening lack the requisite strength for larger models as this. I wish LEGO would produce a new element comprised of a single 1×2 brick with a Technic ball joint on a stalk, as it would lend itself better to making a three-stud-wide pelvis complete with waist rotation and robust ball joint connections fit for small areas.

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