Iron Man 3 Opinion: Where's the Toys For All the New Suits of Armor?

Left: Mark 17 "Heartbreaker"
Right: Mark 38 "IGOR" (rumored Hulkbuster Mark I)

Marvel Studios' Iron Man 3 is bringing fans more armored suits. Lots of them. Some may say it is a ploy by Disney and Marvel to increase toy sales through their licensing partnership with Hasbro but as of right now that's not really the case.

Yes, you can go to your local Walmart, Target, Toys R Us (or whatever is near you) and find a bunch of Iron Man 3 toys on their shelves right now but many fans have a common complaint to many of the 3 3/4 inch figures that are available. That response is that those figures are for kids and not collectors, or adults.

Iron Man 3 has been slowly revealing many of the suits of armor that will be seen in the new movie from War Machine to Iron Patriot to the IGOR (a.k.a Hulkbuster Mark I) to the Heartbreaker suit, plus many, many more. But where are these really cool, and new, suits of armor on the toy shelves?

They are not there. One of the reasons could be due to the fact that if you go to your local Toys R Us, you will see peg hook after peg hook of Iron Man 2 action figures still sitting around and waiting patiently to find a home. Hasbro might have used this fact as part of their reasoning for not having more of the same out of fear that Iron Man 3 figures could do the same thing.

From a foreshadowing point of view, they were right. This is speculation but most of the current Iron Man 3 toys in stores are fully stocked and no one seems to be buying them. This is also called being "peg warmers." Maybe it's because fans and collectors want a more articulated action figures for Iron Man 3 or maybe it's because the current 3 3/4 inch figures just stink and look really bad. Whatever the reason, it remains to be seen.

Hasbro and Disney and Marvel need to realize once IM3 is released, fans and collectors will most likely cry out for action figures based on the new suits of armor that Tony Stark has created in his new movie. As of the publishing of this post, Hasbro has not announced any new/better Iron Man 3 figures since Toy Fair this past February.

So if these big corporate entities—especially Disney—don't realize this, then maybe you should tweet this opinion column at their Twitter handles (@Marvel, @Disney, @HasbroNews) and they'll realize the demand for better 3 3/4" inch action figures based on the new suits is present.

After Iron Man 3 hits theaters on May 3, the demand could be overwhelming so let's get this campaign started now and let them know you want better action figures for IM3's new suits!

Left: Mark 39 "Gemini"
Right: Mark 35 "Red Snapper"

Left: Mark 33 "Silver Centurion"
Right: Mark 40 "Shotgun"