I have a confession to make. As much as I love the trend of having a young female character adopting the mantle of an established hero, I usually have trouble reading the actual comics. I have come to the conclusion that I am just not in the target demographic. Plus the typical art style employed in these books traditionally isn't my favorite. I'm always so optimistic, but I'm usually left deflated. Ironheart, however, is a huge exception to this trend. I was a little late to the game and Riri already had two collected editions on the shelves when I started reading, but I was hooked right away. The story, art, and character development was simply amazing. The only thing that slowed my momentum was her updated pink costume with the blue heart on her forehead (not my favorite design). And eventually her fantastic solo title ended. Riri has been on my Legends wishlist for years and this long-awaited result is perfection (soooooo glad it was her first official armor and not the newer suit). Let's check out Ironheart below!
If you don't know the origins of Ironheart, it's a pretty fantastic story. This young super-genius, Riri Williams, gets ahold of some old wrecked Iron Man armor and gets it back to functional condition (this is a bulky gray dented armor she first appeared in). She gains the attention of the the Stark Foundation, gets into MIT as a 15yo, and is eventually brought under the wing of Rescue and given the updated armor seen on this figure. Her stories deal with learning to be a hero, balancing intellect and instinct, and basic coming-of-age lessons. It has a similar tonal vibe to Stephanie Brown Batgirl or Miles Morales Spider-Man. A lot of teenage hero books try way to hard to be hip or edgy. But smart outcast heroes are always a better read.
Riri comes with an alternate unmasked head, two set of hands, two blue blast effects that can fit in her palms or feet, and two swirling smoke effects. Note that the hands have no hinges on the pegs. So they can only swivel when anchored in the wrists.
The Riri head is terrific. She's had a few notable hairstyles but this was always my favorite.
I am very curious to see how they pronounce her name when the Disney+ show starts. In my head, I always said "reary", but I realize most people say "ree-ree." Maybe it was just the awkward high school I went to, but that second pronunciation is audibly identical to a derogatory slang I would unfortunately hear tossed around in the halls. Hopefully my pronunciation wins because I can't shake the antagonistic correlation.
Riri comes with the right Leg of the Build-a-Bear, Ursa Major.
This variant cover features the likeness of Ariell Johnson, owner of Amalgam Comics in my city (Philadelphia). She's the first black female comic shop owner on the East Coast. I love that she's just chilling with Riri at the shop (which is the only coffee shop/comic shop hybrid I've even been in, it's very cool).
Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!
I thought the great alternate head warranted a double purchase. Here are my two together.
And here are my three Legends Iron-ladies so far: Comic Rescue, Ironheart, and MCU Rescue.
And here are my three Ironheart figures: Marvel Minimates, Marvel Legends, and Marvel Gallery.
And finally here she is with her wave-mate, Darkstar (review coming soon).
Cheers!
Great figure
ReplyDeleteAwesome, will be lookin for
ReplyDelete