*Editor’s Note- Editor Error is making this run on Saturday instead of Sunday. May the flogging commence.
Welcome to Flashback Friday: The Marvel Cinematic Universe. In this series you’ll get a review and discussion on some of your favorite Pops and Dorbz from the MCU. Here, we really appreciate the shared universe so the figures will come from film, television, and streaming. James Rhodes from the Iron Man 3 set is this week’s choice for discussion.
Discussion: James Rhodes is the Marvel superhero War Machine. Even though there have been several War Machine Pops this is the one and only James Rhodes Pop. What makes James fairly unique is that just like last week’s Tony Stark, he was only available at San Diego Comic Con in 2013. I’m unsure of the exact production run but rest assured it was limited. He’s also the only Unmasked War Machine/James Rhodes Pop that’s been released.
James Rhodes is numbered 33 in the Marvel line of Pops and he’s part of the Iron Man 3 set. I’m a little surprised this is the only James Rhodes or Unmasked War Machine Pop available. You’d think that with all of the times he’s been unmasked in the films that a similar variation would’ve been created. I suppose it’s because there are more popular characters such as Iron Man and Captain America that keep him from breaking out. Perhaps one day we’ll get a solo War Machine film but as of right now I don’t see that happening anytime soon. With Marvel’s current slate of films the earliest would be 2020.
James Rhodes is a fairly expensive Pop. He’s definitely more than triple normal retail and for anyone that purchased him at SDCC they’d be looking at a nice profit. Over the last few months James Rhodes has been declining in price. This could be due to oversaturation which a lot of them available for sale or a lack of interest in the character. On the high end he was just under $200.00. Now you can him for less than $100.00 on eBay. The better condition ones will probably run you between $80.00 and $90.00. More power to you if you can find one in good condition under those prices. Amazon, eBay, and our Facebook group which can be found here are probably the only places you can purchase this James Rhodes Pop online. He may be available from multiple vendors at conventions for an increased price.
Iron Man 3 Set: This is a tiny set compared to Age of Ultron or Guardians of the Galaxy. The set includes 1 Deep Space Suit, 1 Iron Man, 1 Iron Patriot, 1 James Rhodes, 1 Tony Stark, and 1 War Machine. Four of the six Pops were available in stores worldwide. The other two, James and Tony were both San Diego Comic Con exclusives. The Pops within the set are a little higher priced but I think someone could purchase the entire set for roughly $500.00 if they really shop around and look for deals.
Description/Review: The face for James is pretty plain. He’s got short black hair and black eyes. The majority of the suit is blue with some red and silver trim. The arms are red with some blue armor around the shoulder and more blue armor surrounding the forearms and wrists. The chest armor looks like an upside down triangle. The triangle is blue with a small symbol that’s outlined in red with silver inside. There’s two red straps going over the shoulder. In between the straps you have the white star which powers the suit similar to the arc reactor in Iron Man’s suit. The top of the legs are covered in blue armor. The knees are surrounded by red armor and then the boots are blue with a touch of red in the middle bottom of each one.
Overall, I think this Pop looks pretty cool. The costume looks great and is very reminiscent of what we see in the Iron Man 3 film. The only complaint I really have is that the large gun type weapon on top of the right shoulder is missing. It’s a big part of the costume and sadly Funko was unable to add that feature to the Pop. I would’ve liked to see the face resemble Don Cheadle a bit more. It’s so plain and has no features which is a little disappointing. Hopefully in the future if Funko releases more Unmasked Iron Patriot or War Machine Pops the design of the face is a bit more realistic.
What’s next? It hasn’t been announced when Iron Patriot will be used in an MCU film again. The most likely scenario is an appearance in one of the upcoming Avengers films. Avengers: Infinity War in 2018 and an Untitled Avengers film in 2019. War Machine is very James Rhodes is very likely to appear in one or both of those films as War Machine. I’d be surprised if the Iron Patriot suit makes an appearance.
Rest assured that if War Machine or Iron Patriot make an appearance in the upcoming Avengers films they will certainly have a Pop Vinyl in one of those sets. I’d love to see the return of Iron Patriot because the suit of armor looks great and it resembles my favorite character Captain America.
What do you think of James Rhodes? Sound off in the comments section below.
Would you like to see a specific Pop or Dorbz in a future article? Post your choices in the comments section and you just might see your favorite character “Pop” up in the coming weeks.
Check back next week for another MCU flashback. Excelsior!
Matt Norris