REVIEW: Iron Man 3 - ARC FX Mission Mask

[JeffSaylor]

Fun Role Play Item Lets You Become Iron Man...

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If the success of Iron Man 3 hasn’t affected your buying habits yet, you might have a super power of incredible will power. Hasbro’s lineup of toys for the third Iron Man movie is mostly geared for kids and this ARC FX MISSION MASK is no exception. But because it is becoming increasingly more difficult not to pick up these superhero role-playing toys, I wanted to take a closer look at this one in particular.

Upon first glance, the mask is really just a mask. If you’re hoping for more of a helmet, you'll need to keep looking. There are three straps that connect on the back that provide support, but it’s not something easily done on your own. And before I get ahead of myself, the mask is large enough for adults... but within reason. The recommended age is 5 years or older.

There are two main features on the mask and those are the Dual Missile Launchers and Glowing Visor Lights. There’s also a Targeting Light Effect on the top of the mask and some sound effects. The primary issue I have with these features are that one button activates them all. If you have missiles inserted and only want the glowing eyes, too bad, you’re firing those missiles too. If you want the targeting light effect, you’re firing those missiles. There’s no choosing which feature you want to use, it all happens at the same time.

The four included missiles fit snugly on both sides of the mask, and to the action feature's credit, work really well. A button on each side of the helmet will fire off that respective side’s weapons. There are usually safety warnings not to shoot at others or at animals on toys like this, but perhaps the rules change when you’re Iron Man.

Based loosely on the Mark 42 design (it really doesn’t matter when it’s just the mask), the ARC FX MISSION MASK does have cool glowing visor lights that I enjoy the most. It does a decently good job concealing your eyes behind it while still allowing things to be perfectly visible from your perspective. The Targeting Light Effect is kind of a throwaway red light. It doesn’t do much and it actually makes the mask off-model since it doesn’t exist in the actual design.

Like any good electronic mask, batteries are required. Fortunately for you, three demo batteries are already included. A screwdriver is necessary to swap them out but it shouldn’t be too difficult.

You can pick up the ARC FX MISSION MASK wherever Iron Man 3 toys are sold and it retails for $20-25. It’s a neat toy for role-playing, the fun enhanced with the addition of other Iron Man role play items, such as the ARC FX Gauntlet. The box also seems to show off a talking feature but that could just very well be poorly executed marketing art showing the kid having some fun. And fun it very well may be, but a Tony Stark mask might be more fun for someone my age.

Review and Photos by David Yeh

Review Sample Courtesy of Hasbro

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