Hot Toys Iron Man Proportions

Couldn't find a thread on this... Anyone else think the heads on most Hot Toys Iron Man figures are too small and the legs too long? Gives the overall figure a comic book look. Certainly not Robert Downey Jr. proportions.

The Hot Toys armors tend to be too thin in general, and it usually wouldn't be possible for a sixth-scale figure to actually fit inside. I've never been certain why Hot Toys does this. If you look at Iron Man in any Marvel movie, especially shots of him in profile, he tends to look very bulky, because a guy needs to be able to fit in the suit (even when a guy isn't actually in the suit for that particular shot.)

Hot Toys also has a problem with giving us realistically proportioned females--their female body has thin arms and thin legs and it just looks too willowy and elongated in general. Hot Toys would have to create a new female body to fix this problem, so I understand why they haven't addressed it yet, but I'm at a loss about why they keep giving us Iron Man figures with unrealistic proportions. Unless their Iron Man figures are all designed from the same pre-tooled parts?

I like how the 43 and 42 look, before that they did seem a little thin

melkorjunior said:

but I'm at a loss about why they keep giving us Iron Man figures with unrealistic proportions

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I would imagine in part because it also has to function as a figure with articulation, and at sixth scale compromises are made to that effect. Also if you "look at Iron Man in any Marvel movie" then you're looking at a CG model, which does not have the same restrictions as a real-world item.

The larger you get, the better the figure's proportions can get. The proportions on the 1/4 scale Iron Man are far more in line with the "man in a suit."

CupcakeMcGraw said:

The larger you get, the better the figure's proportions can get. The proportions on the 1/4 scale Iron Man are far more in line with the "man in a suit."

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LOL. I was just going to say that my 1/4 scale Mark 43 bothers me perhaps even more. The legs and torso look so long to me I'd assume Tony Stark was 6' 8". I posed it kneeling on the display stand so it wouldn't bother me as much.

whitd said:

LOL. I was just going to say that my 1/4 scale Mark 43 bothers me perhaps even more. The legs and torso look so long to me I'd assume Tony Stark was 6' 8". I posed it kneeling on the display stand so it wouldn't bother me as much.

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If the legs and torso look long to you, I would be really curious to know what you think an actual human being's proportions look like. XD

Now, recognizing that every human being's proportions are slightly different, a commonly accepted rule of thumb for "average" is 7-8 "head heights" tall for a human male.

I measured a head height as slightly smaller than the MK43's helmet, to account for the depth of the metal. At (roughly- the feet are obscured, but I figure the soles of the Iron Man boots have to be at least a few inches deep, to account for the repulsors) eight heads tall, the score marks lined up pretty much where they're supposed to.



So while the 1/4 MK43's proportions may not be 100% perfect, they certainly aren't freakishly disproportionate in any way.

No I wouldn't say the legs and torso are so long they look inhuman, just long enough to not look like a Robert Downey Jr Iron Man.

You don't have a 'Robert Downey Jr' figure. You have a 'Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark in the Iron Armor' figure.

So there you go:



Chris Evans is 6'0" tall, for reference. Now your figure is screen-accurate. You're welcome.

Overall height is one thing, but going back to proportions which was my main beef, look how short 42's legs are here in Iron Man 3. This looks like RDJ could actually be inside the costume, but many Hot Toys don't. If the heads were bigger, it would help.

It's all part of the plan. Get your properly proportioned Iron Mans with the 3.0/4.0 versions starting next year.

a-dev said:

It's all part of the plan. Get your properly proportioned Iron Mans with the 3.0/4.0 versions starting next year.

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Haha, you know I've been thinking exactly that! Once all the Die Casts are out...

Man if you have a beef with the 1/4 scale XLIII then I don't know what to tell you.

I think people need to get it through their thick noggins that there's this thing in movies called MOVIE MAGIC where they can make anything and anyone look bigger or smaller than anything or anyone via CG or practical means.

Tom Hardy in TDKR? The LOTR films, anyone? John Connor in T2? Stop getting so damn caught up with any actor's real life height, shoe size, etc. Those don't exist in Hollywood. PERIOD.

That, and he's a man in a suit in a universe that just wouldn't work in the real world. From the time Tony built the MkII onwards, it was pure fantasy.

Should I stock up on the current ones before they become limited editions once RDJ retires?

How bout Spidey? Will the CW and Homecoming version be shorter since Andrew Garfield is taller than Tom Holland?

Still, it would be nice if the suits looked like a guy could fit inside them. Just make the proportions of the suits stockier. I don't see how that's some sort of impossible engineering feat for Hot Toys.

kiwiatlarge said:

That, and he's a man in a suit in a universe that just wouldn't work in the real world. From the time Tony built the MkII onwards, it was pure fantasy.

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Agreed, yes, clearly. But I'd simply prefer that Hot Toys not give them small heads and long legs.

I suppose the question is... Is Hot Toys matching the proportions of the cgi representation of Iron Man on screen?... If yes, then Hot Toys are doing their job. Everything else isn't relevant when it comes to figures based on movie representations of fictional characters.

whitd said:

Overall height is one thing, but going back to proportions which was my main beef, look how short 42's legs are here in Iron Man 3. This looks like RDJ could actually be inside the costume, but many Hot Toys don't. If the heads were bigger, it would help.

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This comparison doesn't work. Depth of field, angle, lens distortion, cg, filters, and a dozen other things can alter the way something appears on screen vs real world. Add to that the cg suits are tweaked for appearance and not reality and you really can't use it. Hot toys use the actual 3D file from the films and scales them. They factor in joints and rubbing and things like that but that doesn't elongate the parts you have issue with. It's perception really. If you think the screen legs are ok then the figure legs are almost identical, but have real articulated joints. The issue is that iron man on screen is not realistically designed. So when you have a shrunk down version in hand those exaggerated for appearance proportions don't look accurate, but they are to the cg files. Meaning the iron man you see on screen is just 6/1 of the one you have in hand. (Plus or minus a very small margin)

Onscreen, the Iron Man armor always looks like Tony Stark can fit inside it. The Hot Toys don't.

melkorjunior said:

Onscreen, the Iron Man armor always looks like Tony Stark can fit inside it. The Hot Toys don't.

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I agree. Hot Toys IM armors are too small and thin in some areas (torso, head and elbow incuded). I love them. But there is no way I could imagine a 1/6 or even a 1/4 figure inside one of those armors.

I'm always comparing my 1/4 Boba with the 1/4 mark. No way he could fit inside that armor.