Re: Hot Toys - IRON MAN - MARK III PHOTO Thread
Got my Iron Man Mark 3 today. Pics suck again cause I got home late. Better pics tomorrow I promise.
This has been one of the most anticipated figure last year which was originally slated for an October release but got pushed back a few times probably because Hot Toys wanted to concentrate on the TDK line. Now that HT are mostly done with the TDK line, it's Iron Man turn to shine and does it shine.
Firstly, the good stuff. The most striking thing you will notice is the paint job or the shine on the paint job. He is not metal but every inch of the figure has a shine to it and that gives it a really metallic armour look. It must be noted that the paintjob is different than the prototype. The prototype has a brighter siesta red going on but the final product is more marooned.
This is totally movie accurate. All other Iron Man movie related product released so far (Bust, statue, hasbro movie line, has the same colour scheme going on. HT got the colour wrong in the prototype. Even the box shows Iron Man in the siesta red colour scheme. This could be a good or bad thing depending on who you asked.
One crowd prefers the prototype more comic accurate paint scheme while another crowd prefers the movie accurate paint scheme. But judging by how nitpicky the crowds here are about accuracy, the final paint scheme will pleased many.
Second thing you will notice is the amount of crazy detail for Iron Man. This thing is no doubt the most detail Iron Man movie figure out there so far. I will go as far as saying that the only other thing more detail that this is the movie CGI. Even the actual prop isn't as detail (the actual movie costume was CGI enhanced greatly). This figure honestly renders the statue that was release last year obsolete because it looks more detail and has a better paint job than the statue and this Iron Man is articulated. You will not be stuck with just one pose anymore.
Thirdly, you will notice Iron Man is quite light. He weights about the same a typical HT figure. He is mainly made from plastic but with this figure, HT made a few brilliant innovation in the construction. Iron Man is extremely articulated for a suit of armour and that has a lot to do with the used of mix media in the construction of this figure.
Despite being mainly plastic, certain key portions such as the waist, hip, and neck are made from soft PVC. This allows the figure to be more articulated and also being able to posed more naturally because of the flexible material. What's more amazing is how HT managed to match the paint job of the soft PVC perfectly with the plastic parts.
The only part that did not match well is the elbow area. It's rubber instead of PVC (because rubber is even more softer than PVC) and as you can see from the pic, the paint job doesn't match the rest. I guess with rubber being the main material, it will be impossible. Luckily, it's a very minor unnoticeable part and you can now bend the arms to 90 degrees while still hiding the joints.
Speaking of joints, all the joints are very well hidden and tight. Iron Man will have no trouble holding any pose standing or mid air. The knees are double jointed and as you all can see from numerous pics by now, he can do the ground pounding pose. Overall he is as articulated as a Predator.
One impressive gimmick with Iron Man is the light up eyes, reactor, and hands. Then way HT go about this while still being able to change heads and hands (we get three sets) are just amazing. Basically the peg at the neck post and arms are leds. It's such a simple and brilliant design. The leds are also very bright and will look impressive enough in any picture.
The drawback are the switches on both arms. It's really obvious and really the only thing that kills the illusion that this the real thing. HT could have come up with a better placement for the switch. The switch for the eyes and reactor are better hidden at the back inside one of the flaps. It is again quite obvious when you look at it from behind with the flap opened.
The flaps on the legs and back opens (once again movie accurate) and showing some impressive detailing, especially the leg section. HT even has different colour for each individual wire. When it comes to detail, no one can beat HT at their game.
Another gimmick is the arm missile. It's a minor but really cool addition. It is however missing the shoulder gun gimmick. It's all CGI in the movie and will be complicated but possible on this figure but I guess at this pricepoint, we are already getting more than what we are paying.
The RDJ head is spot on but not as impressive as BR Joker or TF. To me the problem is the choice of expression. Tony Stark was never that serious in the movie and I really can't remember him having such as expression. TDK Bale is a great sculpt but also suffers from the same problem of a dead serious expression that you can't find in the movie.
As you can see from this pic, the head looks very well proportion contary to earlier belief that the body might be to lean. With the RDJ head on, it looks believe enough to me that this is indeed a man wearing a form fitting armour.
In this pic, you can see that Iron Man is only slightly bigger and taller than Batman. I guess one might expect Iron Man to be much bigger than taller but looking at the DVD again, Iron Man isn't that tall or big. It's the comic Iron Man that's tall and big.
There are a few things to take note of. Maybe it is due to the nature of the paint job but it is quite impossible to find one that has the perfect paint job. There will be one or two minor really small smudges on the armour. It's especially more common on the PVC section. There are also some plastic scar where they cut the part from the runner. Most of them are really small or well hidden and basically unavoidable.
As a modeler myself, the only way to get rid of the scare is to sand it down, fill it with putty and then sand it again. It will be unrealistic to expect this level of personal attention on a mass produced figure.
The paint job so far is holding up well even after much posing and playing. It's hard to tell at this point whether it will last. But to me there is nothing wrong with a little wear and tear cause Iron Man in the movie is a little worn also.
There is also talk of the minor QC problem with the back leg flap, namely the right leg. It can't extend at high at the one on the left. The problem is really minor. Basically the factory workers (maybe rushing for Chinese New Year) installed one part upside down. From a quick check, it seems like an easy fix. We just need to remove that part and unflip it. I will attempt mine later cause it's quite a tight fit and you do not want to force it.
If you don't want to fix it, well, it extends high enough anyway and doesn't really need that extra range that the left leg have. As far as I know, this problem plague all first batch Iron Man. Who knows, maybe HT will issue a replacement part like their did with some Lost predator who got the wrong colour joints for the hands.
The stand is the typical HT stand with minor changes. The 'claw' section is a lot more narrower and will fit between the crotch instead. This is a really clever way of securing the figure without scratching the paint job inside the thigh.
Overall, this figure more than live up to the expectation despite the really minor QC problem that doesn't actually detracts from the figure in any way.
It's only the beginning of the year and there is already a strong contender for the figure of the year. Honestly, the only line that might even stand a chance is the upcoming Terminator line. A few Endo should give Iron Man a run for the money.
