Iron Man (Mk.III)

Review by Atom

Summary from the package...

“While traveling overseas on business, Tony Stark is gravely injured after being ambushed and taken hostage. While in captivity, Stark is ordered to build a super-weapon capable of worldwide devastation. Instead, determined to escape and ultimately confront the demons of his past. Stark constructs a nearly invincible suit of armor equipped with powerful repulsion rays and high-altitude flight capability and escapes. Upon his return to America, he becomes the red-and-gold warrior Iron Man, vowing to don his powerful armor to protect the world.”

While I have always been a bit of a superhero fan, I was never that into Iron Man. Tony Stark never won me over or struck me as particularly admirable, but when the live-action movie came out it knocked my socks off. With the mix of Jon Favreau's direction and Robert Downey Junior's charm the character of Iron Man/Tony Stark won me over. The 2008 film was a critical and commercial success and Iron Man toys flooded the market. But none of them really struck me as great collector's pieces or great representations of the American designed power suit. Well, it turns out Hong Kong toymaker, Hot Toys has made the quintessential Iron Man piece...

Hot Toys has been in the 1/6 scale poseable collectors market for a few years now and the reputation for quality and attention to detail has grown over the years. Well, it's VERY much earned.

Let's start with the packaging. A box is a box, right? Not really.

A nice package lets you know the manufacturer cares about what's inside. In this hobby very few things are “cheap” so it kind of sucks when you spend primo dollars for a piece and the package feels cheap or like an afterthought. With Hot Toys, that's not the case. Not only is the piece inside made with the utmost care and attention to detail, but the box it comes in is also equally as nice.

The box is made from a very thick, heavy-gauge cardboard that folds out in three panels. The outside panels of the box look like a close up of the Mk.III armor. When the box is opened it looks like the undercarriage of the armor. The die cut hole for the Arc Reactor is a nice touch.

Inside is a window to see the figure and all the accessories neatly arranged and laid out with a brief explanation about the Mark III armor as well as credits for the toy design. It's very sharp and very classy. Too bad it ends up in the closet stored away, it's almost a work of art itself.

Included in the box is...

• Iron Man Figure
• Tony Stark Head (Robert Downey Jr. likeness)
• 2 Closed Fists
• 2 Open Palm Hands (Flight/Repulsor Pose)
• 2 Open Blast hands ( Open Hand Blast)
• Display Stand

The figure itself is spectacular. There is no diecast metal on this piece, it is all plastic and PVC. The materials are however all top-notch and feel high quality. Nothing feels cheap here. The body and parts are primarily a hard plastic with parts near the hips made of softer PVC to ensure maximum poseability.

The figure stands just over 13 inches tall and features over 40 points of articulation, with an original build of the Iron Man suit from the ground up. It is not a 1/6 “doll” with an Iron Man costume strapped to him.

But highly poseable and well constructed isn't where it stops. The Iron Man suit is powered by a Tony Stark invention, the Arc Reactor.

Three separate light switches for three separate light-up functions are placed on the figure. Chest/Eyes, Right Palm, Left Palm. These are powered by a small stack of watch-sized batteries which can easily be removed and replaced when needed. These parts light-up brilliantly and the overall effect makes it look just like the suit in the movie.

While you can't remove the figure from the suit (not sure I'd want it too) you can swap out the helmeted head for an un-helmeted. The likeness to Robert Downey Jr. is uncanny. The sculptor, T.J. Cha is indeed a VERY talented artist.

Air-break/Opening Panels can be opened and deployed on the back and calves of the suit.

Rocket Launchers can be exposed on both the left and right fore-arms. The missile is sooooo tiny you will need a push pin (or the like) to get it to flip out.

This was my very first piece from Hot Toys but I can assure it, it will not be my last. Beautiful packaging, an even more stunning piece, exquisitely detailed and an impressive looking on the shelf. Not to mention fun to tinker with.