I suppose somewhat obviously the most important element you need to get right when making a superhero movie is casting your superhero! If he or she can’t hold the movie together then you have nothing (yes I’m talking to you Halle Berry, Nicholas Cage and the entire cast of The Fantastic 4!)

But on this occasion the stars aligned perfectly, not only did we get a respected all star cast with Robert Downy Jnr turning in a stellar performance as the international playboy Tony Stark, but we also had Stan Winston Studios finally bringing ‘Ol Shellhead’ to fully realised 3D life, and what a job they did. The suit became a character in itself, with every joint, rivet and piston being brought together to give the feeling of a finely tuned and fully working piece of über engineering.

Hot Toys (HT) will eventually bring us the other two suits used in the movie, the MK 2 then the MK 1, I guess the reverse order makes sense as the MK 3 was the most used and definitely the most iconic with its gold and red colour-way. However it’s still the MK 1 that has me personally most excited, with its cobbled together ‘Scrap heap challenge’* aesthetic, I think it might be up there as one of the strongest figures of 2009.

Nonetheless, the big question was, as impressive as the Stan Wiston Studio suits were, did HT stand any kind of chance of doing them justice in fully articulated 1/6 scale?

Now I, like many of you had bought the earlier Robo-Cop figure they released a couple of years back, it was and indeed still is a fantastically put together figure, but it had a very limited range of articulation, this wasn’t such a big problem for Robo-Cop as he lumbered around the movie like Frankenstein’s monster in a suit of armour, but IRONMAN called for a far more dynamic range of movements, could it possibly deliver?

(* Junk Yard Wars in the USA)

Packaging: ***1/2
I have been praising up Hot Toys packaging recently, the ALIEN Nostromo Astronauts were two of my recent favourites, but others like the Bank Robber Joker and the consistently excellent M-Icon range James Dean have continued to keep their boxes at the top of the hi-end manufacturers, but this one has set yet another benchmark.

This time around the design was helmed by T.F.Wong along with Monster JR, it’s in effect a complete wrap around double layer instead of the traditional slip case sleeve. The front is held in place by magnets and an overlap on the die-cut circular ‘power-source heart’, you simply lift the front panel and unwrap it panel by panel anti-clockwise. The outer design mimics the red and gold armour along with close ups and detail shots of the figure, the inside also has a wealth of pics showing some of the hidden features like the opening flaps on the upper back and shins along with the pop-up missile launchers on the lower arms, but the really cool part is that once the outer front cover is lifted it exposes the inner workings of the suit, rows of servos, pistons and riveted joints. The quality of finish is also top notch with all the edges smooth and stuck down perfectly. Just another great bit of design! 

Inside the box the figure lies in a vac formed tray, no twisties are needed and his alternate hands and head are arranged around him. Behind the plastic tray, Polly bagged to the card is a sheet of instructions informing you how to use the articulated and light-up elements.

Sculpt: ****
I’m not going to faff around, this is just as perfect as it can be!
I’ve always said that from a straightforward sculpting angle an armoured character is virtually always going to be easier than one with a lot of flesh on show, but I don’t want to detract from this outstanding work… plus we get a Tony Stark head as well! 

I don’t think this is one of Hot Toys very best human head sculpts, but by god, compared to many of their competitors work it is still pretty astounding, and it’s definitely Downy Jnr… sorry, Tony Stark!

So kicking off with the human head, it’s once again cast in the translucent base plastic, it gives a very convincing effect and is over painted in very subtle skin tones and shading, they have gone for a steely, determined expression, eyes looking straight forward. The hair is expertly handled in a swept back style with tons of sculpted detail, the paint on the hairline isn’t quite as sharp as on some others, but the softness actually works well in mimicking the shadow you get between flesh and hair, the fine sculptural work on his goatee is nice as well, picked out beautifully in the paint apps. 

How ever, as very nice as it is to have the extra head, I’m pretty sure most will be using it for a separate Tony Stark kit bash, because this figure looks so very cool with the full armour in place, it’s worth note that the Stark head has a different fixture to the Norman TT heads, but I found a big blob of blu-Tak did the trick just fine for my photos.

So just how good is the armour, well I can not find a single fault, I still have my old EMPIRE magazine from September 07, which famously had two exclusive preview images of the suit http://www.firstshowing.net/img/ironman-punch-500-june.jpg generated by ILM, I have scrutinised both and I kid you not, this is faultless. In some photo’s I’ve found of the Stan Winston ‘actual’ suit it may be a little broader across the trunk, but all the detail is here, every panel is reproduced in 1/6th perfection. Even all the tiny screw heads have been covered with colour co-ordinated covers. The outstanding areas for me are the details inside the opening calf area and the exquisitely observed details on the chest light and collar-bone areas, I could attempt to wax lyrical for another page, but I shall just have to hope my photos can convey just how extremely cool it all is. 

I feel I ought to add a special mention for the crew, given credit on the box for engineering this thing; Fred Leung, Ho Wong, Jason Woo, Gary Wong and Ray Ling, I salute you sirs!

Paint: ****
Apart from the very impressive paint apps on the ‘real’ head, which I pretty much went over above, all the other work is on the armour, we basically have a three colour palette, Hot-Rod red, gold and steel, all are nice flat tones and the lines between colours are faultless as virtually all are individual separate panels, the only place where paint buts up to more paint is limited to the knees, chin, lower arms and back, but even here the lines are super crisp. 

The chest panel is stuck on as a separate piece and it has some small steel elements visible protruding from the sides, around the light and at the collar bone, again all faultless.
But the thing I am most impressed by is the depth of colour on the red, considering we have different types of plastic from hard ABS through to a more softer pliable material the colour is consistent throughout, a top job that needs to be looked at up close to be fully appreciated.

Articualtion - ***1/2
When I first saw photos of the MK 3 prototype I bet I wasn’t alone in studying them and trying to work out where all the articulation would be hidden. Well I say hidden, the suit is a mass of joints and articulated panels, but translating these joints from an ‘impossibly’ articulated CG character into a 1/6 representation that could keep the fan-boys happy … well, that’s the thing!

So, to break this down from the feet up, we have a mid foot joint and a ball jointed ankle, this is limited to a side to side range of about 5 degrees but can tilt back by about 20 degrees for flying poses, there are two moving flaps above the front of the foot and one at the rear. The back of the calf can open up, there’s a top flap then two doors on each leg that need to be gently prised open with your nail or a craft knife, these swing aside to show the servos within (in the real world there would be very little room for your leg, but hey, go with it). Next up is a double knee meaning you get a very impressive backwards bend, now my favourite joint, the hips/groin, what we have is lower abdominal armour and separate trunks made of a pliable softer material allowing for some movement when the thighs are brought up. The hips are snap-on ball jointed much like the ALIEN figures but then these are attached to the thighs by means of a push in peg so they can turn as well, lovely bit of engineering with a great range of movement. There is a very small degree of movement between the trunks and abdomen but little or none between the abdomen and chest. 

On his back he has four opening aerodynamic panels, one of these conceals the switch for the chest and eye lights. The shoulders are fully functioning universal joints with very impressive shoulder protectors that have a spring loaded floating joint so they can be moved to the desired position when posing the upper arm… sweet! 

Now the elbow, this is pretty limited but can still achieve about an 80-degree bend, it’s covered in a rubber sheath much like the Robo-Cop cited earlier. I originally thought a double elbow should have been an easy job for Hot Toys but of course that would have but too much stress on the wires that needed to be housed inside, as the upper arm has a very well hidden battery compartment and the lower arm has a tiny switch that illuminates the clear plastic ball joints at the end of each arm. The selection of six hands can easily pop onto this ball joint giving a good range of movement and it also means that the 4 in open palmed positions can light up incredibly brightly, on top of the forearms are two mini rocket-launchers, you have to pull apart the two sides then flip out the top panel under which are two non functioning projectiles on each arm… nice!

Lastly there is the head post, this like the hand posts can illuminate, so when the switch behind the rear air-brake is flipped on, both the head post and the chest light glow brightly as well. 

But the trade off here, which is my only real gripe is that the wires which again need to be concealed give the neck very little movement, so the head can’t look up as acutely as would have been nice for flying poses, but perhaps (pretty please Hot Toys) we might get a battle damaged MK 3 with a removable face plate, the chest could still light, but a non lighting head would give much more room for engineering a more extreme positionable neck.

So, to sum up, this far exceeds my expectations and if I were awarding my score for engineering and problem solving it would be full marks. But taking into account I’m really looking at functionality then I feel the few areas of limited articulation just need to hold this back a little, but seriously, wow! 

Not since the Endo skeleton last year have we seen a figure this well conceived and engineered, amazing! As a special note, in the kneeling photos where I have the figure looking up acutely I removed the head and positioned it on the post, this pose is only achievable by doing this.

Accessories: ***
He has a good selection of hands, two fists, two relaxed, and lastly two with fingers splayed repulsor beam stylee, then there’s the Tony Stark head and lastly the stand. Usually I don’t use stands, but this figure is quite lightweight so to avoid any shelf diving, plus for the occasional take off/landing pose it works pretty darn well. I feel I should point out that I can get him to stand just fine and all the joints are firm but smooth, it’ll make sense when you have it in hand, so the stand is far from essential, but for this figure it’s handier than some others.

Outfit - ****
Strictly speaking this figure doesn’t come with an outfit, every element of the armour is an intrinsic part of the sculpted body, but judging it as a ‘supposed’ suit then it’s top marks from me, virtually faultless.

Fun factor:  ***1/2
For me this is the best ‘fun’ figure in terms of ‘playing’ I’ve had in a long, long time. I loved my old Marvel Icon figure, and I came so very close to picking up the Hasbro 12” version that Michael has already covered but now I’m glad to say I held out, this is one of those ‘essential’ figures for those ‘seriously’ into 1/6 scale, if you only buy one figure this year make it this one… well at least till the MK1 comes out!

Value:  ****
You can see every single cent you paid right there in front of you, this thing will sell out faster than Bono when he met George Bush Jnr, it is as near to perfection as you could get at this scale (well, until HT decide they can better it at this scale). I based my full score on the official RRP of $160, but I’d still give it full marks even if you pay up to $180, though I have a feeling that those of you late to the table may be paying a whole lot more! 

Overall: ****
I considered dropping a ¼ of a star because of the lack of accessories and the neck articulation, but I just couldn’t do it. 

This is one of those rare figures where you will not begrudge a single cent that you paid for it. It has me even more eager to see the Mark 1 and 2.

SCORE RECAP:
Packaging: ***1/2
Sculpt: ****
Paint: ****
Articulation: ***1/2
Accessories - ***
Outfit - ****
Fun factor: ***1/2
Value: ****
Overall: ****

Where to Buy -
Sadly SS have sold out, but you can try the waitlist where he’s going for $159.99 .

Alter Ego have sold out, but they still have the MK 1 and MK 2 up for pre-order.

Even Forbidden Planet in the UK have sold out so your only other port of call is eBay where he’s proving very, very popular and going for between $180 right up to $260. This is going to be like the Takara Batman all over again.