SEARCH REVIEWS    LIVING WITH LATE FEES    FEATURES    LINKS    BIO    MISSION    EMAIL    MAIN PAGE >


Hot Toys Ironman Cosbaby

   

"The following is a guest review.  The review and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the guest author."

Jeff Parker switches from sixth scale to a much smaller scale with another look at a Cosbaby license. Take it away, Jeff!

This is my second review for Michael of Hot Toys (HT) cutest little critters, their Cosbaby line. Last time it was the first AvP set and I’ll follow this one up soon with the AvP:R series, and there’s also a rather cool comic Batman line due later in the year as well.

But with the tension mounting in the 1/6 collecting communities and online forums, we’re all waiting with baited breath for the eagerly anticipated 12” IRONMAN MK III figure to start shipping any time soon (well it says Q3 on the HT site!), and so, to keep all the Shell-heads happy I thought I’d wade in with these diminutive versions of every bodies favourite multi billionaire industrialist/crime fighting playboy... Oh, hang on, that kind of describes another guy who had a hit movie this summer as well! 









Packaging: **1/2
These are again blind boxed, but like I said last time, many re/E-tailers will sell them either opened, so you know what you’re getting or with a little sticker on the side next to the pic of the relevant figure within.
And again like the AvP set here are six designs to choose, they are-

- MARK I

- MARK II

- MARK III

- Tony Stark in (captive version with MK I mask.)

- Tony Stark in (Mark I version armour.)

- Tony Stark in (Mark II version armour.)

- Plus one SECRET version, for that read ‘chase’ (I couldn’t find this one yet, but after a little digging I found it to be a blue stealth version).

So, to sum up these are simple oblong sealed boxes. Inside they are poly-bagged, mine were all in one piece, but I’ve heard many peoples arrived in loose bits, they do however ‘snap’ back together very easily. The box has a nice illustration and the movie logo on the front, and the other figures available are featured on the side panels.

Sculpt: ***1/2
Your average Cosbaby clocks in at a mere 7.5 cm tall and all the human heads share a very similar aesthetic, that being a cutesy Manga’esque big eyed ‘Rio’ carnival head, they do of course give each character their own individual sculpted hairstyle, and in this case facial hair too. But where the Cosbaby shines (at least in my humble opinion) is on the bodies and heads of your more complex figures, be they alien, or in this case armoured. What Hot Toys do is in effect design panels to fit over the standard base body. So the basic ‘captive’ Tony’s body has no adornments what so ever and is just painted, where as the MK I shows the highest degree of ‘extra’s’ to get the desired look.

A lot of mixing and matching goes on, in as much as head swaps and differing paint jobs, the basic MK I for example is identical to the MK II in terms of sculpt, i.e. there are no visible rivets, and the MK I, MK II and Tony in MK I all have the same body, the Tony in MK I and the MK I both have the same body and the Tony MK I and Tony as captive both have the same head… confused yet?... Well you get the idea… or maybe you don’t!

These are all very cool little sculpts, and even though they pare IRONMAN down (in his various guises) to the basics needed to get each character across, whilst still managing to get tons of cool little details in there as well.

Paint: ***
The MK III version’s both demand the most complex paint apps and they are pretty tight, I had a little over painting on the eyes of the Tony in MK III with the face shield up but all the others are bright and crisp. The MK I is as you’d expect a dirty old beat up, scrap metal colour, the MK II is super shiny steel and the MK III is the classic 2 tone gold and metallic red. So, for small imported $9 figures you’re getting a top notch job.

Articulation: ***
All Cosbaby figures have essentially the same articulation. A head that can turn and tilt a little from side to side, arms that have pop in ball joints at the shoulder, a push in peg at the wrist and a simple tube shaped leg with a pop in ball joint at either end for the hip and foot. So articulation is basic, but it still means you can at least give them a little attitude when you pose them. The main thing is to find their centre of gravity, luckily part of the design is oversized feet, as with those big’ol noggins they are prone to take a topple.

Accessories: Tony Captive *** the rest N/A2
The only one with anything is the captive Tony, he comes with the face-plate of the MK I, all the others have zilcharooney… but what could you give them?

Well, is I’d been in charge of out-fit choices which I admit is a moot point, but indulge me. I’d have given the MK I face plate to Tony in the MK I armour and made the basic Tony in a tux with the mecha-heart power source in a box as the accessory… but what the hell would I know!

Outfit- N/A
All is sculpted as described above!

Fun factor- ****
These are certainly cheap enough to buy for kids, but there are so many cool small-scale IRONMAN action figures available already, and to be fair I think you’d find yourself having to put them back together constantly. I get the idea these are squarely aimed at your fan-boy/girl. So if you are a Shell head, or just enjoyed the movie, these are a pretty cool addition for any desk.

Value: ****
If you can pick these up for $9 or less then I think they’re a top notch buy, knock a star off for every couple of $’s you spend over that.  I was looking for the stealth chase figure on eBay as well but people are asking between $60 and $75 a pop, and quite frankly absolutely NO 3” figure is worth that much… hell, what am I saying, some people will spend $800 on a 30 year old Jawa in a plastic cape. Doh!

Overall: ***1/2
These aren’t for everyone, but they’re cheap enough for a guilt free impulse purchase and they don’t take up too much space next to your keyboard. It still early days for the Cosbaby line, will they ever become as popular as Medicom, Kubricks… who knows, but at least they’re a bit of light hearted fun in world of collectibles that can be prone to take itself just a little too seriously sometimes.

Score Recap:
Packaging - ****
Sculpt - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***
Accessories - Tony Captive *** the rest N/A
Outfit - N/A
Fun Factor - ****
Value - ****
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy -
I was surprised not to find these on the Sideshow website, as they sell Marvel stuff I was sure they would carry these. So you’ll have to try some of Michael’s sponsors, you’ll find links to them on the home page.

I would imagine many bricks and mortar shops, be they comic or general toys and collectibles will carry these as well, and who knows, you might even hit pay-dirt and pick up a stealth version to boot.

If in the UK you’ll find them here-
Forbiddenplanet £6.99 each

Or you can hit eBay where the going rate seems to be $9.99 a piece.  Try searching with the sponsor www.MyAuctionLinks.com.

KEEP SCROLLING DOWN FOR MORE LOTS PHOTOS!




Figure from the collection of Jeff Parker.

This page copyright 2000 - 2008, Michael Crawford. All rights reserved. Hosted by 1 Hour Hosting.com