Trying to keep the train of reviews going, till I can find IBO Kits for cheaps here locally (the mall prices have gone up!). So, let's take a look at not a model kit action figure I got at the tamashii shop in Hong Kong. The armor that got kick started the now Marvel Cinematic Universe: Iron Man MkIII from the 1st (and best) Iron Man movie.
I AM IRON MAN! Not the Black Sabbath mind you, but the theme from the 90s Iron Man show. Iron Man has always been my favourite Marvel character, not so much for the characterisation, but rather since he's basically borderline a robot in my head. That's why I always use him on the fighting game Marvel Super Heroes, MVC etc. Ah nostalgia...
Packaging is pretty standard, if a bit plain. The 1st SHFiguart Iron Man (the Mk6) had a more interesting packaging. The front has the iconic Iron Man poster pose.
The also is a bit plain. Just some poses from the movie and the now ubiquitous Iron Man landing while punching the ground pose. Anyway, enough of the packaging...
Out of all the Iron Man armors out there, the MKIII is my favorite. It's sort of realistic (none of that prehensile and nano tech stuff) and is sleek and clean. And it's the one based on the pentagon armor from the comics.
The SHFiguarts version takes the movie design, and in true figuarts tradition, slims it down a bit. The shoulders are lower (or the neck longer), the head slimmer with larger eyes. The waist is much thinner to make way for articulation. Personally, I wish the overall torso size is maybe 5% bigger.
Other than that, it's a pretty good rendition of the movie armor.
The paint has the pretty nice sheen, though the gold could have used a bit more luster. Still, the color is bang on on the shade vs the one in the movie. Not too bright, as you'll see later.
As it's an SHFiguarts, the details are not lacking. Most of the small details are there. The metal collar bone, the arc reactor, the tiny rivets, they're all there. It's just that not all the rivets are painted (the 2 tiny dots on the chest for example).
The flare compartments are molded as well.
The back also boasts very good details. I love the spine of the thing. Makes you also wonder how Iron Man looks around with the helmet flush to his head and neck.
Overall, the details are very good for the size. But that's always been the hallmark of the SHFiguarts line, which is why any flawed figure get's destroyed by reviewers.
Articulation again is one of the best among figures. Iron Man's robotic looks makes the joints that's littered around the figure easier to blend in. It has all the figuarts standard joints.
One thing though, is that I don't think the waist swivels. It can rock back and forth for the ab crunch, but not side to side. Still, the mid torso joint and the chest joint can makes up for it. Also, one of the hand flaps are loose, so you'll see some pics here where it's down.
Articulation sore points include the protrusions on the waist. Because of it, you cannot swing the leg forward. Thankfully, you get that mechanism where you can pull the leg down. Also the thigh and the hips are connected to what I think is a ball joint. So it can move around on it's own on top of the ball jointed hips.
Borrowing some engineering from the Chogokin line, there's a panel at the back of the thigh which sinks to allow for a better knee bend.
There are ankle tilts, but it could be tight or limited. The feet is also diecast, something that's mostly disappeared from modern Figuarts.
With all the joints, can it do the now Iconic Iron Man pose? Yes... sort of.
Maybe I'm just a bafoon, but I can't make it do the Iron Man pose without the fists touching the ground. It's a few millimetres off the ground, and I don't want to push it as it may start chipping the paint if I work it more vigorously.
Still, that's a minor quibble considering all the articulation you get. Very rare is an SHFiguart that's not very poseable.
Since the Marvel line in SHFiguarts has been a hit and miss when it comes to accessories, it's nice to open a box with a bunch of hands and several effect parts. You get 2 effect parts for the feet, 2 repulsor blasts for the hands, 2 smaller blasts for when he's flying, and the flaps on the back.
For the hands, you'll have to swap the hand guards around since you only get 1.
For the hand effect blasts, you get a dedicated hand with the pegs where the effect parts can peg into.
The feet effect parts are a bit loose though and gummy feeling. You can also details on the bottom of the foot.
The flap on the back's relatively easy to pull out while still pegging in snuggly.
The overall effect with all of these effect parts on is pretty impressive.
It's missing a few more weapons, such as the shoulder machine guns and the forearm missile. I would have traded one of the effect parts for a single forearm missile...
Also the flying hands are not bent, so it functions more as a karate chop hands rather than the flight hands that it's suppose to be.
Still, the basic package is pretty decent so I'm not complaining.
Ah the one thing that's annoying with Figuarts is the scale. It's not 1/12th scale. It's slightly below that, so if you're thinking of paring it with Marvel Legends, you're out of luck. You'll see Bucky Cap standing a wee bit taller than a fully Armored Tony Stark.
He's shortness is even more highlighted standing next to hist movie Avenger Team mate, Thor.
Now, how does the revoltech stack up? It's of course leagues better, although I prefer the gold used on the revoltech.
Here it is standing the revoltech Midas, whose review you can see here. Maybe Tony Stark is like 5'4".
The price of the figuarts here sold by hobby shops are quite a bit more expensive compared to the yen price. You could have bought 2 Marvel legends with that money. But I got mine from the Tamashii shop in HK for 300 HKD. For that price, converted it's only 500 pesos more than a legends figure. The main problem using that comparison is the scale. It's short, and so far the only lines we have for super articulated Iron Men are figma and mafex. And here locally mafex and figma are priced 2x more than the figuart one. So, overall, it's the cheapest, super articulated relatively, high end 6(ish) scale figure that's screen accurate. It's a buy if you, like me, adore the MKIII armor. And if you can get it for a nice cheaper price, then all the more worth it. Else there are other Figuarts movie Iron men to choose from if you like something more intricate.
Pros:
- Relatively cheap for a high end figure (at least in HK).
- It's a figuart, so it's super articulate and very well detailed.
Cons:
- short... you'll need a crap ton of money if you want a collection of figurarts scale MCU characters since they do not scale well with legends.
- wish it could have come with that forearm missile but that's a minor issue.
I AM IRON MAN! Not the Black Sabbath mind you, but the theme from the 90s Iron Man show. Iron Man has always been my favourite Marvel character, not so much for the characterisation, but rather since he's basically borderline a robot in my head. That's why I always use him on the fighting game Marvel Super Heroes, MVC etc. Ah nostalgia...
Package
The also is a bit plain. Just some poses from the movie and the now ubiquitous Iron Man landing while punching the ground pose. Anyway, enough of the packaging...
Aesthetics
Out of all the Iron Man armors out there, the MKIII is my favorite. It's sort of realistic (none of that prehensile and nano tech stuff) and is sleek and clean. And it's the one based on the pentagon armor from the comics.
The SHFiguarts version takes the movie design, and in true figuarts tradition, slims it down a bit. The shoulders are lower (or the neck longer), the head slimmer with larger eyes. The waist is much thinner to make way for articulation. Personally, I wish the overall torso size is maybe 5% bigger.
Other than that, it's a pretty good rendition of the movie armor.
The paint has the pretty nice sheen, though the gold could have used a bit more luster. Still, the color is bang on on the shade vs the one in the movie. Not too bright, as you'll see later.
As it's an SHFiguarts, the details are not lacking. Most of the small details are there. The metal collar bone, the arc reactor, the tiny rivets, they're all there. It's just that not all the rivets are painted (the 2 tiny dots on the chest for example).
The flare compartments are molded as well.
The back also boasts very good details. I love the spine of the thing. Makes you also wonder how Iron Man looks around with the helmet flush to his head and neck.
Overall, the details are very good for the size. But that's always been the hallmark of the SHFiguarts line, which is why any flawed figure get's destroyed by reviewers.
Articulation
Articulation again is one of the best among figures. Iron Man's robotic looks makes the joints that's littered around the figure easier to blend in. It has all the figuarts standard joints.
One thing though, is that I don't think the waist swivels. It can rock back and forth for the ab crunch, but not side to side. Still, the mid torso joint and the chest joint can makes up for it. Also, one of the hand flaps are loose, so you'll see some pics here where it's down.
Articulation sore points include the protrusions on the waist. Because of it, you cannot swing the leg forward. Thankfully, you get that mechanism where you can pull the leg down. Also the thigh and the hips are connected to what I think is a ball joint. So it can move around on it's own on top of the ball jointed hips.
Borrowing some engineering from the Chogokin line, there's a panel at the back of the thigh which sinks to allow for a better knee bend.
There are ankle tilts, but it could be tight or limited. The feet is also diecast, something that's mostly disappeared from modern Figuarts.
With all the joints, can it do the now Iconic Iron Man pose? Yes... sort of.
Maybe I'm just a bafoon, but I can't make it do the Iron Man pose without the fists touching the ground. It's a few millimetres off the ground, and I don't want to push it as it may start chipping the paint if I work it more vigorously.
Still, that's a minor quibble considering all the articulation you get. Very rare is an SHFiguart that's not very poseable.
Accessories
Since the Marvel line in SHFiguarts has been a hit and miss when it comes to accessories, it's nice to open a box with a bunch of hands and several effect parts. You get 2 effect parts for the feet, 2 repulsor blasts for the hands, 2 smaller blasts for when he's flying, and the flaps on the back.
For the hands, you'll have to swap the hand guards around since you only get 1.
For the hand effect blasts, you get a dedicated hand with the pegs where the effect parts can peg into.
The feet effect parts are a bit loose though and gummy feeling. You can also details on the bottom of the foot.
The flap on the back's relatively easy to pull out while still pegging in snuggly.
The overall effect with all of these effect parts on is pretty impressive.
It's missing a few more weapons, such as the shoulder machine guns and the forearm missile. I would have traded one of the effect parts for a single forearm missile...
Also the flying hands are not bent, so it functions more as a karate chop hands rather than the flight hands that it's suppose to be.
Still, the basic package is pretty decent so I'm not complaining.
Size Comparison and Other Comparison
Ah the one thing that's annoying with Figuarts is the scale. It's not 1/12th scale. It's slightly below that, so if you're thinking of paring it with Marvel Legends, you're out of luck. You'll see Bucky Cap standing a wee bit taller than a fully Armored Tony Stark.
He's shortness is even more highlighted standing next to hist movie Avenger Team mate, Thor.
Now, how does the revoltech stack up? It's of course leagues better, although I prefer the gold used on the revoltech.
Here it is standing the revoltech Midas, whose review you can see here. Maybe Tony Stark is like 5'4".
Summary
The price of the figuarts here sold by hobby shops are quite a bit more expensive compared to the yen price. You could have bought 2 Marvel legends with that money. But I got mine from the Tamashii shop in HK for 300 HKD. For that price, converted it's only 500 pesos more than a legends figure. The main problem using that comparison is the scale. It's short, and so far the only lines we have for super articulated Iron Men are figma and mafex. And here locally mafex and figma are priced 2x more than the figuart one. So, overall, it's the cheapest, super articulated relatively, high end 6(ish) scale figure that's screen accurate. It's a buy if you, like me, adore the MKIII armor. And if you can get it for a nice cheaper price, then all the more worth it. Else there are other Figuarts movie Iron men to choose from if you like something more intricate.
Pros:
- Relatively cheap for a high end figure (at least in HK).
- It's a figuart, so it's super articulate and very well detailed.
Cons:
- short... you'll need a crap ton of money if you want a collection of figurarts scale MCU characters since they do not scale well with legends.
- wish it could have come with that forearm missile but that's a minor issue.
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