This figure has been the subject of hyperbole and curiosity ever since promo images started popping up online.
People wondered about the scale: 1/12th or 1/6th? They wondered about articulation, about proportions, and most of all…price. As time wore on we got more glimpses but that’s still not the same as having something in hand. A picture is worth a thousand words, but a thousand lies are meaningless. Sometimes you just have to take a chance and hope you get lucky.
So did I get lucky?
Let’s find out.
The Bleeding Edge Iron Man armor is one of the more recent armors. Not super recent, but as Iron Man armors go, it’s fairly modern. Outdated by now of course, but that’s an impossible fish to try and catch, so why try? It keeps all the trademarks of recent Iron man armors with angular design elements and a more paneled, cinematic feel while not being a strictly Extremis-like offshoot. Hasbro gave us one of the better, more scale-accurate attempts at this armor, and now Sentinel has given it a shot.
First off, let’s get the scale question out of the way; this is not a Marvel Legends scaled action figure. At 7 1/2 inches tall, unless your Tony Stark plays for a basketball team, there is no way that this Iron man remotely fits in with a 6-inch toy line. It works a little better for Marvel Select figures but if I’m being honest, this is the type of figure you buy not to try and hammer into a pre-existing line but for the love of pretty, well-articulated toys and shiny objects. Because this is a seriously pretty toy. Pictures don’t do it justice, mainly because it’s so damn shiny trying to get a good clear shot gave my camera some troubles.
I have yet to purchase a Hot Toys Iron man figure for a variety of reasons, but a figure like this gives me a little peak into what it might be like to buy a toy of that caliber. That it manages that feel in a smaller scale is quite a remarkable achievement. I haven’t been able to put it down since I got it, and putting him into a variety of poses that he can pull off with amazing agility is non-stop fun.
Let’s start with the sculpting. In a word, it’s phenomenal. The Bleeding Edge armor is a very busy armor and this is a very busy toy, with every ridge, panel and plate rendered. The hyper-articulation works hand-in-hand with the busy nature of the armor itself, so while you get a figure that looks great and moves equally great you don’t get a jigsaw effect to the figure when it’s drastically posed. While a more humanoid figure might suffer with this level of articulation, for a character like Iron Man, it’s ideal.
I’ve read rumblings about his proportions before he was released, but in hand he conforms to standard heroic proportions. If there’s any nit to be picked, it’s that his head could possibly stand to be a little bigger. But that seems to be an issue across the board for Iron man figures regardless of company. There have been worse offenders over the years, and he’s just so darn pretty I’m willing to overlook that minor detail.
For paint, the figure is flawless. Iron Man is super shiny, freshly polished and waxed, and this is where the true small-scale Hot Toys comparison really comes in. While I’m not averse to a little yellow on my Iron Man figures, this is a true combo of cherry red and gold, and it’s a definite showpiece. It’s an elegant paintjob that gives off a cinematic vibe. I’m looking at this red and gold and seeing all the possibilities of armors down the road.
Despite the strength of the sculpt and paint, the articulation is the real deal-breaker. A pretty toy with minimal articulation is fine, and a well-articulated toy with a dull appearance is fine, but you get the full meal here.
Yes, he can do the ground pound. I know everybody has been nuts for that one pose ever since the first Iron Man movie.
As far as articulation, he’s more articulated than I am. Almost. While he may not have human-levels of articulation, Iron Man can get into enough poses to pass as an art model for practicing your sketching. The breakdown is:
- Extreme upper neck hinge for looking up while flying
- lower neck (side to side, up and down)
- hinged shoulders
- ball shoulders
- Bicep twist
- double jointed elbows
- dual-peg ball jointed wrists
- upper torso crunch/swivel
- abdomen crunch
- waist crunch/swivel
- ball jointed hips (with floating panels)
- double jointed knees
- ball jointed ankles
- swivel hinge insertion into foot (that’s essentially two ankle joints)
There are panels on his hips, shoulders and waist that slide in accommodation with his movement, so they cover the articulation point while maintaining a full range. There is the chance they will pop off if they’re moved too far though, so be careful when moving them so you don’t lose the panels. Other than that, he has a massive amount of range in ever joints, and he’s able to do poses that are fairly impossible with many Marvel toys nowadays.
Iron Man came with a host of hands, including a few sculpted in repulsor-like poses, fists, flight hands, and open hands. He also comes with a pair of beams that can be attached to his hands by a separate piece that snaps on behind the hands and stay one. The hands pop on and off easily yet stay on snugly.
He came with a display case for a Hall of Armor that doubles as a flight stand. While the flight stand had a bit of an issue staying fully upright you can manage some great flying poses, and the clamp holds on to him without damaging anything. I like the looks of it as a Hall of Armor, and can see how a row of them would look pretty impressive.
Finally, the figure lights up. Both his eyes and his chest light up with a super-bright blue light. The switch is a very tiny one hidden underneath a removable panel on his spin. I was expecting a much larger, more obvious button and was confused when I couldn’t find it. I had to look at the directions to find out just where it was. Despite the light up feature, his range of motion in his chest and neck isn’t impeded at all.
Sentinel has a few other Iron Man armors coming up. I got this one on a whim to try it out, hoping that it wouldn’t disappoint in hand. While I don’t know if I can collect every armor they put out, if I just hold at one I made a great choice. I have zero regrets, and still can’t stop posing him.
