6.26.2013

Inside the Box with Ichab0d presents:

S.H. Figuarts Iron Man Mark VI from Tamashii Nations

 Awwwww yeah. What up Shellhead?
This is a great figure. I'm saying that right off the bat. It completely surpasses the Mark VI Hasbro movie one. Why? Well lets get into that.
 This dude here oozes sex. The detail, the paint, I'm in love. Call me Pepper-b0d. His waist is slight narrower than it should be, but I'm fine with that because it allows for better articulation. The lack of blue detail for the eyes/arc reactor does suck, but it is a small price to pay for the most poseable 6 inch movie iron man out there.
 The back detailing is also superb. I love the red and gold spine doing down his back. also This Tony has no ass. None. Nada Zilch. He is negative ass, even. I digress.
 Look at that Elbow bend! Full double joint, with sliding elbow piece, his bicep and his forearm can touch! that rules! and the moving elbow guard does a wonderful job not breaking the sculpt and giving him the dreaded "play arts kai knee" syndrome. That with full ball shoulders and the shoulder pads attached to the should and not the torso make it amazing poseable.
 Same with the Knees, nearly full doubly joint, with the calf touching the back of the thigh. It is well done for a figure in full armor, compared to the Tiger and Bunny figuarts. How is this done you ask?
 By having a collapse-able section to allow it to. Makes for a better looking sculpt in a more stoic pose, and better posing for action poses. Tamashii, I am impressed.
 Back crunch? I don't even know what to call it. But yeah, its pretty good.
 Torso joint is also pretty great, especially compared to the Hasbro one, which I don't have to compare it to so don't ask.
 LOOK AT THOSE ANKLE TILTS! Bam! Makes the Tiger and bunny guys look damn near archaic in the  implementation. And Iron Man here has DIECAST feet.(Can you say GOOOOOOOOOOOKIN?) I was so damn happy to have these back, they add so much more stability to the way he can stand. The ankle area armor bits are a softer material so they give a little instead of being rigid.
 Seriously, look at those toe joints. and this is a unassisted pose. He's supporting himself. They have a great range of motion, and doe to the way the ankles are constructed they are useful.
 Supporting himself, yes. Looking a bit silly, also yes. maybe its a just landing softly pose. I dunno. He's stable damn it!
 Here's his accessory loot, minus blast effects. Multiple hands, and some of the air brakes. Pretty solid count there, Tony.
 The way the arm gauntlets swap off is pretty simple. Just pegs off and then you put it on the hand. I generally do this after I attach the hand to the body. In my opinion it helps to ease the risk of breaking.
 Repulsor blast hand!
 Duel repulsor blast hands! Seriously, Hot Toys just added these to the new Avengers Mark VII Iron Man, and we're getting them right out the gate with figuarts. I love you Tamashii. The blast effect parts are a translucent yellow with orange highlights. They look great, not fantastic, but they do catch light well.
 He also comes with smaller blast effects for his hands and GIANT ones for his boots. To simulate flying. Except my stands suck and he is to heavy for them. But its a cool effect, and much like my monsterarts, I'll never display him like this. Also his foot blasts peg into the boot, while the hand blast peg onto the hand. So they are not interchangeable. Bummer.
 His neck is great too. Allows for a full flying pose so he can properly look forward. Another nice touch.
 His air break/opening panels are created by a swap out piece with the sculpting underneath. They take a bit of doing to pry out initially but once they do its easy to get them back in. Though there are right/left versions, so make sure you get it right before forcing them back in.
 His back brakes are removed by first removing the shoulder pieces in the front and then popping them off.
 Yay more back detail. Once again its a cool effect, but kinda......pointless for me. I do dig it. but.. I dunno.
 ok, THIS is the last time I put him in this pose.
 Hand swaps! normal relaxed hand, and karate-chop/saluting hand. Also fists and repulsor blast hands, with pegs extending.

 That collar area and recessed arc reactor detail! he may not have compound eyes, but this is a nice substitute. And I can see why they made it clear and not a tinted white-blue color. Still that might have looked cool though.
Iron Man and War Machine look great next to each other. I expected to like this guy less than War Machine, but I ended up kinda liking him way more than I thought. he is a solid fun toy, that unfortunately can't come out here domestically due to weird licensing issues. If they make more figuarts Iron Men, I am all in for the line. They are the best 6 inch Iron Man toys out there, just don't pay much more than suggested retail for them. As cool as they are, the 75 dollar and higher secondary market prices are not worth it. hopefully they will get a reissue down the line, and that will cheapen the higher secondary market value. If you do see them for the 45-55 dollar range, and are interested, BUY BUY BUY.

7 comments:

  1. That really showed me why I should've preordered dem figuarts iron men.

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  2. Great review! Thanks, Icahabod!

    I hadn't purchased a non-Asian action figure in quite a while when I decided I wanted a 6" Iron Man and bought the aforementioned Hasbro version. Three words can describe that figure: Piece of Shit! I jumped on the S.H. Figuarts preorders and agree with almost everything you stated except for one thing. I like the flying pose with the Tamashii stage, so mine WILL be in that pose pretty often!

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  3. I like this one more than the Hot Toys ones and ordered War Machine as soon as I got him. I'm hoping Maphex reprints theirs. Can't afford them yet, but would like to one day. And I'm waiting on those Figmas.

    I thought I'd visit and say hi the next time I listened. I tuned into you guys coz I keep hearing you talk about stuff I keep getting. Dunno if it's you guys influencing me now so I'm listening for something I don't want.

    Oh and hi, you guys are a good listen.

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  4. Well, now I don't feel as bad for using two stage arms to pose mine in-flight yesterday. I've seen some pics with just one stage arm, but I think those might be Trident Stages. Anyway, great review. I have to agree that this is a really great Iron Man figure. If Figma ever gets around to the Mark VII, they have some serious competition from Tamashii.

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  5. Damn it. That DOES look good. Great review, Icha. The Hot Toys snob in me isn't into the overall proportions, but the toy engineering nerd in me wants the pair. It's an internal struggle. WHO WILL WIN?! AAAAAAHHHHHHHH

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    Replies
    1. Dan it's a GREAT figure. The Hot Toys snob in me wishes there was an alternative to 1/6th. 1/12th is where its at, great review Joe!

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  6. "This dude here oozes sex." ...Oh Ichabod...

    Cool review though.

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