[IMJ]

Since the Iron Man movie dropped in May of 2005, that IP has taken off to proportions we only used to in terms of TMNT and Batman, as far as varied selection and character spamming goes.

But during that time some truly quality figure lines featuring the character have arisen. At one point, there were so many that I just had to choose between them - no easy feat if you knew the extent of my Iron Mania.

HASBRO
Iron Man has been featured prominently since Marvel Legend's 2000 inception, and has had 6" lines for Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and an Iron Man; The Armored Avenger series.

COMICAVE STUDIOS
These figures take the cake for best MIB presetation. If you haven't seen one, check them out. They can be best described as 6" Hot Toys fgures - made out of metal, light up, lots of accessories. I have the Silver Centurion and it's amazing. My biggest issue with this set is that it is primarily populated with armors from Iron Man 3, which... well... it's better not to get me started on that. But the figures are terrific.

BANDAI
Bandai's S.H. Figuarts line knocked it out of the park. There might be some figures from the other lines I'd rather have, but this is the premium line I've embraced.

IMJ's S.H. Figuarts Set


I looked at all of these figure series years ago and just kept coming back to the S.H. Figuarts stuff for their movie-accurate sculpts, articulation, cool packaging and quite frankly the price point to value ratio beats out a lot of the other lines. Don't get me wrong. All of these lines have toys that are offensively expensive, but Bandai seems to be drawing the best balance. Although, don't bother trying to buy the Hulkbuster anymore - you're better off paying half your monthly bills or putting the money towards a Silver Age key comic of some kind.... Also, I mentioned the packaging earlier? It's great, but that is also my biggest grip with the line. Some releases are in great window boxes while others are just fullboxed. The lack of uniformity is a detractor and the seemingly whimsical nature in which they choose a window box version a full box leaves you head scratching. Maybe some of you guys know something I don't as to what's up with that....

FIGMA
These are really interesting to me because Figma just pumps out amazing figures from a zillion IP's. Their sculpting is great - I have their Andrew Garfield Spidey, and their Cap, Thor & Iron Man Mark VII. But they are a bit of a unique scale and if Iron Man is your thing, they just don't have the breadth that the other lines do.

DIAMOND
We all know Diamond toys. They make neat stuff. Years and years ago they made an Ultimate Iron Man figure. About 4 years later that figure sold for over a hundred bucks on the secondary market. I wish I would've sold my extra one then, because that figure sucks. But they've come a long way, although I don't embrace them because at this point they are just another movie-armor producer and they use an obnoxious scale for their figures. More expensive than Hasbro, but cheaper than an import figure, so there's that. I don't begrudge anyone who collects these, but I haven't supported the line outside of.... mmmaayyyybbeee.... three or four that have weaseled their into my collection.

HOT TOYS
So I've got a lot to say about the Hot Toys stuff - particularly when Sideshow is involved. I've got quite a few of these, but I'm just going to keep it short and hit a few points:
-they look amazing
-there is a large product line
-12" scale gives you articulation with statue-like display
-they used to be priced incredibly well. The first one I bought was maybe 80 bucks or so from Sideshow. But the more Sideshow got involved the more the prices went up exponentially. I've got more insider stories I could tell, but let's just say that the production costs don't justify what Sideshow has done with the line during their involvement. They are simply sucking it up from the market. I dropped the line years ago.
-any small articulated surface will break so easily that it is unfathomable

MEZCO
Okay, so the Mezco Iron Man figures that I've seen are amazing. Once again you are going to drop a bill per figure. --meh- But these things are great and they stand out to me for the same reason the next company below does - they are making comic based armors. Which is something that I've been waiting for a return to for years. But their neat trick is that their comic-based armors look like comic armor, if it were real. This is as opposed to all of the Iron Man armors being modeled after that sort of Adi Granov, square helmet design. I don't own a Mezco Iron Man piece yet, but I want to see where the line goes before I dive all-in.

SENTINEL SERIES
So the Iron Man Re:Edit line from Sentinel is amazing. Sentinel is producing these radically stylized but recognizable versions of comic book based armors. This is the line that I want gracing my shelves the most. I haven't touched them yet though. When you combine Super expensive with me swearing off large figures a long time ago, you've got a quit cold turkey situation while trying to avoid the bait. But I love these things because Sentinel manned up and embraced the comic book armory when no one else is doing that.

Anyone here embrace any of these lines? Maybe a mix here or there?

[jwyss234]

Marvel Legends is my favorite toy line so I've definitely been collecting Hasbro's (and Toy Biz's) Iron Man figures for a while. However, I think they've only recently started to make good Iron Man figures. The older figures were stiff and usually under sized compared to other ML figures. My favorites have been the recent 80th Anniversary IM and the ANAD IM from the Okoye BAF wave.

I think the best Iron Man figures have come from Mezco. I have the standard red and gold armor and the NYCC exclusive black and gold armor. The red and gold is actually in my Marvel Legends Avengers display since I like it more than any of my ML Iron Man figures. The accessories, light up feature, opening faceplate, and die cast parts are all top notch. One thing I really like about Mezco figures, which you touched on, is the detail that is put into each figure. They remind me of the statues that Sideshow makes for Marvel and DC.

I've bought some of the S.H. Figuarts armors in the past but I've sold most of them. The only one I currently have is the Mark III which is one of my favorite MCU armors.

I've also bought some of the Sentinel RE:Edit Iron Man figures before but I don't much care for them. They fit in well with Marvel Select figures, are very articulated, and overall look amazing. The wine red used on the Extremis Iron Man looks SOOOOO good. However, the quality isn't on par with cheaper figures. The plastic feels flimsy, the die cast is minimal, and the wires for the light up eyes make it incredibly nerve racking to turn the head.

[IMJ]

Wow, some really great owner input there... thanks. You're making me want to dive into the Mezco line even more....

[Skoob]

These comments are awesome. They make me realize that I haven't been looking widely enough at some of the different lines, Comicave especially.

[IMJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skoob

These comments are awesome. They make me realize that I haven't been looking widely enough at some of the different lines, Comicave especially.

-big thumb's up-

There are a few toylines where I can dive deep. Generally speaking most things Iron Man I can word vomit about all day.