[1BLD]

The Iron Man 3 Hall of Armour set is a Disney store exclusive in the UK, so I thought I'd share some quick pictures since there isn't much on the internet about it yet.


First, the Mark I. This is the Iron Man 2 mold without the paintwash. The plastic still makes it look dirty, but it is not as good an effect as on the old version. HOWEVER, this does mean that the joints aren't at risk of being paint locked and he's much more fun to play with than my old movable but stiff and slightly scary one. The Arc Reactor glow is quite well done on this one, very subtly effective in hand.


Unlike some other figures in the set, the Mark. II is still covered in silver paint rather than molded in colour. However, it seems to have been left to dry before assembly as everything moves smoothly and easily. The Arc Reactor glow is again well done here, and on this, the III and the VI, there is also a glow in the palm of his open hand, which is a nice touch.
This version does lack the rivet detailing of the IM2 version, but I don't mind. Both are somewhat inaccurate, and it makes it easier to get a good set if you're OCD about all the paint apps lining up perfectly. I did have to go through a few sets before I found a set with decent eyes and general paint apps, be warned.


The Mk.III is one I was excited about. With the Iron Man 2 version, I kept getting either well painted ones with paint locked joints, or sloppy ones which could actually be played with. The red is unpainted plastic here, so I finally have a decently painted III which I can play with. The red plastic is a little drab, but the nice shiny gold does enough to balance it out IMO. The Arc reactor glow is good on the open hand, but it's a bit overdone on the chest. The app is the same size as on the Mk. II, but against the red base, it's less subtle.


The Mark. VI is yet another well made version of this suit. The red isn't painted, but it's a livlier shade than the III has so I'm happy. The Arc Reactor glow is a bit overdone on both the chest and open palm as well here. It almost looks like he's had a run in with a cold themed villain.

The gold paint is a very copper-gold shade though, and it contrasts with the caramel gold plastic used on the upper arms.


Ah, one of the big draws of the set. The G.I Joe parts are good, dating from when the G3 construction style started to mature and lose some of the weird flaws it had for the 25th anniversary line.The body works together well, and is well painted. The Arc Reactor app on his shirt is weirdly designed though. It's a blue circle with a triangle cut out, so it looks a bit weird with that black void in the middle. Probably a bit too bright for something which is supposed to be glowing through the shirt TBH.

And the head. The long demanded Tony Stark head. Well, you know the tattoo of Stark which Gary had in the film? The one he said that he had the tattooist base on a doll he made? This is that doll. Owning the Actors 3-pack from the Iron Man 2 line, the Stark sculpt there is 10x better than this easily, which is a shame since that leaked out to UK retail for like 2 minutes and has no other release apparently.


This is the star of the set. The Mark. 42 is made out of what feels like a different plastic than the other 5 figures. Slightly stiffer stuff I think, with a very different feel. It's tempting to call it cheap initially, but I'm not so sure. I think it's just different, like the stuff they're using on a lot of new transformers which feels weird but doesn't seem to be weaker. No Arc Reactor glow here, thankfully (especially given how the other two red figures didn't make it work).

A couple of things to note though.

The Iron Man 2 figures either had clip on shoulder pads or glued on soft plastic pieces. The shoulders for the 42 are moulded as part of the upper arms and are a stiff plastic, so outwards motion is limited and they can get caught on the torso during forwards/backwards movement. Not the end of the world, but disappointing when they've generally been wiser than this.


Articulation wise, he has a ball jointed head and torso, swivel hinge shoulders and elbows, swivel wrists, Avengers style hips, double knee hinges and hinge-rocker ankles. The head can't look up but otherwise has decent range, the torso is stiff and doesn't have massive ammounts of tilt but it's there at least. The hips can almost reach 90 degrees forwards before the thigh sculpt gets in the way, and the stiffer plastic precludes any attempt to massage this.


You can see the limits on the shoulders here, since in a lot of poses they can't really move outwards significantly.

On the whole then? If you just want the new figures, this isn't worth it. But personally, I'm glad to have the 42, as well as functional versions of the Marks I and III. Another II is good to have as well since my old one is flaking paint like mad now. The VI is nice but let down by the Arc glow effect. And it's nice to have an accurate Stark, even if the head isn't that good. So 4/6 I like, one is nice but very redundant which amplifies it's flaws, and the last figure is flawed but unique enough to earn forgiveness.

The whole set is probably about a 7/10 for me, but it all hinges on how you feel about getting 4 redone figures.If you're in the US or get it from online, you're taking a risk on the paint.