Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Review: figma Iron Man Mark VII -Full Spec version-
| Figure Information | |
| Manufacturer: | Max Factory |
| Figure Number: | EX-18 |
| Origin Series: | The Avengers |
| Scale: | Non-scale |
| Height: | Approximately 16.5cm tall |
| Original Price: | 8,148 Yen |
| Packaging: |
A bit different from my two previous reviews, while the box design is still the very same but now with gold/yellow background, Iron Man Mark 7 Full Spec does bear the long box because of all the accessories he comes with. Note that the box says EX-18 meaning it's an exclusive because it is an online shop exclusive release. The Full spec is basically the same as the regular but has A LOT more to offer so yeah. Sides and back are your typical product shots.
And here's the top of the box, it looks like all the avengers are really labeled with GSC's logo.
Much like Cap's and Thor's, Iron Man Mark 7 full spec also gets a plain colored di:stage cutout which is in the same color as his box design's background color.
| Details: |
Iron Man Mk 7 armor was really well translated into a figma, the mask looks great and spot on along with the tiny details surrounding it and one can definitely say that the gold paint hits the mark perfectly, the choice of metallic red also accompanies the gold to make the figure stand out as a whole.
Again, what's noticeable in the MCU figmas is that their torso would mostly be longer than the actual film counterpart but I don't really mind as long as the proportions aren't off which, thankfully, is the case of figma Mk 7. There's a high lebel of intricate detailing running around all throughout his armor and Max definitely nailed it, top it off with yet again the wonderful paint picks; Iron Man Mark 7 looks totally premium which pretty much partly justifies its price point and exclusivity already.
Now a bit of caution is needed when handling this figure as there are several parts in the figure that feels really fragile as they are made up of soft plastic and might break off if you accidentally apply intense force; the shoulder pads are actually hard plastic but the way it attaches to the body is using the soft material so that is where you need to be careful at.
| Accessories: |
Now Full Spec is really accessory heavy and that is actually the main selling point of the EX set, aside from the figma stand, extra wrist joint, repulsor and boost effects as well as extra hand sets that comes in pairs of gripping hands, open hands and 2 variants of fixed hands with pegs for repulsor effects that come with the regular release of figma Mark 7.
Full Spec literally gives you a full customization on the suit by giving you a lot of alternate parts to "open up" on the armor such as the back thrusters, the shoulder missile pods, the missile launchers on the forearms, thigh guards option AND an opened mask with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.)'s face! This totally seals the deal as the other same scaled Mark 7 definitely does NOT have such features.
| Articulation Points: |
Going to his head articulation, while Iron Man bears the same joint as Cap, there's quite a limited sideways movement going on in there because of the armor design but you can fully rotate it if you make the head look up to a degree where the armor won't hinder it. Iron Man definitely has a better upward raise than Cap but I really wish they've made it at par with Thor's since Mk 7's got a lot of flying poses to do. For downward movement and tilt, they are pretty much close to being non-existent.
Iron Man's arms can be rotated in a full 360 or even be pulled down to have it "sag" by a little if you need to via the shoulder joints; while it can supposedly reach a perfect 90 side raise, the way they designed the shoulder pads prevents you from doing so. Unlike Thor and Cap, Iron Man has a very decent bicep swivel. He does have more than 90 degrees when bending the arms via the elbows and it's, at the very least, realistic. The wrists remain the same with his two teammates giving you two swivel points and a hinge to move the hands around with.
The torso articulation is gold, while the outward stretching feels non-existing, the exact opposite can be said when it comes to crunching his torso as it definitely is SO GOOD. And much like his fellow avengers, you can swivel via the ab and waist as well.
Going to his legs, they can be raised forward to perfect 90 while backwards is very minimal; unlike Cap and Thor, his molded design does prevent the frame from doing a full sideways split. There's also minimal thigh swivel movement on him due to the design yet again. Bending the legs via the knees does give you a little more than 90 but is pretty much a minimum of what you can call a good enough articulation. His feet can be rotated, raised upward, stretched downward or tilted sideways thanks to the ankle joints and lastly, he does have toe joints but it's extremely loose on my piece.
| Poseability: |
Going first to the basic package, you can definitely pull off common Iron Man poses with him but my problem is that my pieces seems to have a number of loose joints so that did actually give me a hard time on doing certain poses.
Probably the biggest gripe I have is that he really can't do a proper straight flight pose since 1, his head can't look up that well; 2, I've mentioned that my piece has loose joints, thus, straight body with the boot thruster effects does actually cause my Mk 7's leg to sag which really disappoints me.
The articulation is definitely not bad by any means and he can do some dynamic ones, even that landing pose, although it certainly pushes the frame to its limits if you opt to do so.
Using the full spec parts definitely adds a certain level of dynamism in his poses especially with the use of the back thrusters.
The full spec option parts definitely gives you a lot of display options and more stuff to do than his usual repulsor pointing and blasting. Combining the full spec parts with the effect parts he comes definitely gives the figma a wide variety of poses.
And if the full spec parts ain't enough, there's also the mask open head for less dynamic scenes that still works. The face isn't that accurate but it does resemble Robert Downey Jr. by a little and I still think Thor has the best facial translation of the 3 avengers figmas.
It really would have been fun IF Hulk actually made it out to production since he's perfect for the scene below but I guess we won't be seeing him ever.
And as Iron Man can be considered the leader of the Avengers depending on the incarnation, below's a shot of him with his fellow MCU Avengers!
"AVENGERS, ASSEMBLE!"
| Final Thoughts: |
If the loose joints is a common problem then I believe most of them are quite easy to fix to taking into consideration everything else, I believe the figma Mark 7 Full Spec version is currently the best rendition in the 6-inch/ 1/12 scale. Articulation overall is good and the armor does indeed make a wonderful display piece as well! If you collect small scale Iron Man armors, then definitely consider picking up the full spec although the price it guns for these days ain't really friendly; it's insane actually. There's really a big difference between this and the normal version and I definitely suggest trying to get this if you are interested in getting the figma rendition. And before I end, I pre-ordered this neat armor last year from the awesome people at Onegai Onii-chan!
I give this Avenging Armor a 4 out of 5.
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I opted to TRY and get the Mark VII "regular" version (figma 217), as the "full-spec" EX18 was a tad pricey, no matter where I looked.
ReplyDeleteThe figures are basically the same, only the 217 comes without all the "bells & whistles" (like the open helmet).
Still, I am attempting to get a SECOND one, after I was stiffed from an eBay seller (he's no longer a seller...wonder why?)
It looks to be a well-sculpted figure with plenty of great articulation.
Thanks for another great review.
Excelsior!
Thanks for this awesome review! I have the regular one and now find myself wanting to buy this one too.
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