Toy Review: S.H. Figuarts Iron Man MK VI

One of the biggest announcements and the first Marvel character to grace the S.H. Figuarts line; Iron Man Mark 6 taken from the franchise Iron Man 2.Compared to similar figures on this scale, Mark 6 follows the thrust of S.H. Figuarts. Which means, this figure has all the details that you need to find from a Mark 6 plus that nice and mouthwatering Ferrari red paint application.

Accessories include 3 pairs of hands for in flight poses or replusor blast positions. Only a pair has pegs to inset the effects in. In Iron Man Mark 6, hand swapping takes a two-step process. One is to remove the hands, then swap the shield guard on the default wrist to complete the process. 3 pairs of effects are easy to plug in the figure, the biggest set goes under his feet, the smaller pair with a shorter tail for flight effects and the longer version for fight mode.

Articulation is awesome and very unique compared to other S.H. Figuarts figures. The mid section for the ab articulation is segmented into 4 parts instead of three. This makes the joints more hidden but still maintains that detailed factor as seen on the film. One of the hindrances though is on the head moving side to side because of the big arc on the shoulders. One of the cheats that most toy photographers do to get that signature kneeling pose is lift the head slightly. There are also instances that you need to be aware of, such as parts scratching on each other that is susceptible to the paint flaking off in the long run.

To make the flight positions more realistic, 4 flaps are included in the mix. Two of these are for the legs and the rest for his back. At first, it is hard to reach on crevasses on the default panels. A trick is to press one side to slightly lift the plate, once you get a hang of his, switching parts is easier. With these on, S.H. Figuarts comes through with additional detail such as the pistons and electronics.

There is a huge saturation of Iron Man figures that has been released by a lot of toy manufacturers ever since the first Iron Man movie. But Bandai didn’t think twice in jumping the bandwagon with this offering. Bandai did a splendid job in taking the time to craft their own version before pushing this into the market. Because of this the execution was almost perfect, without compromising both aesthetics and functionality. If Bandai would continue on producing other characters, I’ll definitely jump in. The happiest part of it is that this is a non-exclusive figure. More to this from the video review below.