Judging by my current Hot Toys collection alone, it would appear to a stranger that my favorite Marvel Hero is Iron Man. While he is not actually my favorite character, he is absolutely in my Top 10, and I can’t praise Robert Downey Jr enough for what he did with the role from 2008-2019. Nonetheless, I own three Iron Man Hot Toys figures, which at the time that I received this piece, was the most of any other MCU character. If I was rich, I’d probably own every single Iron Man figure that Hot Toys has ever made, but I’ve come out pretty well as things stand and I’m very greatful!
One of the things that makes Iron Man so unique as a character is his many awesome armors. Iron Man just looks cool, and the lights and the weapons that comprise his suits have popped on-film since Tony Stark built his first suit in a cave … with a box of scraps!
I own each of my three Iron Man figures for different reasons. I own the Mark XLVII because I found a really great deal on the power pose version of the figure, and I was anxious to quickly add an Iron Man figure of some kind to my growing collection. The Mark XLVII was the first Iron Man figure that I ever owned. I think in a perfect world, it would have been the Mark V. I really loved the silver in that suit, but the Mark XLVII (from Spider-Man: Homecoming) had a lot of silver on it too, and I’d say it’s my fourth favorite Iron Man armor. Based on Iron Man’s look in Marvel’s Ultimate Comics, the Mark XLVII has the traditional gold faceplate too, and I just think those combinations made that a really great suit of armor.
My second Hot Toys Iron Man figure was the Mark XLIV Hulk-Buster. This is my favorite of all the Iron Man suits in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it is my favorite figure in my collection. I never imagined that I would actually own the Hulk-Buster, and honestly, after getting that figure a year-and-a-half after Avengers: Endgame came out, I was sure I’d never own the Mark LXXXV, and that was completely okay, but my wonderful wife had other plans, and in the Spring of 2021, I was left feeling like the luckiest collector in the world when I opened this surprise gift from my family a few weeks after my birthday!
The reason I wanted the Mark LXXXV was because one, it was awesome, and two, it was the suit that will forever define Tony Stark’s swan song in Avengers: Endgame, which solidified him as hands down the single most important character of The Infinity Saga (and that’s coming from a big-time “Team Cap” guy).
Endgame was such an incredible motion picture and Tony Stark was the heart of the movie, if not the entire Infinity Saga. From his time in Outer Space with Nebula, to his confrontation with Steve Rogers when he returns to Earth, to his beautiful sacrifice to save the world, it was in the end, all about Iron Man.
The Mark LXXXV is not only my second favorite Iron Man armor, but also my second favorite Hot Toys figure in my collection. My wife’s probably thinking that it better be for the price of it, but seriously, physically speaking, it is a gorgeous piece. Like the Hulk-Buster, the Mark LXXXV is diecast, so he is a heavy and sturdy figure. Beyond that, he is immensely shiny and reflective. The red is absolutely stunning, and the gold is I dare say, perfectly painted. It doesn’t look yellow or tan, it looks like gold, and it really adds to the majesty of this piece.
This figure also has a lot of presence. We’ve seen the character streamline his suits in the MCU and in the comics over the years, but the Mark LXXXV is a perfect combination of sleek and bulky, which probably doesn’t sound like I’m making much sense, but it’s just the way that I feel about it. Despite being a suit that was fueled by nanotechnology, this figure looks like there is a person inside of it.
Then, there is the articulation! Again, this is a diecast figure mind you, but it is one of the most poseable figures that I own! Dynamic poses are not only possible but pretty easy to pull off without any real fear of damaging the figure. He can kneel, he can squat, and he can appear as though he is flying, and it all looks natural and impressive!
Several smaller pieces of the suit are also poseable. The knee and ankle and wrist joints all move, and he comes with an Infinity Gauntlet (his nano styled one) which boasts articulated individual fingers.
Of course, this figure lights up, and it is the best figure in my collection in terms of looking awesome with the lights out. There are small lights throughout his armor, the palms light up, the Arc Reactor in his chest lights up, and the eyes of his helmet light-up. The Nano Gauntlet also lights up, with each Infinity Stone illuminating in a different color.
This Iron Man also comes with a gigantic back peace which we saw him use in the movie and comes with an alternate Tony Stark head sculpt. There was a lot of controversy surrounding this sculpt within the collecting community, with many collectors feeling like Hot Toys missed the likeness to Tony Stark. This was a concern for me, because I had yet to own an Iron Man figure that boasted a Tony Stark head sculpt, and I wanted the third time to be the charm here, as I wanted to have the option of commemorating that final Snap that cost Tony his life.
I’m happy to say that I am thrilled with the outcome of the sculpt in-person. No, it doesn’t look like Robert Downey Jr in 2008, but it does look like an older, thinner, and wearier Tony Stark, which is what we got in Endgame during that final battle against the Thanos Variant.
Really, this is amongst the most satisfied that I have ever been opening a Hot Toys figure. It was literally every single thing that I hoped it would be when I asked for it, and the fact that getting the Hulk-Buster convinced me that this one wasn’t going to happen, made it all the more surprising and special to own.
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