Review: Sci-fi Revoltech Iron Man Mark VII!

What do I know about Japanese company Kaiyodo and their line of super-articulated Revoltech figures? Not a whole hell of a lot, but I do know that they've made a lot of super-articulated Iron Mans (Iron Men?) and my Iron Man hype is at an ungainly high right now. I've oft admired these from afar but their relative high price has dissuaded me from purchasing one. Until now! On the weekend I finally caved and chose this Iron Man Mark VII (his "bracelet" armour from The Avengers, soon to be released as a Hot Toy). Is Japan Iron Man worth all the fuss?

I am going to slam you with all the excruciating details... after the jump!

 First up, look at this mighty box. Doesn't everything from Japan look far more exciting? Look at all the stuff that's happening here.

And that's just foreplay. Check out the unbridled Iron Man orgy that's occurring on the back...

That's a lot to take in, right? Iron Man is just about every possible pose shy of Gangnam Style. And look at the convenient diagram showing off all the accessories. He has two translucent palm blasts, two extra set of hands, a... I think that "V" think is some sort of stand... and a... translucent orange box with air holes bored into it for... uh... okay I'm lost on that one. The other accessories do fit inside it although I'm at a total loss as to why they'd need to breathe. There's also a tiny little Iron Man name plate which doesn't appear to fit on the stand, or the box. Perhaps it's for Tony Stark's tiny little desk.

Don't panic though. There's got to be some instructions somewhere, right? Here... this looks handy...

We're screwed.

No matter. How hard can it be? Let's channel the inner billionaire industrialist playboy mechanic inside all of us and figure this shit out.

This part I get... Look! It's Iron Man!

It's a very nicely sculpted figure, but best of all is the shiny metallic finish. He captures the light really well. There are also a lot of little moving parts that you may not be aware of in the above picture. For example the armour flaps that rest over the front of his feet and heels are individually articulated so that he can adopt more poses. His shoulders are separate and hide some very impressive and flexible joints. The segmented armour on the back of his hands can fold in half so that he can do the flat-palmed shooting pose. He only stands just over six inches tall so that's a lot to pack in and they've done a good job of it.

But, of course, the real test is how this thing moves. Is this really the most posable Iron Man figure ever? Let's run some tests...

So far so good! He really has an incredible range of movement in his shoulders and arms, and his neck doesn't just swivel but he can also look up and down in extreme directions. The legs are a little looser and take a bit more convincing, although they can do more than I initially thought. They feel loose while your positioning them but they can kind of lock into place. I think that this is the heralded "Revoltech" system in action. But it does make for some rather odd looking knees...

As you can see, from certain angles it doesn't look like he has any human body under there at all - just a robotic joint. It's dull grey compared to the car-like finish of the rest of him and does look really out of place. Luckily most poses hide it quite well because of the overhanging elements of the armour.

That stand isn't great either. The two pegs seem to be different thicknesses, one of which slides out too easily and one which struggles to fit in. Every time I attempted to secure both feet on the stand, one would pop out. And usually it would detach that heel flap with it. I had a similar problem when changing over the hands. They'd pop out quite easily, taking the hand armour with them. There's just a tiny separate peg sticking out of his wrist that holds it all together so it feels a little precarious. Once you have him posed on a flat surface he stands quite well on his own and his hands will stay in position, so it's not too big an issue, but it is a pain while you're positioning him. For the price I would hope that it was a little more reliable.

But I can't complain about his versatility. Look at him shooting out those repulser rays!

He'd actually really benefit from some sort of flying stand because he can do a lot of great ariel poses, I just have nothing to support him.

Plus he has the flying flaps that open up on his back...

But the best thing of all in my opinion is that he appears to be the only Iron Man figure that I've seen that is capable of pulling off the three point landing pose. Check this out...

BAM! He's also the only Iron Man figure that I've seen who can also pull off this...

So ultimately I'm really pleased although, as much as I like him, I'm unlikely to purchase more Revoltech unless I can find them at a reasonable price. And there are plenty of other cool ones out there. I saw the suitcase Iron Man from the Grand Prix scene in Iron Man 2, and they also had the Mark III which comes with an interchangeable Tony Stark head (albeit in a slightly anime style) and a light up arc reactor in his chest. It's a real shame that this one doesn't have the LED light included too - that's such a great touch which would really add to the value. 

But this line, and lines like it, are a hundred times more advanced than anything Hasbro is putting out at the moment so if you want something solid then it may be your only choice. And he does look pretty amazing in the display cabinet. Our friends at Big Bad Toy Store have him in stock now at a better price than I paid, so if you are keen you should check him out.