Review of Hot Toys' Tony Stark, The Mechanic and a Giveaway!

Hot Toys. Most geeks with an affinity for toys and collectible figures know the company. I've seen their toys online and in Sideshow Collectibles' booth at conventions and have always been impressed by their attention to detail. It turns out their collectibles are even more stunning in person. Sideshow Collectibles sent me their exclusive version of the Tony Stark, The Mechanic from Iron Man 3 to check out, and I've been playing with him all afternoon. I'm floored by the clothing, the accessories, the sculpt, and the paint job. I don't remember the last time I had this much fun opening a toy.

First of all, the packaging was wonderful. Everything was protected but it wasn't obnoxious to get Stark out of the box, if that makes sense. Just look at all the parts!

Because I'm that person, I read through the instructions first and then carefully opened everything. I was overwhelmed by the options - in a good way. For someone who has only collected basic figures, busts, and maquettes, this was all foreign to me. It was like a box that kept on giving pretty Tony Stark-Iron Man parts. I went through the basics and was pleased to see the zippers all zipped up and down, the articulation was mostly fantastic (I had a hard time posing Tony's right arm - he must have tennis elbow), and the arc reactor and hand repulsor lit up. Amazing. I had the hood up and aviator glasses on in no time:

Though it would be easy for me to ramble in an excited manner about the quality of this figure and the fact that I got to essentially play with a Tony Stark doll, I'll go over some highlights:

Sculpt/likeness/paint: I think this is about as close as a toy can get to looking like Robert Downey, Jr. The beard looks nice for not being fuzzy and the battle damage looks realistic. They especially did a great job at making the blood look like actual blood instead of the usual bright red ugly stuff. I think Stark's bruised and battered face might have made the likeness a little easier to capture.

Clothes: Wow, they're made so well! From the jeans to the zippers on the hoodie to the logo'd undershirt - all of it rocks. The fabric is soft and flexible and moves with the articulation. It's very natural. And I can't forget the shoes! A+ work.

Accessories: This is where The Mechanic figure goes from amazing to awesome for me. So much thought and care was put into the accessories! It makes it easy to stage many memorable moments from Iron Man 3. The nail gun, the Christmas ornament grenade, folding pliers that actually fold and unfold, a gun, a plumb bob on a string, a small newspaper, the watch (not Dora the Explorer themed - I blame licensing issues), and extra hands and so many armor parts. Holy crap! I had way too much fun arranging tools on the backpack:

I had a little bit of trouble making the black headset snap inside the clear casing of the augmented cognition set but I suspect that was more user error than a problem with the product.

I only have a couple of nitpicks. For someone who isn't used to removable parts, I wasn't sure how hard to pull and push the joints. I have a knack for breaking things, and I was very concerned about hurting my Tony and causing irreversible damage. An insert for Hot Toys mentioning that you really have to push/pull would have lessened my anxiety. But, I also have the internet to tell me this and I have to factor in the fact that I'm a wimp.

For all the details they put into their figures, I wish they had actual hair. However, I completely understand that would come with its own challenges. Getting real hair to look and lay just right would be difficult, and if it wasn't perfect, it would take away from the overall awesome-ness of the figure. I can live with the plastic 'do.

Overall, The Mechanic sixth scale figure by Hot Toys is freaking awesome. It does more than just look cool on a shelf; you can derive hours of enjoyment from this figure by changing out parts and posing him. Iron Man 3 was one of my favorite films of 2013, and I respect and like that they made a figure of Tony Stark as himself and not as Iron Man. You can order the figure from Sideshow Collectibles.

Before I go, I also have a giveaway to announce: I've teamed up with Sideshow Collectibles to award one lucky person a Hot Toys' The Mandarin sixth scale figure. It has all the details you've come to expect from Hot Toys and who doesn't want Ben Kingsley on his or her shelf? Go over to Sideshow to enter for your chance to win! The contest will run for one month.

Full disclosure: The Mechanic was provided by Sideshow Collectibles for review purposes. This did not affect my review of the product.