Iron Man Begins the Age of Ultron for Bandai's SH Figuarts

As the year begins, the deluge of new action figure announcements begins. Though Toy Fair 2015 is mere weeks away, some companies have been racing to be the first to reveal any and all Avengers: Age of Ultron merchandise in development. As has been the case virtually every time a new Avengers line has been announced, Iron Man is the first out the door for the new SH Figuarts figures from Bandai.

Not to be confused with Good Smile's Figma line, which recently released a set of figures based on the original Avengers film from a few years ago, Bandai's SH Figuarts collection is eerily similar in both scale and articulation. However, to this point, Figuarts has only released figures based on Iron Man MK XLII and Iron Patriot Iron Man 3. It shouldn't come as any surprise then that the Iron Man coming from Bandai in this collection will be the MK XLIII armor, which as we know, is merely a color-swapped repaint of the MK XLII armor.

That's not necessarily such a bad thing at this drastically lower than Hot Toys price point of ¥6,264 (~$53). That's especially not such a bad thing when you consider the MK XLII retailed for $75 here in the States when it arrived. So it would appear that the reuse of the mold comes a slight decrease in price. That said, the MK XLIII does only come with two types of hands and two blast effects for both the hands and feet, unlike the MK XLII, which came with three kinds of hands, blast effects and Tony's couch--you know, so you could recreate that one scene at the beginning of the movie.

It's a sharp looking figure, for sure, and one that's a lot more friendly on the wallet. That said, $50+ for a six-inch figure is nothing to sneeze at, particularly if you're planning on getting the whole team... well, the team that's available anyway. There's no indication Black Widow or Hawkweye, let alone Scarlet Witch or Quicksilver, will be joining Thor, Captain America or Hulk throughout the year. There's also no hint as to whether or not the remaining Avengers will retail for the same price as Tony Stark. Each of them will be entirely new sculpts, and the Hulk will be a larger figure if Bandai is keeping him in scale with the others, which the silhouette certainly implies.

The SH Figuarts Avengers: Age of Ultron Iron Man MK XLIII is currently available for pre-order at AmiAmi at a 20 percent discount. It's due out this April. Hopefully we'll get a better look at the rest of the team at Toy Fair in a few weeks.

Bandai