Avengers: Age of Ultron

If we haven't reached the peak of the Iron Man collectible era, we are fast approaching the event horizon. Back in 2008, I don't think anyone quite imagined the impact Marvel's Iron Man movie would end up having on the action figure community. It's a strange thing that in addition to being the foundation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man is the bedrock which supports the toy lines that have thrived since his arrival on the scene. From Hasbro and Hot Toys to Lego and Figma, Iron Man is always there, and he continues to be a driving force of sales for any line that includes him. Even though Iron Man 3 and the dozens of armors from that film have gotten a fair share of love over the past few years, Figma never put its spin on Iron Man beyond the first Avengers film. With Figma's latest releases, it doesn't even matter that the Mark XLII and XLIII armors are already outdated. Iron Man is bulletproof when it comes to the changing trends. Sure everyone wants the latest armor from the most recent movie, more importantly, collectors just want more Iron Man figures with better details and more articulation than the last.

After 65 movies, Black Widow is finally getting her own SH Figuarts figure. Tamashii Nations has been teasing the addition of the SHIELD super-spy for some time now, but with the coming and going of Avengers: Age of Ultron in theaters and home video, it seemed like the best shot she had was with the upcoming Captain America: Civil War line. Fear not though, as the version from last year's big Marvel mash-up will get her due overseas this summer. That should put her on pace to arrive in the states just in time for the Blu-ray release of Civil War. Progress. To be honest, this figure actually looks like the wait may have been worth it. It's highly articulated, and actually looks something like Scarlett Johansson. That's more than we can say for the "Chris Evans" Captain America SH Figuarts has on deck for this year. There's a lot of great detail in the costuming, too, which is to be expected from Tamashii's offerings. Nothing against Hasbro's budget-friendly and hard-to-find Marvel Legends AOU Black Widow, but this figure might be the definitive 6" version of Natasha Romanova.

There's a new Marvel movie on the way, so that means Medicom's timing for this all-new MAFEX Iron Man is on point. Well it would be if this Iron Man were based on the upcoming Captain America: Civil War incarnation. Instead, the company is just slightly behind the times with this Avengers: Age of Ultron MK XLV armor. Unlike the import competition, Medicom's decided to focus on the last iteration of Iron Man's armor, but given how few figures actually captured this suit from the final half of Age of Ultron, it's not all that disappointing. The MK XLV armor is one of the best-looking suits from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and affordable versions of this suit have been few and far between. While Hot Toys has had the market cornered on the high-end spectrum, only Figuarts has really devoted any attention to the AOU Iron Man in 1/12 scale. Medicom might be playing a bit of catch up with this release, but it might be the better of the two import options if the final release ends up looking as nice as this prototype.

If you're looking for a holiday gift for the Marvel-loving nerd in your life (or a gift for yourself; nothing wrong with that), the studio is preparing to release their huge Phase Two Blu-ray box set on December 8 covering everything from Iron Man 3 to Ant-Man with one seriously impressive collector's item. In addition to the outer packaging and the collection of films within, Marvel has also created custom artwork for each disc sleeve and we've got your first peek at the designs.

Even if you didn't make it to New York Comic Con this past weekend, it's likely you heard about the awesome Iron Man Hulkbuster cosplay that towered over all the show's attendees. Developed by Thomas DePetrillo and Extreme Costumes, the massive costume made waves both at the show and online. To be fair, it's pretty easy to stand out when you're in a costume that's 9.5' tall no matter where you are. While a big surprise to many of the attendees at NYCC, Extreme Costumes had actually shot a brief "making of" video in the time leading up to the convention. In the short, DePetrillo can be seen piecing the Hulkbuster together bit by bit, including putting the fine technical touches on the various electrical systems. "I'm not the kind of person that starts with a big block of stone and carves inwards," DePetrillo said. "I'm much more likely to be the guy that starts with nothing, and puts on a million pieces in a row until it looks just right."

There are so many characters and so much going on in Avengers: Age of Ultron, making it Marvel’s biggest film to date. But there was one character who was sorely missed: Tom Hiddleston’s charismatic villain Loki, who didn’t have so much as a cameo appearance in the film — not that they had much room for him. As it turns out, Loki was in an earlier cut of Age of Ultron, but Joss Whedon removed his brief cameo in post-production.

One of the key sequences of Marvel's blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron was the knock-down, drag-em-out fight between the Hulk and Iron Man. For months, Marvel had teased the big throwdown in commercials and trailers, and the final fight in the film definitely delivered on the carnage and chaos one would expect of such a massive slugfest. While the version we got to see in theaters featured a slightly hazy-eyed, green Hulk doing all that damage, that wasn't always the plan. In fact, Hulk was supposed to turn a bit grayer when under the influence of Scarlet Witch. Though that version never made it into the film due to the creative team finding it too jarring for audiences to see the Hulk drastically change color like that, the spirit of that change lives on through Kotobukiya's Avengers: Age of Ultron statue set. Already, Koto has released the normal versions of the Hulkbuster and Hulk set it produced, but a variant version of the Hulk is being offered as an exclusive through Entertainment Earth. Courtesy of the online retailer, we have an exclusive version of the Kotobukiya Avengers: Age of Ultron Rampaging Hulk ArtFX statue to give away.

Just because there's not a new movie on the slate for a few years doesn't mean you've seen the last of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Avengers, my friends. Aside from guest-starring in each others movies at an increasingly exponential rate, there's still an endless array of collectibles based on these silver screen heroes coming, too. Kotobukiya's been steadily putting out Avengers: Age of Ultron collectibles to bolster its already impressive Marvel line-up, and next up the company will be bringing Iron Man's latest armor to life in 1/6 scale. While there have been a multitude of Iron Man pieces over the past seven years, the collectible market is always just a tiny bit behind when it comes to the most recent incarnation of Tony Stark's armor. Very rarely are the most current suits available when they first appear on film. However, just as the Age of Ultron is about to hit home video, Koto has announced pre-orders for its Iron Man MK XLV ArtFX statue. Even though it won't be actually available until January 2016, this first look at the piece does show plenty of promise in Iron Man's new duds... which will be outdated just a few months later in Captain America: Civil War.

You can never have too many Avengers figures. This is a lesson I'm now learning some months after the Marvel Cinematic Universe finalized its third phase. The merchandise just keeps on coming, whether you're ready for more of it or not. Honestly, the only thing I have to truly complain about when it comes to this kind of news is that I'm running out of money to afford all the things. That there are too many Marvel collectibles on the market to collect is a good problem to have. Sort of. While the rest of the core Avengers cast had already been announced as getting their own SH Figuarts incarnations earlier this year, the big bad of Avengers: Age of Ultron had been missing for some time. Tamashii Nations formally unveiled the SH Figuarts Ultron this week, bringing the number of Ultrons announced or released in 2015 to 1,345,875, which is an 1,345,875% increase year over year. Built to scale with the rest of the line, which is still minus Black Widow, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch (I guess we can give up on that dream now), Ultron looks as formidable here as he did in the film.

Somehow over the past two years, Quicksilver became a hot commodity in the Marvel movie landscape. With the character's rights in a bit of ownership limbo, both Marvel Studios and 20th Century Fox released films in their flagship franchises that showed off the silver-haired speedster and his one-note abilities. Both X-Men: Days of Future Past and Avengers: Age of Ultron showed Quicksilver's powers and personalities in different ways, with each version of the character having his fans. Regardless of which iteration of Pietro Maximoff you liked better, only one got an action figure. Ipso facto, Avengers Quicksilver is clearly superior. Teased during ACGHK 2015, Hot Toys officially announced its Avengers: Age of Ultron Quicksilver sixth-scale figure today. While we already knew what to expect from the sculpt based on the prototype shown off at the toy and collectible convention, these production shots do give us a better idea of the articulation and detail. Though Quicksilver's outfit is a bit plainclothes compared to the actual members of the Avengers, Hot Toys' tailors manage to bring all the subtlety they can do the outfit. It's a good thing too, otherwise this figure would run this risk of being just a tiny bit on the boring side.