Revoltech Iron Man Mark 1

The first Iron Man film launched one of the most successful series of comic boom movies to date. It not only forged ahead on its own, but also set up a miniature universe where many of Marvel’s greats were able to show their stuff and do it with style. In retrospect, the character of Iron Man seemed like the perfect way to get people into superheroes other than Spider-Man or Batman because underneath his fancy armor he’s just a regular guy who comes out ahead thanks to his wits, charm, and incredibly smarmy attitude. No more was this more evident than in the cinematic version of his origin story in where a near fatally wounded Tony Stark bands together with his brief BFF to put together a means to escape their captors. From there he became the most sensational super-hero of them all!

Who?

Who?

WHO?!

IRON MAN!

And so I present to all the true believers out there the Revoltech Iron Man Mark 1. This majestic bucket of bolts stands a good six inches tall and is one of the beefiest Revoltech figures on the market. Tony’s first armor in the cinematic universe has a perfectly clunky and pragmatic aura surrounding it as befitting a contraption built in a cave with a box of scraps.

Sci-Fi Revoltechs eschew the dynamic sculpts of the parent line in favor of more faithful proportions and functionality. However, they still seek to maintain the level of detail found on other Kaiyodo products and as a result the Iron Man Mark 1 figure does an amazing job at capturing the on screen character in a tidy poseable package.

In fact the whole thing is so tidy he comes with barely any accessories. Granted there really isn’t a whole lot Shellhead the First needs other than a pair of hands, but you do get a Revocontainer, a name badge, a display base, and a flame effect part to round out the toy.

Of course the real draw of this figure isn’t the number of bits in the box, but the amount of detail etched into its surface. This all PVC plastic toy has a terrific worn metallic sheen to its surface complete with tampographed lettering that emulates the look of the movie suit.

Tiny wires and hydraulic lines go in and out of crevasses all around the Mark 1. The Arc Reactor has a pleasing clear window over a non functioning light that still has an eye-catching look to it.

Is he alive or dead?
Has he thoughts within his head?

There’s some excellent attention to detail both on his helmet and within it as there is a partially sculpted Tony Stark face behind the iron mask. The whole thing is painted black so it can be hard to see on camera but there is a clearly defined separation between the headgear and the person inside.

And if you look underneath there’s even a visible scruffy beard!

The arms are made of big chunks of PVC held together with a few brown Revoltech joints. All the little buttons and flamethrower assemblies are represented. His wrists employ a smaller Revoltech joint for articulation. Swapping the left hand is easy enough.

Changing out the right hand is a lot more difficult due to how its buried deep under the non-moving arm guard. I found myself having to grasp the installed fist by its thumb and carefully work it off the joint. Putting the splayed hand also required me to work the peg hole a bit before installing it. Once on there it seems to go on and off much more easily. Truth be told if I wasn’t doing this review I would have happily left the right fist attached and not bothered changing it out. A metal man like this rarely needs more than his fists to do the talking.

Continuing on to his back, the printed markings extend to his back with a big STARK IND. stenciled on what used to be part of one of Mr. Stark’s own weapons of war.

The backpack mechanism is likewise incredibly detailed and features good paint work for all the little wires and bottles of important machine oriented liquids.

The rear skirt armor is made of a flexible material but does not hinge. Again all the stenciling is crisply applied and looks great.

While the drive belts for the legs are accurately molded they do not move. However the outer linkage does properly hinge when you bend his knees.

Articulation wise, the Mark 1 can move slightly better than the on screen equivalent. It’s bulky form accurately restricts movement in certain areas but has some clever tricks to allow for more than what movie magic chose to depict.

The hips in particular utilize a traditional universal joint rather than any Revoltech pieces that work in conjunction with a thigh swivel to give Tony the ability to sit. Kaiyodo advertised this pose on the back of the box as a good indication of what this toy can do.

The Mark 1 also features a pair of moving side skirts that hinge out of the way of the legs while still allowing the whole thing to look attached. Note that the codpiece is made out of soft PVC and may need to be moved out of the way to return the skirt pieces to their default position.

For an extra ab crunch, the Mark 1 has this large hinged block topped off with a big Revoltech joint hidden under his upper body. The restrictive sculpt of the figure’s upper body can make it tricky to use this extra joint but having it there is handy when you want to play around a bit. You can swivel his upper body left or right so long as you position his belly armor above the waist skirts.

The figure makes excellent use of both its traditional and Revoltech based joints and is extremely well balanced with or without the display base for support. While I do use it here to show how it plugs into his feet, you can easily achieve a pose like this without it. His ankle tilts go a long way towards achieving an iron sense of balance.

Heavy boots of lead…
Fills his victims full of dread!

All of this articulation lets the Mark 1 pose in a very natural manner that can be as conservative as the movie design or more fanciful when the need arises.

True to the film, the Mark 1 features a big red ACME rocket hidden under a hinged panel on the arm. This is all built into the toy and requires no additional parts.

The rocket itself moves on a small Revoltech joint and is a little hard to reach without a tool. I used a toothpick from Mr. Stark’s martini bar to flick the weapon upwards. You can also pull it off the joint a bit so it sticks out further.

With some extra wedging you can remove the rocket entirely leaving the Revoltech joint exposed.

“Trust me, this is way better than the Ex-Wife.”

We are witnessing the beginning of Tony’s obsession with installing tiny rockets all over his armor.

Either of the arm mounted flamethrowers can use this fire effect part that slides slides firmly into place just above the mechanism. The whole assembly on either forearm can move forward and cover Tony’s gloved hands with an extra panel.

I appreciate how this dangerously cheesy flame blast is sculpted in such a way that the piece lines up the the weapon’s nozzle.

Again you can use the effect part on both arms, which really makes me wish they just threw in a pair of flame blasts. Tony was pretty liberal about frying the bad guys with extreme prejudice.

Lastly, the little name tag does what it needs to which is to proudly let others know this fancy Japanese action figure has a name and is way more legitimate than the ones you buy on clearance from Five Below.

Shellhead the First stands proudly next to his descendant and adds to my meager Iron Man collection. I am nowhere near the level our resident Super Starker, Prometheum5, but I try to show my support to Tony when I can.

While the Mark 1 didn’t make it to the house party, I’m sure he would have proudly laid down his transistors for Potts’s sake.

As a Revoltech, the Mark 1 is capable of some cross-generation compatibility. JARVIS! Take control!

Rei found this old clunker in the back and is gonna take it for a spin.

The Iron Man Mark 1 armor is an excellent update of Don Heck’s original design and perfectly captures the spirit of the makeshift weapon Tony cobbled together back in Tales of Suspense #39. I was delighted to see something that was both so old-fashioned in aesthetics lovingly realized in a believable way. This is the armor fans and hobbyists have been making for decades and the people behind the film paid a fittingly heavy metal tribute to it.

Running as fast as they can…
IRON MAN LIVES AGAIN!

The Revoltech Iron Man Mark 1 is an amazing figure. It’s the kind of toy that tells all the other six-inch Iron Mans to pack up and go home if they can’t measure up to its scrap metal majesty. It has all the strengths of a Revoltech with almost none of their weaknesses. My only major issue with it was a stuck hip joint that I was able to quickly resolve with a little ice time. Everything about this figure means business and rocks out like a terrifying engine born out of desperation and destruction. Like a lot of the Iron Man Revoltechs, the Mark 1 has become hard to find on the aftermarket for a reasonable price. I picked one up on Jungle Shop for a little over the original retail price of 4,572 yen. I definitely recommend this toy to fans who want this now iconic design as a 1/12 scale figure.