Sci-fi Revoltech Iron Man Mark VI Part 5 [Final]

Same series, different designs
Another round of action poses from Sci-fi Revoltech Iron Man Mark VI after the previous posting to start off this final part of the review series. ^^



Supported using Soul Stage Act 5 Action Support Type for Mechanics Clear Ver.













A comparison with Mark II, and War Machine from the same action figure series. ^^

For your info, Mark VI came out in early March, 2011; War Machine in early October of the same year; and Mark II was released in early February 2012.




War Machine's bulkier size is accurately realized. ^^


Three different neck joint designs: Mark II doesn't feature the hingeable flap, while War Machine has a small-sized Revoltech joint placed way to the front beneath its neck, which pretty much achieves the same level of wide forward/backward bend as Mark VI, and Mark II. ^^;


The soft plastic abdomen armor works better on Mark VI, but its more visibly protruding design has a lot to do with its actual mechanical settings.


War Machine has a completely different design for its abdomen.


Out of the three, only Mark VI's shoulder armor is not connected to the back of its upper arms.
You can also see the size difference between the Revoltech joints used for their shoulders. To give their respective shoulders a more natural look, Mark II, and War Machine have thicker bases for their upper arms, which is a poor design in my opinion, as they really restrict the upper arms' movements. ^^; I have no idea why the conventional, much simpler design implemented for Mark VI has to be changed on the two latter releases, when it works better for the arms' articulation. ^^;


Large soft plastic wrist armors can be seen on both Mark VI and Mark II, but the latter's are connected to the forearm instead of behind each hand units.


Only War Machine has a separately movable thigh panel on each of its legs.



Only War Machine is designed with a single-point Revoltech joint for its knees.
As mentioned in Part 3, Mark VI's knee armor is linked to its thigh, while Mark II's is fixed to its lower leg.


Only Mark II features a indepentably movable ankle guard.
I pretty commented everything in my mind regarding the design discrepancies between the different Iron Man figures in this series, with emphasis on Mark II in Part 3. My idea that there's no need to change what's working well on an earlier figure (Mark VI) for future releases (Mark II) can be applied on War Machine as well, so I'm not going to repeat those points here. On the other hand, of course there's nothing wrong with companies trying out new design features on their merchandises. It represents the company's willing to renovate, and that's always commendable. However, the willingness to change must be matched with a good understanding of what really needs to be changed, instead of throwing everything back onto the drawing board just because they can. For an action figure, having fun playing with it is the most important objective, and that's it. Creative design features, bonus parts, and unique articulation points are merely cool gimmicks to make an action figure more fun to play with. The features themselves should never be emphasized beyond the overall fun of the figure. If the current joint design works well in making an action figure fun to play with, why change it? ^^

Honestly speaking, I always feel that that's one point Kaiyodo never learned from Max Factory and their huge success with the Figma series. ^^;

Despite saying that I'm not going to repeat myself, I did. XD And I did so with an added level of sting on Kaiyodo I suppose. ^^;

Comparison between the articulation design of the three Iron Mans is not the only thing you can do with them, obviously. ^^


As you may expect, the option Tony Stark head works on Mark VI. ^^



If you look carefully, Tony Stark's head is actually larger than the (fake) Mark VI's helmet he's holding. XD











The final fight scene in "Iron Man 2" can be simulated on your desktop with Mark VI, and War Machine. ^^
Overall, this is a very fun action figure. I think its detailing could have been done a little better, but that flaw doesn't affect its posability,which is the true strength of this figure. ^^

All reviews on Sci-fi Revoltech Iron Man Mark VI:
Part 1: Number 6 is also Number 1
Part 2: Solid beam, solid smoke
Part 3: Initial design that works well
Part 4: Effect base improvisation
Part 5 [Final]: Same series, different designs

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Sci-fi Revoltech Iron Man Mark VI