Time to get back to business folks, and today I have a sexy new review of a helmet I received months ago from my good buddy Paul Thornton, aka Hez!  This is a gorgeous and very inexpensive Gort style helmet based on one of the Lost Hunter Predators seen at the end of the Predator 2 movie known simply as the Gort Pred.  (This helmet was actually made at SWS when they were doing P1) Read on to get the details on this helmet and how you can get one…

For whatever reason, I've always found it difficult to find a decent Gort helmet that was well crafted, well cast with a sweet paint up, and didn't cost a small fortune to own.  So when Paul contacted me about a Gort style helmet he had recently completed and offered one to me for a review, I was all over it!  By the way, I should apologize in advance to Paul for taking so long to put this review together, but thanks for being so patient with me!

UPDATE 02-07-2010: Sorry guys, I made an error on the pricing… the RAW helmet is $140, then FINISHED version as seen in this video is $240.

When I opened the box and unwrapped the latest addition to by bio collection (which has now been reduced to 2 helmets) I was immediately in love with this piece, it's gorgeous, especially for the price, which is way under $200!  The helmet is cast in solid grey resin, with a shiny and smooth interior finish.  The casting is thick enough to be durable, but not to thick that it would be heavy to wear on a costume.  It's important to note that the casting is thick all the way to the edges, which makes the helmet less likely to get damaged if you're looking to wear this on a costume and lug it around to a convention hall.  I've seen many helmets with solid thick castings, but were paper thin at the edges.  The castings details are also very crisp… this helmet has a ton of little rivet details, lines and ribbing and all of it is clean with no details lost to air bubbles or other molding defects.

The helmet is thick but light, weighing maybe 2 or 3 lbs and measures 12" at it's widest point and has a height of about 19" snout to crown.  This should definitely fit the average Predator latex mask with no trouble at all.

As always, I like my helmets ready to display right out of the box, so I ordered one fully painted with lenses installed.  I've said this about Paul before and I will say it again, I absolutely LOVE the way he weathers his helmets, it looks phenomenal!  The helmet is LOADED with tiny details in the weathering patterns and you can see he uses several paint colors, not just silver and black.  He mixes it up in different spots making burn-type patterns and the overall effect is amazing and very realistic.  So as usual, Paul's paint job rocks my socks, no complaints at all.  And for the lenses, WOW!  No dollar store glasses uses on this guy… Paul uses 1/8" thick lexan!  The only way you could break the lenses in this thing is with a 15lbs sledge hammer!  The lenses are dark, but suitable to be worn or for display.  To me that always makes a perfect prop piece… durable enough to be worn on a pred suit, but also detailed and sexy enough to be proudly shown in a display case.  And this my friends is exactly that.

And finally, the inside of each helmet is numbered, signed and named (yes, he gives nicknames to his helmets… don't ask).

I am completely impressed with Paul… once again he proves you can have an affordable prop piece that looks absolutely fantastic and won't get damaged by a mouse farting on it.  Anyone that's had a mouse fart on their shoddy recast helmet knows what I am talking about.  So congratulations Paul on another amazing release!  Anyone looking to pick up one of these bad boys, please contact paul directly by clicking HERE!

OK enough rambling, I know you guys want sexy pics!  Click the gallery icon below for all the goodies:

I also think it's safe to say we were WAY overdue for a video review amrite?  So I put together a little bit of a blabbity blab video for you!  Might want to keep an eye on the credits, perhaps someone snuck in a blooper or something in there… Check out the review in full HD by clicking HERE or click on the YouTube icon below.  First review of 2010!

And with that, I bid you adieu and I hope you all have an awesome week.  Please be sure to share your thoughts on this piece or my review by clicking to comment button below, and I look forward to seeing you guys on the next review!  Please don't forget to check out my collection sale at http://www.predatorstuff.com/2009/11/26/950/ and contact me if you have any questions.

Take care!
Dan

Good afternoon everyone, welcome to the official first new post of 2010!  I've been updating the sale thread of my ongoing collection sale, but I think it's time to show off some new pieces, what do you think?  I have quite a number of pieces up for sale that I never got a chance to photograph or review, so I thought I would get started with one of my favorites… Leonardo from TMNT!

This is a gorgeous 1:6 scale kit that was released in 2008 by Devil's Own Resin and was sculpted by CH Member Veritas and the kit is titled "Way of the Sword".  It's a heavy kit cast out of solid resin and includes a solid resin sewer grate base and real metal swords!  The gorgeous painted version seen in this review (and is available for sale) was done up by one of the greats, Mister Saul Alvarez and I was able to pick it up last year.  I am a HUGE TMNT fan, so I was completely thrilled to grab this kit.

I admit I did watch the original cartoon series on TV when I was a kid and even managed to watch 1 or 2 movies, but for me, TMNT will always be the original comic book series of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird published back in 1984 by Mirage Studios.  In fact, I bet I still have my first editions somewhere buried in a box.  So when I saw this sculpt for the first time and saw that it was based off the comics rather than the cartoon series, I was already hooked and ready to rock.  Then I saw Saul's build-up and I relentlessly pursued him until he finally gave it up.  I had him keep Leo's cartoon blue rather than the comic book red to pay homage to the cartoon series I also enjoyed.

The kit itself is beautifully detailed, with a gorgeous sculpt FILLED with all kinds of textures and badass sculpting chops… I absolutely LOVE the shell and the twin scabbards.

And now for the bad news/good news scenario… as far as I know, this kit is no longer in production… it's been sold out for ages and I haven't heard of anyone getting a new one since last year.  In fact, we were told that Mikey was on the way next, but so far he hasn't appeared.  BUT the good news, the piece in this review is available for sale!  This is just one f the many pieces I still have for sale in my collection divorce sale, which you can check out by clicking HERE!  I am asking $599.99 for this guy, so please contact me if you are interested!

This is a MUST-HAVE for any TMNT fan, easily the best Leo I have ever seen in any format and there is just no touching the details and paint job from Saul.  I took a few pics you can check out, click on the photo icon below to have a look and please be sure to click the comment button at the end of this article to share your thoughts!

I don't have a video review yet, but I will work on one and post it as soon as it's available!  Thanks and welcome to 2010!

Dan

Hello everyone!  The weekend is here and Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians (Yes, we celebrate our Thanksgiving earlier than in the US… we love Turkey THAT much!) and welcome to a new review here at Predatorstuff!  My apologies for the lengthy delay in posting some new content, I’ve been very hard at work on another one of my projects, my tutorial website www.pixel2life.com was going through a major new upgrade and we’ve been hard at work fixing bugs and doing web related duties to get all caught up.  So now that things are going pretty smooth, I figured I’d better get off my ass and get some cool goodies up on the site!  So here’s a sexy little number from Sideshow, the X-23 Comiquette…

For those of you that don’t really follow the comic books, here’s a little blurb about this character I stole from the Sideshow site:

When a top-secret program attempted to recreate the original Weapon X experiment, the project’s director, Doctor Martin Sutter, recruited renowned mutant geneticist Doctor Sarah Kinney and tasked her with creating a clone. But the only available genetic sample from Weapon X was damaged, and they were unable to salvage the Y chromosome. Kinney proposed they create a female clone, and though her request was initially denied at the urging of fellow experimenter Doctor Zander Rice, she proceeded to produce a viable female subject. Acting as the surrogate mother for the clone, Kinney gave birth to X-23 who would be raised in captivity.

While Kinney did her best to ensure that the child retained some semblance of humanity, X-23 was brutally trained as a killing machine. Rice accelerated the activation of her mutant gene by subjecting her to radiation poisoning and forcibly extracted her claws, coating them with Adamantium. Next, Rice created a chemical compound he called “trigger scent” that sent X-23 into an involuntary berserker rage with just a whiff. Turning her into a powerful living weapon, Rice leased X-23 to the highest bidder as an assassin and secretly ordered X-23 to kill Dr. Sutter and his family. Later, Rice revealed to Kinney a chamber with dozens of incubation pods containing female clones and then fired her. Before she fled the facility with X-23, Kinney gave her one last mission – destroy the pods and kill Rice. But Rice was able to exact revenge on Kinney from beyond the grave, as he had earlier exposed her to the trigger scent, sending X-23 into a rage that caused her to kill her mother. As she lay dying, Kinney named X-23 Laura.

After her mother’s death, Laura traveled to San Francisco to find her aunt Debbie and cousin Megan. It was her one chance at a normal life, but Laura’s past would soon catch up with her. Discovering her whereabouts, Kimura, X-23′s handler at the Facility, came after Laura. In a closely fought battle, X-23 outsmarted Kimura, narrowly escaping and leaving a bloody wake of Facility agents behind her. Laura knew her family’s only chance at survival would be to run – without her. Before Megan stepped over the border into Canada, she gave Laura a locket that held photos of Laura’s mother and herself, and with that, X-23 set off to find and destroy her fellow living weapon, Weapon X.

I’m actually not that big of a comic book hero collector or anything like that, and the only reason I know about this character is actually from a garage kit that was made of this character a couple of years ago that was quite awesome.  Basically I had an issue where a product that was coming out soon had new production photos released, and they looked nothing like the prototype so I cancelled.  In doing so, I forgot that I had originally dumpeda huge amount of Sideshow points on that order so I made a huge stink and ended up being offered to have my points not really refunded, but transferred to a new order.  Well, I had nothing on order and the X-23 had recently been put up for pre-order and for some reason it appealed to me.  So ordered the regular version and dumped all my points on her, resulting in this statue costing me about $50.  The question is… would I like it in person?

Before we start getting too much in to it, let’s quickly check out the specs on this statue…

Product Type: Polystone Statue
Product Size: 18″ H x 12″ W x 8.5″ D
Product Weight: 5.00 lbs

Artists:

• Adam Beane
• Todd Waters
• Anthony Mestas
• Mike Najerra
• Jesse Lincoln
• Chadwick Andersen
• The Sideshow Collectibles Design and Development Team

The Exclusive Edition includes a necklace locket around her neck (does not open), which represents the locket given to her with the photo of her mother inside.  The piece seen in this review is the regular version, so you won’t see the locket in my photos or review.  You can check out the Exclusive product page for pics of the locket if you like.

SCULPT AND CASTING

I have to admit, the sculpt is totally awesome and super sexy…  I absolutely love the way they sculpted the body on this piece, with a slimmer athletic build rather than the more exaggerated proportions that dominate the world of female statues.  There was some controversy due to the face having a cartoon/anime type style, and I know many folks passed on this statue because of that, but I think it looks great and doesn’t detract from the statue in the slightest.  She’s got that cocky look with the eyebrow raised like she’s looking at someone and daring them to take a step closer.  The pose is also fantastic, with a loose, relaxed stance but also seems like she could rip your head off in roughly 2 milliseconds.  There’s isn’t a single thing I can complain about sculpt wise, it’s quite honestly flawless as far as I’m concerned.

Along with a gorgeous sculpt, the casting quality is excellent, with beautiful smooth skin and unblemished surfaces for the glossy patent leather looking pants and top.  Even super close photos show smooth surfaces, perfect for the type of paint job this piece needed.  If there’s anything to be said about Sideshow pieces, they certainly do an awesome job time and time again on the quality of their castings.

PAINT AND FINISHING

The statue’s paint application is brilliant, I absolutely LOVE the mixed textures on the pants of a shiny patent leather with a flat grey trim that also continues in to the paint application on the boots.  The shiny parts of the pants and top are super glossy and smooth… there’s no dents, scratches, swirls or orange peel issues, it’s flawless on every part of the statue.  The skin tones are also beautifully done and the eyes and lips and well detailed and precisely applied with no over-runs or sloppiness.  There isn’t a single bit of overspray, brush hairs or finger prints anywhere and no running paint at all.  The base is also well done, with a glossy red finish and the “23″ painted in silver.  Some folks on the forums did say that there was silver paint overrun along the sides of the numbers (which should be red), but my sample doesn’t seem to have that issue at all.

The hair is painted in a nice flat black with some SUPER subtle and barely noticeable blue drybrushing here and there to give the hair some highlights.  The blades in her boots and hands seem to be some kind of plastic chrome finish with a bit of weathering.  Unfortunately this statue does have the dreaded dot!  Sideshow, I thought we were DONE with the dot?!  In case you don’t know what I mean, many statue manufacturers have this nasty habit of putting white dots in the eyes to simulate shine, and most people HATE IT!  If the eyes are glossy, they will have a shine just by the lighting in the room they are sitting in… there is absolutely no need for a white dot in their eyes, it does nothing but take away from the paint job. DOWN WITH THE DOT!

PARTS AND ASSEMBLY

The statue comes in 6 pieces… you have the body, base, 2 blades for the boots and the two arms, which already have the blades attached.  The arms attach at the biceps via the use of magnets where the gloves end.  I can completely understand the need to have the arms separate from the body to help ensure the piece survives shipping, but I am not liking the magnet thing…  the left arm in particular attaches pretty loosely, and I can see that flying off with the slightest touch and hitting the floor, quickly turning in to 50 pieces.  I would recommend to anyone to use a touch of super glue to make sure they stay attached and don’t fall off by something only slightly stronger than a mouse fart.

The boots are pinned and slide on to the big X base, and finally each boot is topped off with a blade, that connects to the front toe section once again with magnets to stay in place.  The whole thing goes together in seconds and everything fits the way it should with no weird seamlines.

THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR

I have noticed a few repeat issues folks have been having with this piece in the community, so here’s a few things you might want to look for.  Remember to always call Sideshow’s customer support if your statue has an issue, they’re always going to try to help you out as best they can.

Loose Boots - Some folks have complained that the statue basically rocks a bit in the boots, as though the ankles are not properly glued in to the inside of the boots.  This causes the statue to either wobble on the base or come right out of the boots.  Be sure to call Sideshow if you have this problem.

Loose Magnets – Be absolutely sure that the magnets in the arms are glued in place and not loose.  Use super glue to re-attach them if necessary.  A few people have reported opening the box to find one or two magnets have fallen out of the arms, or they fell out while someone was attaching the arm itself.  So be sure to check the magnets… last thing you want is for the arm to fall off while on display.

Paint Runs – I’ve also seen reports of silver paint runs around the 23 part of the base.  If yours is sloppy, just call up Sideshow for a replacement.

Loose Blades – This is the only problem that I had with mine… 2 of the 4 arm blades fell out during shipping and were loose in the box.  So obviously the glue used isn’t too great or the bouncing and bashing that goes hand in hand with the shipping process was just too much and they broke away from the little sockets in the hands.  No big deal though, 5 second fix with super glue is all it takes!

Time for some visual yumminess!  I’ve prepared a video review for your viewing pleasure and of course took some photos and put together a couple of nice wallpapers for your computer desktops.  As usual, we’ll start off with some HD video… I put together a little review, which you can check out on YouTube by clicking HERE or click on the YouTube icon below.  By the way, I should mention that pretty soon I will finally be getting a decent mic, so no more tin can vocals coming soon!

We obviously can’t have a sexy female kit without photos right?  Click the photo icon below to browse the gallery and check out the high resolution photos I put together:

I also went ahead and picked a couple of photos that I really liked and made 2 new wallpapers that you can use on your desktop.  Please use the list below to download whatever wallpapers you like, just make sure you grab the right ones for your screen size.  Enjoy!

 
To download a wallpaper, simply right-click on the appropriate resolution for your desktop size and click “save as” to save it to your computer.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with this statue, it’s a gorgeous piece that is extremely well done, both in terms of sculpt and the final painted product.  She’s a great size and she’s a refreshing change from the typical big hipped, big boobed fodder of female characters.  This is easily my favorite female piece Sideshow has ever put out and I’m glad I picked her up.  She looks great displayed next to my Lara Croft statue from Exhousia Studios!  So if you’re on the fence about this piece, I would say go for it…  I know some folks don’t dig the cartoon face, but as I mentioned earlier, it works fine for the piece in my humble opinion.  Way to go Sideshow, you did an awesome job with this piece…  hope this continues in to 2010!

That’s it for today gang, time to get my ass ready for Thanks Giving eatage!  I hope you enjoyed my X-23 Comiquette review and I would love to hear your thoughts on this piece, the review, the artwork… anything.  Just click the comment button below and use the form to drop me a note. I really value your feedback and try to improve anywhere I can, so don’t be shy!

Thanks everyone and have an awesome weekend!
Dan

Predators… known throughout science fiction circles as a lethal hunter, searching the galaxy for large and deadly game to test its skills and weaponry.  A fair hunter, the Predator does not engage defenseless animals or creatures it feels are not worthy of its attention.  But unlike others of its species, this alien intruder is no sport hunter, but a blood-crazed psychotic, a butcher of its own kind, an unhinged killing machine.. he is the Bad Blood, and Narin has brought him to life.

As promised in my Death Warrior review, here is the latest series direct from Narin, the Bad Blood Predator!  This is a brand new release that was announced a couple of months ago and is the insanely gorgeous follow-up to the successful Death Warrior kit from last summer.  The piece is sculpted and produced directly by Narin himself, and follows suit with the previous release with insane details and high quality castings in superior quality resin.  The kit is scaled in Narin’s usual slightly larger 1:6 scale (It’s a bit bigger than 1:6 scale but not quite 1:5 scale) and comes in (brace yourself) 96 parts, including 65 individual dread locks for 2 of the 3 Predator heads contained within this kit!  This is also a limited release kit with a total edition of 99 kits being released, and each base is stamped with the issue number as well as Narin’s signature.  The edition numbering method is a bit different on these kits than on the Death Warrior kits, making it much more difficult for recasters to make copies that resemble an original.  The edition number and signature is hand-signed by Narin in a small sunken area on the base, and then covered in clear resin.

The sculpt features the Bad Blood Predator, a maniacal killer loaded with battle scars and a taste for Predator blood. He stalks his prey with two Predator skulls mounted to his back armor and slices and dices his kills with a MASSIVE axe and spear, which comes decorated with his latest victim. The base features equally impressive details with another kill at his feet, complete with dreads, bio helmet and a complete upper torso. Narin’s AMAZING skills earning him the title of KING of the Predator kits come shining through once again in another MUST-HAVE release!  Both the Bad Blood’s head and the speared victim include individual dreads with a ton of beads and detail sculpted in… the third Predator head on the base has the dreads all molded as part of the base, so it isn’t complete torture for kit builders lol!  Poor Joe… he hates doing dreads.

SCULPT AND CASTING

Narin once again blows my mind with his amazing ability to include the tiniest details imaginable in every aspect of the sculpt… even underside areas you would never normally look at are meticulously sculpted with the finest details.  You’ve got a crazy amount of scars, spikes, bumps, textures and things that ooze…  the Predator on the base has an entire arm shredded right off and you can clearly see all sorts of important innards spilling out of the massive wound.  This is definitely one of the more gory kits Narin has done, even going so far as to adding an eyeball torn out of the speared Predator’s eye socket and hanging by a few tendrils of nastiness.  Every millimeter of weaponry is also exquisitely detailed, with all kinds of beveled edges and worked metal, making the weapons works of art all by themselves.  The Predator skulls Bad Blood carries on his back are also extremely impressive and detailed… I shudder to think of how long it must have taken to sculpt all of those tiny dread holes, each with little cracks and textures almost too small to see with the naked eye.  I don’t know how he does it, but Narin once again puts out the perfect kit and proves himself a sculpting master.

Once you’ve managed to assemble this killer with all his trophies, fresh kills and clanking arsenal, he stands just over 18" tall!  This is officially Narin’s tallest 1:6 scale kit to date.

The castings are once again in that peach colored high quality resin and are extremely clean and almost ready to paint right out of the box.  Joe did report to me that his copy did have a number of seamlines on the dreads that needed to be sanded out, but other than that the kit was flawless.  I do know Narin did have some problems with the mold making process on a few of the more complicated and detailed parts, but he redid the molds until the parts were coming out to his satisfaction, which apparently means damn near perfect!  Narin once again shows us the quality and time he puts in to his personal releases and the near flawless castings show it.

PAINT APPLICATION

A piece like this could only go to the only man I know that is either part Predator himself, or lives with an entire family of them… mister Joe Dunaway of www.modelzone.com and one of my good friends.  I’ve known Joe for around 5 years now and have been collecting kits painted by him for just as long.  I love how after 5 years, I am still speechless when I open up a box from him and see an all-new kit that has just been blessed with a visit to his studio.  I have yet to see Joe even come close to botching a paint job.. he simply nails everything he does and never fails to impress me.  It’s hard to fanthom how a guy that has painted so many Predator kits simply does not run out of ideas, in fact, it’s kind of scary.

Joe admitted to me after the fact that this kit would be a personal challenge for him for a couple of reasons… for starters, he was going to attempt a skin pattern, especially on the head, that he’s never tried before and wasn’t sure if it would look ok.  The other thing he’s never done before is extensive amounts of Predator blood that actually LOOKED like neon green, glowing Predator blood.  He’s done a couple of kits that have a little trickle of blood, but for this, he would need to have bloodied up weapons, limbs, and a huge gaping wound on the side of a Predator with guts pouring out.  The main challenge would be achieving a realistic glowing blood effect that didn’t turn out looking cartoony or completely ridiculous.  Not sure what he was so worried about… doesn’t he realize that all things are possible at the hands of Joe D?

So, how did it turn out?  Jaw dropping…  absolutely jaw dropping is the only way I can describe it.  Everything about the final paint job is insanely awesome and the perfect paint application brings out the perfect sculpt.  Yep, the word for today is ‘perfect’ folks.  The new head pattern design he used works beautifully, he looks fierce powerful and the red and yellow eyes make him look like an absolute berserker.  The overall skin tone pattern is awesome, with the dark blotchy areas with the spots being textured in to the lighter skin, with plenty of tiny veins and markings over every tiny fragment of skin.  The end result is incredibly life-like, you pretty much wait for him to walk off the base…

The Predator blood also turned out perfectly… it looks exactly like Predator blood and it’s very realistic.  Predator blood seems to be quick thick when show in the movies, almost looking like the same texture as pea soup or something.  Joe replicated that look down to a T, and the huge wound on the dead Predator laying on the base looks absolutely disgusting… the guts actually look wet and nasty and very realistic.  He kept the blood splatter to a minimum, which really adds to the realism and doesn’t let the super bright paint take over the kit.  The oozing blood matter on the spearhead is also kick ass and looks very realistic as well as the blood oozing down the shaft of the spear under the dead Predator’s gored head.  The metallics are also brilliantly applied and weathered…  one piece in particular really impressed me.  The large section of armor that covers the Predator’s butt is a separate piece that attached to the lower back of the kit, and Joe painted both sides… when I flipped it over to put a dab of super glue on it to secure it in place, I marveled at how amazing the metal effects were.  I swear it looked and felt like real rust or some kind of corrosion and I did a double-take thinking perhaps that part had actually been cast in iron or something.  Impressive, MOST impressive!

In true Joe form, he also added some chains, cord, quills and a bone bracelet for added detailing, which of course looks brilliant.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I do apologize if it sounds like I’m kissing ass here, but honestly, you have to see this in person to understand just how insanely gorgeous and perfect this piece is in every way.  One look at this kit or any other Narin kit painted by Joe in the last few years and you will understand exactly what I am talking about.  There is a global sense of perfection about the entire piece.. nothing is wrong.  Perfect sculpt, perfect castings, perfect pose, perfect paint.  You get the whole deal.  Of course, there are some purists out there that aren’t fans of any Predator styles that go beyond the original movies and that’s fine, but if you do enjoy the original concepts Narin puts out, it’s hard to imagine how you could find something wrong with a kit like this.  And even if you aren’t exactly on par with Joe’s skills, you can still have a blast painting something like this because of all the details and possibilities.  If you do want/have this kit or something else you wish you could get painted, remember to check out my Professional Painting Services page for contact information for all the artists I’ve used in the past and recommend.  Just because you can’t paint doesn’t mean you can’t own a beautifully painted kit in your collection.

And now we move on to media goodies!  We’ve got all kinds of eye candy for you, so please enjoy and tell me what you think… we’ll start off with a fun little video review I did in full HD, which you can check out by clicking HERE or click on the YouTube icon below.  By the way, this is first video I do using free open music under the Creative Commons License, which means I am allowed to use it in my videos without any music big wigs or YouTube getting mad at me.  Let me know when you think of the tunes I chose!

When this kit was in the mail and on the way from Joe to me, he asked me if I would be reviewing it and I said of course… he mentioned that I should be ready to take a ton of photos again (I had just finished reviewing the Death Warrior, which had the most photos I’ve ever taken for a single review) and I told him I doubted it would be as many seeing as the Death Warrior seemed to have a ton more detailed little bits that the Bad Blood.  Oh man was I wrong and I knew it as soon as I opened the box.  There is a TON of badass details on this kit that needed to be captured… the result? JUST AS MANY photos as the darn Death Warrior review!!!  Please click the photo icon below to check them all out and I hope the hours I spent behind the lens were worth it!

And last but certainly not least, we continue the fun of desktop wallpapers with another 3 new ones of the Bad Blood Predator.  Please use the list below to download whatever wallpapers you like, just make sure you grab the right ones for your screen size.  Enjoy!

 
To download a wallpaper, simply right-click on the appropriate resolution for your desktop size and click "save as" to save it to your computer.

That, my friends, concludes another review… I hope you nejoyed this piece and I invite anyone looking for more information on this piece to contact me and I will get back to you as soon as possible.  Please be sure to click to comment button below and leave me your feedback.  I would love to hear your thoughts on this piece, the review, the artwork… anything!  I really value your feedback and try to improve anywhere I can.

Thanks everyone and have an awesome weekend!
Dan

It has been one of the hottest debated subjects in Predator collector circles in a long time…  BUT, before we go on and for the record, I would like to say that I love Sideshow and love the people that work there… no disrespect intended and this article is more out of fun than any actual indignation. So don’t go too crazy with the Sideshow hate… I just love a good arguement is all!  So, when Sideshow first dove in to the realm of Predator helmet replicas, they brought us the highly prized AvPR Wolf Predator helmet, which was well received and considered a highly successful release.  The helmet was beautifully detailed, featuring a gorgeous sculpt, great paint-up, lasers and a real mesh lens to finish it off.  When Sideshow then announced they would be releasing a full compliment of AvP props, including the Scar, Celtic and Chopper helmets, collectors were very excited.  Unfortunately for the die-hards, the AvP helmets were not well received and showed signs that perhaps Sideshow development had skimped on details to save money… the number one issue was the lack of decent looking lenses.  The Scar used a paper-like material with an icky print pattern of a mesh, and the Celtic had no lense at all, it was simply painted over resin where the eye holes should have been.

Needless to say, fans were VERY upset with this move, not to mention the paint job wasn’t really as well done as the Wolf… but again, the main issue was how awful the lenses were.  I mentioned them extensively in my reviews, emails were sent to Sideshow about it, people everywhere were talking about them on the forum and my videos featured semi-rants about them.  People were not impressed… the obvious knee-jerk reaction was to grab our torches and pitchforks, but I treated more as something to make fun of than anything else, despite this being a $300 prop with a paper lense glued on it.

I started doing some research and talked to Sideshow…  turns out the choice of lens material was out of their hands, as the master copy they received from ADI (The company that did the prop effects for the AvP and AvPR movies) came exactly like that and they were simply following their design and paint scheme.  I was assured that the materials and paint scheme of the master matched the screen-used props exactly and that there was no difference.  I completely disagreed despite this information and still felt that the lenses used were nowhere NEAR what was used during film production, not a chance.  But I supposed I agreed to disagree… after all, Sideshow didn’t make the movies, they can only go by what ADI tells them right?  So that was it… I figured there would be no more debate about this perhaps until the Chopper came out, which we assume will be like the Celtic… no lense, just painted resin eye-holes.

The forest was quiet, we had moved on… then Sideshow threw down a glove.  Yes my friends, Sideshow puffed up their chests, bristled in the cool California air and posted this on their website:

Some folks have been wondering how close we can really get to the actual screen-used piece with a Prop Replica collectible. Well, we’d like your input! How close do YOU think we’ve gotten? Take a look at the side-by-side photo below. One of these Predator Masks is the screen-used prop by special effects studio Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc., and the other is the Sideshow Collectibles replica. Can you spot the real movie prop?

And here’s the photo of the two masks side by side that they showed (click to enlarge):

Oooo Sideshow why must you taunt me so?  *rolls up his sleeves* You have now released the evil Fanboy Dan, and it’s time to go fanboy on your ass!  I am going to go ahead right now and say this… that is not a screen used prop, it’s the master ADI sent to Sideshow standing next to one of the replicas, which by the way has been touched up.  And I’ll prove it.

We’re going to cover 3 things in this article and I will back everything up:

1. The "screen used prop" in the photo is not from the movie, it’s a prepared master copy ADI sent to Sideshow to be used as the material and paint master.
2. The helmets had separate lenses installed, they were NOT painted resin.
3. The helmet in the photo above that is the Sideshow replica has been tweaked to resemble the master more closely.

Let’s go ahead and get number 3 out of the way right now shall we?  First off, there’s no way that is a regular factory issue Celtic bio helmet standing next to the "screen used prop".  If you haven’t already read it, please check out my review of the Celtic Predator Helmet and be sure to go look at the gallery.  Pay VERY special attention to the paint detail and weathering, and the sheen of the paint… you will notice in the review that the paint is very uniform with a dull grey with a couple of black airbrushed spots on the crown and that the finish is quite flat, meaning no shine.  Now look at the photo Sideshow posted… both helmets have extensive weathering over the entire helmet, with browns and blacks and the finish is a mild shiny satin.  Think it’s just me?  Go ahead and check the forums where dozens of people have posted their helmets and you’ll see the EXACT same thing.  If either of the helmets in that photo are from the factory floor and from a normal production run, it’s been touched up for this photo… absolutely no question about it.  All bias aside, the two helmets side-by-side look almost identical with only tiny differences, I’m not arguing that at all.  Too bad the helmets we received didn’t have that paint job and there’s no screen used prop in that photo.

Next, let’s cover 1 and 2, since they are both directly related… the question is, where do I start?  In all honesty, you could skip to the last photo and point in this article as that alone is enough to put this debate to rest, but I figured we’d go over the movie stills first and then go in for the kill.  Sound good?

The major debate here for me and most of us is the lens issue.. the lens look like crap, especially up close and we’re not liking the fact that we’re being told that this is the way it was done on the screen-used props.  Now, if we look at the comparison shot from Sideshow, we know that both helmets have the same painted resin eye holes instead of lenses.  Now, I am going to prove to you that ADI used separate lenses in the eye holes of the helmets, NOT painted over solid resin.  So with that proven and out of the way, it’s an obvious conclusion that the so called "screen-used prop" in the comparison photo is in fact a paint master, not a screen used prop.

Once again, this is the purpose of the article… we’re not happy that Sideshow is not using separate screen-accurate lenses in their helmet replicas and we’re being told that this is how it was done on the actual screen replicas.  I’m going to show you proof that this is not the case.

OK, first… the lenses on the screen-used pieces are curved like sunglasses, they are not a flat surface.  This is important when looking at the shape of reflected light…  when a reflective surface or shiny surface is flat, it will reflect light uniformly, meaning the entire surface will be bright.  When a surface is curved, you’ll notice that there will be a bright soft line of light in the middle or towards the sides (depending on the angle) and the light diffuses outward from that point.  It’s the curve that causes that, as the highest point of the curve closest to the light source reflects that light.  So, armed with that knowledge I want you to look at the comparison photo from Sideshow and you will notice that the eye hole areas are fairly uniform, meaning very little curve.  That’s because it’s just flat resin covering the eye holes, they’re not rounded eye lenses like in the movie.

Now, look at the following movie stills (click for larger):

See the difference?  You’ll see it in every frame of film with the Celtic in it… the lenses are curved.  Not only that, but there is an obvious color difference between the color and tint of the lens and the rest of the helmet making it pretty clear it’s not part of the helmet’s paint job, it’s a separate installed piece.

Next up, if you look at the comparison shot from Sideshow, BOTH helmets have copper accents on the rounded nose sections, the cheek detailing and jaw detailing.  Didn’t we already establish that the screen used prop had no copper detailing and that ADI added that to the master because they preferred that paint scheme?!  So if there were no copper accents on the screen-used props, why does the "screen-used prop" in Sideshow’s comparison photo have them?

Now granted, we only get limited looks at the Celtic’s side detailing on the helmet and the lighting is not very color-friendly, but from what I can see, there certainly isn’t any copper paint on the nose or jaw sections.

Another point regarding the lenses, they are reflective…  now, whether that is movie magic, lighting or the grace of god, when watching the movie, we see several scenes where reflections are clearly visible.  Now, I know that the alien jaw reflections we see are computer generated, that’s fine… but no matter how the effect was achieved, the lenses we as the movie watchers saw them REFLECTED.  The Sideshow piece does not reflect ANYTHING… they do brighten up because of the silver paint when you shine light at the prop, but that’s about it.  So now there is this argument… screen accuracy vs bench accuracy.  This is how I define the difference between a prop looking different on screen than it does sitting on the work bench of the prop builder.  When it comes to prop replicas, I personally believe the prop should reflect what we see on screen, NOT what it looks like on a work bench, because this opens the door to all kinds of BS.  Think about it for a second…  entire lines of props could look like garbage and all the company would have to say is "Oh, well this is how is was really done, it only looked good because of special effects, lighting and post-editing".  Sorry, but that’s absolute nonsense.  The facts are simple: In the movie, the helmets the Predators wear have reflective lenses, the prop replica does not.  Straight up, it’s wrong, and I don’t think using the ol’ "well this is how it was really made" makes it right at all.

Still not convinced?  OK, then I offer you the nail in the coffin… what if ADI themselves came out and said, look, we heard about this debate and we wanted to confirm that the lenses are indeed separate.  What we did was drill out the eye holes and laser area, painted up the helmet fully, and then later installed the lasers and eye lenses.  Not sure why people might think that the lenses were in fact solid resin with just some paint over them, we apologize for the confusion.  Wouldn’t that be GREAT?!  And what if you could verify that yourself and not just take my word for it?  After all, I could just make any BS up and tell you ADI told me so and you would have no choice but to believe it right?

Well luckily, we have these things called books, and ADI just happened to write one on the making of AvP and it was published by Design Studio Press in 2004.  I’m sure many of you pred nuts like me already own this book… if you do, would you be so kind as to open your book and turn to page 105 for me?  No problem… I’ll wait while you go fetch your book.

OK, all set?  Right, could you please go ahead and read me the caption for photo 7… you know, the pic of the fully painted Celtic helmet with big gaping holes where the lens and lasers should be?

OOPS!  What does that say?

The next step is a trip to the Paint Department (07) before it is finished off with any final fabrication details (such as installing a laser sight and eye lenses).

*And Jordan fades back* SWISH! I think we’re done here…

So this goes back to my first review of the AvP helmets…  Sideshow, ADI, whoever…  please put the right lenses in the helmets because they were not solid resin with a bit of paint flecked over.  It doesn’t look like that in movie, and it says right in the ADI book that they are separate pieces.  Besides, logic would dictate the actors kind of need to be able to see what’s in front of them.. last I checked, humans can’t see through 1/4 inch thick resin.  When making prop replicas, they should reflect (no pun intended) what we see on the silver screen and blowing off legit complaints by saying the studio said so shouldn’t be the end all playing card.

So I did enjoy the comparison and I’m sure the average Sideshow fan will assume that indeed you have a production run piece standing next to a screen-used prop, but to me and many other Predator fans, it seems obvious that neither helmet is screen used or a production piece.  What you’ve got there is the ADI master sitting next to a touched up production piece that’s been more intensely weathered to match the master more closely.

Would love your thoughts guys, please click the comment button below and tell me what you think. 

Thanks!
Dan

PS. Yes I know I just broke the soapbox in my nerdy display of fanboyism… and I’m happy to do it!

Every once in awhile, a collectibles company will issue a piece that stands head and shoulders above the rest and becomes a definitive flagship product that people will use as a bar for measuring the quality and success of future and existing products.  With the release of the Uruk-Kai Berserker Premium Format statue from Sideshow collectibles, Sideshow has just raised the bar and blown us away with what is easily their best Premium Format ever created and reminds us of why they have been so successful in the first place.  Read on and discover this amazing new piece…

One of the smartest things Sideshow has ever done was to team up with Martin Canale and the Gore Group, because Martin’s sculpting abilities are simply jaw dropping, and it seems that pretty much everything Martin and Sideshow collaborate on kicks all kinds of ass.  Most Sideshow fans will agree that Lurtz is one of Sideshow’s best Premium Format statues, but with the release of Uruk-Hai, it would appear we have a new king on the block, and he deserves.  The sculpt is absolutely AMAZING, the paint is near-perfect and the clothing materials are phenomenal!  All I can do is stare in amazing and bow before it’s awesomeness, and yes, it really is THAT good!  Words, photos and video just can’t do this piece justice, you really need to see this in person to truly appreciate it… but I’ll try my best to offer you the next best thing!

First off, let’s get the rundown from the Sideshow Product page for this piece:

The Uruk-Hai Berserker Premium Format figure is a stunning 1:4 scale museum quality piece. Sword in hand and riddled with arrows, the Uruk-Hai Berserker stands 23 inches tall atop the display base, captured in the heat of battle. Each figure is cast in high-quality polystone, hand-finished and hand-painted. Each base is then individually hand-numbered for authenticity. This stunning figure is an outstanding addition to any The Lord of the Rings collection.

The Sideshow Exclusive version of the Uruk-hai Berserker Premium Format Figure includes a unique feature available nowhere else: Switch-out left hand with severed head

Product Size: 23" H x 12" W x 16" D
Product Weight: 12.00 lbs (5.44 kg)*

Artists:

Martin Canale
Jeronimo Duarte Argerich
Gustavo Fa Gonzalez
Martin Demonte
Manuel Silva
Leonardo Silva
Tom Gilliland
Anthony Mestas
Kevin Ellis
Tim Hanson
Chadwick Andersen
Jesse Lincoln
The Sideshow Collectibles Design and Development Team

SCULPT AND CASTINGS QUALITY

Should I even bother going in to detail, or perhaps I should just say PERFECT and leave it at that?  OK well, we can’t have a review without me prattling on for 10 pages worth of text, but the bottom line is what you are looking at is sculpting perfection.  Absolutely every millimeter of this statue is sculpted with crazy amounts of detail… the rocks and skin have amazing details and I shudder to think at how long the skin took to completely texturize like that.  The armor, the pits and nicks in the sword, the gorgeous work on the mouth and head details, the gaping wounds… everything is just kickass in every way, I can’t complain about a single thing.

The casting quality is also flawless, with no mold flaws, seam-lines or other casting relate issues.. once again, perfect!  The piece is cast in solid polystone and the sword is real metal and weighs about a pound itself and measures about 17" long!  You could literally use this thing to wipe out an intruder.  The specs page on the Sideshow sites says this weighs 12lbs, but it feels a heck of a lot closer to 20 – 25lbs.  In fact when comparing this to Lurtz, they both weigh about the same thing and both are almost the same height, with the Uruk-Hai measuring about an inch shorter but making up for it in width and depth with that crazy sword of his.  You’ll need a lot of display space for him!

With the exclusive edition statue, you get two left hands… the default hand, which is also included with the regular edition statue, is clutching a couple of broken arrows in his hand and is wearing some arm claws.  The Exclusive edition includes a hand holding up the severed head of a Rohan Royal Guardsman, complete with lots of gore around the hacked up neck.

The overall pose is absolutely killer and works really well to show the power and blood-lust the Uruk-Hai possesses.. he’s got 4 arrows sticking out him and huge gaping wounds all over the place, but he’s still got time to let out a roar and show off his latest trophy.

STATUE COMPONENTS:

The Uruk-Hai PF doesn’t have too many separate parts, just the usual breakdown to keep fragile bits from getting annihilated during shipping.  You have the main body, left arm with arrows and left arm with the severed head, the sword, 2 arrow shafts with sculpted fletching that inserts in to holes on the body, and the base.  One word of caution on the sword though guys and gals… it’s heavy so be very careful inserting the hilt in to the open right hand.  Work it very slowly by moving it up and down and be careful not to scrape off any paint from either the inside of the hand or off the hilt.  A few people have complained about the paint scraping off, so just be careful and you should be fine.  The belt and loincloth sections are all pre-assembled and attached to the waist at production.  The Uruk-Hai’s helmet does NOT come off and the Royal Guardsman’s head doesn’t come out from the helm.. they are all solid pieces.

PAINT APPLICATION AND FINISHING

You may notice that in the photos of my Uruk-Hai, he seems bloodier than you’ve seen either on your own piece or in the photos from other people…  that’s because this piece’s paint job is pretty much near-perfect and my only complaint was the lack of blood.  So I had my good friend Joe Dunaway add a little bit of extra gore and he did an awesome job adding some blood splatter on wounds, armor and on the base for me.  So when looking at the photos, just bear in mind it’s not as bloody as what you see on mine, however the rest of the paint application is very much the same.  Even Joe himself thought the paint job was pretty awesome right out of the box, and it REALLY has to be good for Joe to say that.  In my experience with Sideshow, I would have to say this is probably the best paint application I have ever seen on any of their releases.. this rivals the kind of work done by kit builders to be honest.  I don’t know which factory they used to produce the run on these statues, but I hope Sideshow keeps using them because their paint application is phenomenal!  There is not a single area on the statue that is not beautifully painted and unless you find there’s a lack of blood like I did, it’s highly doubtful that you will find a single thing about the paint that you won’t like.  It really is that well done, I promise!

The leather belt and loin cloth sections are also beautifully done, with great stain and coloration on the leather parts and they’re all very well weathered and beaten up.  The buckles and studs on the belt look awesome and I love the burlap type material they used under the loincloth sections on the front and back, it works really well.  The cloth materials are very well selected and applied to the statue and look very realistic, absolutely no complaints on that at all, unlike the Moria Orc that suffered some serious wardrobe malfunctions when he come out wearing a Santa suit.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There is no question that this piece is one of, if not, THE best Premium Format statues Sideshow has EVER released and it’s a reminder of just how amazing their products can be when a project is taken from development to the end of production and all the right choices are made.  The folks at Sideshow and Gore Group deserve a HUGE round of applause on this piece and we can only hope that Sideshow will continue to raise the bar on their future releases as they did with the Uruk-Hai and we see this kind of success on all their pieces!  I think it’s a safe bet that this statue will increase tremendously in value as these pieces get harder to find so I would recommend to any PF or LOTR collectors out there to pick this up as quickly as you can while prices are still near retail.  You won’t regret it, this really is one of Sideshow’s best.

Want to check out some video footage?  I put together a little 5 minute review in HD on YouTube, which you can check out by clicking HERE or click on the YouTube icon below:

I also spent the afternoon taking a TON of photos of Mister Uruk-Hai… it’s actually amazing how many shades of color you can pull from the skin depending on how you light it up…  you’ve got purples, reds and oranges that all come to life under various lighting conditions so I had a blast photographing it.  Have a look by clicking the photo icon below!

I’m not much of an LOTR collector per say, but I am a fan of the movies and do collect a few of their higher quality pieces (all bad guys!) and this was a no brainer for me.. I knew if he turned out nicely he would look phenomenal standing next to Lurtz and that’s exactly how he turned out!  If you’re on the fence about this guy, jump down and pick this guy up ASAP, you won’t regret it.

That’s about it for me gang, I think it’s juuust about time to hit the hay.  I would love to hear your thoughts about this piece or on my review, so please don’t be shy and hit the comment button below and use the form to post your feedback.  I appreciate any and all comments and read everything you guys post.  Next week look out for new kit offerings in our shop from Gabe Perna and a sneak peek at an exciting Predator bust project he’s working on!

Thanks and have a great weekend!
Dan 

Hello everyone, welcome to a new review of a very exciting piece by Art Department in their 1:2 scale bust line… it’s their Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft 1:2 scale bust kit and today we’ll check out this gorgeous kit, which has been painted up by my main man, Mister Joe Dunaway!

I Have been a Tomb Raider fan ever since Angelina Jolie took on the role on the silver screen, and I’ve been an Angie fan since her name first started appearing on movie credits.  I think she’s a fantastic actress, she’s gorgeous and her humanitarian work is second to none… you don’t see too many Hollywood folks half a world away on their hands and knees helping build outhouses.  So when Clubhouse member Pankey posted initial pics of this piece, I was VERY excited about it and couldn’t wait for him to update the thread day-to-day with the latest work-in-progress photos.  Much to my sadness, Angelina has really never been done properly in a decent sized scale, so I was PUMPED to see someone finally tackling the job.  I offered a ton of critique as Pankey posted updates, including the eyes, lips and the gun, which initially was way too small.  After many long months, she was finally done and my order was placed, and she was shipped off to Joe Dunaway of Modelzone.com fame for sweet paint lovin!

The bust is cast in a very heavy solid cold cast porcelain material, making the bust weigh in at over 10lbs and measuring about 13.5" in height when assembled.  She comes in 5 pieces…  base, main bust and head, gun, bottom section of the gun’s grip, and the braided ponytail.

The most important part of this bust for me was the likeness… It seems that Angelina’s likeness is hard to capture properly and I wouldn’t even consider this piece if it was a dead-ringer when unpainted.  A lot of folks don’t realize how the PAINT can make or break a likeness, but I wanted to make sure Joe had the best sculpt available to him when it came time to painting up Angelina to perfection.  I can honestly say that when I received the bust, I couldn’t believe how dead-on it looked like her.  Even my wife, who is usually horrible at identifying likenesses, looked over my shoulder and stated how amazingly close it was to the real thing.  Like most sculpts, there are a few angles where it’s a bit off, but generally it looks amazing and there no question who it is.  The best angles in my opinion are from the sides, she looks fantastic!  So, if you’re picky about likenesses, this is the way to go!

Unfortunately, this kit does have one flaw that makes it somewhat of a pain for model builders, and that’s the inferior low quality casting material that had Joe cursing every step of the way.  The best way I can describe the casting material is to imagine the same material used to make a dinner plate, except with a flat finish instead of shiny.  It’s hard as a rock and the castings aren’t very smooth, so the time you spend trying to smooth out lines and pits can take up MANY hours of your time, instead of maybe the 30 minutes it would have taken had it been a softer high quality resin.  I think Joe worked on the cleanup for a week on this bust and STILL couldn’t get it smooth…  thankfully the small pits and lines only show up when your nose is 8 inches from the piece and are pretty much invisible when she’s on the shelf.  So be warned… the casting material sucks and you’ll need a lot of elbow grease to smooth her down if you want perfect smooth skin.  I’m not sure if it’s the only material available where Pankey lives (I believe it’s the Philippines), but I did tell him the material was fairly terrible and should consider changing, but I have no idea if he changed it.

And then, Joe went at her, and what a job he did!  Unlike the predator kits he builds for me where I just let him do whatever he likes, I stuck my nose in this paint-up every step of the way… poor Joe was probably ready to stab me by the time it was done.  I had him tweak the skin over and over, change the eyes, played with eyelashes and God-knows what else until I was sassified!  When the final result finally showed up at my door, I wasn’t sure if I should put her in my office with the rest of my collection or place her on my nightstand in my bedroom… she was HOT!  He even swiped some hair from a gal at his work to make the trademark long pieces of bangs that hang down in her face.

Bottom line?  If you’re an experienced builder who loves Angelina Jolie and not afraid to take on casting material that’s as hard as diamonds and are comfortable with painting human pieces, then this is the way to go, I haven’t seen anything that can beat this in terms of likeness.  I also love the pose with the gun, it’s perfect and leaves no question as to who the actress is and what movie she’s from!

Now, we can’t have a review of Angelina with video can we?!  I’ve put together a little video review of the kit, so clicking HERE or the icon below to check it out on YouTube in HD:

Of course, we need sexy photos too!  Check her out from all angles by clicking the photo icon below and visiting the gallery:

I’m really happy I decided to go ahead and pick this piece up, she’s really my pride and joy in terms of female pieces in my collection and my only wish at this point is for a life-size piece lol!  Hope you guys enjoyed this piece and I welcome your thoughts and comments, so please be sure to click the comment button and leave me some feedback!  You can also contact me if you have any additional questions about this piece.

Thanks!
Dan 

The latest offering from Hot Toys in their Iron Man line has arrived and it’s a beauty!  Read on for my review of the Hot Toys Iron Man Mark II figure and we’ll go over what’s hot and what’s not in usual Predatorstuff fashion…

First off, if you haven’t already read my review of the Hot Toys Mark III figure, you should probably check that out first because the overall sculpt minus the rivets is exactly the same, as well as the articulation and overall features, so I won’t be going to deep on those aspects like I did last time.  I should also note that this is the regular Mark II edition, NOT the Sideshow Exclusive edition.  HOWEVER, the Exclusive version is IN-STOCK as a second opportunity at Sideshow, click here for the product page if you want to place an order!

Let’s have a look at the general specs shall we?

Sideshow Collectibles is proud to bring you the latest addition to Hot Toys’ Movie Masterpiece Series of 12-inch figures, Iron Man! Each 12-inch Movie Masterpiece Series figure features Hot Toys’ fully articulated 12-inch figure body and a generous number of accessories. Now, from the recent MARVEL blockbuster film comes the Iron Man MARK II figure!

The Sideshow Exclusive version of the Iron Man Mark II 12 inch Figure includes a unique feature available nowhere else: Pedestal with Armor Display

The Iron Man Mark II 12 inch Figure features:

• Stands approximate 30 cm tall
• Over 36 points of articulation
• Metallic paint
• Light-up eyes and heart (battery operated – included)
• Three pairs of interchangeable hands, including light-up repulsor hand
• Alternate unique head with authentic likeness of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark
• 12-inch figure stand
• Full color display packaging
• Separate Iron Man heart in display box
• Sideshow Exclusive: Pedestal with Armor Display

By the way, the Sideshow site has this listed at 23lbs…  I would think that’s a booboo, as it actually weighs about 3lbs.

Once again, Hot Toys ROCKS this figure with an amazing sculpt with tons of detail and awesome articulation just like the Mark III, allowing you to pose it in tons of classic movie poses.  The main difference between this piece and the Mark III in terms of sculpt are the rivets all over the body (which look AWESOME) but also the paint.  I found the Mark III’s red color to be quite dull compared to the prototype photos, but the Mark II’s silver paint application looks AMAZING!  Granted, it’s not a brushed metal look at all, but it’s still a high quality lustrous metallic paint effect with a slightly reflective satin finish that looks amazing in different light conditions.  I had a lot of fun photographing the piece because it almost looks like it’s real chrome when shot in the light booth.

Unfortunately the head sculpt still lacks, and the Tony Stark head once again stays in the box as it looks nothing like him.  In fact, I honestly think this new head is worse than the first one for the Mark III.  The alternate head features Tony Stark with his helmet on, and you have a removable visor that you can lift up and pose as though he’s taking a breather with his suit on and he’s lifted his mask open to cool off.

Whether you ordered the Sideshow exclusive or the regular edition, both include a nifty little tribute to the movie…  you get the first Arc Reactor mounted in a display case like the one Miss Potts makes for Tony Stark with the words "Proof that Tony Stark has a heart" around it.  The tiny case, roughly the size of a quarter, has a switch on the back to turn the Arc Reactor on, and the little tiny clear lid comes off the base.  No word on whether the Arc Reactor can power a micro sized Iron Man suit, but I thought it was a pretty cool little goodie to add to the figure.

The figure also includes the 3 pairs of hands that are standard (open, semi-closed and fist), the hands, chest and helmet that light up via tiny toggle switches on the back and forearms, as well as the base and holder with the little "Mark II" raised name plate.  The articulation is also the same as the Mark III, with the calves that open, forearm mini missiles and the back air flaps.

I am absolutely LOVING what Hot Toys is doing with their IM line and once again, this Mark II is a PERFECT representation of the Mark II for your collection even though it’s a figure and not a statue per-say.  In fact, I would say I like this one even better than the Mark III figure because of the superior paint job and it’s a must-have for you Iron Man fans out there.  Congrats Hot Toys, I hope your Mark I figure is equally as amazing as your Mark II and III pieces. (I have been seeing people state they saw photos of the production Mark I pieces and that they don’t look very good…  apparently the armor paint job looks too plasticky.  I personally have not seen them, so I still have faith these will ROCK!)

With that said, I think it’s time for VIDEO!  Check out YouTube for the full HD video review of the Iron Man Mark II Figure by clicking HERE or the icon below:

I had a blast photographing this piece… he’s really photogenic with that pimpin paint job of his.  Click on the photo icon below for all the high res goods!

I think I’m really hooked on the Iron Man thing…  I can’t get enough of these collectibles!  And with the Iron Man Mark III Maquette coming out from Sideshow, looks like the fun won’t be stopping for quite some time.  Hopefully the Maquette’s paint job is up to snuff as that piece is fairly pricey but worth it for a 1:2 mind-blowing movie maquette.  And remember, this piece is back in-stock at Sideshow as a Second Chance opportunity, you can grab it by clicking HERE!

That’s it for me today gang, have an awesome weekend and see you soon!
Dan