Right sorry, I took some fairly bad photos yesterday when I got in with the very last of the sunlight, and didn't actually have time to do anything with it today but (and sorry on my mobile so no bb-code access):
https://flic.kr/p/LH9KDj
https://flic.kr/p/LZ4KT3
https://flic.kr/p/LH9KNC
https://flic.kr/p/M2EdYV
https://flic.kr/p/M2EdUg
It's impressive in person, I've got to admit I was surprised that it was nearly as large as an actual protective helmet. For the price I paid I'm very happy with it. (Asda - in the UK, so it wasn't quite as good a deal as some people on here have managed with the 100USD pricetag, but far far better than the apparent RRP in the UK of 170GBP, which I still boggle at.)
I think as part of a display on say a shelf it'd look far more expensive than it actually is. The electronics seem reliable/sturdy, and the light up feature has three levels of brightness as well as off. The sounds aren't actually irritating for once, since there's no real "gimmick" there and they're easy enough to turn off.
The internal details molded into the inside of the helmet are actually seriously cool - and terribly are probably one of the things about the product that impressed me the most.
However, I'd have been pretty disappointed if I had paid £170GBP for it! Up close there is some paint slop, the red transparent paint hasn't been applied perfectly evenly on mine, so there are some darker streaks in places. The one and only painted border between the gold and red paint is ...fuzzy, and the tiny depressed area of black in the "mouth" actually has a dribble of paint in there - but it's not actually that obvious unless you're really looking for it.
The one-size-fits-most back-panel is an absolute pain to slot shut even with another person helping, or rather with the helmet in hand in front of you just trying to close the panel properly for display purposes. I'm semi-convinced that the panel on my particular Iron Man helmet is slightly warped tbh! And as already stated elsewhere the red paint is delicate. Far more delicate than Hot Toys Iron Man red delicate. It arrived pre-chipped/scratched for me, there were some especially noticeable ones where there are moving/removable parts, and I can only see it getting worse. (Already the tabs that are supposed to slot into the main body of the helmet on the aforementioned back-panel are showing some terrifying signs - the red paint is crazing... And I believe that's just from the mild-pressure of the main helmet body on the slightly springy plastic that the back panel is made from)
https://flic.kr/p/M9RiYe
The above photo is straight out of the box - hadn't actually attempted to move any of the parts at all yet, and (hopefully) you can see one of the more obvious paint chips.
Don't misunderstand me though, I think you're getting quite a good deal at that price - and if anyone knows, or is good at this sort of thing, a strip/repaint would bring it pretty close to perfection, short of going down the route that the films took of custom building a helmet that fit closely to your own skull. As it is, I think the helmet is better suited to shelf-displays than any attempt at cosplay, since that red-paint is ridiculously fragile, and the helmet begins to lose it's sheen of impressiveness up close. It's a shame you can't really do much with it, but a light up helmet, with electronic sounds and a removable face-plate that looks this cool for 100USD is a pretty good deal in my mind, slightly off paintwork and all.
https://flic.kr/p/LH9KDj
https://flic.kr/p/LZ4KT3
https://flic.kr/p/LH9KNC
https://flic.kr/p/M2EdYV
https://flic.kr/p/M2EdUg
It's impressive in person, I've got to admit I was surprised that it was nearly as large as an actual protective helmet. For the price I paid I'm very happy with it. (Asda - in the UK, so it wasn't quite as good a deal as some people on here have managed with the 100USD pricetag, but far far better than the apparent RRP in the UK of 170GBP, which I still boggle at.)
I think as part of a display on say a shelf it'd look far more expensive than it actually is. The electronics seem reliable/sturdy, and the light up feature has three levels of brightness as well as off. The sounds aren't actually irritating for once, since there's no real "gimmick" there and they're easy enough to turn off.
The internal details molded into the inside of the helmet are actually seriously cool - and terribly are probably one of the things about the product that impressed me the most.
However, I'd have been pretty disappointed if I had paid £170GBP for it! Up close there is some paint slop, the red transparent paint hasn't been applied perfectly evenly on mine, so there are some darker streaks in places. The one and only painted border between the gold and red paint is ...fuzzy, and the tiny depressed area of black in the "mouth" actually has a dribble of paint in there - but it's not actually that obvious unless you're really looking for it.
The one-size-fits-most back-panel is an absolute pain to slot shut even with another person helping, or rather with the helmet in hand in front of you just trying to close the panel properly for display purposes. I'm semi-convinced that the panel on my particular Iron Man helmet is slightly warped tbh! And as already stated elsewhere the red paint is delicate. Far more delicate than Hot Toys Iron Man red delicate. It arrived pre-chipped/scratched for me, there were some especially noticeable ones where there are moving/removable parts, and I can only see it getting worse. (Already the tabs that are supposed to slot into the main body of the helmet on the aforementioned back-panel are showing some terrifying signs - the red paint is crazing... And I believe that's just from the mild-pressure of the main helmet body on the slightly springy plastic that the back panel is made from)
https://flic.kr/p/M9RiYe
The above photo is straight out of the box - hadn't actually attempted to move any of the parts at all yet, and (hopefully) you can see one of the more obvious paint chips.
Don't misunderstand me though, I think you're getting quite a good deal at that price - and if anyone knows, or is good at this sort of thing, a strip/repaint would bring it pretty close to perfection, short of going down the route that the films took of custom building a helmet that fit closely to your own skull. As it is, I think the helmet is better suited to shelf-displays than any attempt at cosplay, since that red-paint is ridiculously fragile, and the helmet begins to lose it's sheen of impressiveness up close. It's a shame you can't really do much with it, but a light up helmet, with electronic sounds and a removable face-plate that looks this cool for 100USD is a pretty good deal in my mind, slightly off paintwork and all.
