Thank you both for the review, I can't wait till my figure ships. This will be my first Iron Man! The video at one point makes a big deal about the lack of ab articulation and one reviewer laments that they can't think of why they would not include the same kind of articulation we see in Iron Patriot. I wonder though when it comes to the question of "why" they didn't if it has to do with the already narrow waist of the design of the armor in the movie. I don't have the original MKIII figure, but looking at pictures of the waist on that version it seems even narrower than it should be as it fits up under the rib cage as a separate piece so that it can twist. My guess is that Hot Toys felt that in this particular case they had to choose accuracy over articulation and was more limited because of the tapering narrower V shaped waist of the MKIII design. Just my guess, but I am sure that in developing these kinds of figures they have to make hard choices based on a lot of factors that are easy to armchair Quarterback later but aren't in reality decisions that came easy during development. Anyway, in the end I like this product and I am glad the reviewers did too despite what they confess are a few "nitpicks".
As for the lack of diecast used in the "diecast" figure, I think it's understandable being disappointing about this when they go out of their way to market it as a diecast figure. It's not the reason I am buying it, but I understand the criticism.