Play Imaginative- Avengers- Iron Man 1/6th MK VII diecast figure

[Resident Eric]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk1Czc82qlE
here's the video of the articulation. better than HT's in term of articulation

another video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT0aymYo7NM

What is the blue suit in the background?

 

[Hologram AI]

What is the blue suit in the background?

Custom painted Mark 4.

 

[SuperHobo]

Here you go. Sorry for the quality, using an ipad cam.
It is only a minor issue for me, hence acceptable.

Is the neck piece plastic or diecast? From the picture it looks like the paint chipped off of the plastic neck during assembly. Give us more of your thoughts on the figure when you can. Thanks.

 

[rego]

Is the neck piece plastic or diecast? From the picture it looks like the paint chipped off of the plastic during assembly.

im not the guy you are talking too but,
the neck is plastic, the majority of the figure is. only the large surfaces seem to be die cast parts for the most part from what i can tell feeling him.

one thing that really bothers me seeing this in hand is flashing from the plastic tree here and there. the back of the head in particular on the one i seen is really bad. the fit isn't %100 where the seams meet and its ruff edged where it has been cut away. i expect flashing on a $12 toy from target but not on a piece aimed at adult collectors

the only other QC i could notice on the one i was handling is paint the did not cover properly on the back edge. it looked like a mis-spray over the red leaving red to show through the gold in a gradient effect. there just wasn't enough coverage to mask out the red.

i really dig the proportions on this guy though...he looks great sitting on the shelf. its only when you start to look a little closer do you notice the imperfections form manufacturing

time will tell how bad QC on the run of these guys really is. im impressed for what i seen all things said....but i still wouldn't pay 400 bucks for it already owning the HT

 

[SuperHobo]

im not the guy you are talking too but,
the neck is plastic, the majority of the figure is. only the large surfaces seem to be die cast parts for the most part from what i can tell feeling him.

one thing that really bothers me seeing this in hand is flashing from the plastic tree here and there. the back of the head in particular on the one i seen is really bad. the fit isn't %100 where the seams meet and its ruff edged where it has been cut away. i expect flashing on a $12 toy from target but not on a piece aimed at adult collectors

the only other QC i could notice on the one i was handling is paint the did not cover properly on the back edge. it looked like a mis-spray over the red leaving red to show through the gold in a gradient effect. there just wasn't enough coverage to mask out the red.

i really dig the proportions on this guy though...he looks great sitting on the shelf. its only when you start to look a little closer do you notice the imperfections form manufacturing

time will tell how bad QC on the run of these guys really is. im impressed for what i seen all things said....but i still wouldn't pay 400 bucks for it already owning the HT

Thanks for your thoughts man. I agree it wouldn't have been more classy for PI to take the time properly clean off the gate marks from the plastic parts. Model kit builders like myself kind of cringe at badly cut nub marks. How's the articulation? Are the joints strong enough to support the weight? Does it feel like its going to topple over easily like the HT if you don't get the center of gravity just right?

 

[nightsurf]

Here you go. Sorry for the quality, using an ipad cam.
It is only a minor issue for me, hence acceptable.

for me it's still unacceptable. I'm still optimistic about how great their figure gonna be in the 1/4 line. but not so with the QC
anyway, thanks for posting the pic for us

 

[cuzi]

Could you please post some more pics cuzi, I mean from the front and side.

Here's one i took with the ipad yesterday (need to get a proper cam! ). Kept it back in box immediately after i took this shot as i am currently moving to a new house... Also, i'm worried something else would drop off or come loose will try doing it this weekend with a proper cam.

The neck is indeed plastic. It is quite light. But I dislike the loose neck in particular (not the joint itself, but the neck articulation). It may just drop down on its own if there is any vibration. And yes, the gate marks are annoying too!

Despite the above, with it being diecast, i really dig the shiny look it has under any lighting. My pics certainly do not do it justice.

Is it worth $400? That's another matter... Lol

 

[cuzi]

for me it's still unacceptable. I'm still optimistic about how great their figure gonna be in the 1/4 line. but not so with the QC
anyway, thanks for posting the pic for us

I wouldn't have accepted it too, but as i mentioned, i really pity the seller since he's also my friend. He has ordered 30 units and so far I'm one of the first to collect. Imagine the percentage of defected ones! Also, a couple of the other units we had opened have the same issue as well, that's why i felt that unit could be the best one i can get my hands on at this moment.
Sure hope his remaining units are okay though.

 

[dscans]

OK, I collected the figure on release day, but the package has been languishing in the corner of my room - busy with work, the kids, the usual stuff

That's not to say I've not been following this thread though. So over the weekend, and with some trepidation, I opened up the package....

Packaging was fantastic, and made a very positive first impression. I finally found out that the bulk of the weight was due to the Hall of Armor display stand. The figure itself weighed a more modest 0.85kg, or about 1.9lbs. I was a bit ambivalent about the stand, to be honest. It runs on 3 AAA batteries (which they included btw), but the light was pretty dim in all modes (the LED's were pretty tiny). If given the choice, I would probably not have the Hall of Armor stand.

On the whole, the figure was OK...not fantastic, but not terrible either. The joints were tight and click stepped. The paintwork was fine for my figure, though they was a dot of silver paint on the underside of the right armpit region of the torso armor, probably an accident from the painting of the silver tubing on the underside of the armor there. Articulation was alright, certainly no worse than the HT Ironman figures.

Then there was the infamous gate mark at the back of helmet. There should be no excuse for this kind of oversight, really, especially for a high end collectible figure, but fortunately it's at the back of the helmet and not really noticeable when on display.

The articulated fingers in my figure does not seem to offer the full range of motion I was expecting. They can sort of wriggle into vaguely "open palm" type poses, but you cannot clench them into a fist, or even make a "finger" or "up yours" gesture, which was disappointing.

Also, for a "Super Alloy" figure, there was surprisingly fewer die-cast material than I expected. Other than the main parts of the limbs and the internal skeleton, the rest was made of plastic. Also, the plastic sleeving material underneath the top chest portion was quite noticeable. I understand that the sleeve was to protect the bottom half of the torso while you twist and bend the chest, but I would have preferred that they trimmed it better so that it's not that noticeable.

With regards to the light up features, I felt that the eyes were a little dim...they would look so much better if they were brighter. Also, the right palm repulsor on my figure does not work. I tried swapping out the batteries with the left arm, but no dice. Incidentally, the batteries on the right arm worked with the left, so that ruled out battery issues. I called Play Imaginative, and they offered to exchange my figure one for one. So customer service was great I'll definitely be checking over my replacement figure with a fine toothed comb

 

[BB&WSF]

Here's one i took with the ipad yesterday (need to get a proper cam! ). Kept it back in box immediately after i took this shot as i am currently moving to a new house... Also, i'm worried something else would drop off or come loose will try doing it this weekend with a proper cam.

The neck is indeed plastic. It is quite light. But I dislike the loose neck in particular (not the joint itself, but the neck articulation). It may just drop down on its own if there is any vibration. And yes, the gate marks are annoying too!

Despite the above, with it being diecast, i really dig the shiny look it has under any lighting. My pics certainly do not do it justice.

Is it worth $400? That's another matter... Lol

Thanks a lot cuzi. Well, it sure is a delicate figure. Sad about the neck, but then you can workaround making it better. Ideally there shouldn't be any need to 'workaround' for a $400 figure. Still with HT's selling at $400 too, given a chance I'd rather have the PI version because of the proportions / accuracy.

 

[Y4NK33 PL4N3T]

Great reviews cuzi & dscans

Nice to see PI offering exchanges to anyone who has a QC issue, good customer service is always a plus. Hopefully, PI irons out their QC issues on future releases and becomes a real contender in the 1/6 arena since these figures do look great in pics and probably better in person.

 

[nightsurf]

Thanks for the reviews. Appreciate it guys.
@dscans: I assume you live in singapore right? Problem like that going to be pain in the *** for overseas customers though.

 

[Neo_Arcadia]

any idea where to order these ? would love to grab the original Mark VII and the raw Version :/

 

[spindrift]

Sorry folks- people who have this are not that enthusiastic about it..and the pics I've seen of it are so-so.......it is NOT all diecast as many thought on initial announcement.
Must be me....just terribly unimpressed by it- compared to HT plastic version- which is miles above it

 

[mikericm]

Sorry folks- people who have this are not that enthusiastic about it..and the pics I've seen of it are so-so.......it is NOT all diecast as many thought on initial announcement.
Must be me....just terribly unimpressed by it- compared to HT plastic version- which is miles above it

I'm kinda with you here. I am still somewhat interested in the RAW and Gold versions, but I won't get them unless there is somewhat of a leveling out in QC. Even if PI accepts returns, I don't want to have to go through all that.

Maybe the fact that HT proportions aren't as good is part of the quality issue PI is having.????

 

[spindrift]

I'm kinda with you here. I am still somewhat interested in the RAW and Gold versions, but I won't get them unless there is somewhat of a leveling out in QC. Even if PI accepts returns, I don't want to have to go through all that.

Maybe the fact that HT proportions aren't as good is part of the quality issue PI is having.????

Yep- but the overall quality of the figure is far less detailed and lacks extra posing options(weapons revealed, etc) ...just to me unacceptable in a $400 figure.
Then again, I was never a fan of this "die cast" thing and dread HT's versions. Plastic(in the hands of HT) is the ideal medium for IM.

 

[dscans]

It's not a terrible figure as some have made it out to be. There could be room for improvement, sure, but it's not too bad for a first attempt. I believe there would be improvements, assuming that they stay with the same manufacturer, as they iron out the kinks in the tooling and the manufacturing process.

I feel that the die-cast thing is more of a marketing gimmick than anything else. It doesn't really add anything to the figure, other than saddling yourself with added manufacturing complexity and the associated headaches. But it's a way to differentiate yourself from the increasingly crowded Ironman figure market out there

On hand, the figure really does feel and look pretty nice. For what it's worth, any faults the figure may have are usually in places that are hidden or out of sight. It has a satisfying heft compared to the all-plastic figures. It is top heavy, though, so it tends to topple over if you do any kind of posing with it at all.

Other than the promo shots, I haven't really seen nice pics taken by other folks. When I find the time, I'll try to take some nice pics

 

[reuters]

I will try to take some shots, especially some close up ones, if I can get it soon!

 

[Wake]

When the 'best' review says:

It is top heavy, though, so it tends to topple over if you do any kind of posing with it at all.

Thats my que to get out. PO canceled.

 

[nightsurf]

When the 'best' review says:



Thats my que to get out. PO canceled.

I believe you made the right choice