Nothing beats the feeling of getting a new statue and yesterday I was lucky enough to receive both the 1/6 Avengers Hulk Diorama by Iron Studios and the Punisher Premium Format by Sideshow Collectibles. Infact, I've yet to open the Punisher box as I was totally engrossed on what turned out to be an incredible Hulk statue (no pun intended)
by Iron Studios. So, as most of you are aware, this Hulk Dio piece belongs to a larger diorama which will include other characters from the Avengers movie (Iron Man, Captain America and Thor) to recreate that infamous end of movie battle scene in New York against Loki and his army of Chitauris. The Hulk is the first of the set to be released by Iron Studios and here are my thoughts on the piece
Okay, well first thing is first, the box is massive! It really surprised me as when I returned from work last night, I had these two boxes staring at me and as you do, I tried to work out which was which so Hulk being 1/6 scale I assumed it was the larger of the two boxes..WRONG!!! For those who own the Batman PF will know how big that shipper is, well this 1/6 Hulk box is slightly smaller than that!
and the Punisher PF is tiny in comparison!
but I don't mind as it takes less space in my world of shipping cartons hahahahaha!!
So after removing Hulk from the box I was pleasantly relieved to see no breakages, notably at the leg joint as we've seen already in a few YouTube videos. I removed the base first, the dead chitauri comes permenantly attached to the base and the second chitauri obviously attaches to Hulk's left hand. The base has been painted brilliantly! Details in the terrain, parts of broken rubble, indentations/cracks in the rocks and the sewer lid all looked fantastic and so I started to feel more confident in regards to how Hulk would look. There was also a small bag inside the packaging which included the two small arrows. These fit snugly on the dead chitauri on the base to show that he's taken a few hits from Hawkeye who is probably lurking in one of the building rooftops (unfortunately not included in this Dio set)
Now to the man himself...Hulk
Now i've got the Sideshow Hulk Maquette in my collection so I know how big he is but to see him in 1/6 scale, I must admit, I wasn't at all disappointed with the size. He is still HUGE!!! So did Iron Studios finally nail the paint apps after their disastrous Iron Man MK42 attempt? The answer is simply...YES!
Now this is my opinion guys so don't all jump on top of me but...I'd say the paint apps on this Hulk are slightly better than the Sideshow Maquette
what I like about this paint app is that it includes a lot of weathering, notably the chest area, which was lacking on the 1/4 maquette. This gives it a realistic look to the character that shows he's been in a battle and not just got his hands and feet dirty
the part where I was like WOW!
was when I looked at the details of the veins! Holy Cow! It is phenemonal! Intricate details such as the veins are a good indication that a lot of time went in to this piece unlike their MK42 attempt which was let down terribly by sloppy paints
The pose is truly Hulk! The pose is truly Avengers Hulk! Yep, for me, the pose totally makes this piece work...with one chitauri squashed into the tarmac of the base and another securely locked into Hulks tight fisted grip and about to be smashed, you can totally understand what this diorama relates to and for that reason alone makes this a must have for any Hulk or Avengers fan for their collection
He fits perfectly onto the base by the use of a peg in his right leg...once that slots in he's good to go. His left hand also has a peg attached to it and this is where the second chitauri is fitted to recreate the look of Hulk ready to launch it into the tarmac infront of him
Again, another feature which I was so happy to see, being a massive mixed media fan, was the inclusion of the exact grey pants Hulk wore in the movie
what a great touch by Iron Studios as once again, it gives the character a sense of realism - which is what attracted me to mixed media statues in the first place.
Of course, its easy to say amazing things about a new collectible as your somewhat caught in the moment of excitement...you've got a new piece, everything looks great and nothing is damaged, etc...BUT...very rarely does a piece come away with being 100% perfect
yes, some of you have already picked up on it from the earlier inhand pics and that is Hulk's likeness. Now whilst I will agree that the likeness is not as good as the Hulk Maquette (Eric, don't shoot me buddy!)
the likeness isn't totally off. I'd say that looking at this statue from face on is probably its weakest point as a statue, however, I have no intention of displaying this guy from face on and his likeness from various other angles look pretty much spot on in my opinion. With that said, I'm, still a little miffed as to why Iron Studios chose to over sculpt Hulk's top lip as this takes away part of the fierceness of his expression if you ask me. The pertruding top lip totally covers over what would be his top teeth and thus creating the 'Hulk without his false teeth in' look
his lips do have that glossy look that we saw on the Sideshow maquette which again is a nice touch of realism and you can see the bottom teeth too, but nowehere as good as the maquette version. So this would be my only grip with the statue, again this is a small issue for me as i'll be displaying mine from side on and regardless of the pics, you really need to see this badboy inhand to get that sense of detail, size and presence that this piece has.
So there you go guys, to some it up, Iron Studios have redeemed my faith in them as an up and coming company in our world of collectibles...yes, there's still room for improvement but my decision to allow them another chance to prove themselves to me rather than passing on this Avengers Diorama seems to have paid off
Next piece of the diorama and arguably the toughest to get right in terms of paint apps is....Iron Man MKVII
Next up will be an update on the Punisher Premium Format including Spazzy's custom hands/weapons
thanks for looking
Unfortunately my Hulk Maquette is packed away with my MKII Lifesize bust displayed on it and that's including a 10 ton glass display case aswell 
Is there any chance of you owning any of these cool diorama pieces? Are collectibles easy to purchase from South Africa? 
