War Machine’s Civil War suit gets the ultimate homage with this 1/6th scaled collectible from Hot Toys.
Producer: Hot Toys
Price: Approx. $345 USD
Release Date: Feb. 2017
Item Height: Approx. 12.75″
Item Weight: N/A
Batteries: 12 x LR621 cell batteries
WHERE TO BUY: SideShow Collectibles (Long Sold Out)
Although I’m not nearly as into comic books now, growing up I was into Marvel comics very heavily and I still have the first comic I bought which is an episode of War Machine. Even though I honestly remember only buying it because of how cool the costume looked on the cover, the James Rhodes character quickly became and stayed my favorite Marvel character even to this day so needless to say when the Iron Man movies began and the Rhodes character (then played by Terrance Howard) looked at a suit as if contemplating putting it on and said, “next time.” I wanted Iron Man 2 to come out as soon as the credits were done rolling! Bring in Iron Man 2 and I finally got Rhodes (then and since played by Don Cheadle) all armored up and shooting everything in sight. Now the original War Machine (Mk I) armor used in Iron Man 2 was a very slavish nod to the comic armors but once Avengers: Age of Ultron and Iron Man 3 hit, there was the War Machine Mk II (Mark 2) that just wasn’t very appealing to me in its more slimmed silhouette and lack of artillery (although I thought it looked much better with the Iron Patriot deco.) After that, the Mk III costume debuted in the Captain America: Civil War Movie and it caught my eye immediately. It had the more updated styling of the Mk II while keeping the more “bulky” look and heavier artillery of the MK I. It was what I called a perfect blend of old and new and I’ve loved it ever sense.
Later on, Hot Toys added the War Machine Mk III to their lineup of 1/6th scaled diecast collectible homages and now I’m ecstatic to finally own one. Check out the video above as well as my written thoughts and gallery below and I’d love to know what you all think of this piece in the comment section as well. Even though I have heavy bias towards the character and this particular costume, I certainly try to be as objective as possible towards it as a product.
Presentation: The box on this one is just like the previously reviewed Iron Man Mk XLVI in terms of style and just as impressive. The multi-layered packaging and fantastic artwork is seriously impressive.
Build: The War Machine Mk III from Hot Toys is a mixture of diecast and plastics throughout the frame and it is insanely hefty in terms of both feel and actual weight even compared to the Hot Toys diecast Iron Man pieces I own. The paint and small details like the tampoes and even the offsetting of different silvers on the mark are plain emaculate. The engineering is almost 1:1 with the Iron Man Mk XLVI in terms of things like the waist extending in multiple places and hips dropping down for more range of motion but this one actually improves upon the method and gets further range. It should also be noted that the peg system used for the forearm covers of the light switches are much more well done in the since that they not only peg in and out easier but are less prone to breakage. Even though War Machine hasn’t been portrayed as a main star in the movies, this collectible got just as much attention to detail if not more than any other Hot Toys product I’ve seen.
Accessories: The War Machine Mk. III comes with a good amount of accessories:
– Three (4) pairs of hands:
– One (1) pair of fists
– One (1) pair of opened hands
– One (1) pair of articulated hands
– One (1) pair of fist showing blasters revealed on the tops of the hands.
– One (1) Baton with LED features
– One (1) alternate helmet with removable faceplate to reveal likeness of the James Rhodes character
– One (1) battle damaged chest armor
– One (1) back-mounted machine gun
– A variety of interchangeable pieces to emulate weapons activated throughout the torso and arms
– A stand with specialized base
Pardon my language, but these accessories just kick ass. The “loaded” look when all of the swap pieces are attached showing guns and launchers throughout the body are really fun and everything pegs and unpegs very easily. The only slight to the accessories it the inability of the articulated hands to grip the palms as well as I’d like and I wish that at least one more right hand with a fixed “grip” was available specifically for holding said weapon.
Articulation: The articulation points are shown in depth on the video portion above and they’re really good. Much like the Iron Man Mk XLVI though, I do wish this had a bit more range to look better in some key poses but it’s hard to even imagine how it’d actually be implemented with this suit being so bulky. For the design of the suit itself I’d say the articulation is great.
Overall Score: 9.5/10 – The Hot Toys War Machine Mk III is incredible and so well done from head to toe that it gives me honest-to-goodness goosebumps when I look at it in my shelf. The only nitpick I really have is the articulated hands not holding that damned baton as well as I’d like and even that isn’t “bad” but sticks out like a sore thumb because everything else about this piece is so insanely perfect.
Check out the gallery below, even though the Hot Toys diecast War Machine Mk III is sold out keep an eye on Sideshow Collectibles for all of their latest releases.
