Hot Toys Holiday Gift 2009

When Hot Toys announced their Iron Man Tony Stark Mech Test figure about a week and a half ago, they also announced a contest on their Facebook page – all you had to do was enter your top 3 Hot Toys products for a chance to win.  I was lucky enough to be one of the names drawn at random, and this morning I received a package from Hong Kong.

I was pretty psyched – the box was about 14 inches long, and I didn’t think it was possible that there could be one of their premium figures inside, but was hoping just the same.  And – a preview of 2010?  Pretty interesting.

Inside, here’s what I found.

It’s a TrueType body, but a little different from any that I’ve seen before.  The body looks more muscular than previous versions – there are two “sheaths” that cover his thighs to bulk them up a bit.  Could this be a new version of the TrueType body for 2010?

The headsculpt, if I’m not mistaken, is Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) from Prison Break, but then I started to wonder what else he’s been working on.  In 2010, Miller’s playing Chris Redfield in Resident Evil: Afterlife – total speculation, but could a new license be in the works for Hot Toys?

Having only recently started buying premium format collectibles, this is actually my first Hot Toys product.  (There’s some sticker shock when you’re used to buying action figures for $10.)  I do have the MMS Joker on route, hopefully to arrive before the holidays, but I’ve only got a few things I can compare this against.

On thing that has always struck me when looking at pictures of the TrueType bodies unclothed is how large the heads look in comparison to their bodies – I imagine that it’s so when the figures are clothed you’ve still got functional articulation.  And that articulation is awesome.

The movement is really natural, and the joints are both fluid and sturdy at the same time.  In particular, the wrists and ankles allow for some really great poses – the only things I have that are comparable are the Medicom RAH Dragon Ball Z Goku and Piccolo figures that started me on this crazy path.

I was speaking with someone from the toy industry recently.  We got to talking about Marvel Legends, and how Toy Biz really moved the ball forward in action figure articulation.  The insider pointed out what Toy Biz really did was attempt to bring the articulation of figures like this to the 6-inch scale.  I can see that now.

Many thanks to Hot Toys and Emily Leung for this great holiday gift!

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