Tamashii Nations's Age of Ultron figures went up for pre-order today! Were you able to get yours? Of course, Iron Man has been up for pre-order for awhile, and is supposed to ship any minute now. But wait! There's an newer, cooler, higher-numbered Iron Man armor with this latest batch. That's (A) awesome, because he looks much cooler and means we'll have a mid-movie upgrade, (B) almost predictable given the ridiculous rate they come out with new Iron Man variants with and (C) kinda a jerk move on Tamashii Nations's part. They sold the Mark 43 armor as if it was Iron Man's only suit, far ahead of all the other figures. This way, those who pre-ordered it would have little or no time to realize that if they wanted the iconic, final (I presume) Mark 45 suit from Age of Ultron, they'd have to get another yet another Iron Man figure. Intentional? I really don't know, but it is curious that they released the Mark 43 so far ahead of time. Let's break it down:
In Bandai's defense::
--- The Mark 43 is a redeco of the Mark 42, making it easier to produce, and therefore, quicker to release.
--- I did have time (albeit a small window) to cancel my Mark 43.
--- It might have been part of the licensing deal with Marvel to keep the Mark 45 under wraps as part of the film's hype engine.
Now, a bit more incriminating:
--- The release for Mark 43 is far ahead of the rest: 3-4 months.
--- In all the promotional shots, they showed the Mark 43 alongside the rest of the cast, as if it was Tony's main suit.
---- They had a shadow of the Hulkbuster (presumably the Mark 44) in the announcements of the Avengers line, leading potential pre-orderers to assume that was all that was left in the series.
All said and done, I bet Tamashii Nations (Bandai) didn't try to swindle its customers, but I would believe either way. I'm sure some of you won't mind at all and get both armors, but I think deceiving through pre-orders is pretty shady. (See my previous rant, also about Avengers pre-orders.) So many Iron Man suits ...
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