Hot Toys is wagering that you just can’t get enough merch from Iron Man 3, so in honor of the Iron Man 3 DVD/Blu Ray being released today, they’ve put up a new item for Iron Man Hot Toys fans to buy–though it’s not exactly the one collectors have been waiting for! Though Hot Toys collectors have been chomping at the bit, nervously waiting for the chance to pre-order the Hot Toys Midas Iron Man 1/6 scale figure, that will have to wait for another day. Instead, the Hot Toys Iron Man 3 Busts Deluxe Set of 8 is now available for pre-order!

I’ve got a soft spot for Marvel mini busts. Way back when I was in diapers (or maybe it was college), Bowen mini-busts (by Bowen Designs) were my first-ever entry into the world of high-end collectibles. Though mini busts have dropped in popularity in the last few years, as the popularity of full statues continues to rise instead, I always given new Marvel mini busts at least some consideration for adding to my collection.

This particular set of 1/6th scale Iron Man Busts includes: Iron Man Mark 42, Iron Patriot, War Machine, Blue Steel Iron Man, Tank Iron Man, Silver Centurion Iron Man, Heartbreaker Iron Man and an exclusive Battle-Damaged Mark 42 Iron Man. All but the Battle-Damaged Mark XLII Bust are available for $50 each, whereas the set of eight costs an intimdating $370.

Depending on my mood I vacillate between being satisfied with the amount of high-end Iron Man 3 collectibles I have on order or lusting insatiably after more. My feelings for this Hot Toys Iron Man 3 Sixth Scale Bust set are pretty irresolute. On the one hand, I like that the set includes the first high-end Iron Man Mark 30 Blue Steel and Iron Man Mark 24 Tank armor collectibles. On the other hand, well–I’m already going to be getting the other armors as full Iron Man 3 Hot Toys 1/6 figures next year, so I don’t really care that much about owning those armors as busts as well.

I won’t say that it’s necessarily “lame” that there are repainted busts as part of this set–tooling is expensive, after all–but it is kind of “ehn” that there are only four unique sculpts in the Hot Toys Iron Man 3 Bust Deluxe Set, and every single one of those four has a repaint within the set.

The one big carrot Hot Toys has to dangle with this set of Iron Man 3 busts is that, while you can buy seven of the busts individually, you can only get the Battle Damaged Iron Man Mark 42 Collectible Bust as part of the complete set of eight busts. I like the Mark 42 Iron Man Battle Damaged bust a lot more than the clean one because of all the extra deco on it, but I don’t know that I like it enough to buy the whole set of eight Hot Toys Iron Man 3 busts just to get it.

The Iron Man 3 Hot Toys 1/6 Scale Busts are now available for pre-order via the Sideshow Collectibles website, with an expected delivery date in January 2014 (which is a super-fast turn-around time for a Hot Toys product). You can purchase the busts as a complete set of eight with the exclusive Battle Damaged Iron Man Mark XLII Bust, or buy any of the other seven busts individually.