While 2015 may be “The Year of Hulkbuster Iron Man”, 2016 is going to be “The Year Most of the Hulkbuster Iron Man Toys Actually Come Out”. From the Hot Toys Hulkbuster to the Bandai SH Figuarts and Sentinel RE:EDIT versions, most of the high-end Hulkbusters will be arriving throughout 2016. And now, we can add one more to the list, from out of nowhere and a somewhat surprising place: the 10″+ Medicom MAFEX Hulkbuster Iron Man figure is now up for order!

Medicom Toys has been producing the MAFEX line of figures for a few years now, but up until this summer they’d never even announced a Marvel character for inclusion in the line that wasn’t Spider-Man. But in August, they finally announced their next character: Iron Man (who else?) in his Avengers: Age of Ultron Mark XLIII armor.

Considering that the Avengers: Age of Ultron license isn’t a cheap thing, I hypothesized that Medicom would target Iron Man Mark XLV sometime soon as well. I was one off: their next release will actually be Mark XLIV–Hulkbuster Iron Man!

Overall this action figure will be Mafex #020, but it’s just the fourth figure in the line from a Marvel source (with the other three being Mark 43 Iron Man and Spidey from each of the Amazing Spider-Man movies).

This is easily the most ambitious project that Medicom has attempted since the inception of the MAFEX figures line, so I’m definitely intrigued to see how it turns out.

One cool feature of this figure is that you’ll be able to remove the helmet of the Hulkbuster to reveal a little Iron Man Mark XLIII helmet underneath, which I think is a pretty cool feature.

Also on the bright side, this approximately 1/12th scaled Miracle Action Figure EX Hulk Buster Iron Man figure will be quite a bit cheaper than the S.H. Figuarts Hulkbuster, as Mafex figures are cheaper overall than Bandai Tamashii and this version will contain no die-cast parts.
In addition, this MAFEX #20 Hulkbuster Iron Man will be about 270 mm (10.6″) tall, whereas the Bandai Tamashii one is only 250 mm (10″) tall. When you’re talking Hulkbusters, size definitely matters!

Both the sculpting and the paint deco on this toy also completely annihilate the Hasbro Marvel Legends iteration of this character (as they ought to, for the price that it costs).

This may be an expensive action figure, but at least it makes up for it in sheer coolness factor and in looking monstrously good!

That said, I haven’t been nearly as pleased with the Mafex figures that I’ve bought as I have been my SH Figuarts, so even though that’s looks loads better than anything else I’ve ever seen in the line, I’m still a bit shaky on dropping over $200 on a MAFEX figure. And speaking of the price…

Overseas, Medicom Toy is charging 27,500 Japanese yen (about $224 USD) for Hulkbuster Iron Man. Taking into account import fees and shipping from Japan, I think the ~$270 being charged domestically for this figure is pretty fair, despite still being a decently high price for a 10″ action figure. And hey, that’s still nearly just half the price that’s being charged by some retailers for the Hulkbuster Figuarts! Yikes!

The Hulkbuster Iron Man MAFEX figure is now up for order, and is scheduled to be released in summer 2016. The Bandai SH Figuarts version was a Bandai Tamashii Web Shop exclusive that was only available for pre-order for a few weeks and has been sold out for months now, so hopefully this version will have a longer order window and easier access for collectors hoping to add it to their 1/12 figure collections.

How do you think the Medicom Hulk Buster stacks up to the Bandai Figuarts version, Marvel collectors? Are you planning to add either (or both) of these behemoths to your collection, or are you content with the domestic Hasbro Hulkbuster armors released?