I love Hot Toys; I love Iron Man 3. Ergo, I typically have no problem whatsoever with Hot Toys milking the Iron Man 3 license and sucking our wallets dry. That said, even I had to furrow my brow today–just a little bit–when Hot Toys announced an all-new Iron Man 3 Hot Toys Hall of Armor House Party Protocol Version diorama! You’ll be able to build your own Iron Man 3-style Hall of Armor, and the price is supposed to be affordable, but, well… the quality of this new House Party Protocol Hall of Armor definitely remains to be seen…

For the most part, Hot Toys can do no wrong when it comes to their 1/6 Marvel Movie Masterpiece Series figures. Figures that people bash based on the prototypes (such as Thor: The Dark World Loki) come out looking fantastic, and even figures that are less than fan-demanded (like the not-seen-in-Iron Man 3 War Machine Mark II) end up being gorgeous pieces of work in their own right.

Though some will decry Hot Toys’ attention to releasing different iterations of Iron Man, the Hot Toys Iron Man line has been highly successful to date. And when you have well over a dozen spectacular Hot Toys Iron Man figures, they need an equally spectacular way to be displayed, right?

Well, I’m not at all sure that it’s going to be “spectacular”, but Hot Toys has devised a new way for us to display our Iron Man 3 Hot Toys sixth scale figures–in a brand new House Party Protocol Verison Hall of Armor Diorama!

The new House Party Protocol Hall of Armor Hot Toys diorama units feature LED Lights and a display stand, and can be set next to each other or stacked up on top of each other–just like in the Iron Man 3 movie. And as was the case with the previous Hot Toys Hall of Armor units released, you’ll be able to purchase a Hall of Armor (House Party Protocol Version) cell individually, so you don’t have to worry about making room for 18 of these monsters adjacent to each other unless you really want to.

On paper, this all sounds great. My concern with this new Hall of Armor House Party Protocol Ver. product is actually the quality, something I rarely worry about with Hot Toys products. Why am I concerned? Because unless I am totally deluded, this new Hot Toys House Party Protocol Hall of Armor is made of styrofoam.

If you look at the indentation marking on the sides of each cell, it’s very clear that this new Hot Toys Hall of Armor has been created using polystyrene (AKA styrofoam). In fact, the texture of each of these new Hall of Armor House Party Protocol units looks to be nearly identical to the interior packaging from the Die-Cast Hot Toys Iron Man 3 Iron Patriot and War Machine figures.

These Hot Toys House Party Protocol Hall of Armor units are going to be priced at $450 HKD (around $60 US), so they’re certainly cheaper than the 2013 Hot Toys Iron Man Hall of Armor diorama units. Even so, I’m not thrilled about the notion of spending $60+ on something which is basically just a big piece of styrofoam with a stand and some LED lights. And I definitely wouldn’t feel comfortable stacking my $250-$300 Iron Man figures on top of each other in these things until I’ve heard some reviews of them.

The Iron Man 3 Hot Toys Hall of Armor (House Party Protocol Verison) units will go up for sale this weekend in Hong Kong, and I expect that we’ll see them up for sale on the Sideshow Collectibles website in the very near future.

Also, before anyone gets too excited about the four crazy-looking, never-before-seen Hot Toys Iron Man figures shown in the prototype, those are not upcoming Iron Man Hot Toys figures–they’re customs from the Hot Toys Iron Man art show.

I really don’t expect any of these particular wacky, non-canonical Iron Man Hot Toys figures to see production (though I’d probably buy a translucent Hot Toys Iron Man myself).

Ordinarily I’m a day one adopter for Hot Toys products (especially Iron Man ones!), but I’m going to take a strong “wait and see” approach on this Hot Toys House Party Protocol Hall of Armor diorama. Maybe this is going to be sturdy and high-quality enough that I’ll feel safe and proud displaying my Hot Toys Iron Man 3 figures in a diorama made of these cells, but I’m going to play the long game with these.

What do you think of the new Hot Toys Iron Man 3 Hall of Armor House Party Protocol diorama units, Marvel collectors? Will you be picking up one or two (or thiry-five) of these new Hall of Armor sets, or is $60+ more than you’re willing to invest in something primarily made of styrofoam?