Amidst the landslide of Marvel toy news coming out of San Diego Comic Con 2013, there were bound to be millions of little tidbits of information that got lost in the shuffle and not given the attention they deserve. One such nugget has to do with a new addition to the high-end Gentle Giant Mini Bust line: a new, previously unannounced Iron Man 3 bust! Up for pre-order now, it’s the Amazon exclusive Iron Man 3 Iron Patriot Bust! 

Though the Iron Man 3 movie was beyond a doubt the biggest Marvel event of 2013, Gentle Giant was surprisingly not poised to capitalize on the movie’s success (at all). Gentle Giant previously only had one product made up for Iron Man 3–a Premium Guild Member War Machine bust that was only available for Gentle Giant club members to buy and not the general public.

Perhaps realizing the folly of this strategy, Gentle Giant Ltd. revealed at last week’s SDCC 2013 that there will be one more Iron Man 3 bust released: the War Machine bust will be remodeled into the exceptionally popular Iron Patriot armor from the film, and the resulting Iron Patriot mini bust will be available exclusively from online mega-retailer Amazon.

Personally, I think that this is a pretty marvelous (seriously, no pun intended) idea on Gentle Giant’s part. The Iron Patriot armor is vastly more popular than the War Machine armor right now, so doing a general release of the Iron Patriot Iron Man 3 bust while keeping the War Machine bust an exclusive for the hardcore collector’s club members makes total sense. And as much as I liked the War Machine mini bust, that sculpture looks way better painted up in the patriot red, white and blue of the Iron Patriot.

That price-tag of close to a hundred bucks for the Gentle Giant Iron Patriot Amazon exclusive bust was a bitter pill to swallow at first, but after some reflection I didn’t feel too bad about it. Typical Gentle Giant Marvel busts sell for around $85 plus $15-$17 shipping these days, so with free shipping and no tax the Iron Patriot mini bust ends up not being any more expensive than the usual Marvel busts from Gentle Giant. And unlike most Marvel mini busts, this Iron Man 3 Iron Patriot bust has a light-up ARC Reactor chest and repulsor blast hands, so it actually feels worth the pricy $98.99.

If you want one, Amazon has their exclusive Iron Patriot mini bust up for pre-order right now, with a scheduled release date of November 2013. I’m not sure if I definitely want this Iron Patriot bust or not, but since it is limited and it’s a cinch to cancel pre-orders with Amazon, I went ahead and ordered one anyway. Provided I don’t cancel the pre-order later, I’ll post a full review and photos of the Iron Man 3 Iron Patriot bust when it arrives this winter.