Losing most of my vision (and function of my left side) has altered what and how I collect somewhat. If I can’t see (or lift) enormous statues that are larger than my field of vision, what’s the use in having them, right…? And so, I’ve begun prioritizing smaller, lighter statues such as the 1/10 scale Battle Diorama Series from Iron Studios. And thus, I’ve backtracked to pick up some pieces from the last year or so that I missed—including some statues from Avengers Endgame such as the subject of today’s review: the Iron Studios Endgame Rescue statue is a great value at $105 shipped—should you add this Pepper Potts to your collection?

When I first saw Avengers Endgame in theaters, my mind was blown by the surprise appearance of Gwyneth Paltrow in blue Rescue armor. I instantly knew I would eventually be buying her someday as a loftily-priced Hot Toys die-cast figure.

But toward the end of the lengthy years-long wait for that die-cast sixth scale figure to arrive, I lost a lot of brain cells, vision and productivity. So when I got out of the hospitals in the fall, I had to ask myself: Do I still really need a $400+ metal figure of armored Pepper Potts with about one minute of screen time in one movie…? Probably not.

 

And so, I canceled the Hot Toys Rescue figure after deeming it overly extravagant for my present needs. I’m still a big fan of this character, however, so I opted to snag the still-available Iron Studios statue of the character—that was far, far lower-priced, smaller, and easier for me to see and handle—from Sideshow with their current free shipping and $10 off offer on her.

Iron Studios went all-out by releasing virtually every superhero that appeared in Endgame as a 1:10 scale statue, and Rescue Pepper Potts will make a wonderful complement to any kind of display of them.

Rescue comes in the same style of familiar graphic art box as the rest of the line.
It’s simple, colorful and gets the job done—but it’s just a box that doesn’t feel particularly “special” at all.

The statue comes inside styrofoam with each of the four pieces (body, base and two heads) wrapped and protected by tissue paper.

Pepper is posed hovering above a plume of smoke and fire, similarly to right after when she first flies in for the final battle in Endgame. It’s as good a pose as any for this character, but honestly a tad boring and uninspired feeling. A back-to-back action-packed diorama piece with Iron Man and a cool effects piece blast would have been more memorable.

Ordinarily, Iron Studios only includes a second head with higher-priced, “deluxe” releases, but this time we’re treated to an interchangeable alternate “faceplate up” portrait at no extra charge with one of the cheapest statues in the series.

I don’t think Iron Studios will win any awards for realism for their tiny Gwyneth Paltrow face here, but I can at least tell that the likeness is her, which is rather good for a face-only portrait at this scale. A fully-unhelmeted head would have been cooler, but Iron Studios may not have had reference for that when they were developing this item for a quick solicitation after Rescue was revealed in the movie.

Both heads attach via strong magnets that efficiently and snugly hold them on the armor’s neck. The fully-helmeted head is less fun and exciting, in my opinion, but is on-point if that’s your preferred display look for this character.

Iron Studios opted for a gritty metallic dark blue as the primary color for this statue, and it looks terrific overall. The paint lines are neat and clean, as are the various tiny details all over the nooks and crannies of the armor.

I think the deep, ultra-shiny metal paint that Hot Toys uses might have looked even better here with its resplendent shininess, but the chosen metallic paint still looks nice—just not as “shiny”.

I’m not sure if the paint Hot Toys uses on their plastic and die-cast Iron Man armor permutations would be compatible with a resin statue anyway; I just feel like resin statues should have the best-looking paint out there, and it’s a little troubling that the die-cast Hot Toy arguably looks to have higher-quality paint (albeit at nearly quadruple the price-point, but still).

The BDS Rescue statue is just barely under 10” tall, and features Rescue’s air flaps (“wings”) permanently opened on her back. The weathered yellow text on the flaps really pops and is one of the standout details on the piece. I’ve never had a quality problem with an Iron Studios piece before, so I was concerned when a slight bit of tissue paper from the packaging was stuck to the tip of one of the flaps. It peeled off A-OK, though, alleviating my worries.

Whether or not it makes sense for Tony Stark to craft this armor with the proportions that he did for Pepper’s feminine body type is up for debate, but there’s no denying that Iron Studios accurately recreated the design as it appeared on-screen in the film.

Overall: Iron Studios Rescue is a sleek, well-done piece at an affordable (as far as resin statues go) price-point. The interchangeable head is a welcome surprise, and I think both heads give off a different vibe and add to the display options. The paint on this piece, the pose and the base are all very nice as well. There’s nothing about this particular statue that particularly jumps out at me and “wows” me, but there’s nothing notably wrong with it either. Given the small spatial footprint and monetary investment of this Rescue BDS, I’m a bit surprised this 1:10 statue still hasn’t sold out as it is actually discounted quite a bit now. A lovely complement to any collection of Iron Man and/or MCU statues in this scale.

GRADE: B