POPMart: Model Prime (Model 51) Iron Man - "A Journey Through Armors"

One of Iron Man's more 'modern' armors is up for review! Model Prime or Model 51 is one of those armors that I actually quite enjoy, so getting him in a blind box gimmick is not a bad thing at all. So let's go ahead and review this, shall we?

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I really like this series. So many cool armors represented!

Model Prime has a sleek design that’s very reminiscent of his 90s style, while still giving it that modern MCU look. The armor has less of the musculature-tights appearance and leans more into a robotic, armored aesthetic. Despite the exaggerated proportions, the sleek design translates well. The sculpt work is pretty good and does a solid job replicating how it looked in the comics.

Sure, the Model Prime could do a lot of crazy things in the comics — weapons popping out of his arms, the armor shifting to fit different situations (kind of like Season 2 of the 90s Iron Man Animated Series), and all kinds of nano-tech shenanigans. For this figurine, though, it stays in its base form, and I’m totally fine with that. The simple, sleek aesthetics look really good in this form.

Nothing too exciting with the base, although it does well enough to serve its purpose.

Yet another Iron Man with a repulsor blast pose! No complaints since this one is a one-for-one pose like the comic book cover this figurine is based on.

The classic red and gold carries over to Model Prime’s color scheme. On this POP Mart figurine, the colors come out well with a metallic paint job that makes the red as bold as possible. The gold isn’t as dominant, which feels intentional. There are some small hints of light blue and white on the eyes, arc reactor, and repulsors, but overall it stays true to the red-and-gold look.

I never read this comic, but it is (to my knowledge) the start of Model Prime's comic book run.

I do have a Model Prime Marvel Legends, though it's in storage somewhere. So I just decided to put this POPMart Model Prime next to some other Iron Man armors that I really like (the ones that lean on the red and gold--not named Hulkbuster).

Marvel Legends: Iron Men

• Extremis Iron Man

• Modular Iron Man

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Yes, there was a Samurai armor version!

Even in comic pages, Model Prime looks amazing. There are a lot of things that this armor can do; it's really hard to show that through tiny figurines.

Model Prime was my second pull from this blind box series. It’s definitely an armor I wasn’t disappointed to get. Out of all the armors available in this set, Model Prime sits pretty high on my list. Glad to have him.

Until Next Time!