thanks for taking the time to share your pics.
When you have a moment can you share your thoughts as well? what did you really like and what was less appealing?
Well, what I like:
- The presence of this bust. The added shoulders may not seem much but, in person, they make a big, BIG difference! I don't know how to explain it better but you can see the full "width" of Iron Man as if he were there and, having it on your desk, it's REALLY impressive. For fun, I took a "selfie" with it for some friends (who are used to my Premium Formats) and the first question they asked was: Who went at the office in that suit? LOL
- I love the Mk.42 colors (even more than the Mk.43). I tought the movie itself (IM3) was okay but I really like the dark red with the 2 different shades of gold.
- The light effects (reactor and eyes) are awesome and very bright. It would have been even better to get the same details as the Hot Toys 1:6 in the reactor but, honestly, I looked at many movie stills and, the light is so bright that you can't see any.
- The paint application is very good (except for the point I will make later). Almost no bleeding and nothing sloppy like the IP Maquette here. It's no small feat considering that there seems to be very thin lines of black paint between every plate.
What I didn't:
- The differences vs the prototype. Like everyone here, I was expecting the brush effect on metal and a more reflective (car-like) paint finish. That would have made this LSB an instant-sellout/homerun/grail. Instead, it's *just* a quality piece that compares very favorably among the other Sideshow IM LSB (some will say that it's not much!).
- Under a certain light/angle, on some part of the gold painted areas (light and dark), are what look like "dirty/greasy fingers stains" (they're not mine!!!). It doesn't seem to be embedded in the paint itself but it's as if the bust was handled too soon after paint had dried (or someone just ate KFC before packing it). If you look at the photo below, you will notice some in the dark gold area (there are some more less visible in the light area). If someone has an idea of what I could try to clean that without making it worse, I'm all ears.
Overall, I'm very satisfied with this piece (yes, even at the $1,000 price tag). In my eyes, it's a very solid piece (much more, IMO, than okay/decent/acceptable). It could have been even better and I would exchange it for the prototype in a blink (who wouldn't?) but it's easily in the top-tier of the Sideshow pieces I own.
but alas...despite sideshows epic proto pics of this MK42 bust, you kinda knew that the production piece would'nt live up to it. 
