Sheng Yuan SY1361: Iron Book with Iron Man Minifigures Review

Finally! 52 different Iron Man minifigures in one set!

TL;DR

Amazing minifigures. Great plastic, great prints. Only downside is that the book design prevents you from seeing the beautiful all around minifigure prints (you can't see the back of the figs when they're in the book). (Though of course if you're no Iron Man fan, then you wouldn't enjoy these anyway.)

Let's go through a quick unboxing first.

Though when I got the set, it was actually just a big cardboard box and inside was the big Iron Man box along with a folded hardpaper bag.

I think they're trying to turn even the packaging into a collectors item. Too bad the English on the red cover is off, lol.

Here it is. That's a big box. Inside the main box are two smaller red boxes that house the bricks and figs.

The box size is about right actually, since usually we get huge boxes for tiny sets.

The #7 bags are arguably the most important bags cause they house the minifigures!

Each number has a few bags inside. You have to open them all up at the same time to build properly. Still better than blindly building though.

Now let's talk about the build experience.

I didn't enjoy building the set. That is subjective though but I personally don't like repetitive tasks. Given the nature of the design though, I guess that was unavoidable. What I didn't like more were the confusing parts and instructions because the pieces used are different but look the same in the manual.

See those 1x1 bricks in the picture? They're not all the same so you really have to look closely.

I also had a hard time sticking these plates into place. Either I could've built the book more sturdily but I think it's really just that Chinese bricks aren't as defined or precise as Lego's. What I mean is that they might be uneven by really tiny angles/margins which cause a problem when it all adds up.

I also didn't like how SY grouped the minifigures. Some of the bags have two Iron Man minifigures; sometimes they're the same color but have different arm designs or helmets.

Like these two for example that came in one bag. They have different arm designs and you won't even see it I the instructions cause the minifigures in the instructions don't have arm prints.

Overall, the finished build looks great inside and out.

There are supposed to be stickers but I didn't use them since they looked cheesy.

I love this Iron Man face. If you're not a fan of the book, you can simply take this face off and display it as a picture or something similar.

Now onto the minifigures.

I'll just do a TL;DR since quality for all of them is practically identical.

MK 1

MK 2

MK 3

MK 4

MK 5

MK 6

A lot of you already know that the helmet mold with this set is different from the usual. This is the first and only set (so far) to have this helmet!

MK 7

MK 8

MK 9

MK 10

MK 11

MK 12

MK 13

MK 14

MK 15

MK 16

MK 17

MK 18

Slight misprints on the back?

MK 19

MK 20

MK 21

MK 22

MK 23

MK 24

MK 25

MK 26

MK 27

MK 28

MK 29

MK 30

They got arm details so great! I'm glad they didn't get lazy and didn't just mirrored one arm.

Not a fan of how they gave Gamma flesh hands though.

MK 31

MK 32

MK 33

MK 34

MK 35

MK 36

MK 37

MK 38

MK 39

MK 40

MK 41

MK 42

MK 43

MK 44

MK 45

MK 46

MK 47

MK 48

MK 49

MK 50

MK 85

MK 44 is Age of Ultron Hulkbuster.
MK 48 is still unknown but suspected to be Hulkbuster 2.0.
MK 49 is Pepper's Rescue armor.

My MK85 didn't have face prints and i think that's a shame considering almost everything else has been good. As a collector though, I can appreciate how this is "rare" lol. Still not a good sign for good quality control though.

MK 50 and MK 85 also came with their iconic weapons which is always a welcome addition. Though there's nowhere to put them inside the book.

The four kinda out of place Iron Man minifigures.

We have:
Tony Stark, Tony Stark from the Avengers Tower mini set, Iron Legion, and Quantum Suit Iron Man.

I would've preferred to see MK 49 Rescue, minifig versions of MK 44 and MK48(?) aka the Hulkbusters, and maybe keep the Iron Legion.

Sheng Yuan loves to use that head for Iron Legion. I'm not complaining since it's hidden anyway.

Sheng Yuan was also generous enough to include more blast pieces.

These are also the extra parts included with the Iron Man minifigures.

These are the notable accessories along with the wine bottle that is a reference to the party scene in Iron Man 2.

I loved looking at this. Though again, these pictures don't have the side prints on them.

Oh and these are the stickers, almost forgot to show them.

Do I recommend this set? 100% if you're an Iron Man fan. Initially, I thought it would be an easy slip for people who already have all the marks but these are arguably the best variants out there today. All around prints and great plastic quality make it worth it, plus it's a new helmet mold that's more accurate to the movie. 

Though if you're not an Iron Man fan, this is something you can skip and you won't really miss anything. 

Want more Iron Man? 

Well we have our own  Iron Man minifigure guide. I'll also try to update it soon to include this Iron Book along with some other new Iron Man variants.

If you're in the Philippines and want to see it in person before buying the set, AngeloMarcus Greenhills has them on display! I saw it there and also decided I wanted it (after seeing already tempting pictures online, even from some readers haha).

For those outside the Philippines, here's an affiliate link:
http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/kjZVUk6M

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