Home Gaming Marvel drops the lawsuit hammer on Iron Man cosplay factory

Marvel drops the lawsuit hammer on Iron Man cosplay factory

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iron mern

As anyone in the local cosplay scene will tell you, getting your dream costume together ain’t cheap. And it’s not just cash either that can be a barrier, as most folks these days don’t have time, cash or the patience needed to learn the skills necessary for this hobby. One company wanted to make a few bucks off of Iron Man fans though, with 3D printed suits. Until Marvel dropped Mjolnir on them.

One team in Shenzen were planning on producing wearable suits, thanks to their access to a 3D printer and injection moulding equipment. Based on the Mark III armour from the first Iron Man film, they took to Kickstarter to offer several packages according to TechCrunch.Iron Man (4)

Backers could have plonked down $1999 for a full injection moulded suit, or gotten their hands on a deluxe 3D printed version for $35 000. That’s almost R20 000 for a cheap version of armour, or R350 000 for a suit with all the bells and whistles, such as electronics and moving motorised parts. And if I had the cash, I’d have gladly paid it.

Iron Man (5)

Of course, Marvel got wind of this and promptly filed a Mark XXXVII cease and desist lawsuit, which they have every right to do so. I won’t discuss morality here, but man, I’d have loved to have seen some more of the work from this Chinese team.

So unless you’re in China, you’ll most likely never ever get your hands on one those suits. If you do have cash though, there are plenty of options. You can build some damn good Iron Man armour out of foam, such as this:

Iron Man (1)

Or spend an easy $3000-$10 000 on a fibreglass version, such as this:

Iron Man (3)

Totally worth it, even if you can’t fly, I reckon.

Last Updated: December 19, 2013

4 Comments

  1. I would like to see more as well, just a shame that they overstep the Marvel “boundary”, But this tech that they worked on could change cosplay for good, eerrrr or worse, depending on your own point of view. Yes it would be nice to have more accurate costumes, but it also takes the fun of creating your own costume. Still I’d like to know, with current tech, how long does it take to print a full suit like this? “OK, press ‘print’ to receive your order in 2 weeks” he he he.

    Reply

    • Major Commodore 64 Darryn B

      December 19, 2013 at 19:02

      There are ups and downs to 3D printing. In many ways, it streamlines the build process, but it can be time-consuming and expensive. Plus not everyone has the equipment. And even when stuff has been printed out, there’s still quite a bit of clean-up work to do on the prop.

      Reply

      • PropFx

        December 20, 2013 at 06:59

        I hardly call the clean up from a 3D print “quite a bit of work” compared to making it yourself. I’ve built costumes in every way possible. Sculpted, scratch built, vac-form, 3D print. If all you do is 3D print, you’re not much an artist. The work in the end does look soulless compared to someone who made it by hand.

        Reply

        • JazionKeera

          December 22, 2013 at 00:01

          Not to mention the price of it, my god. For people who can scratch build, it’s mainly for fabricating custom components or making masters… though it works pretty well for things like helmets or smaller items. That doesn’t even get into having to acquire the skills to 3D model or buying models off the internet that you probably still have to scale either way.

          Reply

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