Iron Studios: The Collector's Guide to Art Scale 1/10, BDS and Legacy Replica Statues

Iron Studios make statues for people who want a scene on the shelf rather than a figure on a stand. Wolverine mid-lunge, Sauron rising out of Mount Doom, a Tarrasque that looks like it's about to eat the telly. They're hand-painted, they're heavy, and the good ones make every other thing in the room look underdressed.

The catch is the naming. Art Scale, BDS, Legacy Replica, MiniCo, Icons, Unleashed, Deluxe: it reads like a wine list. So here's what each line actually is, which ones fit together, and what to think about before a three-kilo lump of polystone turns up at your door.

Art Scale 1/10: Predator Jungle HunterArt Scale 1/10: Sandman

Who are Iron Studios?

Iron Studios is a Brazilian company, set up in São Paulo in 2012. It grew out of a partnership between the Brazilian distributor PiziiToys and the Japanese figure maker Kotobukiya, and it bills itself as the first Brazilian company making licensed collectibles purely for collectors.

In December 2012 it announced a licence with Marvel Studios, with Iron Man's Mark XLII armour as the first statue. Since then the licence list has grown to cover Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Disney, The Lord of the Rings, Masters of the Universe, Mortal Kombat, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park and plenty more. It also runs a workshop division producing full-size film replicas for events and exhibitions, which tells you something about the ambition.

The ranges, explained in plain English

• Art Scale 1/10: the core of the range. Fixed-pose, hand-painted polystone statues at a tenth of real size, each on a themed base. Height depends on the character and the base: the 1/10 pieces we list run up to 43cm for the Predator 2 City Hunter. Prices at the time of writing start at £154.99 for the X-Men '97 Wolverine and run up to £466.99 for the 37cm Disney Pocahontas.
• Unleashed: a sub-line within Art Scale 1/10. Lord of the Rings Sauron Unleashed (36cm, £403.99) and Gambit Unleashed (£335.99) both carry the name.
• BDS Art Scale 1/10: Battle Diorama Series. Still 1/10 scale, but designed to be part of a bigger scene. More on this below, because it's the bit that makes Iron Studios different.
• Art Scale 1/6 and Battle Diorama 1/6: the same idea, bigger. More presence, more money, more shelf.
• Legacy Replica 1/4: the top end. Quarter scale statues aimed at serious collectors, and they're big: Iron Studios' 1/4 Indiana Jones stands over 60cm tall.
• Icons: fixed display statues of, well, iconic characters and creatures. Our Dungeons & Dragons Tarrasque Icons statue is 24cm tall, weighs around 5kg, and costs £531.99.
• MiniCo: the small, affordable end. Palm-sized figures with oversized heads, a stylised caricature look created by designer Marcio Hum, and pitched at people without much space. They also make a decent gateway to the brand.
• Deluxe versions: some statues come in a standard and a Deluxe edition. Check exactly what the Deluxe adds before paying for it.

Icons: D&D TarrasqueMiniCo: The Mandalorian and Grogu

Most of what we carry is from the 1/10 range, with standalone pieces too: the 24cm Alien Big Chap (£279.99), Masters of the Universe White Sorceress (26cm, £199.99) and the black and white TMNT variants of Raph, Mikey, Leo and Donnie (26cm, £168.99 each).

Art Scale 1/10 and BDS: the connecting-base trick

This is the clever part, and the reason some collectors end up owning a whole crime scene.

What 1/10 scale gets you

• One tenth of real size is a sweet spot. It's big enough for proper detail in faces, armour and fabric texture, but small enough that you can fit a team on a single shelf.
• Because the scale is consistent across licences, an Iron Studios Wolverine and an Iron Studios Jango Fett are in proportion with each other. Mixing franchises looks right rather than odd.
• It's also the same scale as some other makers' statue lines, which is handy if you already own 1/10 pieces from elsewhere.

What BDS adds

• BDS statues are released as series built around a story or a fight, such as the Spider-Man vs Villains and Infinity Gauntlet dioramas.
• Each statue in a series stands on its own as a finished piece, but the bases are designed to fit together. Buy several from the same series and you can line them up into one continuous scene.
• The bases are a big part of the appeal: rubble, rooftops, alien landscapes, sculpted and painted as carefully as the characters.
• Our Kitty Pryde & Lockheed BDS Art Scale (£269.99) is a BDS piece that works perfectly well as a single statue, too.

The honest downside

• Connecting dioramas are a commitment. A series can roll out over a long period, one character at a time, and the full scene only appears when you've bought them all.
• Miss one, and you've got a gap in your rubble. Back-filling a missed statue later can cost more than it did at pre-order.
• So decide up front: are you buying a statue, or are you starting a set? Both are fine. Only one needs a spreadsheet.

BDS Spider-Man vs Villains: ScorpionBDS Spider-Man vs Villains: ElectroBDS Spider-Man vs Villains: Vulture

Polystone: what it is and why it matters

Iron Studios statues are made of polystone, a dense resin-based material, sometimes with PVC, metal or fabric parts mixed in. It takes fine detail and a hand-painted finish beautifully, and it's resistant to heat and humidity, which matters for something you'll keep for decades.

The trade-off is weight and brittleness. Iron Studios' own listing puts the 1/10 Sauron Unleashed at about 3kg, and the Tarrasque at around 5kg. Drop one and it chips or snaps; it doesn't bounce. Treat assembly like defusing something: on a table, with plenty of room, no rushing.

So which one should you buy?

If it's your first Iron Studios statue

• Start at 1/10 with a character you love. X-Men '97 Wolverine (£154.99) is the cheapest Art Scale piece we list at the time of writing and a very good one.
• A TMNT black and white variant (£168.99) is a stylish, slightly different choice, especially for anyone who remembers the original comics.

X-Men '97 Wolverine 1/10TMNT black and white: Leonardo

If you want a gift

• Masters of the Universe White Sorceress (£199.99) for the eighties kid in your life.
• Star Wars Jango Fett 1/10 (£269.99) for the prequel defender.

If you want a shelf centrepiece

• Lord of the Rings Sauron Unleashed (36cm, £403.99) dominates a shelf in the way only a Dark Lord can.
• Predator 2 City Hunter 1/10 (43cm, £335.99) is big for the money.
• Disney Pocahontas 1/10 (37cm, £466.99) is a surprisingly elaborate piece for anyone who thinks Iron Studios only do muscles and claws.

Sauron Unleashed 1/10Predator 2 City Hunter 1/10Disney Pocahontas 1/10

If you're a tabletop gamer

• The Dungeons & Dragons Tarrasque Icons statue (£531.99). Expensive, heavy, and exactly as smug about it as a Tarrasque should be.

If you're a fighting game or Marvel fan

• Mortal Kombat Shang Tsung 1/10 (£335.99) or Gambit Unleashed 1/10 (£335.99).
• Kitty Pryde & Lockheed BDS (£269.99) for the X-Men fan.

If 1/10 polystone feels too small and you want the full museum-piece experience, our Prime 1 Studio guide covers the really big stuff.

How ordering works with us

A few Iron Studios statues are on the shelf, but most of the range is listed as pre-orders we bring in especially for you. You order from us, we order it in from our European distributor, and it ships to you when it lands.

New releases are genuine pre-orders with a release window, and statue release windows can be a long way off, so it pays to be patient. Check each product page for its current availability and timing. Pre-ordering is how you get a statue at its normal price rather than at whatever the secondary market decides once it's gone.

Everything we can bring in for you is in our pre-order on demand collection, and the newest announcements land in collectibles pre-orders.

The honest bit: what we'd swerve

Starting a diorama you won't finish. If you only want one character, buy one character. Don't let a connecting base guilt you into five more.

Flimsy shelves. Several kilos of polystone on a cheap flat-pack shelf is a gamble. Check what your shelving is rated for, keep heavy pieces low, and use a cabinet if you've got pets or small children with throwing arms.

Sunny windowsills. Direct sunlight fades paint over time, and clear effect parts (energy blasts, water, fire) can discolour. Pick a spot out of direct light and away from radiators.

Deluxe for the sake of it. A Deluxe edition is worth it when the extras genuinely make the scene. If it's an extra bit of base and a higher price, the standard will do nicely.

Too-good-to-be-true prices. Buy from a proper retailer. A heavily discounted statue from an unknown seller is likely to be a knock-off, damaged, or both, and you'll have no comeback.

Binning the box. Keep the box and foam. If you ever move house, it's the only safe way to transport a statue, and it matters if you ever sell.

Shown: Marvel Comics BDS Art Scale Statue 1/10 Iron Man Deluxe 33 cm

The short version

• Iron Studios is a Brazilian statue maker, founded in São Paulo in 2012.
• Art Scale 1/10 is the core range: hand-painted polystone statues on themed bases.
• BDS (Battle Diorama Series) pieces have bases that join up into one continuous scene.
• Legacy Replica 1/4 is the big, premium end; MiniCo is the small, stylised, affordable end.
• Polystone is detailed and stable but heavy and brittle: think about shelves and handling.
• Keep statues out of direct sunlight and keep the packaging.

Browse the full range in our Iron Studios collection, or see more big display pieces in statues, plus franchise favourites in superheroes and Lord of the Rings.

Final thought: an Iron Studios statue looks best when it's telling a story. Pick the moment you love, give it a strong shelf and some shade, and only start a diorama if you plan to finish it.

Further reading: for more Middle-earth, see our Lord of the Rings Funko Pop release dates, or step up to the bigger stuff in our Weta Workshop collectibles guide.