Monthly Archives: December 2015

#0790: Penguin

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

PENGUIN

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DCC)

PenguinAnimated1

While the majority of character designs from Batman: The Animated Series stuck pretty close to the classic designs for the characters, there’s no denying that the series in general took some lead from the live action Batman films of the late ‘80s/early ‘90s. While the characterization of the Penguin was definitely his classic stuck-up, high-society, aristocratic personality of his classic comic appearances, his design was a mid-way point between the classic look and the Danny Devito version of the character from Batman Returns.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PenguinAnimated2Penguin is the 15th figure in DCC’s Batman: Animated line, which technically makes him a part of Series 4 of the line, though the actual layout of releases doesn’t really seem to following any actual order or anything. The figure is a little over 4 inches tall and he has 15 points of articulation. While he’s only got 15 points of articulation, the range of movement on this figure is pretty impressive, given his build. According to the packaging materials, he’s based on the character’s appearance in “The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne.” That’s kind of an odd choice, seeing as Hugo Strange is that episodes primary antagonist and Penguin’s role is little more than a glorified cameo, but whatever. Penguin’s appearance in The Animated Series is rather fluid; the guy looks fairly different from various angles. That makes rendering him in three dimensions no easy feat. The figure’s sculpt does make an honest attempt at properly translating. The results aren’t half bad, but he still looks a bit odd from certain angles. And the hair is PenguinAnimated4pretty off, which I think is one of the things throwing the whole figure off. Still, the overall result is nice and clean, and sums up the character quite nicely. The figure’s paintwork is probably some of the best I’ve seen from this line, which definitely does a lot for the figure. The monocle being actually see-through is technically not accurate, since it was always opaque on the show, but it looks cool enough that I definitely won’t be complaining. Penguin’s accessory complement is actually pretty awesome. He gets his signature umbrella in both open and closed looks, a teacup, a spoon, three pairs of hands (fists, gripping, and open), and a display stand, which is amusing because he’s too wide at the waist to actually use it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the last two Batman: Animated figures I’ve reviewed, Penguin was purchased from Cosmic Comix during their Biggest Sale of the YearTM. I’m not the biggest fan of the Penguin, so I wasn’t really sure I’d be getting this figure, especially since the prototype shots weren’t the greatest. But, the reduced price, coupled with him looking a fair bit better in person, led me to pick him up. I’m glad I did, because I think he’s one of the nicer figures from the line. Let’s hope more figures in the line end up like him.

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Star Wars – The Force Awakens: A (Pseudo) Movie Review

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Movie Reviews and tagged with ,

TFAPoster

Hey look! Another movie review!

I’m sure that everyone and their mother will be weighing in on the latest Star Wars film in the next week or so. I mean, there are already several hundred reviews out there by now. There’s a lot of buzz about this new movie, especially after the poor showing of the last three Star Wars films. Could the franchise reclaim the magic? The short answer? Yes.

I saw the film last Thursday night, and I really, really liked it. Now, as I said, there’s no shortage of reviews covering tons of different angles of the film, and all its various merits.  So, to set myself apart from all the other reviews, I’m gonna handle things a little differently. I’m going to examine the film through the lens of how it impacts all those action figures I bought. This is, after all, and action figure review site, is it not?

IN BRIEF

All in all, I really loved this movie. Sure, it didn’t top the original trilogy, but it was very definitely a worthy successor. It was a fantastic experience, from start to finish, and the whole “event” around it has really done a bang up job of reigniting my excitement for the franchise.

The general plot is very similar in structure to that of A New Hope (with a little Empire thrown in for good measure).  A lot of the story beats are going to feel very familiar, but not in a bad way.  The similarities are important to the story, and are key to recapturing the feel of the older movies.

Now, let’s look at some specifics:

 

 

 

—-THERE BE SPOILERS BELOW!—-

Continue reading →

#0789: Poison Ivy

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

POISON IVY

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DCC)

PoisonIvyAnimated1

When DC Collectibles launched their Batman: Animated line, they ran into a number of quality control issues, which left the first series of figures with a number of flaws. The most glaring issue was the exposed joints on the fronts of all the figures’ hip joints. However, a number of the figures also suffered from issues with brittle joints, especially on the ankles. This wasn’t a huge issue for the more robust designs of those characters. When it came time for the second series, DCC did their best to get all of the issues sorted out. However, they didn’t want to risk the more slight design of Poison Ivy being manufactured with brittle joints, so the choice was made to push her back a ways in the production schedule. Now she’s finally made it out! Let’s see how she turned out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PoisonIvyAnimated2Poison Ivy was originally part of the second series of the Batman: Animated line, but ended up being released around the same time as the Series 3 and 4 figures. She’s figure 08 in the line, as she kept her original number in spite of the delay in her release. The figure is just shy of 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation. Ivy is based on her New Batman Adventures design, specifically from the episode “Chemistry.” While Ivy had a few other appearances in the show, I do believe that was the only one where she was the lone antagonist, so it’s a fitting choice. Ivy’s one of the few characters where I don’t have a definitive preference of one design over the other, so I don’t mind the decision to go with the later look. The sculpt does a pretty good job of translating her design into three dimensions, which is quite impressive, since the female designs from the later show were pretty stylized. The proportions are a pretty good match overall for the show. It may just be me, but the head does seem just a tad too large. Also, my figure has a pretty obvious seam on the hair, and even has excess glue around it, which is really annoying. There was another figure that didn’t have the seam issue, but had much lower quality paint application, PoisonIvyAnimated3so I had to choose the lesser evil. Apart from that, I do quite like the sculpt on this figure; she really sums up Ivy’s look quite well. The paintwork on this figure is pretty much on par with the rest of the recent releases. The colors are good matches for the source material, and the application is mostly pretty good. There’s a bit of bleed over at the bottom of her leotard, but that’s really the only issue. Ivy is packed with three containers of chemicals (which are much better handled than the ones included with yesterday’s Two-Face), three pairs of hands (open, gripping, and fists), and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ivy hit at the same time as the BTAS version of Batman, but I only had the money for Batman at the time. I ended up getting Ivy from my local comic book store, Cosmic Comix, during their Biggest Sale of the YearTM. I’m definitely glad I got her, because issue with the hair aside, she’s a pretty great figure.

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#0788: Two-Face

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

TWO-FACE

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DCC)

TwoFaceAnimated1

When the characters on Batman: the Animated Series were redesigned for the New Batman Adventures revival, there was kind of a wide spectrum of just how far the changes went. Some characters received pretty radical departures from their previous looks, while others just had their old designs sharpened-up a bit. Two-Face more or less fell into the latter category of characters. He had a few changes, but mostly minor ones. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

TwoFaceAnimated2Two-Face was part of the first series of DC Collectibles’ Batman: Animated line, though he ended up only being released alongside Mr. Freeze, as Batman and Catwoman received solo releases in the preceding weeks. He is, appropriately, figure 02 in the line. This figure is based on the character’s appearance in the episode “Sins of the Father,” which is Two-Face’s first appearance in The New Batman Adventures, so it’s a good choice. The figure stands a little over 6 ½ inches tall and has 20 points of articulation. His sculpt is unique to him, though the suit is generic enough that it could possibly see some re-use down the road. The sculpt is okay overall, but it has a few small inaccuracies. The biggest is that he’s just a lot softer angled than he should be, especially on the shoulders. Presumably, this is in part about facilitating the movement of the joints, which is just one of the compromises of this style of figure. Also, as a first series figure, he has exposed joints at the front of his legs, which is a bit frustrating. His pelvis in general seems a tad low set as well. And, this is less an accuracy thing and more an aesthetic issue, the front tuft of the white side of his hair is a separate piece, and quite obviously so. There’s a pretty large seam, and it doesn’t really seat properly, which makes it prone to falling off (which mine has done a few times now). Aside from those issues, the sculpt is pretty well handled, and it does a fair job of translating his design into three dimensions. Two-Face’s paintwork is okay, but not without its drawbacks. There’s a little bit of bleed over at TwoFaceAnimated3the changeover from white to black on the suit, and the white paint gets kind of gloppy in a few places. But, the colors are pretty good matches, and he looks perfectly fine when viewed from a small ways back. Two-Face is packed with a handgun, a tommy gun, a pocket watch, a bag, two vials of chemicals in red and blue, a gas mask, three pairs of hands (trigger finger, fists, and open palm), and a display stand. Several of these (the mask, bag, chemicals, and watch) are specific to “Sins of the Father,” which is cool. I do wish the chemicals were more than solid colors, but oh well. Also, the relaxed right hand has a sculpted coin, since you can’t very well have Two-Face without it!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My local comic book store sold out of Two-Face when he was initially released, so I didn’t get him. I kept thinking about ordering him online, but I just never got around to it. Then, said comic book store got a few more in stock, just in time for their Biggest Sale of the Year TM. So, I not only got the figure, but I also got him at a reduced price. Which is probably for the best. He’s an alright figure, but he’s not as good as some of the other entries in the line.

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#0787: Poe Dameron & Riot Control First Order Stormtrooper

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

POE DAMERON & RIOT CONTROL FIRST ORDER STORMTROOPER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

Poe&Trooper1

By the time you guys read this review, I’ll have already seen the new Star Wars movie. Lucky me! Unless it’s terrible, in which case, un-lucky me! Of course this review was written beforehand, since I had to, you know, go see the movie, so I can’t offer any actual thoughts on the movie. I also still don’t have any real information on any of the new characters, so, hey, enjoy one more review of me talking about stuff I don’t know! That’s the best, right? Let’s have a look at resistance pilot Poe Dameron and a Stormtrooper variant!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released as part of a two-pack of figures from the new Force Awakens-branded Star Wars: The Black Series line. The set is a Target exclusive (in the US, anyway).

POE DAMERON

Poe&Trooper2“An ace pilot, Poe Dameron is a leader in the Resistance’s fight against the evil First Order. He soars into battle behind the controls of a modern X-Wing fighter.” So, yeah, that’s kind of the same bio we’ve gotten on every Poe figure so far. Hey, at least they’re consistent! This figure is based on Poe in his
“casual” look (the same look used for his “Armor Up” figure in the smaller scale). Poe is 6 inches tall and has 25 points of articulation. When this figure was first announced, the assumption was that he’d be making use of a lot of re-used parts, especially given that he and Finn have the same jacket. However, it appears that the only piece to actually be re-used is Poe’s head, which is the same piece as his single release figure (though you can be forgiven for not realizing, for reasons I’ll touch on in a bit). The likeness is decent enough, though not quite as good as some of the other figures. The rest of the sculpt is all-new, and quite well handled too. As with the smaller scale figures, Poe and Finn’s jackets have enough minor differences to give each of the figures a bit of uniqueness. Poe’s jacket is much sharper detailed in general, which makes it look a bit better. Poe’s paintwork is generally pretty good, though it is not without its drawbacks. The base color work is all pretty good, and there’s Poe&Trooper3not too much slop or bleed over. The clothing, especially the coat, have some nice accent work to help bring out some of the sculpt’s details. The head’s paint is easily the sloppiest, with the same wonky hairline that’s plagued all of the Poe figures so far, as well as a slightly messy attempt at giving him 5 o’clock shadow, which just looks a bit goofy. However, it’s leaps and bounds above the regular release Poe, who’s paint was, to quote Shaun of the Dead’s TV edit, “funk ugly.” Poe is packed with a rifle (which is the same model as his smaller scale figure), and a helmet.

RIOT CONTROL FIRST ORDER STORMTROOPER

Poe&Trooper4“Armed with specialized batons, the First Order’s Riot Control Stormtroopers are trained to subdue crowds in the most ruthlessly efficient manner possible.” Yeah, so here’s another Stormtrooper. But he’s got a new hat—I mean baton and shield! He’s the same figure as the regular First Order Stormtrooper from the first series of Force Awakens The Black Series figures.  It’s still a good sculpt, and you really can’t have too many Stormtroopers, so no complaints there. The main difference is the accessories. He gets the same pair of blasters as the regular release, plus a shield and baton, which make him an official “Riot Control” Stormtrooper. They’re both quite nicely sculpted, though he has a bit of trouble actually holding the baton.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I ended up finding this set at one of my two local Targets, without too much trouble. The main appeal of this set (for me anyway) was definitely Poe, since I hadn’t yet gotten him in this scale. I don’t have his other figure to compare, but this one looks to be the better of the two. The Riot Trooper doesn’t offer much new, but the new accessories are pretty cool, and I won’t say no to another Black Series Stormtrooper!

Poe&Trooper5

#0786: Princess Leia – Boushh

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA – BOUSHH

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

LeiaBoushh1

Hey, we’ve looked at two days of new and upcoming Star Wars stuff, why don’t we switch gears for a day and have a look at something a bit more old school. A ways back, in my very first Star Wars: The Black Series review, actually, I looked at the line’s first version of Princess Leia, which somewhat unfortunately presented her in Slave Leia get-up from Return of the Jedi. It’s not an outfit that really serves as a “definitive” version of the character, nor is it a design that translates all that well to action figure form. A lot of fans (myself included) have been clamoring for another, more action figure oriented (and more story prominent) design. It took a while, but Hasbro finally obliged, with Princess Leia in her Boushh disguise, a figure I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

LeiaBoushh2Leia was released in Series 9 of Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Black Series. She’s figure #16, going by the second round of numbering. Leia, along with IG-88 and Clone Commander Cody, was one of the last three figures to be released prior to the switch-over to Force Awakens product. This Leia figure is also based on Return of the Jedi, but comes from the portion of the movie prior to her capture by Jabba, while she is still masquerading as the bounty hunter Boushh. The figure is just over 5 ½ inches tall and has 27 points of articulation. She stands a little taller than the previous Leia, but Leia was supposedly wearing lifts to help disguise herself further, so it doesn’t bug me too much. Leia gets an all-new sculpt, and a pretty darn good one at that. The body has some pretty great layering on the various parts of her costume, which is very nicely used to help hide a lot of the articulation. The pair of tanks on her back are a separate, removable piece. The belt/bandolier is also a separate add-on, but not intended for removal. Both are nicely sculpted and scaled well to the figure. The bandolier has a soft goods cape attached, which I feel works a lot better than previous fabric parts, so that’s good. When I reviewed the previous LeiaBoushh3Leia, I noted that I thought the head sculpt was a pretty good likeness to Carrie Fisher. This one’s better. It helps that this figure also gets a much nicer paintjob than the last. While I wouldn’t mind a little more fine detail work to highlight the subtleties of the sculpt a little more, what’s here is pretty serviceable, and there aren’t any glaring issues. Leia is packed with a removable helmet, a a staff, and a thermal detonator. The helmet is the star piece here, and it fits well on her head. The staff is technically supposed to be the same as one of the two included with Slave Leia, but it’s an all-new, much larger, much more accurate sculpt, and she holds it quite nicely. The thermal detonator doesn’t really fit in her hand, but it can easily be stowed on her belt, which is cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Black Series is infamous for its distribution issues, so Leia was out for quite a while before I was actually able to find one. However, I finally managed to find her at a Walgreens, in the midst of killing some time while my Mom and brother were participating in a 5K. I’m glad I got her, because it was killing me that Slave Leia was the only version we had. This one is just a much better figure all around.

LeiaBoushh4

#0785: C-3PO & R2-D2

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

C-3PO & R2-D2

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

C3P0&R2a

A lot of the merchandise for The Force Awakens has focused on the film’s newest characters. This has been met with some apprehension by a portion of the fanbase, who don’t want to invest a lot of money on characters they know nothing about. Fortunately, not everything is based on the new characters, so classic fans have a number of “safer” options, such as today’s focus figures, C-3PO and R2-D2.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

C-3PO and R2 are part of the first series of two-packs from Hasbro’s current Star Wars: The Force Awakens line. They’re one of two sets of figures in this particular assortment to actually come from The Force Awakens, though even they only just barely qualify.

C-3PO

C3P0&R2bFirst up is the panicky, overly emotional golden boy of the franchise, C-3PO, human-cyborg relations. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has the now standard 5 points of articulation. To be fair, the reduced articulation is actually a lot less of an issue on someone like 3PO, since he’s not the most agile character to begin with. 3PO shares his sculpt with the recently released Mission Series Tantive IV Two-Pack version of the character, which seems reasonable enough, since his design hasn’t really changed. It’s a pretty good representation of the character, and it has some nice detail work, especially on the arms and the one open section of wiring on his midsection. So, old sculpt, old design, old character. What makes this figure The Force Awakens-inspired? Paint. For the most part, he’s just the usual gold, but now he’s got a funky red left arm. Why? I have no idea, but there it is. On the plus side, it looks like he finally got his silver leg replaced with a proper gold one, so he’s not too patchwork. The paint is fairly decent overall, though the eyes are a little wonky. If you have the option, you might want to look through a few sets to find the one with the least wonky eyes.

R2-D2

C3P0&R2cAnd here’s R2, the one single character in the entire franchise whose look never changes. But he really needed another figure, I guess. Plus, it’s not like you can release a 3PO figure without him. That’s insane. R2 is about 2 ½ inches tall and has 3 points of articulation. That’s kind of lackluster for R2, since it means he can’t even properly do one of his signature poses. Not that it matters, since he doesn’t have his third leg. Like 3PO, R2 also shares his sculpt with the Mission Series version. It’s a reasonable enough, I suppose. The details on the legs are a little soft, but not terribly so. In general, he looks like R2, which is the main point here. Unlike 3PO, the paint doesn’t really do much to set R2 apart from the previous figure to use the mold. It’s just fairly basic R2 paint. It’s fairly cleanly applied, so that’s good, but it would definitely help the figure if he had some sort of wash to help bring out the details of the sculpt. As is, he feels a little bland. This R2 is different from the last one is one way: accessories. Yep, this guy comes with a pair of missile launcher that can be attached to the top of his legs. Something tells me these won’t actually be showing up in the movie, but at the very least they do match R2’s overall aesthetic, and the missiles are actually kinda neat.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t really set out to find this pack or anything, but I saw it a few times at my local Target, and thought it was vaguely interesting. Then I realized I hadn’t actually bought a C-3PO figure since the POTF2 version from the 90s, and felt kinda bad, so I grabbed this set the next time I saw it. It’s certainly not the most exciting thing to come out of the new movie. 3PO’s got some merit, being slightly different from previous figures and being pretty well put together all around. R2 on the other hand, doesn’t really have much to offer, and is a “meh” figure at best. I’m kind of assuming most people will be getting this set for 3PO.

#0784: Guavian Enforcer

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

GUAVIAN ENFORCER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

GuavianEnforcer1

Alright, it’s just three days until the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in theatres, and I’m pretty excited. To show off my excitement, I’m going to review one Star Wars item from now through the 18th. First up is yet another character I don’t know much about, the Guavian Enforcer. Apparently, this guy’s a new army builder, so that’s cool I guess. Let’s have a look at one of the two versions of this character currently available.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GuavianEnforcer2“The security soldiers of the Guavian Gang wear high impact armor that makes them stand out among other deadly criminals.” The Guavian Enforcer is part of the second series of the Force Awakens-themed re-launch of Star Wars: The Black Series. He’s been designated as figure 08, which makes him numerically the third figure in Series 2. The figure stands 6 inches tall and has 28 points of articulation. The sculpt is totally new to this figure, and it looks to be a pretty good translation of the design from the film, at least from what I’ve seen. The design is certainly a change of pace for Star Wars. Some people have commented he looks a bit like Jason Todd as Red Hood; others have said he looks like an obscure Marvel villain, or even a product placement for Target. Me? I think he looks like one of Cobra’s specialized troopers from G.I. Joe. Which isn’t actually a bad thing, truth be told. The sculpt is pretty decent all around. There’s a lot of nice texture work, and the finer details look pretty cool. The proportions seem a little exaggerated, but without seeing the movie I don’t know for sure that they actually are. The paintwork on the Guavian Enforcer is fairly nicely handled. The jumpsuit is covered with a pretty thick wash of darker paint, which makes it look nice and worn in, and it brings out the texture work of the sculpt quite adeptly. There’s some slight bleed over on the helmet, and the silver gash could stand to be a little more subtle, but those are the only real drawbacks. The Enforcer gets a whole two accessories: one that looks like an old-fashioned tommy gun, and one that looks a bit more like a shotgun. Neither is painted, which is a bit of a bummer, but they’re sculpted pretty well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Guavian Enforcer is the first of the Series 2 I’ve been able to find (well, I also found Constable Zuvio, but I don’t really like his design). I found him at my closest TRU a few weeks back. I quite like the design of this guy, and he makes for a pretty neat figure. Hopefully the Enforcers make for decent characters in the movie!

#0783: Dreadknight

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

DREADKNIGHT

IRON MAN (TOY BIZ)

Dreadknight1

The 90s Iron Man cartoon is a very interesting thing. Like, I really enjoy it (well, the second season, anyway), but it was definitely the victim of some very poor timing. My review of US Agent touched on how unfortunate timing ended up saddling Tony with Force Works as his supporting cast, in place of the more conventional Avengers. Well, that also extended to his rogues gallery. Sure, characters like the Mandarin, Fin Fang Foom, MODOK, and even some of the second stringers like Blizzard and Whirlwind are classics who have stuck around. But, then you have the characters that just happened to be around at the time of the show, like Dreadknight, who’s essentially a poor man’s Black Knight, with some Dr. Doom thrown in for good measure. Not exactly the most memorable guy. However, he was in the cartoon, and that meant he got an action figure. So good for him.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dreadknight2Dreadknight was released in the third series of Toy Biz’s Iron Man line from the 90s. He was based on the character’s appearance in the show, which was in turn based on his appearance in the comics, which was unchanged. The figure stands 5 ¼ inches tall and has 9 points of articulation. Dreadknight’s sculpt was unique to him at the time, though most of the body sculpt would be re-used later down the line as a Black Knight figure. Generally speaking, it’s a pretty decent sculpt, and it’s on par with the rest of the line. Some of the musculature is a little on the large side, the arms are somewhat stubby, and he’s got a bit of a pinhead going on, but he looks pretty good as a whole. The occasional hint of chainmail detailing is an interesting way of handling it, but it works. Plus, the overlying clothing all has some nice folds and movement to it. It may be a bit small, but I do like the way his head turned out; very menacing. His cape is a separate removable piece. It’s pretty well sculpted, but it’s rather thick and heavy, and it doesn’t stay in place very well. Dreadknight has the misfortune of being saddled with a pretty horrific color scheme; the light blue and magenta really don’t go together. The figure accurately captures the colors, mind you, but they remain terrible. His paintwork is alright, but nothing fantastic. There’s a fair bit of bleed over on the edges of the magenta, which is certainly distracting. Dreadknight included a lance, with a weird, hard to use missile launching feature, as well as a shield, and a badge with his bio on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Dreadknight is another Toy Biz Marvel figure I didn’t have growing up. Can’t really say why, other than I guess never being super enamored by the character. I ended up picking him up from a dealer at this year’s Baltimore Comic-Con. He’s actually not a bad figure, and I’m especially happy to have him because he completes my Series 3 set!

#0782: Robin

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

ROBIN

SON OF BATMAN (DC COLLECTIBLES)

Damian1

Pretty much since his inception, Robin has served as a stand-in for Batman’s son. It adds to the whole surrogate family aspect that the creators built over the years. And, in classic TV Sitcom fashion, when said son grows up and starts to grow up and become less cute and adorable, they just bring in a younger model. Hey, those dark-haired, similarly built, already athletically trained orphans all need a home, right? Eventually, there came a point where they dropped the “stand-in” bit entirely and just gave Batman an actual, biological son to serve as the next Robin. Okay, it was more convoluted than that, but just trust me here. Anyway, his son was named Damian and also had the notoriety of being the grandson of Batman villain Ra’s Al Ghul. Damian’s whole story was adapted into one of the more recent DC animated movies, titled Son of Batman, and said movie got action figures, which included the Damian figure I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Damian2Robin was released as part of DC Collectibles’ four figure assortment for Son of Batman. Said assortment was actually part of DCC’s larger DC Animated line of figures, which includes Justice League: War, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, and Batman vs. Robin. Damian is figure #08 in the overall line, making him the third figure in the Son of Batman assortment. Which is weird, what with him being the title character and all. Oh well. The figure is about 4 ¾ inches tall and has 13 points of articulation. The articulation is rather on the stiff side here.  You can get some decent poses out of the arms and legs, but the neck (despite being a ball joint) isn’t good for anything more than side to side movement, leaving him perpetually staring down. While the rest of the animated figures are built from mostly shared body parts, Damian gets his own unique sculpt. Not terribly surprising, since his build is so notably different from the others. What’s interesting to me is that this sculpt doesn’t seem to have been sculpted with any real re-use in mind, since just about every piece has a character specific element to it. What’s more interesting is the amount of details not present in the sculpt. Despite it clearly being a unique piece, things such as the straps holding his arm and shin guards in place and his belt buckle are just painted on. Maybe they wanted him to look like the rest of the figures in the line? Slight oddities aside, the sculpt is fairly well handled. The proportions are nice, and what sculpted details are there are sharply defined. One frustrating thing is the figure’s copyright information, which is stamped onto the interior of his cape. While the figure hides in from most angles, thee fairly obvious lettering does jump out at you occasionally. As noted above, a certain degree of Damian’s costume details are handled via paint. The paint here is a marked improvement over the prior animated figures I’ve looked at. The lines aren’t fuzzy, he doesn’t have any obvious scuffing, and bleed over is minimal. There’s still room for improvement, but he doesn’t look half bad. Damian is packed with one accessory: a Katana. It’s reasonably well-sculpted, and he can hold it alright, though it’s not particularly imposing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this figure from my local comic book store, Cosmic Comix, during the annual “Biggest Sale of theYear” event. I picked him up in part because he was reasonably cheap, but also because I kind of like Damian, and I didn’t yet own a figure of him. Despite being the son of Batman, and serving as Robin for a few years, the figures of Damian Wayne are rather limited. To date, he’s had five, counting this one. DC Direct made two: one was from before he was Robin, and the other, while a nice figure, had a hefty aftermarket price. The next figure was from Mattel, and was….how do I put this? Abysmal. Like, they gave him bulging muscles and stuff. That left me two options: the super cartoony Lil’ Gotham version, or this one. I think I chose well. This figure’s got a handful of drawbacks, but the overall result is pretty good.

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