Tag Archives: Batman

#1277: Pirate Two-Face & Pirate Batman

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

PIRATE TWO-FACE & PIRATE BATMAN

LEGENDS OF BATMAN (KENNER)

Remember when I reviewed Buccaneer Batman, the inexplicable pirate-themed Batman variant from super wacky ‘90s Legends of Batman line?  Well, he wasn’t the only inexplicable pirate-themed variant in the line.  Not by a long shot!  Today, I’m looking at the *other* pirate-themed Batman from the line, dubbed “Pirate Batman” (real original on that one, guys), alongside one of his pirate-themed foes, Pirate Two-Face (again, great job on the name, guys…).  Let’s have a look!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Pirate Two-Face and Pirate Batman were released in 1996 as one of the two two-packs from Kenner’s Legends of Batman.  These two wrapped up the Pirate subset that was started in Series 3 of the main line.

TWO-FACE

“After a tragic accident left half his body hideously scarred and half his mind horribly insane, the once promising ship’s captain Pirate Two-Face sailed the seven seas as the most ruthless pirate leader in the annals of history.  Upon boarding captured ships laden with treasures, Pirate Two-Face would decide the fate of the crew and passengers with the flip of a coin.  His unpredictability, unchecked greed, and sword fighting skills could be challenged by just one man, Pirate Batman, who he eluded at every port of call.”

So, in this pirate scenario, Two-Face is more or less unchanged, it seems.  Mostly, they just threw the word “pirate” in there a lot.  Fair enough.  It’s worth noting that this was Two-Face’s only figure in this line; Joker, Catwoman, and Riddler all had standard comic figures, but Harvey was stuck as a pirate all the time.  I mean, at least he got a figure at all, right?  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Pirate Two-Face was a unique sculpt, and it’s actually a pretty solid one.  His design plays up the “good vs evil” dichotomy, but in true pirate style.  Rather than his usual suit, Pirate Two-Face is half naval officer, half dastardly pirate captain.  His naval officer side is clean and pressed while the pirate side is disheveled and wrinkled like crazy.  His collar on the pirate side is even slightly popped, before settling back down on the “good” side.  The pirate side gets the usual facial scarring (which is surprisingly gruesome for a kid’s toyline), and he also seems to have lost an arm and a leg along the way, replacing them with a peg-leg and some sort of swiss army knife-sword-hook combo replacing them.  As a whole, he really sells the pirate angle pretty well, while still sticking close to the Two-Face side of things as well.  For paint, Pirate Two-Face is generally pretty good for the time; his colors are obviously split down the middle, with blue on the right and red on the left.  The changeover works pretty well, though there’s a bit of slop right on the line, where some of the primer coat under the red shows through.  Most annoyingly, the paint for his belt doesn’t continue all the way around, so it’s just flat blue and red back there.  It looks kind of sloppy.  Pirate Two-Face included no accessories, which is slightly odd, since his hand seems to be begging for something to hold.  He does have a “sword-fighting action”; when you turn the wheel in his back, his sword hand spins.  Woooooooooo!

BATMAN

“Taking it upon himself to make the world’s waterways safe from marauding bands and looters, Pirate Batman relentlessly scoured the seas in pursuit of the most villainous of them all—Pirate Two-Face.  Armed with a razor sharp sword and dagger, Pirate Batman was renowned for his extraordinary dueling ability and courage in the face of danger.  He ceaselessly hunted his evil foe with the split-personality, hoping to rid the seas of his maniacal menace once and for all!”

There was already a Buccaneer Batman in Series 3 of Legends of Batman, but I guess Kenner felt a second one was needed to be made.  The bios for the two indicate they actually might be two different people, which is a somewhat interesting idea.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  Of course, one of those points is on his right shoulder, which does jack-all in terms of posing, thanks to the outstretched arm.  The figure is actually a complete re-hash of Series 1’s Power Guardian Batman.  Admittedly, the Zorro stylings of that figure lend themselves to a pirate-theme as well, so it’s not a terrible re-use in theory.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t one of the stronger sculpts when it was new, and two years later, it felt even more out of place with the rest of the line, especially the pirate subset it belonged to.  He’s more pre-posed than even the worst of the Total Justice figures, in this really deep lunge.  Remember when I said Buccaneer Batman had the widest stance I’d seen?  Well, this guy’s topped him on that, which has the added bonus of making him virtually impossible to keep standing.  Also, I’m not really sure what’s going on with the left arm; it’s just at an odd angle, and the hand’s doing…something.  Not really sure what.  And it’s at least half an inch too long and isn’t attached to the shoulder in a natural way at all.  In general, the proportions are just super wacky on this guy.  The cape is a removable piece, and while it looks okay, it never really seems to sit right and it falls off a lot.  Pirate Batman’s paint is decent enough.  His scheme is actually somewhat reminiscent of the “Gotham By Gaslight” design, albeit slightly bluer.  I personally find this design to be a bit more exciting than the Power Guardian look, so I guess that’s a plus.  The figure is packed with the sword and dagger mentioned in the bio (they’re the same pieces included with the PG version).  He’s also got his own sword-fighting action, which works fairly similarly to Pirate Two-Face’s.  Honestly, it’s probably the best thing about the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t actually recall seeing this set when it was new.  It wasn’t until years later that I even knew that it existed.  When I dug out my Buccaneer Batman to write his review, my interest in completing the set was piqued.  A few months back, while picking up Super Awesome Girlfriend’s comics, I noted that the store had this set in stock.  Super Awesome Girlfriend, being who she is, insisted on getting them for me.  Pirate Two-Face is pretty cool.  Goofy, but cool.  Pirate Batman is…well, he’s the other figure in the set.  And that’s about it for him.  He just feels really tacked on, and almost as if he’s from another line entirely.  Still, the set’s more than worth it for Two-Face!

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0009: Power Armor Batman

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

Hey guys!  It’s Friday, and you know what that means!  It’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  Today, I set my sites back on DC, specially Power Armor Batman from Kenner’s Batman Beyond tie-in line!

In the 90s, the DC Animated Universe was in its prime. Kenner held the license for the toys, and they were doing some pretty great stuff too. Batman: The Animated Series got a great line, with the majority of the characters seeing release. Sure, it wasn’t all winners, but it was a decent line.  Superman: The Animated Series came along, and while Kenner didn’t quite have the nice selection that B:TAS had gotten, most of the key characters had been released in their basic looks. And then, there was Batman Beyond. Oh, boy was there Batman Beyond. The show was great, but the toyline released along with it was… strange to say the least. For starters, they never actually released a proper normal Batman, and the supporting cast and villains were pretty much non-existent. They weren’t bad toys per say, but they didn’t do the cartoon justice. Case in point, today I’ll be looking at the line’s release of BB’s alter ego, Terry McGuinness, wearing that red and gray power armor he was so known to wear…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Okay, officially, this wasn’t a Terry McGuinness figure. He was actually labeled “Power Armor Batman” on the box. Let’s be real here: people didn’t buy this figure because it was “Power Armor Batman,” they wanted the Terry McGuinness head. Anyway, the figure was released in one of the later assortments of the first series of Kenner’s Batman Beyond line. The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and features 5 points of articulation. Kenner were big fans of the 5 and 5 set-up. From a purely technical standpoint, the sculpted work on the figure is pretty top notch. The circuits in his underlying suit look great, and the head is the spitting image of Terry’s appearance on the show. Stylistically, the figure’s body sculpt is completely wrong for the designs of the show, but it was in keeping with the rest of the line, so at least Kenner was consistent. The paint work is passable, with no real slop or bleed over (though mine has suffered some minor wear). For some reason, they’ve gone with a bright red and gray color scheme. Terry’s Batsuit on the show had red circuitry, so I suppose that’s what they were going for, but the light gray armor is just plain weird. The figure was accessorized with several snap-on armor pieces, a removable helmet, and a robotic bird. It’s red, green and yellow, so maybe they were going for a Robin thing? Yep, according to the package, it’s a strike R.O.B.I.N. Okay then.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Odd variants aside, I was very excited for the Batman Beyond line at the time of its release. I actually recall seeing this figure at the store several months before I actually got one. I saw the figure on a trip to the store with my parents, who told me I’d have to get it some other time. Little did they know that it would end up being one of the harder to find figures in the line. So, months went by, and I just assumed I’d missed my chance at the figure. Then, on another routine trip to the store, I wandered to the toy aisle, where I found this figure, as well as Blight. My parents were more than happy to get them for me this time around. As strange as this line was, I still have a major soft spot for those two figures in particular. Plus, they actually are pretty good toys!

This review was after I’d passed 200, so  for all intents and purposes it’s effectively a modern review.  It remains the only figure I’ve looked at from this line, a whole 1000 reviews later, which means I’ve yet to get a chance to really touch on how odd this toyline was.  I mean, this guy was actually one of the more faithful figures, and he’s still really off.  Maybe Kenner was wanting to keep these figures consistent with Total Justice and JLA?  It’s odd, because they were still running the TNBA line at this point, so you’d think they’d have wanted the two lines to be compatible, right?  I don’t know.

During The Find, I uncovered that damned R.O.B.I.N. sidekick animal thing.  It makes about as much sense as the rest of the line, I suppose.  I also found one piece of the clip-on armor, but sadly the rest of it’s still missing.  Maybe it’ll turn up one day!  At least it was the other arm piece, so he looks a little more symmetrical now.

Oh, and there’s another piece of the Me Half of the Equation that I left out initially.  I noted that I found Blight at the same time as this figure, after looking for both of them for several months?  Well, I actually found Blight first, and eagerly ran back to my parents with him in tow.  When I showed him to them, they, in their wisdom that is far beyond mine, suggested that this guy might be there too.  So, I went back to the aisle, and, sure enough, someone had cleverly hidden him behind the other, goofier Batman variants.  This figure still makes me pretty happy, truth be told, as goofy as he may be!

#1216: Knightfall Batman

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

KNIGHTFALL BATMAN

DC COMICS MULTIVERSE (MATTEL)

azbatsdcm1

‘90s comics are notorious for fostering an over-arching tone of “not your daddy’s comics,” I guess in an attempt to make the genre seem more hip and fly (see?  I’m one of the cool kids!  I can get home with the downies).  One of the ways they did this was by performing lots of edgy stunts that “rocked the comics world to its core!”  Green Lantern went nuts and dismantled the corps, Superman died and was replaced by four off-shoot characters, etc.  Even Batman wasn’t exempt, thanks to the “Knightfall” story arc that ran through all the Bat-titles in the early ‘90s, where newly-introduced villain Bane bested and crippled Bruce Wayne, necessitating his replacement by Jean-Paul Valley, a far more anti-heroic character.  The story is actually pretty well-regarded, mostly because it dove head-on into a lot of the tropes associated with the ‘90s anti-hero boom and deconstructed them, with the final moral of the story being that the new style of Batman just didn’t work as well as the original.  Since the story hit right on the cusp of the superhero toy boom, several of the key characters got figures at the time of the story.  The final, more armored incarnation of Valley’s Batman has been a particular favorite of toy companies, even in current times.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

azbatsdcm2Knightfall Batman was released as part of Mattel’s smaller-scale DC Comics Multiverse line.  He’s one of the many Arkham Origins-based figures from the line, and like a good portion of those figures, he represents one of the many skins that could be swapped out for Batman’s standard look.  Said skin is based on Jean-Paul Valley’s late Knightfall look (though not his *latest* look; the armored sections got a bit more tech-y as the story progressed).  It’s the look most associated with the storyline as a whole, so it’s certainly a strong choice of both skin and figure.  The figure stands a little under 4 inches tall and has 18 points of articulation.  As with so many Mattel figures, the articulation  scheme is rather archaic, but at this point I sort of just expect that.  If Mattel’s determined to stay just behind the pack, I can’t stop them.  The sculpt is decent enough, I suppose.  It’s about on par with the other figures I’ve gotten from the line; the basic look is pretty solid, but there’s not a whole lot of small detail work or anything that really makes it stand out.  There’s also the incredibly awkward way the front of the belt is handled.  It’s supposed to not have a buckle, but since they made the belt a separate piece (because reasons), the tunic is interrupted twice where the belt connects, which ruins the visual flow.  And, of course, there are the huge hands, because no one at Mattel knows how to scale hands for this size figure, I guess.  The paint on the figure is passable, but, like the sculpt, a little uninspired.  The colors all more or less match up, but they’re just… unexciting.  The blue is dark, the gold is dull, the yellow is cold, and the black is just very flat.  Application is also a bit sloppy, but it’s far from the worst I’ve seen from Mattel.  The figure includes no accessories, which is a slight letdown.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Have I mentioned Super Awesome Girlfriend’s stress buying before?  Yeah, this guy’s a case of that.  She stopped at a Walgreens on the drive to her parents’ and this was one of the handful of figures she grabbed for me (after verifying I didn’t already own him).  Is he a perfect figure?  No.  Is he an exciting figure?  Not incredibly so, but he has his merits.  I’ve owned worse figures, and I like the design enough that I’m happy to own a figure of it.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0004: Night Flight Batman

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

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It’s another Friday, which means it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  This week, I continue the trend of the last three FFFAs, and wrap up my Batman Forever-based addendum, with another look at Night Flight Batman!

Today’s review is the last of the Batman Forever reviews.  It’s a third variant of Batman.  This is another brief review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This is another Batman from the Batman Forever line.  He’s yet another fairly-typical-but-not-THE-typical-version(let’s go with FTBNTTV for short).  Night Flight Batman probably has the most descriptive name of the many batmen in the line, as his big feature was a giant set of wings(Lost long ago by silly child-Ethan).  There was certainly a fanbase for the pre-face “Night” amongst the Kenner think tank.  I get that he’s Batman and all, but seriously, Night’s a bit unoriginal.  The actual figure is pretty basic.  Note that I didn’t lose the cape on this one,  he never had one.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I do actually recall getting this one.  I liked the “basicness” of this one, so my grandmother bought it for me.   He actually didn’t get much playtime as Batman himself.  Instead, he had his face and torso covered in black tape so that I could use him as Black Panther with my Avengers.  Yeah, I was that kid…

Less than 200 words on that review.  Couldn’t replicate that if I tried.  I spent more time talking about his name than the actual figure!

For those keeping track, this was another 5 and 5 figure; 5 inches tall and five points of articulation.  Some closer looking into this figure and the movie that spawned him has made it clear that he’s actually the closest recreation of the Sonar Suit that the line had to offer, with the exception of the missing cape, of course.  I located his giant wings during The Find last summer.  They’re certainly goofy, and I can’t say they’re the most thrilling thing ever.  This figure was also supposed to have some sort of handheld piece, which was not part of The Find.

I mentioned in the review that this guy spent a lot of his time as Black Panther.  In prep for the photo retakes, I cleaned him as best I could, but there’s pretty much no way to remove the white patches.  This is why you shouldn’t apply duct tape to your action figures, kids!

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0003: Sonar Sensor Batman

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , , ,

0003aDid you guys notice I missed a Flashback Friday Figure Addendum?  Because I did, but not until last Saturday afternoon.  Lotta good that did me.  Well, I’m just gonna pretend like I didn’t miss a week.  Today, I’m continuing my chronological look at my earliest reviews with Sonar Sensor Batman!

Continuing the trend of my last two posts, I’m looking at another figure from 1995’s Batman Forever Line.  This guy isn’t quite as significant as the last two, so he’ll be a bit more brief.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

So, like I said above, Sonar Sensor Batman is another Batman Variant from the Batman Forever line.  This one’s a slightly more conventional Batman, though, like Robin, not THE conventional Batman of the line.  This one’s still got the cape because it’s permanently affixed, which was a good move on Kenner’s part.  And he’s got what appears to be a….nipple gun?  I mean, that’s what it looks like(And this is Scumacher we’re talking about here).  It’s right on his right pectoral, and it’s even got those red dots on it.  When you push the yellow button on his belt, the gun flips down, only emphasizing the nipple gun-ness of it.  And I have no idea what any of this has to do with sonar, or sensing for that matter.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Not a whole lot on this one.  I remember having it.  I remember thinking he had a nipple gun as a child.  I actually don’t know where I got this one, so I’m going to assume it was a gift.  Regardless, it didn’t really get much play-time as my go to Batman.

Nipple gun.  Heh!

So, this is yet another very brief review.  I really can’t even conceive of talking about a figure in so little words nowadays.

No articulation or height noted either; he’s another 5 and 5 for those that are curious.  Missing from my original review was his super sick neon orange shield.  Still have no clue where the “sonar” part of his name comes in, but he’s certainly well defended.  The center of the shield is a removable disc, which served as ammo for the disc launcher he also included (mine is, sadly, still missing).  It definitely ups the goof factor.  He can’t really stand very well while holding it, either; I had to do some very strategic posing for the photo.

I mentioned in the original review how this guy didn’t get much playtime as my go-to Batman, which is true, but a re-watch of the Batman: The Animated Series episode “His Silicon Soul” reminded me what he did get a lot of use as: Batman’s robotic duplicate.  …Who has a nipple gun.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0001: Night Hunter Batman

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , , ,

0001a

Hey everyone!  Back in October, I made mention of finding a bunch of missing figure accessories and doing a bunch of photo reshoots and how that would mean the occasional addendum here and there in order to make older reviews as complete as possible.  Well, I’m finally getting off my butt and actually doing something with it.  Every Friday from now until I run out of updates, I’ll be linking to an old post, updating the images contained therein, and adding a few new comments about the figure or my review.  Without further ado, I present my first Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!

For today’s FFFA, I’m going back to my very first review of my very first action figure, Night Hunter Batman!

“The first post in my humble little blog is a review of the very first (well, technically second, but I’ll get to that in a minute) action figure in my not-so-small collection.  Yep, this is the one that started it all, and 2400 figures later, he does seem to be a bit of an odd choice.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Night Hunter Batman is a Batman variant from the tie-in line to 1995’s Batman Forever.  He’s black with some bright yellow accents, the obvious choice for creatures of the night.  He once had a cape with a pretty nifty windswept look to it, but I’ve long since lost it.  He also used to have an actual bat symbol on his chest, but if I recall correctly, he lost that fairly shortly after I acquired him.  I feel the true highlight (aside from the actual yellow HIGHLIGHTS) of the figure is the pop-up goggle feature.  There’s a button on his back that, when pushed, extends and rotates the goggles in front of old Bruce’s eyes.  You know, for detective-stuff.  Or going by the name of the figure, hunting stuff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Why, of all the action figures out there, was this my very first action figure?  I honestly can’t say.  I know I liked Batman, though I watched the TV series and in fact didn’t see Batman Forever until I was almost 20.  Maybe I liked the colors.  Most likely, it was the goggles.  I like goggles, and the whole focus of this little guy was those really neat goggles he had.

Remember when I pointed out above that this was technically my second action figure?  Yeah, funny story:  this particular Night Hunter Batman is a replacement for the first Night Hunter Batman, that by all accounts I gave to a girl at a restaurant.  Yes, even at 3, I was quite the charmer.  So, my parents drove me over to Toys R Us (Side-Note: Remember when Toys R Us didn’t suck?  I miss those days…) and purchased me this lovely replacement (EDIT: I stand corrected.  It wasn’t Toys R Us, it was Service Merchandise.  Man, there’s a blast from the past!) .  While there, my dad happened to wander down the aisle and find the Iron Man animated series toys, leading him to a) start his own collection up again b)introduce me to the wonders of Marvel Comics and c) even more directly lead me to my current state of being.  And it’s all because I was trying to impress a girl!  Silly girls!”

Wow, that was surprisingly brief, and left out a lot of the details I would now consider “standard.” It’s so quaint! 

It’s worth noting that Night Hunter Batman is about 5 inches tall and has 5 points of articulation.  Also worth noting are his accessories, missing from the original review.  He had a removable cape, which has a nice windswept look to it, as well as this big…shield thing.  I don’t know.  It’s shaped like a bat. Sorta.  It’s a little hard to get him to hold it properly, and I’m not sure what purpose it would serve whist one hunts…at night…but it’s an entertaining enough piece.  There were also these claw attachments, which hooked onto those two bottom rungs of the shield, but those I truly have lost.

Since writing this review, discussing with my dad about why this was my first Batman, it came up that this was apparently the closest we could come to a standard Batman figure when I went to pick one out.  It would appear this guy got to be number one by sheer luck.  Good for him!

#1036: Batman

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

BATMAN

DC COMICS DESIGNER SERIES (DCC)

BatmanCooke1

Earlier this year, we lost Darwyn Cooke, one of my favorite artists in comics. As fate would have it, this was also the year that DC Collectibles decided to devote a sub-set of their Designer Series to Cooke’s work, with the figures arriving just over a month after his passing. The figures are nothing if not a very nice tribute to all the awesome things Darwyn did during his career. Today, I’ll be looking at Batman, a character Cooke illustrated quite frequently. DC Direct did a Cooke Batman back when they did their New Frontier line, but that one was one of the line’s weaker figures, and it was also based on Batman’s ‘50s design, so this figure, based on a more timeless design is far overdue.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BatmanCooke2Batman is figure 1 in the Darwyn Cooke sub-set of DCC’s DC Comics Designer Series, released alongside Supergirl and Harley Quinn. The figure stands about 6 ½ inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation. The articulation count isn’t super high, but very similar to what the New Frontier figures had (with some of the range increased a bit), which helps this guy to still fit in with those figures. For the most part, he’s just going to be doing basic standing poses, but he can get a nice variety of nuanced changes, and you can even get some slightly more dynamic poses if you work at it. This Batman is based on the character’s look from the early-to-mid-40s, after his appearance had settled a bit, but before he had become his more jovial self. It’s Batman as he appears in a lot of Cooke’s work, such as Batman: Ego and the first half of New Frontier, so it’s definitely a good choice. The sculpt is very much in line with what I looked at with Doctor Fate. It’s probably one of the best sculpts I’ve gotten from DCC. They’ve done a very good job of capturing Cooke’s Batman, down to all the little creases in his costume. And, unlike the last Cooke Batman, this one doesn’t have an odd, unworkable sculpted pose, so he doesn’t look super awkward. That’s a definite plus in my book. Batman’s paintwork is all very sharp and clean. He’s certainly got a striking color scheme, and I especially like the use of glossy paint for his gloves, boots, and logo. The only slightly odd part of the paint is his mouth, or more specifically, his lower lip. It’s oddly defined and makes him look a bit pouty. Batman included no accessories, which is a bit of a bummer given the price, but certainly not the worst thing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Cosmic Comix got this set of figures in dribs and drabs. My dad picked up Supergirl at the end of June, but she was the only figure in stock. About a month later, they got this guy, and I picked him up as soon as I saw him. This is a figure I’ve been waiting for since the second series of New Frontier figures all those years ago, which makes me very happy. Now, if I could just figure out what the heck happened to that Adam Strange figure…

#1010: Armored Batman

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

ARMORED BATMAN

DC COMICS MULTIVERSE (MATTEL)

ArmoredBatman1

You know how I’m always hating on Mattel? And you know how I just reviewed a whole week of Mattel figures? What’s the best thing for me to review the day after an over-a-week run of Mattel figures? Another Mattel figure, of course! Boy do I looooove me some Mattel…

So, today, I’m jumping back over to the DC side of things, with a Batman figure. I know, that’s a very rare occurrence. But this Batman’s special. This one’s a puffy Batman! Okay, actually, he’s from Dark Knight Returns, the Batman story that forever changed the face of comics, whether we like it or not. Now, this isn’t just a generic Batman from the story, but one from his climactic showdown with Superman, making it the perfect accent piece for this guy. Despite there being a number of toys based on DKR and this being both a distinctive and unique look from the story, this is its first appearance in three-dimensional form. Let’s see how it turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ArmoredBatman2Armored Batman is one of the three DKR-based figures from the latest series of Mattel’s larger scale DC Comics Multiverse. The figure stands roughly 7 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation. Just about all of Mattel’s DKR figures have been built from pieces that structurally similar to the figures from Masters of the Universe Classics. While this Batman is stylistically very similar to the others, the only pieces he shares with the prior Batman and Superman are the upper and lower torso parts, and even those are completely covered by add-ons. The rest of the figure’s sculpt is all-new, and it’s pretty impressively handled. It does a very good job translating the design from the comics into three dimensions. In fact, it’s probably the most comic-faithful figure so far in this particular sub-set, since the large quantity of new pieces means that none of Miller’s tinier details have been left out. Each piece of armor has little wrinkles, and the face depicts an old, grizzled Bruce Wayne, which we didn’t really see on the last two figures that Mattel did. Really, the only complaint I can raise about this figure is that he falls victim to Mattel’s continued insistence on attaching capes with unnecessarily large chunks of plastic that plug into the figures’ backs. Is there absolutely no way they could make that connector any smaller? Oh well. Batman’s paintwork isn’t bad. It’s certainly better than Superman’s was. There’s a bit of slop, especially around the edges of the belt, but the overall appearance is pretty good. Batman is packed with the rifle he uses with this armor in the story. Unfortunately, he can’t really hold it very well, since neither of his hands is sculpted to hold it. He also includes the head and pelvis of the New 52 Doomsday, for those that care about such things.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, as I noted in my review of Superman, I’m only a moderate fan of The Dark Knight Returns. I do, however, love the issue with the fight between Superman and Batman. Since I already had Superman, I was looking forward to getting this guy. That being said, he wasn’t quite at the top of my list for this particular series. So, when I found this series at Target, this wasn’t the figure I intended to buy. No, I really, really wanted to buy the new Supergirl figure, based on the TV series. Target even had two of her, but I just couldn’t bring myself to buy it, because the figure just looked so terrible. I’m getting off topic. I ended up going with this guy because, while he may be ugly, at least he’s supposed to be. This isn’t a perfect figure, but he’s still pretty fun.

#0980: Arkham Origins Boxed Set

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

BATMAN, JOKER, DEATHSTROKE, & BLACK MASK

ARKHAM ORIGINS (DC COLLECTIBLES)

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Video game adaptations of comic book characters have a somewhat rocky history. For every — there’s a Superman 64; for every Spider-Man 2, there’s an Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis. The Batman: Arkham series is probably one of the best adaptations out there, though even it hasn’t been totally immune from criticism. Perhaps the most criticized game in the series is Arkham Origins, a prequel game that wasn’t even developed by the same group as the others. Today, I’ll be looking at several figures based on that game.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Batman, Joker, Deathstroke, and Black Mask were all released as a big boxed set as part of DC Collectible’s Batman: Arkham Origins line. They were all also available individually, with Batman, Joker and Black Mask being in Series 1 and Deathstroke being in Series 2. The figures are pretty much identical in both releases.

BATMAN

ArkhamOrigin3Batman manages to get a slight tweak to his design for each Arkham game. Oddly, the Arkham Origins design was even more advanced than the Asylum and City designs, despite this design supposedly predating those looks. Maybe looks are deceiving? The figure is about 7 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation, which is quite impressive for a DC Direct/Collectibles figure. The sculpt on this figure is pretty solid. It does a pretty great job of capturing Batman’s Origins look. One of my issues with a lot of the Arkham-based Batman figures is that they all seem to be stuck with pinheads, which this figure manages to mostly avoid. I mean, his head is still smaller than his biceps, but it’s fairly true to the game and, it’s also not as drastic as some of the others.  The rest of the sculpt is quite beefy (seriously, this is a beefy, beefy Batman. He has all the beef), but he has very sharp detail work, and just all-around pretty cool looking. I especially appreciate the choice of a straight hanging cape, since Batmen have a tendency to go for absurdly flowy capes. The paintwork on this figure is rather subdued, and very well carried out. Everything is nice and clean, and he’s got some really great accent work, especially on the stubble and the shadows on the grey parts. Batman included a weird gun thing that I feel certain someone more familiar with the game than me could ID. His elbows hinder him from really holding the thingy in any truly believable way, but hey, he’s a cool Batman. Who cares if he can hold some weird gizmo the right way?

JOKER

ArkhamOrigin2Joker serves as a primary antagonist in (most of) the Arkham games. Seeing as he’s Batman’s greatest foe, I guess that’s not too strange a concept. While other Arkham Jokers stuck more closely to the classic Joker design, this one goes for a more subdued “real world” look. Well, for the clothes, anyway. The face is pretty standard, and clearly made to look like a slightly younger version of the guy from the prior games. The figure is about the same height as Batman and has 16 points of articulation. He’s got about half the articulation of Batman, but he’s got even more restricted movement than you’d expect. He’s not going to be doing much more than just stand there. That wouldn’t be terrible, but he’s also got some weird issues, like his arms sticking out at weird angles. Also, while the sculpt looks okay on its own, it doesn’t do a particularly good job of capturing the in-game design. Like, his whole face is just kind of the wrong shape. And his body just feels kind of soft and lumpy, especially when compared to the much sharper Batman sculpt. The paint doesn’t really help matters. The basic work isn’t terribly, but there’s a lot of bleed over. Also, they tried to vary the look of his skin with some grey accents, but it ends up just making him look splotchy and unwell. Joker includes no accessories, making him the only figure in the set not to have any extras.

DEATHSTROKE

ArkhamOrigin4Do you guys remember when Deathstroke wasn’t over-exposed and annoyingly shoved into tons of stories where he didn’t belong? Because I do. I actually kind of used to like him, even. Somewhere along the way to being overexposed, he also seems to have become inexplicably linked to Batman, which is a little odd, but I guess it isn’t a horrible fit. Deathstroke made his debut Arkham-verse appearance in Arkham Origins, sporting a look that was a pretty decent tactically-based update of his original comics appearance. This figure stands the same height as the other two figures and has 27 points of articulation. His overall movement is comparable to that of Batman, though he does get a different articulation scheme on the hips, which seem a little flimsy by comparison. I think Deathstroke’s sculpt is probably my favorite in the set. Not only is he a great recreation of the in-game look, but the sculpt is also loaded with lots of really cool texture work, which makes him truly look like a battle-worn gun-for-hire. My only real complaint is that the articulation could have probably been worked into the sculpt in a smoother way. The paint on this figure is also pretty solidly handled. He’s by far the most colorful and exciting figure in the lot, and the metallic used for his armored pieces is really sleek. Deathstroke has the most accessories of all the figures in the set, with a katana, a pistol, and a staff.

BLACK MASK

ArkhamOrigin5Oh great. Black Mask. He’s my faaaaaaaaaavrite. Okay, actually I don’t always hate Black Mask, as long as he gets a good story. He just doesn’t tend to get good stories, like, ever. Ah well. So, here’s Black Mask! The figure is 7 inches tall and he has an oh-so-exciting 7 points of articulation. He can like, turn his head and move his elbows less than 45 degrees, and move his legs at the hips, but not at the knees! Awesome, right? Okay, maybe not. This figure’s even worse than Joker on this front, which is just really weak. But his sculpt can still save him, right? Yeah, not so much. The head sculpt is admittedly not bad. I like that he looks like he’s actually wearing a mask, and I like the details of said mask. The rest of the figure is really just lame. The sculpt is incredibly soft and his pinstripes on is suit are so deep that he ends up looking like he’s wearing corduroy or something. Plus, his arms are stuck at a slight enough angle to make the fact that they don’t go back any further incredibly annoying. Black Mask’s paint is mostly off-black and off-white, which could be kind of striking if done right, but…it’s not quite there. I mean, it’s not bad, but it’s also not super interesting. It’s just there. Black Mask includes a pair of pistols, which are oddly chunky. Maybe they’ve been juicing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve never played any of the Arkham games. I’ve gotten a couple of the figures before, but mostly because I liked the characters the figures represented, which isn’t really the true here. That being case, why would I buy this set? Because its box was damaged and Cosmic Comix was selling it for $20. Deathstroke is definitely the best that the set has to offer, and Batman’s no slouch either. Of course, on the flipside, both Joker and Black Mask are very, very weak figures, with little in the way of redeeming qualities. So, half the set’s great, and half the set’s pretty bad. At full price (which is $60-$70), this set is a pretty terrible value. At $20? Sure, Joker and Black Mask may be a waste of plastic, but Batman and Deathstroke are easily worth $10 each.

#0966: Buccaneer Batman

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

BATMAN – BUCCANEER

LEGENDS OF BATMAN (KENNER)

In Super Hero toylines, it’s rarely a shock to see wacky, non-cannon variants of the main heroes . After releasing a basic version of the heroes, variants are the easiest way to get them into every assortment. They’re kind of one of those necessary evils (and honestly, they aren’t even that evil). Oddly enough, in the mid-90s, Kenner released the Legends of Batman line, which was a line of figures pretty much exclusively devoted to weird variants of Batman and his supporting cast. Today, I’ll be looking at one of those Batmen, specifically Buccaneer Batman, because who doesn’t love pirates?

THE FIGURE ITSELF
Buccaneer Batman was released in the third series of Legends of Batman. He was part of the “Pirate” sub-line that Series 3 introduced, alongside First Mate Robin, Laughing Man Joker, and … Pirate Two-Face. Yeah, they kind of gave up on the names after “Buccaneer Batman.” The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and has the standard 5 points of articulation for a figure of the time. There’s a slight bit of limited motion on the right shoulder, thanks to his “Slamming Mace Action,” which would swing his arm downward when the button the figure’s back was pressed. As far as I know, this figure (and all the other Pirate figures) is not based on any particular comicbook appearance of Batman, but rather comes from the minds of Kenner. The design takes the classic Batman design, and makes a few tweaks here and there, to play up the whole pirate angle. His mask is no longer a cowl, but is instead a bandana tied into shape (though, how he got it to duplicate the bat ears is anyone’s guess). Gone is the utility belt, replaced by a simple sash, albeit one where he can still stow a batarang. He’s also got a belt running along his chest, which has a bat-logo affixed to it, just in case you didn’t know who this was. What’s slightly odd about the logo, though, is that it’s oriented parallel to the belt on his waist, despite the belt it’s attached to being diagonal. It almost feels like the logo was meant to be diagonal too, but then someone in DC’s merchandising insisted it be oriented flat, so as to not cause any brand confusion or something. Anyway, the design’s interesting enough. The actual sculpt isn’t bad, but it definitely has some oddities. For one thing, Batman’s really beefy, more so than he usually is depicted. Despite the fact that the costume is clearly meant to be loose and flowing, his muscles are still bulging through in every spot that they can. Also, he’s in a very strange pose, with one of the widest stances I’ve ever seen on an action figure. It’s not that this sculpt is bad, but rather that it seems uncertain of what it’s trying to do. Also, he did have a cape at one point, but I seem to have lost mine. Batman’s paint is fairly standard, but still pretty cool. He predominately uses the basic Batman colors, but they’ve given him red in place of the usual yellow. It makes it so this is clearly Batman, but he’s just different enough that you’re given pause. Plus, red seems more pirate-y anyway. Batman included a sword and a mace, both of which had been given slight bat-makeovers. He could only hold one at a time, and, if I’m honest, the sword was a lot cooler.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I received Batman (and his corresponding Robin) for my fourth birthday. I definitely recall seeing the commercials for this particular set of figures and being rather excited to get them. Which is odd, since I’ve never been much of a pirates guy, but whatever. The figure took quite a beating over the years, and as goofy as he is, I still have something of a soft spot for him. This figure, like the rest of the Legends of Batman line, goes to show that wacky variants aren’t inherently a bad thing, provided you’re having fun with them.

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