Tag Archives: DC Collectibles

#0857: The Flash

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

THE FLASH

DC ICONS (DCC)

FlashIcon1

In 1956, Barry Allen became the second version of the Flash, and officially brought about the Silver Age of comics, for DC anyway (though, if you want to get technical, the first real Silver Age character was Martian Manhunter, who appeared one year prior. And if you want to get REALLY technical, the first Silver Age character was Superboy, who appeared a decade before that. I feel I may have lost some people on that one…). Barry was a brand-new take on an already established hero, and in one fell-swoop showcased DC’s penchant for both reboots and legacies. Barry is a pretty important character for DC, so it’s not a huge shock to see him show up as one of the figures in DC Collectibles’ DC Icons line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

FlashIcon2The Flash is part of the second series of the DC Icons line. He’s figure #05 in the line, placing him right after Mr. Miracle in the numbering, and making him the “first” figure in Series 2. Flash’s figure was designed by Ivan Reis (one of DC’s top artists) and sculpted Amos Hemsley. He’s officially based on Barry’s appearance in “Chain Lightning,” which was a five-issue arc during Mark Waid’s tenure on the book, which brought back a pre-Crisis Barry through time travel. Of course, all that’s just a very specific way of saying he’s a classic, pre-Crisis Barry Allen Flash. The figure stands 6 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation. He’s just a bit taller than the Mr. Miracle figure; he still totally out of scale with other DCC lines, but you can sort of fudge it a bit if you want to put him with, say, some Marvel Legends. Also, he’s got lateral movement on his legs! Yay! I was afraid DCC had totally abandoned such joints. Barry gets an all-new sculpt, but it’s worth noting that he, like many others in the line, is built on a base prototype body, which gives everyone a unified look. Overall, I really love this sculpt. It’s nice and clean, and full of classic comics goodness. The details of his costume are all sculpted elements, which is certainly a nice change of pace. The detailing on his boots is definitely a stand-out. The arms do seem just a touch small, and I really wish his facial expression was a little less bland, but aside from that, the sculpt is very nice. Barry’s paint is generally pretty nice. The colors are bright and vibrant, and there’s a nice glossy finish on the boots and his logo. His eyes are a tad wonky, but not terrible for the scale. The Flash is packed with two pairs of hands: one set of fist/gripping combo, and one set of flat palms, perfect for running. However, the coolest accessory by far is the Cosmic Treadmill. It’s a slightly more modernized design than I’m used to, but it’s exquisitely sculpted, and a fantastic companion piece to the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is actually the figure that sold me on the whole DC Icons concept. It’s funny, because it isn’t like I don’t have classically-inspired Barry figures, but I just really liked the look of this one, and was happy to see more pre-New 52 stuff. I ended up using a giftcard I got for Christmas to order him from Amazon. While he isn’t perfect (the expression still kinda bugs me), I do like him a lot, and he’s one of my favorite Flash figures I own. He’s definitely a good indicator of how cool this line can be!

#0818: Batman

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

BATMAN

JUSTICE LEAGUE: GODS & MONSTERS

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And here we are with day 17 of the Post-Christmas reviews, the final day of this round (I’ve still got a couple more gift-based reviews, but I’ll cover them later). I’ll be going back to the DC animated branch one more time, but it’s not the same universe as before. This time, the figure comes from Bruce Timm’s newest animated venture, Justice League: Gods & Monsters, launched by a movie of the same name back in mid-2015. In this new universe, the Justice League are just the main trinity of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. DC Collectibles has produced figures of the three, and today I’ll be looking at Batman, who in this universe is not Bruce Wayne, but a vampiric Kirk Langstrom*.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BatmanJLGM2Batman is figure 01 in DCC’s Justice League: Gods & Monsters line. The figure stands about 6 ½ inches tall and has 24 points of articulation. Like a lot of DCC’s more recent offerings, he would really benefit from some lateral movement on his legs, but other than that, the movement is pretty decent. The figure is, of course, based on his animated design from the film. Batman’s look is a nice throwback to the classic sci-if pulp hero look; it’s somewhat basic, but it definitely has a bold look. I had actually expected for Batman to built similarly to Batman: Animated’s Nightwing, but he’s actually a fair bit bigger than Nightwing. That doesn’t bug me too much, since I actually felt Nightwing was generally too small. The sculpt does a good job of translating his design into three dimensions. It’s not perfect, and the torso in particular feels a little flat, but the overall quality is pretty great. The head is a good match for the film, but the long ears, while cool, are susceptible to warping in the packaging, which has left my Batman with one slightly droopy ear. Batman’s paintwork is fairly straightforward. Like the overall design, his color scheme is BatmanJLGM3fairly basic; it’s just black and off-white, with some red thrown in for good measure. The overall application is pretty good; some of the edges are a little fuzzy, and there’s some bleed over here and there, but it’s mostly pretty clean. Batman is packed with an extra unmasked head, two pairs of hands (in fists and… some sort of weird, pseudo-grip sort of pose?), and a display stand with his control art on it. He’s a bit on the light side when compared to other animated releases, but it’s a decent enough selection, I suppose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Batman was given to me by my oh-so-awesome parents. He wasn’t actually among the presents I opened Christmas morning, as he hadn’t quite arrived yet, but he got here just a few days after. I was pretty happy to get him, as Batman was my favorite of the three designs (if perhaps not my favorite of the three characters after seeing the film). The figure does a pretty admirable job of translating him to figure form, and he fits in nicely with my Batman: Animated figures. I don’t know that he’s quite convinced me to pick up the rest of the set, but I could definitely see myself tracking down a Wonder Woman at some point.

*For those of you who don’t know, in the mainstream universe, Kirk Langstrom is the Batman villain Man-Bat.

#0814: The Riddler

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

THE RIDDLER

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DCC)

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Well, we’re steadily making our way through the Post-Christmas gift reviews. Today marks day 13, which means we’re the majority of the way through the stuff I got this year. I’ll be going back the super hero pool again today, with another figure from the current Batman: Animated line by DC Collectibles. Last time, I looked at one of Batman’s allies; this time, I’ll be looking at one of his more recurrent foes, the Riddler!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RiddlerAn2Riddler is figure #14 in the Batman: Animated line. This places him with the Series 4 figures, though his actual release was during the onslaught of series 3, 4, and 5 figures, so the whole numbering thing is rather arbitrary. Riddler is based on his original series look (a totally sensible choice, given that The Riddler never got more than a cameo appearance in TNA, and the design wasn’t very well received), specifically from the episode “Riddler’s Reform,” which is probably his best appearance in the show. The figure is 6 ½ inches tall and has 20 points of articulation. He’s somewhat similar in construction to Two-Face, though the styling of the suit is obviously a bit different. The sculpt does a pretty reasonable job of translating his design from the show. It’s better from some angles than others, but there are a few things that are just off. The pelvis is a bit too low-set (a recurring problem with these figures), and the neck is just a touch on the long side. Other than that, the figure makes for a pretty great translation from 2D to 3D. The head in particular is a fantastic piece, and I love getting a figure with such a unique expression. Riddler’s paint is nice and clean, probably some of the cleanest the line has exhibited. There’s a little bit of bleed over on the pocket square, but that’s really the only notable issue, which is pretty fantastic for a figure in this day and age. Riddler includes his cane, a Wacko Toys display, three pairs of hands (fists, gripping, and relaxed), and a display stand with his control art. The toy display is the only piece that is really “Riddler’s Reform”-specific, but it also happens to be the coolest extra included (at least by my standards).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite getting most of the other figures in this line, my local comic book store never got Riddler in stock. Fortunately for me, my parents picked him up for me and gave him to me for Christmas, which made me quite happy. Riddler turned out very well, even surprisingly well for this line. He has no glaring issues, and he comes with some pretty awesome extras. I think he’s probably the second best figure I’ve gotten from the line, after the surprisingly impressive Bane.

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#0811: Batgirl

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

BATGIRL

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DCC)

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For day 10 of my Post-Christmas gift reviews, I’ll be moving away from the mostly sci-fi based reviews of the last nine days and going back to the subset of action figures I am most comfortable with: Superheroes!

Barbra Gordon as Batgirl didn’t appear till the tail end of the original run of Batman: The Animated Series, but all three of the episodes in which she appeared were pretty well-received with both the fan base and the creative team behind the series. When the series came back as The New Batman Adventures, Batgirl was given a much larger role, and in fact appeared in the majority of the show’s episodes. So, it’s not a huge surprise that DC Collectibles’ first figure of the animated incarnation of the character comes from her later appearances.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BatgirlAn2Batgirl was released as part of DC Collectibles’ Batman: Animated line. She’s figure 18 in the line, which places her in the fifth series of the line. The figure is about 5 ½ inches tall and has 25 points of articulation. As I noted in the intro, she’s based on her New Adventures design, which itself is a pretty straight adaptation of her original comics design. The costume has of course been tailored to fit the more stylized nature if Timm’s New Adventures character designs, which includes streamlining of the belt and boots. It’s definitely a solid piece of design work. Batgirl’s sculpt shares a number of stylistic similarities with Poison Ivy, due to their builds being quite similar in the show, but it doesn’t appear that the two figures share any actual sculpted pieces. The overall quality of the sculpt is quite good, and she definitely looks like her onscreen counterpart. She also doesn’t seem to have the same huge noggin issues that Ivy did, though that may be to do with her not having Ivy’s rather large chunk of hair. The proportions I general are pretty well-balanced, and the joints and such are all worked in rather nicely. Batgirl’s paint is pretty much on par with the paint BatgirlAn4we’ve seen on the rest of the figures. It’s a little rough around the edges of her mask, as well as the change from yellow to blue on the cape, but the overall appearance is pretty solid. Batgirl includes a batarang, 10 extra hands (2 fists, 2 gripping, 2 loose grip, 2 relaxed, and one for holding the batarang), a bat-grapple, a hand holding the grapple, and a display stand. They’re all pretty good, except for one thing: the grapple on the hand with it sculpted in place is completely unpainted. I don’t know if this is contained to just my figure or if it’s a wide spread problem, but it’s quite obvious and rather annoying.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Batgirl was given to me this Christmas by my parents. She was a figure I was quite looking forward to (she and Nightwing were my two favorite characters from New Adventures). Like just about every figure in the Batman: Animated line, she is not without her flaws. However, she’s a pretty well put together figure, and a lot of fun.

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#0798: Mister Miracle

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

MISTER MIRACLE

DC ICONS (DC COLLECTIBLES)

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Jack Kirby is a pretty pivotal figure in comics, having had a hand in the creation of a huge portion of the Marvel Universe. He didn’t just work at Marvel; he also spent a fair bit of time working for Marvel’s main competition, DC. He didn’t have the same impact at DC that he did at Marvel, but he did create the Fourth World, which picked up a pretty substantial cult following. One of my personal favorite characters from the Fourth World has always been Scott Free, aka Mister Miracle. Scott (or Scot, as he’s known now. Extra “t”s are so last century) has made a fairly recent return to the DC Universe, and his new look just got a figure, courtesy of DC Collectibles’ newest line, DC Icons.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MrMiracle2Mister Miracle is figure 04 in the first series of DC Icons. He’s the lone New 52-based figure in the first series, which is fair, I suppose. The main purpose of the Icons line was to serve as a competitor for Hasbro’s Marvel Legends, so articulation is a key point. Mister Miracle delivers pretty well on this, sporting 27 points of articulation. Like a couple of the animated figures, he would really benefit from some sort of lateral movement on his legs, but you can still get a pretty decent range out of him. What he doesn’t deliver on so much is height. He stands about 5 ¾ inches tall, which makes him a good half an inch shorter than the average Marvel Legend and almost a full inch shorter than prior DCC figures. For what it’s worth, he’s in roughly the same scale as S.H. FiguArts figures. But he, and the rest of the line, are still a lot smaller than expected. Moving past that, he has a totally unique sculpt, which is pretty well executed. The proportions of the body are actually pretty good, and most of the articulation is worked in pretty well. Design-wise, he’s based on Miracle’s look from Earth 2, which is a slight tweaking of his original Kirby design. I think the original is still a stronger look, but this isn’t a bad look. The costume details are mostly etched in, which has MrMiracle3the result of making him look a lot sharper. The cape is a separate, but permanently attached piece, made from a softer materials. The sculpt is okay, but, the cape is a little oddly shaped. That being said, it works for what it is. The paint work on the figure is nicely handled overall. The etched in lines of the costume make for cleaner paintwork, and help to make the details pop a bit more. The colors are all done in a really cool metallic sheen, which really makes him look pretty sweet. For accessories, Mister Miracle includes two sets of hands (fists and open), a pair of hoverdiscs for his feet, and what I believe is a Mother Box.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Mister Miracle from my local comic book store, Cosmic Comix. He was actually the only of the four first series figures left. I was somewhat intrigued by the concept of Icons, and I’ve always liked Mister Miracle, so I thought this guy would be a good starting point. The issues of scale are a little frustrating, especially for people who were hoping to place these figures with their prior DCC figures. That being said, Miracle is a really fun figure, and he shows a great improvement in terms of quality for a DCC product. Plus, as more of these figures are released, the scale thing will become less of an issue.

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#0792: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DC COLLECTIBLES)

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Okay, now I’m remembering why I don’t do long strings of reviews of figures from the same line: I always run out of things to say! It’s made even worse by the fact that I kind of covered the basics of today’s focus character, Nightwing, back when I looked at my very first figure of the character for my two year milestone. So, yeah…

Anyway, when The New Batman Adventures came along, all of the characters got redesigns. I already noted that the show’s Robin was a whole new character. So what happened to the former Robin Dick Grayson? He got to take on his comics identity of Nightwing, which meant he got one of the most drastic redesigns of any of the characters. It happens to be one of my favorites from TNBA, and it just recently got a figure from DC Collectibles’ Batman: Animated line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

NightwingTNA4Nightwing is number 19 in the Batman: Animated line and he’s part of the line’s fifth series, which he actually shipped alongside. He stands 5 ¾ inches tall and has 24 points of articulation. He is, thankfully, taller than his BTAS counterpart (though not by a whole lot), however, he ends up losing a couple of points of articulation, which have quite an impact on what you can do with the figure, posing-wise. The most glaring omission is that of any sort of lateral movement on the legs, which causes him to be quite pigeon-toed. This is the same issue that plagued the BTAS Batman, and it’s really frustrating to see it show up again. Fortunately, Nightwing’s ankles are pointed a bit more outward, so it’s less glaring of an issue. Nightwing is based on his appearance in the episode “You Scratch My Back,” which is one of Nightwing’s more prominent episodes in the series, so it makes sense. The figure’s sculpt is frustratingly mixed in terms of quality. The head is nothing short of amazing. It’s a pitch-perfect translation of his look from the show, horribly-dated mullet and all. It’s sharp and clean, and all the angles are just right. His body is overall well built, but marred by a couple of glaring issues. First off, there’s the feet; while his feet are certainly small in the show, they weren’t that small. There smaller than Tim Drake’s feet for Pete’s sake! The real standout issue for me, though, is the logo. On the show, it was a totally flat logo, with no NightwingTNA6silhouette , as if it were silk-screened onto his costume.  Here, it’s a separate raised piece, jutting out a good millimeter from the rest of his chest. Not only is this inaccurate to the show, but it looks pretty goofy too, and it detracts from the elegant simplicity of the design. Why they opted to do it that way is beyond me. Nightwing is pretty light on paint, but what’s there (which is pretty much entirely confined to the face) is pretty good. The figure is packed with a pair of binoculars, a “night-a-rang” (just go with it….), four pairs of hands (fists, night-a-rang holding, gripping, and relaxed), and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Nightwing is one of my favorite designs from the animated shows, and was one of my favorite characters too, so I was eagerly awaiting his induction into DCC’s current line. When the prototype was shown off, I was less than impressed, but hopeful that he would improve like a lot of the others in the line. When I saw him in person at Cosmic Comix, I liked him enough to pick him up. When I took him out of the box, I was a fair bit let down, especially by the articulation. In fact, I kind of thought this would end up being a rather negative review. Then, I left him on my desk for about a week, and occasionally played with the figure while doing other things, and by the time he came up for review, I’d actually found myself really liking him, a lot more than I initially had. Sure, he’s not the standout figure that Bane is, but he’s also not the disappointment that BTAS Bats was for me.

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#0791: Bane

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

BANE

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DC COLLECTIBLES)

BaneTNA1

Bane was a relatively new addition to the Batman rogues gallery at the time of Batman: The Animated Series, but that didn’t prevent him from finding himself a spot on the show, even if he did only have a small handful of appearances. Though the character was always thoroughly intimidating in the comics, that didn’t really translate to his initial appearance on the show, which turned him into little more than a steroid-addicted masked wrestler, who ended up defeated in a rather laughable way. Fortunately, the creators were aware of their missteps, and when the show returned under the New Adventures of Batman monicker, Bane got an all-new, more imposing character design, and a much better debut appearance. So, it’s not much of a shock that DCC opted to go for the second version of the character for his figure in their Batman: Animated line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BaneTNA2Bane is part of the fifth series of the Batman: Animated line. He’s number 18 in the line. The figure stands roughly 7 ¼ tall and has 27 points of articulation. Bane’s quite a bit bigger than the other figures in the line, which gives him quite the presence on the shelf. In addition, he has some of the smoothest joint movement I’ve seen from this line, which makes posing the guy a lot of fun. The addition of a mid-torso joint really adds alot to this figure, and I kind of hope DCC uses that style of joint a bit more in the future. As noted in the intro, this figure is based on Bane’s TNBA design, and is specifically drawn from his appearance in “Over the Edge,” which was his primary appearance in the second iteration of the show. Bane’s sculpt does a pretty phenomenal job of translating his design into three dimensions. It’s one of those rare occasions where he looks right from almost every angle, which shows some serious dedication to the figure. The joints are also incredibly well worked into the sculpt, so he looks pretty good from an aesthetic standpoint. Bane’s paintwork is mostly pretty good overall. There’s some slop here and there, but BaneTNA3nothing too bad. The colors are muted, as they were in the original design. The reflections on the mask are handled via simple painted details, which add a nice bit of style to the figure without looking too specific to any one shot of the character. Bane is packed with four pairs of hands (fists, closed gesture, open gesture, and gripping) and a display stand. That’s a little less than some of the other figures, but more than acceptable given the size of the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Bane was another purchase from Cosmic Comix, though I actually got him at full price. I wasn’t sure about whether or not I’d be getting Bane, but I was really impressed by the look of him in person, and even more impressed by just how awesome the figure is out of the box. He’s easily the best figure that DCC has produced in this line, and I really hope that subsequent figures can live up to him.

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#0790: Penguin

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

PENGUIN

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DCC)

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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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#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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