Review of Bank Robber Joker
Dark Knight Action Figure

Introduction

I'm a big fan of 1:12 scale - it's a nice compromise between size, price, and quality. There's also a wide variety across price points, from $20 a figure to $100, depending on style, design, and quality.

One of the high end models is from Soap Studio. With cloth costumes and extra portraits, they are definitely working in the same market as the Mezco One:12 figures, although at a much slower, less productive pace.

They've produced a couple figures so far based on The Dark Knight, including the Bank Robber version of the Joker. These guys aren't cheap, and the Joker will run you around $90 - $100 depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ***1/2
The sturdy box has a nice window to show off the figure and accessories. There's not a lot of text or photos, but I like the red graffiti on the front, as well as the photo-realistic artwork. It's all very collector friendly, and there's some basic instructions that mostly tell you what not to do.

Sculpting - ***
There are two portraits included - masked and unmasked. He comes wearing the masked version, and swapping in the unmasked is fairly easy. However, neither head stays attached very well.

The masked head is the winner of the two. The shape and design of the mask is accurate, and the size of the head looks good on the body. This is probably the look I'll go with on the shelf.

The unmasked head is a disappointment. It looks nothing like Ledger, and while the realism in the face and skin isn't bad, the hair is thick and clunky. The smile isn't much of a smile either, with the scars looking like almost a straight line. The makeup doesn't do much to improve the situation, but more on that in the next category.

To add insult to injury, the unmasked head is slightly small, creating a oversized look to the shoulders of the body and jacket. It's not the body's fault, it's this second head.

As I said, these are 1/12, and the Joker comes in at about 6 3/8" tall, allowing him to fit in pretty well with the One:12 line if you're so disposed.

Paint - **
I dropped this score for one major issue - otherwise, I would have gone another full star here.

The masked head is the winner again. The red and blue details look great, and there's a dirty, worn look to the white. This well done paint job supports the nice sculpt, further cementing my opinion that this is the look I'll be using on the shelf.

The unmasked head has the big issue. The hair looks alright, if a bit dark, and the face paint is reasonable. The painted section of the smile doesn't do much to help the sculpted scars, with the ends barely turned up. This is the most depressed version of the character I've ever seen.

But the unforgivable issue at this price point is the wonky right eye. One of the hallmarks of the One:12 series by Mezco is the superb production paint work at this scale. This figure has a long way to go to get there, and the price point is higher.

My Joker has one straight eye and one looking somewhere far off to the right. The wandering eye is something I don't expect on a $20 Marvel Legends figure, let alone a $100 high end release.

Articulation - ***
The underlying body is well articulated, but there are a couple caveats.

The neck is a ball joint inside the torso, with the head and neck being one solid piece. Because the joint is fairly deep inside the body, there's not a lot of lean and tilt. On top of it, the heads tend to pop off as you're posing him.

The shoulders and elbows have an excellent range of movement, and you should have no trouble getting natural arm poses. The wrists are the usual rotating hinge joints, but take care with the wrist pegs. The hands can be tough to pop off, and the ball of the wrist joint can easily come apart. I had to pop the two halves back together on the left hand the first time I swapped, and was worried about damaging it every time after.

The torso can turn and crunch, and the hips, knees, and ankles can take shallow to very deep stances. There's pretty good rocker movement in the ankles, but here's another point of concern. The ankle joints feel very fragile, with very thin posts. I was concerned about snapping one when I was working with them, and while I didn't, you'll still want to take extra care.

Accessories - ***1/2
He's well outfitted, although a few more weapons would have gone a long way.

He has the second unmasked portrait we already discussed. It's a big boost here, even with its specific issues.

When you're using the unmasked head, it's handy to have a mask for him to hold. They provide a good one, and he can hold it easily in one or two of the extra hands. It is not designed to be worn over his face.

There are also a nice assortment of hands. He comes with three extra sets to swap in for the pair he's wearing, mostly designed to hold the various other accessories like the mask or money. They are a pretty tight fit, so take care with those wrist joints.

He also has three hand grenades and three canister - smoke - grenades. These are nicely scaled with good sculpts. They've included the screen accurate bag from the bank scene, and inside is a foam insert. There's six holes cut in this insert, perfectly sized for the six grenades.

The bag is worth mentioning further, because it's the nicest extra overall. The nylon material looks great, and even the working zippers are scaled properly.

He has one other weapon - his handgun. It includes an extended magazine, which is not removable. The slide does pop off though, and is easy to lose. The sculpt is okay, but not particularly detailed.

This is a bank robbery of course, and it was all about the money. He comes with one banded brick of cash, nicely scaled with a very detailed paint job.

I didn't realize it until I was swapping hands, but he's also wearing a removable watch. Not much detail here, but it's a nice surprise.

Finally, there's a small display stand with a support rod. Nothing super special, and you won't need it to keep him upright.

Outfit - ***1/2
The outfit consists of his shirt, jacket, pants, and shoes.

The overall fit is decent, but the tailoring on the pants could be a smidge better. The jacket and shirt fit well, but both have slightly large collars. The collar on the jacket is more in scale than the shirt collar, creating a weird dynamic. There's buttons on the front of the shirt and jacket, and extras are included in case these fall off.

I think the shoes are the best part of the outfit, with a nice sculpt and paint job. The costume looks better with the masked head in place, because the unmasked head is slightly too small, throwing off the appearance of the jacket. Again, going with the masked head is the right decision for the display.

Fun Factor - ***
If you take some care with the ankles and wrists, you should have no trouble finding natural, interesting poses. It also helps if you stick with the masked head.

Value - *1/2
Mezco figures run around $80, and usually include more extras than this guy has.  Coming in at $100 is too much, assuming matching quality. With the wandering right eye, undersized portrait, and worrisome ankles and wrists, this guy is definitely not worth an extra twenty bucks.

Things to Watch Out For -
I'm going to sound like a broken record, but that's better than a broken wrist or ankle. Take care with these particular joints. And when swapping the hands, don't forget about the watch. It's tiny and easy to lose if you aren't paying attention to it.

Overall - **1/2
The figure will fit in reasonably well with the One:12 figures, as long as you're going with the masked head. The costume isn't at the same level as Mezco's better work, but it's good enough to pass the quick glance test. The number of accessories is reasonable as well, but the wonky unmasked head and high price point hurt this guy overall.

This was the best looking of the Soap figures in the promo photos. They also have a Harvey Dent from the Nolan films, but their photos don't make him jump out at me, so I'm still on the fence about picking him up.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ***
Paint - **
Articulation - ***
Accessories - ***1/2
Outfit - ***1/2
Fun Factor - ***
Value - *1/2
Overall - **1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other 1/12 Jokers include the Mezco Clown Prince, the amazing deluxe, and the original release.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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