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Packaging: ****
If it wasn’t for the simply outstanding boxes that came with the ALIEN
Nostromo, cosmonauts then this would have got my packaging design of
the year, and it’s no coincidence that like them this is again the work
of Dixon Chan and Monster Jr.
A very striking bit of graphic design utilising a large digital
illustration of the Jokers bank robber mask surrounded by ‘Jokerised’
$’s covers the front of the sleeve, with pics of the figure in his
different head/mask modes and accessory details on the back. The inside
box is the usual 5 panel flap fronted affair, it has a large
illustration of a ‘Joker’ playing card on the front and a stylish photo
of the mask hanging in the Jokers hand along side a list of production
credits on the back. The inside flap has another photo of the figure
with a brief bio printed underneath. Pull out the tray and you’ll find
the figure housed in a vac formed tray, held securely by 5 twisties
with his various extras and accessories arranged around him, a simple,
classic box but designed beautifully, a great one for the MIB’ers to
display with pride.
Sculpt: ****
Beautiful, just beautiful, both these heads are simply breathtaking,
and like the cannibal Jack Sparrow from earlier last year they just
seem to capture the essence of the character. The head designed to wear
the mask has a slightly bemused smirk, his eyes are looking out
straight ahead and the hair is slicked back. Head two is more
representative of the characters look through the majority of the
movie, the face is more determined and threatening, with his slight
sideways glancing eyes, and the lank hair falling greasily to frame his
nightmarish face. I just love these two sculpts, they very accurately
embody the way Heath Ledger looked whilst in character and the fine
work Yulli has done on the facial scaring around the mouth blows her
earlier version out of the water in terms of accuracy, and the hair is
sublime each tress and strand is beautifully realised. As I said just
beautiful!
He also comes with four hands, two left, a gun grip and knife/card grip
and two right, a general grip (ideal for holding the mask) and lastly a
gesturing hand, the same sculpt as with the previous Joker, but great
for posing and coloured black this time instead of purple. There are
also quite a few sculpted accessories, but I’ll cover those later.
Paint: ****
To back up these two sterling
sculpts JC Hong has pulled out all the stops to give us some of the
best mass produced paint apps seen so far. These equal the cannibal
Jack I mentioned earlier (though the complexity on that figure means it
still keeps my top spot for now).
The hair subtly hints at the Jokers washed out green dye, but the dirty
brown is by far the dominant colour and the effect of the white
greasepaint smearing to show patches of flesh showing through is
masterful, as is the smeared panda eyes and blood red mouth. Once again
JC’s glossy eyes bring these heads to life, with just the right amount
of sheen to catch the light convincingly (c’mon Sideshow, drop the
dot!).
The ‘bank job’ mask also has some great work, the red and blue areas
both show patches where the paint has rubbed off, but by design rather
than through sloppy work, and the whole thing then has a dry sponged
‘dirt’ effect to tie the whole thing together.
Many of the accessories also have some paint effects, as do the shoes,
all carried out efficiently with no slop, top marks easily.
Articualtion - ****
Once again the True-Type described here
helps make this figure stand… and indeed stoop very naturally, and with
the right amount of tweaking and futzing you’ll get him into whatever
pose you need, quite simply ‘still’ the best body out there at the
moment, all the joints are firm without being stiff and he stays
upright without the need of a stand (though one is supplied).
Accessories - ****
Whilst not loaded, he certainly has everything the character needs, and
indeed used, and the added bonus of the extra head means this has to be
another area for full marks.
His booty is listed as-
- Luggage bag/holdall with foam holder for grenades
- Clown ‘bank job’ mask
- Handgun with removable clip
- MK760 with removable clip and flip out stock
- Four fragmentation grenades with removable pins
- Three smoke grenades
- Bundle of ‘Jokerised’ dollar bills (taped to back of inside tray)
- Selection of scaled ‘Joker’ cards (taped to back of inside tray)
- 2 alternate hand sculpts
- Two interchangeable JOKER heads (both new sculpts)
- Figure stand featuring TDK logo and ‘The Joker’ nameplate
Both the guns are well put together and have removable clips and
cocking mechanisms, the MK760 is more of an extra to go with the first
Joker release as he used it when facing down Bats as he raced towards
him on the Bat-Pod later in the movie. The holdall opens with a very
well scaled zip, once opened you can remove the foam put inside to pad
it out and replace it with a small black slab of dense black foam
supplied, this has holes punched that can take the various
fragmentation and smoke grenades.
I mentioned how good the paint
on the mask is above, and it fits snugly to the head as well, lining up
with the eyes just perfectly. And though not mentioned on the HT
website or listed on the box he also has both the playing cards and
money, they’re both bagged and taped to the back of the black tray, so
a pretty reasonable selection
Outfit: ***3/4
Well the clean sweep of full marks had to stop eventually, and though
this outfit is expertly tailored there are just a couple of small
little niggles that keep it from that top score.
And those two things are the
lack of socks and the tight collar on the shirt. I guess the socks
could be considered a moot point, as we never actually see any in the
movie, but I feel the shirt collar could do with being ever so slightly
looser, it’s an easy fix, and to be fair it can be done up OK, but it
tends to pull a little making the stud fastener show (at least it does
on mine, you might be luckier).
I hate to start on the negative
because everything else is so good. The rest of the shirt fits
fantastically, and the Velcro used to hold the front shut is much
stronger than on the previous figure.
The suit is up to HT usual 1/6
clothing standards in that it fits like a dream, they’ve even managed
to make it look slightly tatty and lived in and all the details on the
buttons and working pockets are to perfect scale. Like on the previous
version they have managed to replicate the pattern on the shirt
incredibly accurately and even though it has long sleeves under the
jacket you’ll get no bunching or rucking up, it’s as near perfect to
scale as I believe it’s possible to get at this time, and due to HT
managing to source and work with such fine materials I think any
customiser would struggle to match this for quality.
Fun factor: ****
In the movie the Joker doesn’t spend that much time in this outfit, but
the opening sequence of the bank heist is such a rollercoaster opener
that many of the poses the character adopts in these scenes are almost
more iconic than when he’s in the ‘regular’ outfit.
Take the scene where he’s
waiting to be picked up, with his back to us, mask in hand, or standing
in the bank, when he first takes the mask off to reveal his face…
classic stuff, and this figure is perfect for replicating those poses.
So as always it’s not a child’s plaything, but it’s still a wonderful
toy!
Value: ***1/2
Hot Toys sometimes have a bit of a habit of spoiling us in the
accessories department, and though this guy isn’t loaded that extra
head is such a sweetener it makes the price a lot more user friendly.
There were quite a few places
you can pick this up, but due to it’s popularity some have already sold
out on pre-order, and of course eBay is still very much an option with
it going for between $130 to $199.
Some are being parted out with a
premium price being asked for the heads
so if you plan on keeping him in Bank Robber mode you could make quite
a chunk back by selling your ‘spare’ head.
I’ve based by score on a pickup
of $160, if you go up to the RRP of $175 I’d perhaps knock another ¼
star off.
But there is no denying this is one sweet figure, and let’s face it
with the state of stocks and shares right now it’s probably a better
investment!
Overall: ****
I was fully expecting to like this figure a lot, but it’s better than I
could have hoped. Originally I planed to swap out the head and display
the ‘classic’ outfit, but he looks so cool with the bag slung over his
shoulder pointing his gun ‘gansta’ stylee I decided to display him in
this outfit… at least for now.
So for the time being I have TDK
Bats centre stage, flanked by BRJ and Two-Face… makes for onehellova
set-up.
It’s definitely one of the ‘must
haves’ in the 1/6 collectors catalogue, and along with Dent/Two-Face a
great way for many to kick off their New Year, a classic.
SCORE RECAP:
Packaging - ****
Sculpt - ****
Paint - ****
Articulation - ****
Accessories - ****
Outfit - ***3/4
Fun Factor - ****
Value - ***1/2
Overall - ****
Where to Buy -
Officially the Importer on this figure is DC Direct and they have it up
for $175
on pre-order.
And as I said above, some places
have already sold out, as you’ll see below, but I’ll list the places
that had it in case a second batch is made available-
Showpiece
Collectibles has a great price at just $150.
Urban Collector $164.99
In Stock
Alter Ego Comics $157.49
Pre-Order
Entertainment
Earth $174.99 Pre Order
CornerStoreComics $159.99
SOLD OUT
Dark Shadow
$175.99 SOLD OUT
Forbidden
Planet £109.00 Pre Order
- or you can search ebay with
the sponsor MyAuctionLinks.com.
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