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Packaging: ***1/2
Hot Toys are on quite a roll for me at
the moment, I loved the BRJ packaging and Dixon Chan and Monster Jr
have done another top job here. I especially like the outer-sleeve.
One
side is a light in tone, hi-gloss finish for Harvey, with some nice
embossed ‘federal’ typography while the other side is dark and matt
with a rough finish, only the type and small areas of Two Faces scarred
face are spot laminated, very classy. This sleeve slides off to
reveal a silk finished 5 panel flap fronted box, the front has a large
image of Dents damaged coin and the back has pictures of his ‘split’
face on each side of the box with production credits written down the
middle.
The alternate ‘undamaged’ jacket is attached in a small
tray to the inside flap above a brief bio, and on the other side is the
window showing Two Face held in place by five twisties along side his
spare hands, coins, badge and alternate Dent head. A very nice box from
a designer’s perspective, I’m loving the spot laminate!
Sculpt: ****
Poor old Harvey, he just doesn’t have the
allure of the Joker, Ledger kind of stole the show with his larger than
life portrayal of the ‘agent of chaos’, he already has a ‘Golden Globe’
posthumously awarded for his work in bringing the character to such
vivid life. There’s no denying that both Eckhart and Bale did sterling
work in TDK, but for many, many reasons Ledgers swan song performance
will be the over riding memory people take away from this movie. And
for that reason I see this figure being the hardest sell of the bunch
so far, but that’s a shame because this is one very cool figure, and
Yulli’s work once again shines. She is credited on the back of the box
as prototype sculptor, but when this figure was first announced it was
said that the scarred side was by an ‘un-named’ sculptor, I’m sure some
contractual legality has lead to this statement, or perhaps Yulli
didn’t want to take the heat of a fan-boy backlash (those fan boys can
be quite the pedants don’t you know). But whoever did it I’m impressed
by every sculpted element of this figure. The Dent head is almost
as masterful as the BRJ, I can find very little to fault it on, if I
had to be harsh I’d say Eckhart is ever so slightly fuller and broader
in the lower half of his face, but cheez I’m knit picking, this is most
definitely Aaron Eckhart, along with cannibal Jack it’s one of the few
sculpts to have got a reaction from my ‘doll’ weary wife, her reaction
was ‘that’s just amazing’, the last time she was this enthusiastic was
as I said on Mr Sparrow, he’s been on her bookshelf ever since. This
time I put my foot down,’ No, he’s mine!’ I heard myself say, and felt
like a petulant ten-year-old, ahhh, toys; they bring out the very best
in us. The Two face head seems to utilise half of the
previous sculpt, I’ve scrutinised it pretty closely and every aspect
from his dimpled chin to the fall of his hair is exactly the same. The
hair parting is moved over slightly to make way for the scarred scalp
which blends down into his disfigured face This shows some great
anatomical work on the eyeball and especially on the exposed muscles
and sinews around his teeth and gums. Apparently Nolan was originally
going to go for a far more clinical and scientific look to Harvey’s
scarring, but it was decided his ‘real world’ ethos would be too
disturbing for audiences, and so a mid ground was found. Not as ‘comic
book’ as the Tommy Lee Jones version but neither was it too Greys
anatomy, I love it and as far fetched and ghoulish as the floating
eyeball is, along with the exposed teeth and flashes of bone it just
give the right look to this character, and shows enough hard core
damage for you to empathise with Harvey’s tragic plight. He also
comes with 4 different hands, two in a relaxed position and one newly
sculpted gun grip for his revolver and a specially designed hand for
holding the iddy biddy badge and coins he comes with, and as tiny as
they are the coins are all sculpted and the button badge even has a pin
sculpted on the back, so all in all the addition of the extra head
gives you so much more opportunity for swapping characters this just
has to be full marks.
Paint: ****
I’ve praised JC Hong on many occasions, hell I think he gets a
mention in just about every HT review I do, and for good reason, the
guy has single handedly dragged mass produced paint apps into an arena
previously only occupied by customisers. But the nameless artists who
carry out his work deserve a big pat on the back too. This is another
breakout job, if you’re lucky enough to get this in hand just check out
the mouth area, the crispness of the lines between the teeth and gums,
the variation in tone on the muscles, bone and burnt tissue. The eyes
yet again have that JC Hong life like glisten, the subtlety of the
airbrushed 5 o’clock shadow and the blonde hair… OK, blonde hair
doesn’t sound like it should be that big a challenge, but anyone out
their who has the various Luke Skywalker's that have been given to us
by everyone from Hasbro to Sideshow right through to Gentle Giant will
tell you what a challenge a mass produced blonde barnet can be! It
all looks just perfect to me, and though I have seen the movie three
times I haven’t scrutinised any still imaged with a linen tester to
check just how ‘crispy’ each millimetre of his face should be, but its
still like a master-class in how it should be done!
Articualtion - ****
Once again Harvey uses the True-Type, we’ve been over this base body loads of times, my basic description can be read here.
It’s the best base generic body out there right now, it stands like a
dream and showcases Hot Toys masterful tailoring perfectly, as my wife
once said ‘it just looks like a little man’, well that’s the idea! You
might find that when wearing his ‘damaged’ jacket it restricts his arm
mobility a little and the material used to mimic the burnt and scorched
fabric is quite thick, but Harvey was never that much of an action-man,
and most will just want to find a general pensive looking stance, and
for that this figure is more than capable!
Accessories - ***3/4
Mr
Dent comes with some of the tiniest accessories to date, but all very
specific to his character… sorry, characters. We get two tiny
double-sided coins, expertly sculpted at this scale (handy as you’re
bound to lose one!), a tiny campaign badge emblazoned with ‘I BELIEVE
IN HARVEY DENT’, and they even modelled a miniscule pin on the reverse.
He also comes with a revolver, the chamber can flip out and the hammer
cocked (it’s the same one that came with the Michael Scofield ‘spec-ed’
Prison Break figure), then there’s the stand, which is nice as it has the TDK logo and character name, but I never use them. And
lastly there’s the extra un-burnt Harvey Dent head and jacket, these
are the key items keeping the score so high. As nice as the coins,
badge and gun are, it’s the ability to swap this figure between his two
alter egos’ that deserve all the praise. I’ve gone over the sculpts
above, but onto his clothes now… Outfit: ****
Another
great 1/6 business suit from HT, The first I got was on the Prison
Break figures a couple of years ago, then last year the Supes 2 in 1
had another great 2 piece, and now this. I don’t think anyone else is
making 1/6 clothes as finely tailored as HT at this time.
They go
out of their way to source scaled ‘thin’ material with super fine
weaves, scaled buttons, lining and working pockets finished off with a
working belt and tie, the material used on the shirt, and the tiny
buttons and stitching is amazing, I hope my photos do it justice. And
of course for Harvey Dent DA mode you get the extra ‘undamaged’ jacket,
it wasn’t until I was unpacking this that I noticed they even have
working inside chest pockets on both sides, pure quality. He also
comes with some super shiny patent shoes, but like the BRJ he has no
socks, not as big a problem as with the Joker, as you are far less
likely to pose him in a position that causes a flash of ankle, but
everything else is so perfect a pair of socks would have finished it
off nicely. I think the burnt half of the jacket deserves special
mention, it has a rubberised effect that seems to have been impregnated
into the cloth, or perhaps welded/ironed on, it’s pretty convincing,
but at this scale it obviously bulks the material up a bit. Not hugely
so, you can still get plenty of good posing, but if the left arm is
lifted too high the collar can start moving away from the neck, however
as I also mentioned above Dent was never the most ‘dynamic’ of
super-villains, so it’s as much of a problem as you want to make of it. Ultimately
I can’t imagine any other manufacturer doing the damaged jacket this
well, so considering we get two jackets it’s got to be full marks again. Fun factor: ***1/2
Well,
as I said above to the more ‘casual’ collector this guy just doesn’t
have the allure of Bats or the Joker. No, this figure is more for your
hardcore 1/6 collector or serious Batman fan, and as such HT have
rewarded us with a figure that doesn’t skimp on quality, and whilst not
as laden with accessories as the recent BR Joker, that extra head goes
a long way in clawing back a few extra Brownie points.
Value: ***1/2
If you can wait till June… JUNE…freakin hell
JUNE!... then you can get this for $175 from DC Direct,
alternatively you can use one of Michaels sponsors below or go to eBay
where he’s going in the $140 to $185 bracket. I figure most will be
paying in the $150 to $160’ish area, so I based my score on that, but
if you go up to the full RRP of $175 I’d perhaps knock another quarter
of a star off. Overall: ***3/4
I wrestled with
giving this ***1/2, but the two cool head sculpts and the two jackets
made me reconsider, it would have been even cooler with a damaged shirt
and trousers, I never noticed if he had one damaged shoe (and sock for
that matter), but a figure this outstanding is certainly deserving of
more than three and a half stars, it’s ‘almost’ perfect. And which ever
way you look at it this is another benchmark from Hot Toys. SCORE RECAP:
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpt - ****
Paint - ****
Articulation - ****
Accessories - ***3/4
Outfit - ****
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - ***1/2
Overall - ***3/4
Where to Buy -
As stated above, DC Direct will have it in June…JUNE! For $175, or you can try some of Michaels sponsors below- Urban Collector $138.99 Pre-Order Alter Ego Comics $148.75 Pre-Order
Showpiece
Collectibles $149.99 Pre-Order CornerStoreComics $149.99 Pre Order
Dark Shadow $155.00 Pre Order Entertainment
Earth $ 160.73 Pre Order Forbidden
Planet £ 99.99 Pre Order
Or it’s time to hit eBay with
the sponsor MyAuctionLinks.com. 
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