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Packaging - ***
The box continues the standard style for this line, with a fifth panel
flap covering the window. The packaging is fairly collector friendly,
and there's some brief text on Robin on the inside flap. My favorite
feature is the listing of all the figures produced so far in the 13" series
- my least favorite is the photoshopped photo of Robin holding the rope in
his fisted hand, since that's physically not possible.
And while it's fairly collector friendly, there's still too many twisties
and too much tape for this expensive of a 'collectible'. Drop all
those accoutrements and use a top plastic tray, please.
Sculpting - ***
They style here is based on the Silver Age look, much like the classic Bats
and Batgirl. But there's some Golden Age influences here too, and the
name Dick Sprang sprang to mind immediately when I looked at Robin.
The head sculpt is an attempt at that sort of generic appearance, and it
works well enough. The hair has nice detail work, and the chin and
features are appropriately chiseled. It comes off a little more
mannequin than I'd like, but I believe that's largely the fault of the
paint, not the sculpt. He looks much better in the mask(s) than out,
and that's good since that's the way you'll probably be displaying him.
They've dumped the bendy hands - sort of. Thank God for that, too.
There are three sets of sculpted hands: fists, gripping and open. The
open hands have fingers that *might* actually still be bendy to some degree,
but they are small and much harder than the fingers on past hands, making
them a) look so much better and b) not able to hold any extreme pose.
Color me thankful.
Robin stands great on his own, and the new body fits in nicely with the
rest of the 13" line scale-wise. He's shorter at 12" tall, but he is
also less bulky and more svelte. It's a more normal athletic build
than the other superheroes, and makes perfect sense for the 'teen'.
Paint - ***
The paint work is generally clean and neat, with no real quality issues.
The hair is jet black, with a clean hair line, and the eyes are straight and
even. The lips have a little bit of the lipstick look to them, but
it's not atrocious.
The biggest issue is that the paint, especially the work on the eyes,
lacks life. Rather than looking like a 'real' person, the figure looks
just like what it is - a figure. It's possible to pull off realism,
though, and get the figure to look less like a store display and more like
the real deal.
The one big flaw on mine is the zit on his forehead, that looks like a
chunk of dirt ended up in the paint. Hey, I know he's a teen, but
Bruce could afford Clearasil.
The other major paint application is on the hands, where they are done in
a bright green that matches the vinyl cuffs in both color and finish.
Articulation - ***
Robin comes on the new, smaller hero body from DCD. Their bulky
heroes stand a full 13" tall, making them tower over other sixth scale
lines. Robin is scaled to fit in with those giants, and stands just a
hair over 12" tall.
The articulation is slightly different as well, and in some ways an
improvement. Most notably, he has an excellent ball jointed neck, with
a great range of movement and the ability to hold lots of tough poses.
There's a bit of a gaping at the jaw line, but with Robin's large cape
collar, it's not as noticeable. This is another improvement worth
thanking DCD for.
The rest of the body is much like the larger body. There's the ball
jointed shoulders and hips, the double jointed pin elbows and knees, the cut
biceps and thighs (although Robin's thighs are cut much lower and closer to
the knees), and the pin/disk ankle with the cut joint just above. Oh,
and let's not forget the cut waist and pin chest joint.
However, the hip joints are a bit of a disappointment. Robin's butt
is sculpted well down toward his thighs, making him look better in his
tights...but also making it very difficult for the legs to move backward.
At all. I'm talking they don't go back past parallel to his spine, period. That interferes with many leg stances. The
pin chest joint doesn't help any either, since it allows his torso to tilt
forward quite a bit, but not backward at all. I found this restriction
fairly frustrating when I was posing him for shots.
He also still sports the silly cut wrist joints, but I'll give them a
little slack on those, at least for now, since they gave me such a great
neck joint. The pins for the wrists are too short again as well, but
the fit is tighter so that the hands don't fall off quite as easily as some
past releases.
Outfit - ***
Robin's outfit is a bit simplistic, but that's the style they were going
for. Nothing wrong in matching the reference material, simple or not.
And simple doesn't always mean 'easy'. Sometimes simple means that
the company assumes they can take short cuts on quality and tailoring and
they'll get away with it. I say Nay Nay.
Fortunately, DCD didn't think that way. Robin's costume consists of
three separate pieces of clothing, plus his belt, gauntlets for the gloves,
and boots. He also has two masks, but I'll talk about those in the
Accessories section.
The cloth pieces are very well done, made from high quality material with
great stitching. Most of the tailoring is also quite good, although
the cape does tend to ride up a bit around his neck, exposing it in front at
times. That's probably the single biggest flaw of the figure overall,
although until someone points it out you might not notice.
The cape is particularly nice, with a hemmed edge and thin material that
flows nicely. Like I said, it rides up a bit, but it's a minor
annoyance for me. The length is just right for the period.
His red robin tunic has actual string ties across the front that thread
through tiny metal rivets, with a small
in scale zipper down the back. The 'R' on his chest looks similar to
an iron on decal, but it's lined up nice and straight with a proper
placement on his left side.
Under the tunic is his green one piece body suit, also with a small
zipper down the back. In fact, every piece of clothing on Robin is
designed to be easy to remove (although you have to pop the head off to
remove the cape), something that hasn't always been true with this line.
The back half of his gloves are made from vinyl, but they match the paint
job on the hands well enough to blend in nicely. They fit well, and
the vinyl is a good material to use.
At least for the gloves, that is. I hate the vinyl boots, which are
goofy looking and oversized. I think that sculpted boots would have
been a much better approach, although they would have been more expensive
for DCD to produce.
The belt is the final piece of the costume. It fits great, and
looks very realistic even with it's simple design.
Accessories - ***1/2
Robin comes with quite a few more goodies than the usual DC Direct Deluxe
figure.
There's the usual display stand, which works pretty well. You won't
need it, but if you're looking to do some funky wild poses, it can come in
handy. There's a nifty Robin logo on the base too, complete with "The
Boy Wonder".
As I mentioned earlier, he also has two extra sets of sculpted hands.
He comes with the fists attached, but there's also a gripping set and a
relaxed, gesturing set. This second set *might* also be a little
bendy, but the fingers wouldn't stay in other poses very well for me.
That's fine too - I hate those bendy hands, and these three sets of sculpted
ones look so much better. The hands swap pretty easily, and while the
peg is really too short, it's a tight enough fit that the hands don't fall
off as easily as some past releases.
He also has two masks, one black and one dark green. These are
supposed to work like the Nightwing's masks, snapping tight to his face and
staying there under their own power. This doesn't work nearly as well
here as it did with Nightwing though. These don't fit as tightly, and
they tend to fall off or slip down his nose like a pair of loose glasses.
He looks better in them than out, but I wish the engineering had been a bit
better.
Finally, he has one of the coolest grappling hooks I've ever seen.
This one looks like a flat batarang on a rope inside the box. But take
it out and you'll find that the flat section is actually two pieces.
Push down on the back section and it can be turned outward, making a
complete grappling hook! The spring holding the back half in place is
nice and strong, and the movement is very fluid. This is a terrific
design!
Fun Factor - ***
He's not really meant for kids, but it's nice to know he still thinks of
himself as a 'toy'. The body is sturdy, as are most of the
accessories. Swapping the hands might be a bit frustrating for kids,
and I don't think I'd drop this kind of cash on a figure for them to use in
the backyard, but kids who have an appreciation for taking care of their
'collectibles' would enjoy getting this guy.
Value - **
I bought this one at my LCS. And I paid $70 for it. And it hurt.
These figures HAVE improved, no doubt about it. But at that price
point they are priced above Sideshow's offerings, and up in the neighborhood of
some of the Hot Toys properties like Rocky or Rambo. This figure is
good, but he's not at that level.
I am giving them a bit of a break here though, because of the new body.
That doesn't mean they should be trying to make up the entire cost of
developing that body on this first figure though.
If you pay around $55 for him, I'd add another half star.
Things to Watch Out For -
Keep in mind that the masks don't stay in place as well as Nightwing's, and
they could drop off when you're just moving him from one spot to another.
Losing them would be a major problem.
Overall - ***
I like Robin quite a bit more than I expected too. Certainly not
$70 worth, and that's what keeps this guy back from that extra half star.
However, had a) the masks fit better, b) the boots weren't quite so goofy
and c) the butt sculpt had not restricted the hip articulation, I'd gave given
him another half star even at the premium price.
Better yet, leave those things alone and give me this figure in the $50 -
$55 range, and you get that extra half star as well.
The Deluxe line continues to improve, with sculpted hands and a great
ball jointed neck showing up on Robin. If DCD continues to make
improvements to the line, I expect this line to turn out great in 08.
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpt - ***
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***
Outfit - ***
Accessories - ***1/2
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **
Overall - ***
Where to Buy -
Your local LCS might have him, but the prices can vary wildly.
Sponsor options include:
- CornerStoreComics has
him for $55.
- Amazing Toyz has
him in at $55 as well.
- Alter Ego Comics has him at
$59.50.
- or you can search Ebay using
MyAuctionLinks.
- Related Links -
I've covered a number of the 13"
Deluxe line:
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