Packaging - ***1/2
The box is the same as the previous four pack releases. The artwork
on the back is great, and the text explains all the characters. The
front allows you to see the figures and their accessories without having
to open it up if it's your thing to stay with MIB, and you can also open
it up pretty easily and remove everything without damage. Overall,
these four pack boxes are some of Hasbro's better work.Sculpt
- ***1/2
The sculpts on all four figures are great. Of course, we've already
seen this Batman, Batgirl and Nightwing more than once, so the real focus
here is the Gordon. He's excellent -
the head sculpt captures Gordon perfectly, and the slightly overweight but
still tough body looks just right for the animated style. His hands
are sculpted to hold guns, but fortunately not the awful guns he comes
with. The other three figures are
also great sculpts. All four figures stand well on their own, which
has been a problem for this particular Batman figure in the past. He
has skinny ankles - I suppose it runs in the family. Nightwing
is a slightly different sculpt than the previous version - no hole in his
back this time, and his legs are close together. See the picture
below for a comparison.
Articulation - **1/2
It's Hasbro articulation. Five points - neck, shoulders, and
hips. Yes, we all wish there was more, but for the animated style
it's acceptable. Accessories
- ***
Here's a bone of contention - some of these accessories I really like, but
others are simply terrible. Let's
start with Gordon - the guns he comes with are huge! They are Joker
accessories, and look cartoony as you'd expect. Oddly enough, his
body sculpt includes a gun in his shoulder holster which is the right
size. I swapped in the gun that came with the newer Two-Face figure,
and it works great. The other awful
accessory comes with Batgirl. This stupid projectile weapon has been
used a couple times before, and hasn't aged gracefully. On top of
that, the colors used here are simply ugly. Nightwing
comes with a couple nifty accessories, re-used as they might be. The
grappling hook gun is great for play value, and the hang glider that he
can hold in his hand has some terrific graphics of the various villains on
it. Now for the big surprise -
Batman's accessory is really cool! Okay, so lots of folks hate these
bizarre colored items, but his big orange snapping trap has terrific play
value! It works smoothly, and is great fun - something accessories
for toys like these should always be. Paint -
**1/2
Poor paint ops is the greatest weakness of this set. The Batgirl's I
saw had black bleeding into the back of her eye liner. Maybe it was
intentional, but it doesn't look that way to me. On top of that, the
bat symbol on her chest is a slightly darker yellow than the rest of her
outfit. While I don't think it was a
mistake, the other odd paint scheme is her cape, cowl and uniform.
The cape and cowl are the blue they used on the Wind Blitz Batgirl, while
the rest of her costume is black, like the previous four pack
Batgirl. Why? The contrast between the cowl and the costume
looks odd. Nightwing's paint work
was fine, and I think this version is the best they've produced. Gordon's
paint ops have one major failing - where the hell are the whites of his
eyes? Without any paint, they certainly look odd, and I haven't seen
any of the Gordon's with them painted properly. Batman
has a slight paint change as well from his previous incarnations.
Along with a slightly lighter shade of gray for his uniform, the inside of
his cape has been painted this same color. Others have complained
about this, but I like it. From a defensive standpoint, it makes
excellent sense - if his costume and the inside of the cape are the same
color, his body parts won't stand out against it so well, and he'll make a
worse target. Quality - ***
Hasbro quality is actually pretty good most of the time. While they
may not always have the best articulation, their figures do tend to be
sturdy and well made. The only quality flaw here has already been
covered in the paint ops. Value
- ***1/2
Four figures, one of them brand spanking new, with accessories, for twenty
bucks. It's not the single greatest value ever seen in the aisles of
Toys R Us, but it's not bad. Overall -
***
This could have been the best four pack so far - with the new Gordon
figure, and the improved Nightwing, it was posed for greatness.
Unfortunately, the paint problems and some of the accessory choices ended
up hurting what otherwise could have been truly amazing. All
in all though, it's still a great set, and for the Gordon figure alone any
animated Batman fan should pick it up. Where to Buy -
These are Toys R Us exclusives, so you'll need to hit your local store
or check out Amazon.
Previous 4 packs have hit there as well, and perhaps if you still have a
WB store around you might get lucky there. But with the swift demise
of the WB stores, I wouldn't count on that one!
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