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Where as the old action man figs
could only look right and left, and
the Enterbay figs could look in virtually all directions, but each eye
moved independently of each other… which was great for ‘comedy’ poses
with the likes of Mr Bean, but could occasionally prove frustrating for
some people when trying to get both eyes looking in exactly the same
direction. Well, with the new PERS technique they will always end up
looking in the same direction… hence the ‘parallel’ part of the
description. However I strongly advise reading the enclosed
instructions for the system and taking it slowly and gently… do NOT
force any movements. I feared at first mine wasn’t working, or was too
stiff, but after gently turning the handle and delicately pushing it
around while holding the head firmly with my other hand I eventually
got the knack. You have to remember this is a posing system designed
for serious collectors… the kinds of people who will pay $170 to have a
miniature facsimile of Heath Ledger as the Joker on their shelf, so
don’t expect this to ‘swoosh’ from side to side like a kid’s toy. This
is a more delicate, finely tuned little mechanism that needs to be
teased with loving care rather than yanked, but the payoff is pretty
darn cool, and has set yet another benchmark in figures with poseable
eyes!
You really need to get your magnifying glass out to see just how
exceptionally detailed these eyes are. They are actually miniature
glass eyes, so we get an ivory white ball with microscopic red thread
veins coming in from the sides, the iris colour is set back within the
translucent construction of the eye giving the finished product real
depth and making the pupil actually look like it’s floating… now if we
could just make those pupils dilate!
But enough on the PERS… well for now, let’s get on with the rest of
this thing!
Packaging - ****
Over the last couple of
years Dixon Chan has designed some of my favourite boxes for Hot Toys,
and this is yet again another outstanding bit of packaging… but as it’s
the first DX, I guess secretly we all guessed we were in for a
treat!
Mine came protected by a brown
mailer box, I slid the inner box out and was met by a silk finished
pewter/metallic outer shell that wraps around the 4 main sides, while
the top and bottom are a deep, bright purple. The back has some
distribution details while the front has the movie logo, character name
and a subtle blind varnished image of one of the ‘Joker’ cards used in
the movie, blown up to fill the space. It’s the same image used on the
inside box for the bank robber Joker
that came out at the beginning of the year (2009 for those of you
reading this in the archive section).
The right side is a magnetic
flap and this lifts to release the top section which opens like a book
cover to the left, once fully opened you’re met by a swathe of the deep
purple colour, it really is a beautiful full dense colour. The right
inside cover has a brief description of the Joker, while the panel
covering the contents has cut-outs housing 3 playing card style
‘Jokers’ facing you, the middle card has another brief bio while the
outer cut outs house 2 cards each, one on top of the other. One has an
illustration of Ledger in his Joker gear while the others are copies of
the ones used in the movie. This whole panel lifts out with a small
ribbon that sticks out at the bottom, stuck to its underside is a layer
of black foam. Now we finally see the figure… or what actually appears
to be figures!
What we have is a sheet of card
with two die-cut figure shapes punched out of it, this matches up with
two die-cut figure holes in a deep slab of black foam beneath, and
swaddled in these cutouts are what appear to be two full figures.
Don’t be deceived though,
although the ‘classic’ Joker is fully assembled on a narrow shouldered
True Type (TT) the ‘cop’ version next to him is actually just on a
plastic vac-formed mannequin. So, although it is all perfectly possible
to switch outfits with the single body included, I’d strongly advise
getting hold of another narrow shouldered TT if you can, as you have
literally everything you need to construct two full figures here, well,
accept for the second body!
This card and foam then lifts
out to reveal another layer of foam, this one housing his light up
stand and many accessories. So there you have it, the packaging for the
DX01, and if this is what we have to look forward to with whatever
subsequent DX figures we get, I think we’ll be happy bunnies.
Sculpting - Classic head **** Cop
head ***3/4
When HT first set about bringing us a Joker figure from TDK it fell to
their mater sculptor Yulli to bring him to life, but as is oft the case
with movies still in post production the reference made available to
her was sorely lacking.
However she still managed to give a great sculpt of the Joker… even if
it wasn’t quite as strong on the Heath Ledger front. But once the movie
was released there was all the reference you could wish for, and
because of the Jokers multiple costume changes in the film, there was
the perfect chance for Yulli to go back and perfect her earlier
attempt, with not just one, but two full head sculpts on the bank
robber version,
this meant you could now do a head swap with your earlier ‘purple
coated’ one and have two great looking figures.
But in the interim, on the many
collectors forums in Asia, America and Europe the hardcore fan boys
started to point out imperfections with the first versions outfit, and
as HT obviously wanted to showcase their new PERS system on an
outstanding figure, what could be better than giving us another ‘as
near perfect as is possible’ version of every bodies favourite
psychopath… well how’s about giving us another two versions!
Anyone already familiar with
Yulli’s work will know what a great eye she has for 1/6th sculpts, and
the more she works on a character, take Sly Stallone as Rambo and Rocky
for example, or even Depp as Jack Sparrow, she gets progressively
better and better with each new incarnation.
And so the trend continues here with Ledger as the Joker.
If you thought it was
impossible to improve on the fantastic work she did on the bank robber
set, prepare to be amazed!
I’ve been studying the ‘regular’ Joker head that came with the BR set
closely against the new ‘regular’ head on the DX and it soon became
apparent that this is a totally new sculpt, that easily rivals that
earlier version and improves on it a number of subtle ways. The nose is
now closer to Ledgers and is slightly broader at the tip, the
expression is more determined here, with the lips even more pursed and
pouty, and the scaring on the underside of his bottom lip isn’t nearly
so pronounced. The hair also shows even more detail, and as impressive
as the older one was, this shows even finer work on the individual
stands, and the area at the back of the head where panel lifts away to
access the PERS controls is amazingly well carried out, I’d defy most
people to find it unless they knew it was there, the seam is that well
sculpted and disguised. This new head also has a better overall shape,
as Heath has quite a broad
face, and that is represented even better on this version.
The cop head is the best chance
we actually get to see Heath Ledger in the movie, as even though he
still carries the scaring and facial disfigurement, the mask of his
greasepaint is all stripped away. For that reason this is an important
version, and I do like it a lot, but when it’s up against the new
‘classic’ head, it doesn’t quite measure up for me. Don’t get me wrong
it’s a phenomenal piece of work, but I actually feel on this occasion
that Yulli has held back a little too much on the skin texturing, if
you check this against the way Heath looked on
set you’ll see he was made up to look like a pretty sick
puppy. After all, one can hardly imagine the Joker leading the
healthiest of lifestyles, this might be more of a problem with the
paint though, as if he had been made a tad paler it would have helped
get across his sick state of body and mind. From the front there also
seems to be something just a bit off with the mouth. I think perhaps
the top lip needs to be just a little
fuller as here it virtually disappears. However from the nose
up it’s all near perfect, the shape of the eyes is unmistakably Ledger
and the hair is nicely observed to fit under the hat, its worn tight to
the head and even shows a small tight ponytail, where the thin hair has
been pressed against his scalp, all beautifully carried out!
He also comes with an impressive
array of hands, two white gloved for the Cop outfit and a selection of
purple gloved for the classic outfit, they are in a selection of poses
for gesturing or holding the included accessories, and all without
exception look great.
Paint - Classic head **** Cop
head ***3/4
Like Yulli perfecting her sculpts, JC Hong has revisited the Joker just
as many times, in fact knowing the variations of the make-up throughout
the movie I’d imagine he’s probably done more versions than her. But
suffice to say he could now probably paint this character with his eyes
closed, and this version of the classic head is the best so far. It’s
obviously lacking JC’s amazing work on the eye’s, as this has glass
ones inserted, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say part of me misses his
painted eyes… but the fact I can pose these means I can live with it.
The rest of the face is painted in his heavy theatrical grease paint,
and JC has once again done an amazing job of making it look like it has
been sponged on, with imperfections where the skin shows through and
the eye make-up has smudged and dripped. The green on the hair is
slightly more pronounced here as well, not as lime green as the very
first figure, but neither as knocked back as it was on the BR head
managing to look just about right.
As I said above, I think the cop
head should have been just a little paler to get across his slightly
nocturnal gothic sensibilities, but that aside this shows some
brilliant work on the eyes, crisp and glossy as always. And even though
I feel the skin is not quite pale enough, the dark tones around his
eyes certainly make him look like he’s not getting his full eight hours
a night, not to mention his vitamins!
The skin textures and work on his scars is a master class in
understatement, subtle flesh tones and pinks combine to show these once
horrendous injuries are now healed, but still angry, and the slight
pitting on the top lip to show the hair growth stubble has to be viewed
up close to be fully appreciated. The hair is painted quite flat, it
does look like a wash has been applied but the quality of the sculpt
adds life to it, and it’ll be permanently under the hat anyway.
Some of the accessories and the white gloves also have some light paint
effects, and as usual all are up to the standard we have come to expect
from HT!
Articulation
- ****
The classic outfitted figure comes on the narrow shouldered True-Type,
and as I’ve said, for your own ease of use, and to get the full benefit
of two figures I’d advise picking another up for the cop figure if you
can. I’ve been over the articulation plenty of times before, but here’s
the full rundown in this link.
So the only limitations will be those brought about by the outfit, and
considering the classic joker has a pretty layered outfit, it’s
actually not too bad!
What I will do here is give a few tips on dressing your naked TT in the
cop outfit. If you are a seasoned old 1/6th pro, this might be teaching
my grandmother to suck eggs, but if you’re not that used to dressing
and futzing your figures it might just help a little. First take your
base TT; use a hairdryer to warm the neck post and pop the old head
off, it’s also worth removing the hands and feet at this stage. Now
take the outfit off of the mannequin it is fitted to. I’d advise to
completely undo the jacket and shirt, then flip up the shirt collar,
loosen the tie and take it off. I slipped the jacket and shirt off
together so I didn’t have to struggle getting the shirtsleeves to lie
nicely inside the jacket again. You’ll see the shirt neck is sewn
closed, so the thing to do is angle both the arms straight back on the
body then start to feed them into the sleeves until you can slip the
neck under the collar, now futz until everything is straight making
sure the shirt is pulled around the front in a comfortable position and
is all done up with the Velcro patches. Now slip the tie back over and
tighten it gently, at this point heat up the new cop heads neck and
gently push it onto the post, time now for some more tweaking till you
are happy with the way the tie is falling and the way the collar lies
over it.
Now do up the jacket, slip on the sock-tops to the lower legs, warm up
the shoes and the gloved hands, pop them all into position and you’re
nearly there.
Lastly put the hat on, this is a snug fit so I warmed it gently to make
the peaked part more flexible then eased it on till it sat just above
the ears, and finally the finishing touch, putting his cop badge and
medal ribbons on the strip above his left chest pocket. Looking at the
pics on the HT website
it looks like its intended that you should slide this entirely under
the row of ribbon/tape above the pocket, but I found it was a very
tight fit and would end up covering some of the detail, so I had a
bright idea, it don’t happen often so indulge me. I just took a small
strip of thick’ish acetate and glued the top edge to the back of the
badge, in effect giving it a pen-fold which easily slots into the
ribbon holder, and in my opinion it looks pretty darn good.
Outfit
- ****
Hot Toys clothes have always been just about the best available on the
mass produced 1/6th market, but with Harue creative now on board things
are getting even more interesting. When the first Joker was released,
it wasn’t just Yulli who was left scratching her head over many of the
finer details, TAM, then on tailoring duties had to wing it as well,
and it’s fair to say he/she/they did a good job at representing the
outfit as we ‘perceived’ it on screen.
But many of the features lacked the finesse of this new set. In fact
it’s fair to say a little artistic license was employed, especially on
the coat!
Every item, bar the shoes and ‘some’ of the gloves is new with this
release; even the socks here have a smaller check. The trousers are a
tighter fit, amplifying the Joker’s punk attitude and the pinstripe on
them is more pronounced. Instead of the belt the last set had he now
has a very nicely executed pair of braces with leather details where
they button to the trouser waist band, the chain hanging from the right
side is now also a much more accurate length.
The shirt is now a slightly fuller cut, giving more room around the
neck, meaning the tie, which is also far more accurate in its
observation of the pattern, colours and fabric sits much more
comfortably around the neck and under the collar. One of the two areas
that people pointed out was in need of attention was the
waistcoat, this time around it has the full four pockets two
with rounded flaps and two simple cut ‘ring’ pockets. The front is held
shut by two well placed press studs rather than the Velcro (that vexed
a lot of us) on the previous version. The back has a beautiful,
vertically striped satin material, which even has a working adjustable
back belt. Over this he wears his jacket, this seems to be a pretty
similar cut to the last one and the colour is a more accurate grey/plum
rather than the grey/blue we got before. But now the garment that has
had some people really getting their knickers in a twist. It sometimes
seems that people have discussed this garment more than the meaning of
life itself, and have got apoplectic when others disagree with how it
should be!
Should it have two tails, three tails, four tails… should the lining be
red, rust, orange, should it be bigger, smaller, bluer, purpler,
longer, shorter, thicker, thinner, cleaner or dirtier!!!
Well, let’s start with the good! The cut is fantastic on this body,
even though worn over a shirt, waistcoat and jacket it lies against the
figures frame very well. It has a great mole-skin effect that has been
distressed to look well worn and suitably grubby, it actually manages
to look like it’s been hung in a dusty old closet for years before the
Joker pulled it out and slipped it on. The bottom hem has fine wire
sewn into it, allowing for some good posing options, especially those
‘bullet time’ action shots, and the inner left hand side also has the
elaborate rig for attaching the five grenades (this is quite a fiddly
job, so more on that later).
And now for the… well it’s not bad by a long shot! But it does seem
that the colour could be just a tad more purple, however, depending
which shots you look at, and remembering this is based on the coat as
seen in the movie, which can make the colour change a lot from one
scene to the next, and not on display in a brightly lit studio, where
it’s tonal values would remain constant. Well it actually makes it hard
to be too critical, as this still manages to look spot on when compared
to ‘some’ photos, especially the darker moodier shots… and lets face
it, that means most of them.
However, this ‘being’ the Joker you do kind of feel after years of
reading the comics and watching Cesar Romero and Jack
Nicholson camping it up (OK, OK, I know Romero’s was
virtually pink, but you know what I mean), that he kind of needs just a
touch more purple. The movie version certainly wasn’t a bright colour
but did seem just a tad more purple than the one we have here.
The lapels are sewn down to lay against the shoulders with a couple of
dart stitches, both the upper and lower lapel points come out a similar
distance from the edge, where as the upper should be a little closer
in, but it’s pretty slight. The linings for the jacket and coat are
different colours, the jackets is in a bright warm red satin
effect material, while the coat is a deeper red with a hint of maroon.
The stitching and finishing on these linings is perfect as well, I have
no loose threads or overly loose or tight seams, this is near tailoring
perfection, and at this scale that’s pretty amazing.
So my over all impression from all the garments that come together to
make up this outfit is one of being very, very impressed!
I’m sure that for a few hardcore ‘Joker’ fans, the fact that their
particular ‘peeve’ hasn’t been dealt with in the way they saw fit, will
get them all steamed up again. But I’d say ‘Why so serious’, chill,
keep things in perspective, this is an amazing piece of tailoring for a
1/6th figure and Hai Lim at Harue, and Jan Wong who aided in
modifications both deserve a lot of praise for helping bring these
outfits to life.
But of course on this release, it doesn’t just stop with the ‘classic’
outfit, we also get the complete Gotham City cop honour guard outfit as
well, this could be, and in many ways is part of the accessories
category, but lets face it, it’s also very, very much part of his
outfit, all be it an alternate one.
It consists of black patent dress shoes, black sock tops, belted dark
blue trousers and jacket, white shirt, black tie and peaked hat. Both
the jacket and trousers are the same material and have working pockets
through out, the trousers have a working leather belt, whilst the
jacket has an embroidered GCPD patch on his left arm and a small stars
and stripes pin on his left lapel. There is also a band of ribbon sewn
above the left chest pocket, this is for sliding the badge and medal
ribbons under, but I described above how I attached mine. The
front of the jacket is held shut by two press studs, but tiny metal
buttons have been glued up the front and on all the pocket flaps to
give the illusion of the real thing. The shirt is nicely cut to fit the
body well and doesn’t bulk out the jacket at all. It’s the same
material used on the Harvey Dent figures shirt, which does a great job
at this scale of looking like a good quality cotton poplin, even though
it’s actually a man made fabric. It’s worth pointing out the quality of
the stitching here, but it’s true of all the garments, as the tiny,
fine thread work is approaching absolute perfection, I had no loose
threads or uneven seams on mine, and the delicate work around the shirt
collar looks great. The tie is working, not on elastic, so you can
loosen it to get it over the collar, then tighten when you’ve futzed it
to the position you want. Lastly there’s the peaked hat. Based squarely
on an NYPD
police hat, it’s a faithful reproduction of the one we see in
the movie,
the top part is made of fabric with two tiny metal eyelets on its rim.
The peak is also beautifully observed in shiny black flexible plastic,
with a vinyl band running above it, book ended with small metal studs.
All in all this second outfit is hugely impressive, and is the
antithesis of his ‘regular’ Joker wear with its slovenly, unkempt
appearance. This all looks like it’s fresh from the laundry, clean as a
whistle and pressed to perfection, so this whole category just has to
get a full score from me, the last time we got this much bang for our
buck as on the 2 in 1 Superman, but as impressive as that figure was,
this blows him out of the water.
Accessories
- ****
The DX series is certainly not lacking in the accessories department,
as a rundown we get-
- Alternate Joker ‘cop’ head without make-up
Gotham City police uniform, consisting of-
- Jacket
- Trousers
- Belt
- Shirt
- Tie
- Hat
- Two white gloved hands
- Gotham City cop badge & medal ribbons
- Black dress shoes
- Sock tops
- M1 Garand Rifle
OK, I know I went over a lot of the above in both ‘outfit’ and
‘sculpt’, but as it’s all packed as extras, it definitely straddles
multiple camps.
The only thing left for me to go over here is the rifle. It’s produced
to HT’s usual standard, giving us a very accurate replication of the
classic M1
Garand, the adjustable strap is in the traditional ‘honour
guard’ white for when being used ceremonially, and the ammo chamber can
even be pulled back to reveal a clip of 8 removable bullets, very nice.
And for the classic Joker we get-
- Five grenades, with threads and rig to pull the pins
- 7 tiny safety pins to add to the grenade rig
- Knife (with sliding mechanism)
- Pistol with cocking motion and removable long magazine
- Set of scaled Joker cards
- Five Interchangeable purple-gloved hands
- Deluxe figure stand with LED lights
Many of these items have been included in earlier versions, the sliding
Knife, cards and some of the gloved hands came with the V1, while the
pistol and again some hands came with the BR version. So the new stuff
here is the grenade rig and stand. You have to carefully attach the
grenades to the loops inside the coat, which is all pretty straight
forward, but attaching the safety pins will have you sweating, trust
me! However if you follow the instructions included, and take your
time, it all goes together very nicely.
So that just leaves us with the stand. This is in its own way pretty
understated, being derived from the actual bases used for the touring
display of TDK
costumes, which makes it all the more classy and relevant to
this DX release. The base plate is plastic but convincingly constructed
to look like metal industrial flooring, incorporating the TDK logo at
the front; this is set onto a shallow black plastic plinth with two
positionable LED lamps in the front two corners. You have to unscrew
the battery cover on the base and insert 3 AAA batteries then flip the
switch on the back edge. The two little lamps are actually pretty
bright, it’d be cool if there was a way of plugging it into a mains
supply, but it still works very well like this. The front also has an
engraved metallic plaque, it has a sticky tape cover to protect it from
scratches, but once this is removed its mirror glossy. The support
clips into the back edge and is of the ‘crotch hammock’ variety, but
you’ll get both figures to stand just fine on the base without it
So the only real omission I can see is the machine gun that came with
the BR version, but you certainly still get a fantastic array!
Action
Feature - ****
This
is the first, of what I hope will be many figures with the PERS
feature. As I said in the intro, it’s a delicate mechanism, but with
care it operates just fine. I found that it freed up more during my
photo session, and by the end I’d really got the knack. A gently
sweeping circular motion worked best for me, and if it resists moving
don’t force it, just sweep it back and forth while carefully turning
the small joystick till it moves to the desired position.
One
of the things that has always concerned me about Enterbay and ZC
figures is the fear of the painted Iris and pupil rubbing off, and a
couple of small areas have indeed rubbed off on my ZC girl ‘Risa’.
However with the PERS version it just can’t happen, as the eyes are
glass, meaning if you are unlucky, you may in an extreme case get a
scratch on the surface but the coloured areas simply can’t be rubbed
away.
The only real thing that will restrict the choice of
characters this feature can be applied to will be the ability to hide
the point of access for the controls.
Here they have done a
fine fob of ‘zigzagging’ it into the back of his hair. You simply have
to lift the back of the hair away from the base, where it is held by a
magnet, alter the eye position then replace it. I also found that for
anyone out there planning some stop motion, you can leave the back of
the hair off, as from many front facing views it’s not apparent as to
whether it’s there or not.
Fun
Factor - ****
Some people seem to feel like Hot Toys have OD’d on Joker figures, but
I’m not sure why. Not only did both versions of the earlier figure sell
out faster than expected, leaving many collectors either disappointed
or paying well over the odds on the secondary market, but this in
effect gives us a 2 in 1 figure. I don’t recall as much negativity when
HT announced the Superman 2 in 1, most were just happy to get the
chance of getting hold of one… the extras were just a nice reward for
our patience.
And so for me this is FUN writ large. I love posing my figures and
reeling off a few photos, so the added feature of moving eyes is
certainly a big bonus to me, and the ease at which you can create a
second figure for your shelf adds to its value. And not forgetting they
have included a stand that even I, a fully paid up member of the
‘Standaphobic’ society plan on using, well, just how much fun do you
want. Full score...
Next!
Value - ****
When this was first announced I had a feeling that HT was going to
break through that $200 glass ceiling… so I was pleasantly surprised to
see it hadn’t, and by quite a big degree!
If you pre-ordered you may have
been lucky enough to get hold of one of these for as little as $155,
but even at $175 I consider this a bargain, as all you need to do is
pick up a Narrow shouldered TT for $30, and you have two amazing
figures for just over $100 each, and hi-end figures rarely come for
that price these days!
So taking that into
consideration, and the fact we get the new PERS feature on one of the
heads plus a very cool stand. Well top marks without a doubt!
Overall
- ****
When talking about an actor (or someone from any profession for that
matter) it might sound trite to say that a ‘toy’ figure of them is a
fitting tribute…
So I won’t!
However, I was listening to an interview with the great Terry Gilliam
just the other night, and he could not sing Heath Ledger’s praises high
enough, and this wasn’t the empty sycophantic, rhetoric of a Hollywood
director kissing the arse of his overpaid ‘star’, this was a man paying
respect to one of the finest actors he had worked with, not once, but
twice! An actor who might well have gone on to prove himself one of the
finest of his generation, had he not met with his tragic early demise.
So I won’t say this ‘toy’ is a fitting tribute to Heath Ledger, but
it’s a damn fine representation of him in the role of the Joker, and
that’s good enough for me!
So, at this price, with this many accessories, a beautifully presented
bit of packaging, and what in effect almost amounts to two figures for
the price of one, (go on, treat yourself to another TT) well it’s a
no-brainer that this deserves a full score.
And in what has been a hugely competitive twelve months, this is
definitely a very strong contender for figure of the year; it’s just
such a classic figure. It’d work great as a standalone piece for any
ones home theatre, but when book ended with the forthcoming DX02, TDK
Batman figure… well, this’ll be one of the sweetest little displays out
there!
Scoring
Recap:
Packaging - ****
Sculpting - Classic head **** Cop head ***3/4
Paint - Classic head **** Cop head ***3/4
Articulation - ****
Outfit - ****
Accessories - ****
Fun Factor - ****
Value - ****
Overall - ****
Where
to Buy -
DC direct is still taking pre-orders at $195. Ouch!
But try checking some of Michael’s sponsors where you stand to make a
saving of over $30, which is funnily enough the price of a TT!
Urban Collector - $159.99- Pre-Order
Alter Ego Comics
- $174.99 - Pre-Order
Or try
eBay for a potential deal.
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