Packaging - ***
On the plus side, the packaging is *relatively* collector friendly.
There's still a couple annoying twisty ties, which don't serve much of a
purpose, but keep the twisty tie cartel from coming after DCD.
On the negative side, I have a bit of an issue with how the figure is
represented on the box. First, it's somewhat implied in the photos
that the cape is poseable. There's a couple shots that I'm not sure
how you get without a wire in the cape (or without faking it). Also,
one of the photos shows him on a black rope which is running THROUGH his
fisted hands. Ignoring the fact that he doesn't come with a rope,
there's the little issue of no way to put anything in the sculpted
fists. I don't mind obvious photoshopped poses, but something like the
usefulness of the fisted hands shouldn't be misrepresented. EDIT -
there's a rope alright (more about that later) but my real issue remains
that those fists aren't capable of holding anything.
Sculpting - ***1/2
The head sculpt truly harkens back to the days of yore when we played
with rocks and sticks and liked it. The head sculpt, taken independent
of the position on the body or the other issues with anything from the neck
down, is extremely good. There's nice sharp cuts to the lines, and a
very appropriate expression. The head tends to sit too high on the
neck post, but at least the proportion of the head to body is much better
here than with some of the past 13" line. He's still a little
pinheaded, but aren't all superheroes?
The fists are solid (no holes there!), and a smidge small. Again,
this isn't quite as much of an issue for me this time around, probably
because the associated cuffs don't exaggerate the problem.
Any additional sculpting - belt, accessories, etc - are done with about
the right amount of detail for the style, and fit in quite nicely with the
look of the rest of the figure.
I've also complained about this before, but for the first time readers
it's worth moaning about again. These guys are NOT sixth scale by any
stretch of the imagination. Batman is a full 13" without the
ears, and his body is very buff. He'll dwarf any of your other sixth
scale characters, but looks great with other figures in this particular
line. Fortunately, this line is filling out well enough that you will
have less of a problem with the scale issue.
Paint - ***
The paint is fairly good here, although I had some specific issues with
a few rub marks and sloppy lines on the mask. The lips and face tone
are great, and had the cowl and mask been a little cleaner, he would have
gotten another half star here.
The symbol is neatly attached to the front of the costume too, and is
nice and straight. While the paint work on the accessories is pretty
basic, it's certainly clean and consistent.
And while the color of the costume isn't really 'paint', I thought I'd
mention here that they did a good job of matching the blue leather and cloth
with the blue hard plastic and rubber hands.
Articulation - ***
I've been pretty clear about my thoughts on this body. But I'm
softening on this review, giving them a half star more than usual.
Why? Well, the neck joint works a bit better than usual. It
has some tilt to it, and it bends backward a fair piece. But there's
no forward movement, so it's not quite there yet.
The body itself is fairly tight, and I can live with the lightweight
construction a bit better on a more heavily clothed figure like this.
The arms and legs hold various poses well, and are nice and tight.
There's still two big issues holding it back from getting a better
score. First, there's the God awful rubber oven mitts that they call
extra hands. These means we get nothing but a bad cut wrist joint, and
the rubber hands tend to fall off if you breathe on them. The bendy
hands are absolutely worthless.
The other big issue is the cut bicep and thigh joints, which tend to show
through the material. I have less of an issue with this than some
folks though, but it's worth mentioning.
Accessories - ***1/2
Compared to some of the earlier releases, this Batman has a ton of stuff.
First, there's the included display stand. You won't really need it
since he stands fine on his own, but it's nice to have if you live in an
earthquake zone. The retro Bat emblem is emblazoned on the base.
There's also three itty bitty batarangs, which your cat will love to play
with. There's one big batarang, which folds in the middle for easy
storage. Where you'll store it I'm not sure, but it folds.
There's a nifty set of bat-cuffs, which can open and close. They
are designed to be distinct for Batman, and they have a real metal chain
running between them. They work pretty well with figures in this
scale.
There's also a weird sort of 'gun', that looks like it might be some form
of grappling gun, or maybe a huge funky light. It's tough to tell
exactly what it's supposed to be, but I'm sure some reader will enlighten
me. EDIT - I knew you'd come through! (thanks Ryan!). Yep, there
is a rope hidden in the gun that can be pulled out, once you figure it out!
Oh, and yea, there's those bendy hands. But let's pretend those
don't exist, since when I think about how these are so useless with the
other cool accessories, that I end up wanting to deduct stars.
Outfit - ***
The outfit follows the rest of the style nicely, giving you that nostalgic
feel for the good old days.
The body suit is the basic gray, with blue shorts that fit over
top. These tend to ride up a bit, which I'm betting would be true in
real life as well. The boots are the usual pleather, and have those
annoying zippers in back, but they move nicely with the ankle articulation,
and hold the body up in deep stances.
The pleather cuffs look decent, and I like the look of the belt as
well. It feels a bit cheap, and tends to ride up on his back, but I
like the general appearance. We're not talking about
knock-your-socks-off work here, but it's a solid B effort.
The best part of this costume is the unique cape. It's pleated to
look very much like the old Neal Adams artwork, and this effect works
extremely well. The long neck tends to cause it to bunch up a bit
around the shoulders, but that's a minor issue.
Fun Factor - ***
While these aren't really intended for kids, they're actually very good
toys. The articulation is sturdy, and even the costume is fairly resistant
to basic handling. I wouldn't recommend letting a six year old think
about what he can do to destroy Batman, but it's nice to know that the
figure hasn't forgotten its roots.
Value - **1/2
If you end up paying the $55 or so that this guy is currently running,
you're actually getting a decent, average value. There's enough
accessories this time around, and the outfit is well enough done, that I
didn't feel nearly as bad about coughing up the green.
Things to Watch Out For -
I found that swapping the hands was quite a bit more difficult this time
around. The bendy hands STILL fell off way too easy, but the hard
plastic fists were very difficult to remove and replace.
Overall - ***
This is *almost* a three and a half star figure. I really do like
the overall appearance, but the individual scores required that I ignored a
few of the on going issues with this line. Take away the awful bendy
hands, cut wrists, and zippers on the boots, and that extra half star would
have been a gimme.
Still, this is the best 13" Deluxe figure I've bought, and I hope
that with some of the other classic characters like the upcoming Green
Arrow, we continue to see this visual improvement.
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpt - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***
Accessories - ***1/2
Outfit - ***
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***
Where to Buy -
There are a number of excellent online choices:
- Amazing Toyz has him for $55,
or you can buy him with the recently released Batgirl for $105.
- CornerStoreComics has
him for $55.
- Alter Ego Comics has him
for $56.
- Related Links -
I've covered several of these so far, including Nightwing,
a guest review of Catwoman, and my reviews
of the Martian Manhunter, Two
Face, Batman Begins and classic
Batman.
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