Arkham City Batman - DC Collectibles Series 3

DC Collectibles Arkham City Series 3 action figures hit comic stores this past Wednesday. The wave features Azrael, Penguin, 2 Joker Thugs, Ra's al Ghul, and this Batman. First off, I'd suggest you avoid buying any of these sight-unseen. The entire batch I looked through had paint issues of one kind or another (I couldn't actually find a single Ra's I liked out of 4 of them in the store). I'd predict that one big question collectors might have, is whether shelling out another 20 bucks for this Batman is worth it: how different is he from the Arkham Asylum Series 1 Batman? I'm hoping this overview gives a bit of an answer to that question...

AC Batman is mostly the same as AA Batman, with few slight exceptions:

• AA Batman came with a Batarang, while AC Batman comes with the Explosive Gel gun
• AA Batman features blue paint on the cowl, boots, trunks, and forearm guards, while AC Batman is black
• AA Batman's chest bat-symbol is sculpted, while AC's is painted on
• the belts are slightly different in design and paint
• AC's right hand is a (tiny) fist, while AA's is open
• AA's face (the part that shows) is painted with a dark wash added, while AC's face is that odd flesh-colored plastic, with no paint (like AC Catwoman's)
• AA's outfit features silver "rivets", while AC's rivets are unpainted
• AA came with a stand, AC does not

I think that about covers it. The detail differences are pretty minor, so AC Batman is a great opportunity to pick up a game-version Batman if you missed out on the AA version.

That said, I really feel like DC Collectibles has gone to a different factory or something with their Arkham City figures. The overall quality and attention to detail of the Arkham figures has noticeably dropped in the time between the Asylum and City figures (to me, anyway). I found Riddler, Mad Hatter and Catwoman to be particularly disappointing. The flesh-plastic is starting to look like the same stuff those terrible Mass Effect figures use. I'm a bit more pleased with this release, but I'd really suggest examining your choices closely (if possible, especially the eyes) before buying: Penguin's monocle eye is hit-or-miss in terms of paint, the Azraels I saw had some paint drips around the eyes, the Clowns can look permanently startled, and all of the Ra's al Ghuls I saw had misaligned eyes...

Here's Arkham Asylum Series 1 Batman, for comparison's sake...

UPDATE: Ok, so I finally got around to opening the Arkham City Batman, and all I've got to say is...WOW. This guy is terrible in so many ways it's almost difficult to put into words: the quality control is simply appalling. The paint is mostly absent- even the body is a shiny cheap-looking plastic. The packaging is terrible: he has a warped ear, the blades on the gauntlets are bent nearly completely around, his right leg is bowed. Loose joints at the right shoulder, left shoulder and right knee. The gauntlets are sculpted at a bizarre angle, bending out away from the elbows, and the right fist belongs on a 3 3/4" figure, not this one...Awful, awful, awful...don't buy it is all I can recommend...