Batman Power Attack Deluxe - Mallet Smasher THE JOKER

The Joker is the fourth villain released as part of the new Power Attack Batman toy line, along with Killer Croc, Mr. Freeze, and Two-Face. I've taken a look at the other baddies in previous reviews, now it's time for The Joker to get his turn...

The first thing you'll notice that's different about Joker is that he's a "Deluxe" figure. What that means, in a nutshell, is that he's carded, but not within a bubble, has an action feature that trumps articulation completely and he costs about $3 more than a standard figure. As you can see, the aesthetics of the packaging are nice- vibrant colors and you can see exactly what you're getting. It may be a little busy for my tastes, but it does the job. Kiddies can even get their hands on the figure's legs to play with the "squeeze" action feature in the store. That said, 40% of the package is complete waste- the bottom 4 inches (everything under the mallet) serve no purpose (no, there's nothing hidden under there, it's just empty space). The Joker comes with a cardboard Batman target for him to knock over. Whatever.

The back of the card foregoes the cartoony artwork of the regular figures, and gives us an in-action shot of The Joker smashing the cardboard Batman target. It's nothing you can't figure out from looking at the front of the package, and the photo Mattel has used actually does nothing more than draw attention to the lack of paint apps on the actual figure as compared to the prototype. The photographed Joker has darker highlights on the eyes, and additional green paint added to a buckle on his left thigh and shoes, which are absent from the final product. The other Deluxe Batman figures are highlighted as well.

The Joker's strength, as with the other figures in this line, lies in his sculpt. He's got a cool, pretty unique look, full of sharp angles and lines. His hair is sculpted into two short horns above his pointed ears, and comes to a giant bubble above his forehead. The eyes sport red pupils with black outlines, and a faint green "dagger-like" line above and below. Joker is baring some seriously pointed fangs for teeth within his wicked grin. The rest of the sculpt isn't too bad- not an overabundance of detail, just enough to give him some highlights in the form of buckles and straps here and there. His coat tails are sculpted to look like they are blowing in the wind behind him. It's an eye-catching sculpt, and fits in well with the other figures from the line.

The paint isn't too bad for a $12 figure. It isn't too sharp, but there isn't a ton of bleed either.

Most of the figure is molded in colored plastic, with the notable exception of the lower torso, which is painted, along with the hands and face. The orange paint has a hard time covering the dark plastic from underneath, but it's nothing too terrible, and the face is very nicely done. 

The Joker's downfall is his articulation. The action feature is the predominant characteristic of this figure- when you squeeze his legs together, the torso twists at the waist, and his right arm swings down and forward, allowing his mallet to smash. The feature works very well, and my kids have a blast with it. Unfortunately, it means The Joker is forever holding his mallet up in the same pose, and he looks ridiculous without it in his hand. The Joker sports 2 points of articulation: his head turns from side to side, and his left shoulder has a cut joint. The rest of the lines on the figure are part of the action feature. This Joker is meant to be played-with, not displayed.

The mallet itself is molded in green plastic, and each flat face sports a grinning clown face upon it. Joker's hand clips onto a separate small cylinder which slides up and down the hilt, allowing for...I'm not sure why, exactly.

The other notable quality of The Joker is his size: for some reason, there doesn't seem to be much consistency (for me, at least) across the Power Attack Batman line. Batman and Robin are much smaller than Two-Face and Mr. Freeze. The Joker comes in somewhere in-between. He's bigger than Batman, but not quite as big as Two-Face and Mr. Freeze. He's just a smidge taller than Batman, but his head much bigger. I guess Mattel isn't too concerned about details like consistency in scale for a line geared at kids, but it does create an odd look when the figures are displayed together.

The Joker is a good-looking figure, but he's more of a statue than an action figure. I would have liked to have been able to pose him somewhat, but that probably would have been detrimental to the action feature, which really does work quite well. I'm not a fan of action features: if a company is going to include one, it needs to work- and this one does. Batman's Rogue's Gallery wouldn't be complete without The Joker, so he had to be added to the display, however grudgingly. I'm hoping somewhere down the line that we get an action figure version of The Joker, but for now, this one will have to do.  I'm happy that I picked him up- he's a nice addition as long as you know exactly what you're getting, and you keep your expectations appropriately low...

Batman Power Attack - Dual Destruction Two-Face

I started collecting the Batman Power Attack series of figures because they have an interesting and unique look to them, with a range of figures available at a price I can readily afford. At $9 a figure, I'm not expecting top-of-the-line collector material, but rather something that will grow steadily over time and look great as a group. These figures are something for me to be pleasantly surprised at, rather than anxious to track down. So I was pleased to find both Mr. Freeze and Dual Destruction Two-Face this past week.

Two-Face's card matches the rest of the line in terms of design and art-work. The figure and accessories are effectively displayed and protected, though a good portion of the gun is hidden by the insert. The card back features an action drawing with a small caption, along with shots of the other figures in the "mission" series. No twist ties on this guy. The axe is made of plastic and the gun is made of rubber, and comes out of the tray bent. The axe pegs into the underside of the gun to make a super-weapon. Two-Face doesn't have any way to store either the axe or the cannon.

The gun slides over Face's arm (either one will do), and is pretty snugly in place. It's huge, so he'll topple over without some support, and the articulation is restricted enough to where he can't hold it with two hands, enough if one of them wasn't in a permanent fist. The open hand can hold the axe, but the grip on the cannon is too wide, so sliding it over the forearm is the way to go.

Two-Face sports a neat sculpt with some great details. I'm not crazy about the simple paint application to the right (human) eye, but he's otherwise well-done, if rather unspectacular. Either profile, by itself, is rather good, with the creepy purple side stealing the show. His squished nose makes for a bit odder look from the "regular" side. Harvey sports a turquiose turtleneck under his jacket, which sports matching buttons and a cool silver badge on the left breast. The forearm bracers are individually sculpted with neat differences, as are his arm details: the white side is whole and gets a shoulder pouldrun while the black side is unprotected and torn, showing purple flesh through the tear.

Two-Face has a swivel neck, swivel shoulders and hips, a cut waist below the jacket and single pin elbows. He's sculpted with a permanent bend in his knees and large feet, but is still unbalanced enough to topple forward if both his elbows are bent at the same time. You won't get many dynamic poses from this figure.

Dual Destruction Two-Face is a well-sculpted figure with an interesting pair of accessories at an excellent price, and I would NOT recommend him to anyone. Why? Two-Face has a HUGE flaw, one that there's just no getting around, no matter what: he's way too big. Just see the pictures below. He towers over Batman and even Killer Croc. In fact, he fits in better with my DC Universe Classics figures than with the other Power Attack Batman figures (his head is out of scale even for the DCUC). Simply put, beside the other figures, he looks ridiculous. And this is something you can't tell while he's still carded. My advice is to keep him in-package for display, or pass on him entirely, unless you can overlook his gargantuan size. It's too bad, because Hagrid Two-Face is otherwise a pretty good figure...

Batman Power Attack - Ice Blast Mr. Freeze

 

Mr. Freeze has long been absent from the Power Attack Batman pegs- despite the promises of the initial release card backs, the only villain who seemed readily available was Killer Croc. Well, Freeze has finally made an appearance. Was he worth the wait? Absolutely yes!!! And no...

Freeze comes on a blister card that matches the earlier releases. The front sports eye-catching artwork, the figure is nicely displayed, while protected, and the accessory is made to look like accessories. He's labelled as "Ice Blast" Mr. Freeze, so that he won't be confused with Flamethrower Mr. Freeze, I guess. The card back sports the same huge action panel with both characters in a pose that the figures can't match, shouting silly things at one another. In this case it's Freeze shouting for Batman to "Chill out". The package does its job well-enough. I really don't have any complaints, but the tray does the usual job of warping the accessories that are forced into them. In this case, it's the two halves of Freeze's Ice Blast...sword? The two halves snap together securely, fit into his hand tightly.

There's an additional nice touch, in that the hole in the sword fits snugly around a large disc on Freeze's back, which means he can take his weapon with him when he goes traveling. The plastic is translucent blue, which means that the pegs holding the two halves are clearly visible. The sword is huge, standing taller than the figure itself, but that seems to be the norm in this line (Two Face has a gargantuan gun, as well).

As far as Mr. Freeze, himself, goes, the figure is probably my favorite in the line so far. The sculpt is cool, and I do like the way the different plastics work together aesthetically. The idea is great. The execution isn't quite as terrific, but he's still good. Both arms are made of a translucent blue rubber, which looks great but feels very fragile. The smaller arm (left) is the worse of the two; moving the elbow joint feels like it's going to tear the arm every time. The torso and helmet are clear blue plastic, with paint applied over top or underneath. There's a bit of slop nearly everywhere, but not enough to really detract from the figure. The head sculpt is awesome- lots of angles and a very stern expression. Freeze has a nifty pair of goggles on, and seems to be sporting a mohawk. In terms of articulation, you get: swivel shoulders, hips and waist, and pin elbows (6 pts.). No, he's not going to be doing any dancing with your Play Arts Harley Quinn. And that's nearly it for Mr. Freeze. Nearly...

So everything sounds pretty good- this figure is right up there at the top of the line. But an odd thing happened when I went to display Freeze with my other Power Attack Batman figures:

I noticed that Batman can stare Freeze from eye to...chest. For some reason, Mr. Freeze (and even moreso Two-Face) is much larger than Batman. You may be able to chalk that up to the suit for Freeze, here, but I can't find much of an excuse for Two Face. In any event, if you can forgive the scale change, this is a great looking figure. Otherwise, keep him in-package and you'll never be able to tell...

Play Arts Kai - HARLEY QUINN Arkham Asylum Figure review

Harley Quinn is the latest release from Square Enix's Play Arts Arkham Asylum line of action figures. For those who don't know, these "Kai" figures feature a larger scale (most hover around 8 or 9" tall), hyper-detail and articulation (26 points), often alternate hands, heads, and assorted accessories, and (usually) a colorful window box...along with a very high price tag, which has been steadily creeping higher. I picked up my first 2 Play Arts figures, Resident Evil 5's Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar, when they were first released a couple of years ago for about $35 apiece. Now, that would be a steal. Current releases seem to run closer to $60, with a slightly smaller scale and fewer accessories than Chris or Sheva had. I tend to think of Play Arts as the action figure version of Hot Toys releases, and they are released infrequently enough to where it doesn't sting too badly...unless the figure is disappointing, of course.

Which brings me to the arrival of Harley, here. I bought the Batman figure from the first wave, but passed on Joker. At this price point, I've decided to cherry-pick, and I'm glad I did- from what I've seen, I have no regrets about passing on the Joker. Likewise, I've elected to pass on Figure No. 3: Batman Armored. But I just couldn't resist Harley Quinn. So, when she arrived on my doorstep earlier this week, I dove into the package with much anticipation. My initial reaction? "I'm not buying any more of these," is exactly what ran through my mind. I put the box on the counter, and both of the kids came by, took one look, and exclaimed, "That looks horrible!" I didn't completely agree with that- horrible? Not really. Disappointing? Quite. Why? We'll start with the face. It's good, but not great. In fact, I much prefer the DC Direct version's face. 

There's a roundness to this one that just doesn't quite fit for my tastes. I felt the same way about Sheva. The head was shoved into the plastic tray with a severe downward tilt, which didn't help. The other thing that jumped right out (at my kids as well), is just how exaggerated her upper torso is. To say she's thoroughly out of proportion is a slight understatement- she makes the DC Direct version look like an 8-year-old in comparison. And finally? The lack of accessories. Harley comes with Scarface, one extra hand, and her staff. For $50, I was hoping for much more. So, I tossed the box aside...until tonight.

I'm happy to report that Harley Quinn is one of those rare figures (for me), that improves once opened. She really does look quite good on the shelf. She stands a bit shorter than Batman, despite the huge platform shoes. I tend to lean towards the DC Direct version in almost all categories: their sculpt is better, the fishnets are cooler (the Play Arts Harley does not have real ones), accessories are about the same, DC's paint is better, as is their price point. The only place the Kai Harley wins out is in the articulation department.

 Her head is on a terrific ball-joint with plenty of movement and tilt. The shoulders are on balls with hinges, and there's a forward/backward slide that allows her arm to come across in towards her chest. Elbows are on balls with hinges, as are the wrists. The legs also have ball/hinged joints, which are hidden completely by the skirt, which is sculpted and glued solidly in place. The knees and ankles are also on ball/hinge joints, as well. Oh, and lest we forget, my favorite joint, which I didn't even notice at first because it was so well hidden is a torso joint which provides a wide range of tilt and rotation, lies between the buckle straps at her abs. The hinges take some getting used to, but they make for a pretty pose-able figure, without being too ugly (well, except the elbow balls- they are hideous).

The hip articulation is hindered by the skirt, so I had trouble with deep crouches and high kicks.

The paint is kind of a mixed bag. The flesh tones are a little over-airbrushed below the neck, and things just aren't as crisp and clean as I'd like at this price. Mine has a little overspill around the top right eye of her mask, with the purple just over onto the white of her face. It's acceptable - I've seen worse - but it could have been better.

Harley comes in a colorful window display box, through which you can see what you are getting. She's got her staff, one interchangeable hand, and Scarface, who's got her hand sculpted into his back. Scarface is a neat addition. In case you're wondering, he is articulated at the hips (swivels), and I think at the shoulders (there are cuts, but mine doesn't want to move, so I'm not going to force it at this point), and there's an excellent ball-joint at the head. He's painted well, and that's about it, as far as he goes.

I really started to have some fun when I messed around with posing Harley. As I said earlier, her articulation is what sets her apart from the DC Direct version, which is mostly a statue. The Play Arts Kai Harley is made for playing. Yes, I'd recommend her, but not for MIB collectors, and I'm still a little disgruntled about the price, the shrinking scale, the lack of accessories, and the average paint. But...she's Harley Quinn!!!

KILLER CROC - DC Direct - Arkham Asylum Deluxe Action Figure Review

From the moment he stepped off that lift at the beginning of Arkham Asylum, Killer Croc blew me away. So, when I heard that he was being released by DC Direct as part of their Arkham line of action figures, I pre-ordered him right away. Well, Croc showed up this week. He's an expensive figure, no doubt about it- the question is, is he worth it?

Killer Croc comes packaged securely in a mostly-white partial-display window box. The figure is half-hidden, and there isn't much eye-catching about the box, but the cardboard is very sturdy, and Croc is twisty-tied in place, so it does it's primary job of protecting the figure, without being particularly attractive. The box size is also fairly appropriate- I saw a Deluxe Mr. Freeze at a comic shop and wondered about the need for the "deluxe" box for him (I'm guessing it's the accessories). Not so with Croc here.

He's definitely a large-sized figure. He stands 9 and 1/2 inches at the top of his domed head. I'm guessing he'd have another inch if he could straighten out his hunched back! Croc weighs in at 1 lb. 11 oz., so he's a solid figure with some weight behind him (just for comparison's sake, Build-A-Figure Pitt weighs 2 lb. 4 oz. at 10" tall). The sculpt captures the game look really well, and there's loads of sculpted detail in the form of cracks, scales, armor plates, etc. (check out his back!). That said, the sculpt lines do feel a little "soft" to me- the detail is there, but for some reason it just doesn't seem to "pop" like it does on say a NECA figure. Take, for instance, the rope belt around his waist. It's sculpted, I can tell it's supposed to be rope, but there's something very ho-hum about it. The whole figure is like that, in some ways, and I'm honestly not positive why. My other complaint (and yeah it's a weird one), is that he's too symmetrical side-to-side. What I mean is, that his plates, their shading, and even the location of the weird spikes are identically placed on his left side, and on his right side. I'm not sure why this bothers me as well, but it does.


Killer Croc's paint apps capture the look well enough. They aren't sloppy in application, and the chosen colors seem to work very well. Small things like metal buckles, pupils and toe-nails are all well done. The upper portion of the pants are very smooth and very orange, while the lower portions are filthy and much more wrinkled. It's a good job, overall, much as I'd expect from DC Direct (I'm rarely disappointed with their paint work). Croc sports thick broken chains from each ankle cuff, both forearm bands and the neck piece. They look great.

I try not to expect too much from the articulation of DC Direct's figures- for me, they are mostly there to view on a shelf in a vanilla pose. That said, Killer Croc has had some effort put into his articulation. His head is on a semi-ball (because he's hunched forward, it's limited in its range of motion), and his lower jaw is hinged to open and close (nice touch!). Shoulders are ball joints that can be raised laterally very well. He's got cut twist biceps (great), and single-pin elbow joints that are restricted by the forearm braces. The hands are on ball-joints at the wrists, with one clenched into a fist and the other open-clawed. The hips provide for movement forward, backwards and side to side, but mine has a pretty floppy left one, so I have to be gentle with it or I'm afraid he'll get to toppling around. Single pin knees (with some ratchet to them, I think) and ball-jointed ankles round out the articulation. It's not perfect, but it is more than I expected- I'd say it's about right given the constraints of Croc's size and sculpt.

So, where do things stand so far? Packaging- average, sculpt - good, paint - good, articulation - good, accessories - none. Lastly, we need to consider the price. Clearly, he's a good figure, a necessary figure to an Arkham line, but yeah, he's too expensive. I'd put him reasonable at $30-$35, with the standard figures at about $20 (which I also think is too expensive).

Overall, Killer Croc is a good figure. He looks exactly like the prototype pictures, and he's very well-constructed. But at the same time, he shouldn't be good, he should be great. He ought to be in the top ten of action figure that I own, but he's just not. There's something about him that's very "underwhelming", and I can't find a clear-cut reason why. This is a character design that I love, a figure that I want to love, solid execution (the face in particular is terrific). But I can already tell that he'll go on the shelf and won't get much of a second look after a couple of weeks. There's no way I'd pay what I did for Croc for Mr. Freeze or Titan Joker or any other figure from the line, and I probably do regret the money that went into getting the big guy, although he does look cool with Batman on the shelf.

Leonardo - Playmates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012

I recently picked up my first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure. It's a license I have no nostalgic connection to: never watched or read any of their many stories from the past 25 years, and (as I stated earlier) I've never had any of the toys. So what changed all that? Quite honestly, this figure is fantastic on so many levels that I just couldn't pass him up. Here's what Playmates got right:

We'll start with the packaging. It's terrific. Colorful, eye catching, personalized with a little background about the specific character, a shot of all the figures in the entire wave, screen shots of the team, and it's efficient. There isn't much wasted space, and things are kept in place nice and tightly, without the figure being damaged or warped by stupid in-action poses. The figure is shown off well- it's darn near perfect. My only (tiny) quibble here is that the two twisties used to keep Leo in place are made of a really stiff plastic. Don't even bother trying to untwist them, it was nearly impossible- just cut em and get on with it. The weapons of choice slide into the bubble itself, while an additional mini-arsenal is included on a sprue. Accessories? In this day and age? Yup, and plenty of them! Yay, Playmates!

Next bit of Playmates goodness? Leonardo's sculpt is what really got me. I love the overall look and proportions of the entire figure, as well as on the all-important-face. Strangely enough, the part with the most interesting detail to me is the bandana, right around the eyes. The ridges and crinkles done underneath the bandana really lend a ton of expression to the face. There are scads of nicks and scars all over the figure's pads and shell, and his skin and bandage textures are awesome. Each of the turtles in the line is a unique sculpt, so you aren't going to feel ripped off buying the same figure four times with different faces. Oh, and the weapons fit perfectly in his hands, as well as in the soft rubbery scabbards on his back.

Next! Articulation-wise, Leonardo has enough to get the job done. What I mean is that there isn't a ton - he's not super-articulated by any means, but there's enough to have some fun with.

The ball-jointed head tilts and swivels enough to add some expression to most poses. Additionally, there are ball joints at the shoulders, elbows, knees and hips, with swivels above the wrist bandages. The balls at the elbows and knees provide rotating motion, as well, though their range of motion in terms of bend isn't too great. He's fun to play around with, and I can get some cool looking poses, but I have the most trouble with his legs. The one accessory I wish they would have included is a display stand with a hearty foot-peg. I don't usually use stands, so that's odd for me to say, but I'd love to get some one-legged, jumping, or kicking poses out of this guy! In any event, great job again here by Playmates. They didn't go overboard and as a result there are no loose floppy joints. I've got some figures from other toy companies with upwards of 30 points, but the ankles are so loose the figures can't stand at all on their own even in a vanilla pose. Kind of defeats the purpose. Not so, here!

Paint is the one spot where Leonardo doesn't quite shine as much. It's not that it's bad or detrimental, there just isn't very much of it. The bandana, bandages, and pads on mine are all very clean and sharp. Even the buckles on the front strap have a gold application. It's all very nice, but he's still very plastic-toy-looking. Honestly, I'm totally fine with it, though I can't help but think how incredible he'd look with a decent wash or some airbrushed highlights. I may add some paint detail to the weapons at some point, which may help out as well.

Playmates Toys used to be a top-line contender in my book. I still have those Lara Croft Adventures dioramas in my display, and I used to really admire their Simpsons line. But over the past few years, I've begun to lump them in with the lower tier, along with JAKKS Pacific, Jazwares, Zizzle and whatever other "oh, I hope my favorite property doesn't get picked up by them" companies that happened to be around. The Star Trek and Terminator: Salvation debacles probably had a lot to do with that. 

But, now I can honestly say, "Wow". I'm blown away. These Ninja Turtles look great, come with lots of stuff, pose well, are well-made, and are packaged appropriately. What else did Playmates do right? Here's a short additional list:

• The entire wave of toys is readily available and is consistently being re-stocked (I've managed to find all 9 figures in the wave, along with the Shellraiser van, over the past week- contrast that with the Wal-Mart 6" Avengers, which I've seen 2 figures of once, or the Movie Masters Alfred and Catwoman, which I've seen never)
• All 9 figures were released at once, not in future "possible secret figure can't complete your Parallax" waves
• The PRICE: I've decided that $8.99 is the perfect price for an action figure. For that amount, I went ahead and bought 10 figures. For a line like the 6" Avengers, I won't buy a single figure at $16. Why? I got 10 different figures! I don't feel ripped off, and I'm enjoying myself as a toy-collector again, which I can't do when it takes me 3 months and $20 to find one figure with no accessories, warped ankles and the same sculpt as 20 other figures.
• No stupid action feature
• I like the scale: not too big, not too small at just under 5". I can display them all as a group, and they fit the vehicles appropriately

In short, this is my absolute hands-down favorite line right now, bumping Transformers Prime out of the running. I'm enjoying the figures I have, and I'm looking forward to the cartoon in the fall. I'm not sure I'll bother with the more expensive "retro classics collector (read: $15) figures" when they pop up. Like I said, I don't have any nostalgic connection to the characters, so I don't care much about the 2-toes vs. 3-toes quarrel, or the pupil-eyes vs. white-eyes look. If I like 'em, I'll pick them up, but for right now, I'm real happy with the guys I have. 

As a toy collector, all I ask of the toy companies out there is to give me the best figure you can. I don't want another 3 3/4" line, or an unarticulated (5 cut joints) statue. Gimme as much useful articulation as possible, with a unique and detailed sculpt and tons of appropriate accessories that the figure can store and work with. Keep the package reasonable- no need to go crazy here with all kinds of crazy shapes and cardboard overlays, and get the toys to the shelves! Do all of that, and do it for less than ten bucks, like Playmates Toys just did! I dare you...