My DC Multiverse collection has been growing exponentially and there’s so many figures to choose from when it comes to deciding who’s turn is next here. But, there are a couple of waves that I’m particularly excited about getting to, so they’ll get the bump to the front. Today I’m kicking off what I hope will be just a two-part look at the four figure Build-A-Bane Wave based on The Dark Knight Trilogy, and I’ll probably throw an extra Gold Label figure in at the end. Let’s start with Batman and Scarecrow.
I’ve got nothing new to say about the packaging. It’s mostly collector friendly and it shows off the figures well. You also get the usual black disk stands and collector cards included. Batman comes with Bane’s legs and Dr. Crane comes with his arms, and boy is it refreshing to only have to pick up four figures in a wave to complete a figure, RIGHT HASBRO? I have to toss out my ubiquitous disclaimer that I’m not the biggest fan of this trilogy or Nolan’s films in general. They’re fine, I guess. The first and third tend to put me to sleep, while I like the middle one the most. With that having been said, I think the movies did a fine job imagining some of these characters. Certainly enough for me to want the figures. Let’s start with Batman…
To me this suit was 90% perfection, assuming you count the cowl as 10%. Yes, I like the Keaton suit better, but if you’re going for realism over comic in your Batsuit, than this is how you do it. The suit has a wonderfully tactical look to it and this figure pulls it off quite nicely. The sculpted gaps between the armored plates show the textured undersuit and the chiseled muscles in the abs are superb. The bat emblem is a little too subtle for me, but I get that was an artistic choice. The vastly diminished profile of the cape works well with this look too, as it hugs the body and only fans out at the end. The gold belt is just the chef’s kiss of the whole ensemble. I’m not well versed in the movies to pick out any inconsistencies or differences between the films, but for my money, this is a great looking Batman figure.
If there’s anywhere this figure stumbles a bit it’s the head, and I’m having a hard time deciding whether it’s actually the figure or just the design of this cowl which I have never liked. The overly round shape is just goofy to me and it’s amplified by the round cut out for the face. I think McFarlane did OK with what they had to work with here, but it remains the one thing I don’t like about this suit.
Articulation is everything you’d expect from the DC Multiverse line. I think I’ve covered enough of these figures where I’m not going to run through it every time. I will say that the range of motion here is all quite nice. The shoulder armor is the only place where there’s some inhibition, and even those are designed to flex as much as possible. I have to imagine that what we get is pretty comparable to what movement in an armored suit like this would be like. Batman only comes with the one set of hands, with the left hand balled into a fist and the right hand designed to hold accessories.
And those accessories come in two varieties. the first is his grapple gun, which is a really nice sculpt and cast in gold plastic to match the belt.
Next up we get three gold batarangs. Why three? Don’t know. I guess it’ll come in hand when I inevitably lose one or two. These are simple accessories, but they are made out of nice stiff plastic, which is nice. I probably would have preferred we only get one and they use the rest of the plastic to make a hand better suited to holding them, or just another fist, but now I’m nitpicking. How about some Scarecrow?
Scarecrow was pretty cool in The Dark Knight Rises, but if it weren’t for the C&B parts, I probably would have passed on this one. And now that I have him I’m kind of glad I didn’t, because McFarlane did an impressive job on this guy, especially with all the layering. Under the straightjacket trench coat you have a fully sculpted suit, but really it’s the detail on the straightjacket sculpt that just blows me away. The texturing on the threads is so intricate, along with all the straps and loops and the ragged edges look great. I also dig the way all the loops in the straps look like suckers on a tentacle. I especially love the way the arm straps just lash out from his arms. You also get a really nice black wash over the tan plastic, making it look extra shabby and dirty.
The head sculpt is great too, as it looks like there’s a whole head sculpt under there, even if it is probably just the eyes. Instead of just doing the whole head as one piece, this makes the eyes look really deep set and extra creepy and adds tons of credibility to the hood being an actual hood. And man, is that hood disgusting. I think the white stuff is supposed to be the maggots from one of the fear gas scenes, but either way it’s just so delightfully gross!
There are no accessories here, but you do get two pairs of hands with Scarecrow, and I honestly can’t understand why they bothered. I would have rather those hands went to Batman. The right fist and the left reaching hand are really all I will ever bother with.
Both of these figures turned out really nice. I think I have one of Mattel’s old TDK Trilogy figures around here somewhere and I can surely retire that one in favor of this release. Still not a fan of the cowl, but even still I think it’s a great Batman figure. Without the C&B part, I would have written off Scarecrow as one of those $12 clearance picks ups that I come across with this line, but it turns out he’s pretty damn cool. Next week, I’ll wrap up this wave with The Joker, Harvey Dent, and the C&B Bane… oh, and one extra Gold Label figure that I mentioned earlier.
FigureFan Zero 