The Dark Knight Rises Movie Masters Bane, Batman, Alfred figure review

Batman The Dark Knight Rises is one of the more anticipated films this summer and from every Batman film spawns countless action figures. These Movie Masters figures are 6" tall and DC Universe-style articulated. We had these last two movies but there's a new twist this time, a build-a-figure. Rather a build-a-bat-signal. You need six figures to complete it and three are in this first wave which are Batman, Alfred, and Bane.

Sculpting is very detailed and sharply done on all the figures. While Alfred has a new headsculpt he shares the body with the Joker goon/Harvey Dent. Batman is the exact same sculpt as the previous release. Bane is an entirely brand new sculpt and features some fairly nice mask detail, rubbery coat, and harness straps that are all well done. I'm not sure how close it is to the movie character but he looks menacing. His layered waist belts do make him look a little rotund under the jacket however.

Paint work for Bane is excellent. There's various levels of washes on his coat, weathering on his pants/boots, and his mask/eyes look very realistic. Batman has some extra lighter gray on his costume that the last figure didn't. Alfred is cast primarily in matte black but his face is really well done and his tie has some detailed paint work on it. Be careful when choosing your figures because not all were this clean. Batman's belt seems to give problems as I saw some pretty blotchy.

Articulation for Batman and Alfred is DC Universe style allowing for most action poses. There are ankle rockers in Alfred and Batman because they use old bodies but Bane being a new sculpt doesn't have them. He is also missing bicep articulation meaning he cannot cross his arms over in front of him. His ab crunch works very well as does his ball jointed neck. Bane's jacket doesn't really get in the way of his articulation but keeps his arms from moving all the way against his sides.

There are no character-specific accessories this time around. Last figure series we had Gotham City Police evidence but this time each figure has a part to a working build-a-bat-signal. They snap together easily and so far it looks to scale. Three more figures need to be released meaning you're left with an incomplete signal for right now. At around $16 each it's going to sting getting all six especially since there's a duplicate Batman in series 3 and possibly a character you may not want.

So what's the verdict? These are highly articulated figures with premium paint applications tho you probably already own a Batman just like this. The prospect of building a working Bat-Signal may be too cool to pass up for some, especially customizers who want to swap out the movie-bat logo for a comic one to project on their ceiling. Our sponsors Big Bad Toy Store has series 3 up for preorder and will probably get series 1 and 2 in shortly. You can also find them at regular retail outlets but beware, Alfred is one per case and is snatched up right away.

Batman Legacy Arkham City Nightwing action figure review

With DC Universe 6" figures on the way out, shocking as it is, there's still time to snag some new offerings on the shelf. One is the Legacy series with Nightwing and Harly Quinn in the newest assortment, both in their Arkham City designs from the video game. Nightwing as we know is a talented hand-to-hand fighter, Dick Grayson aka Robin the boy wonder all grown up. He comes with a stand, mini poster, and two batons.

Nightwing's sculpt is downright awesome. Each diamond section of kevlar weave is raised and he has these neat sunken in rivets. The raised armor sections are done very well and don't hinder his articulation at the shoulders. Even his gloves are well detailed. The headsculpt unfortunately doesn't match the source material and while nice, has way too long of a face/jaw to be the Nightwing we see in the game.

The paint apps on Nightwing really surprised me. His chest and arm armor is airbrushed blue against dark blue and looks incredible! We're talking statue-quality work on that. There's darker gray shading on his main suit, each rivet is done with zero slop, and his mask/eyes are very detailed. I'd have to say this is the best paint I've seen on any DC 6" figure all year. His boots are even a third shade of grey to the shading used.

Articulation is a step up from Arkham City Batman whom I covered in an earlier review. With the standard DCU style articulation here Nightwing has great range of motion in his shoulders and hips, a good tilt/turn neck, and ab-crunch. He's still a bit restricted in the knee and elbow range, not able to get a good 90 deg angle unless you stretch the plastic or carve a bit away behind the joint with an X-acto knife. But it's still way better than Batman. He can get into all the decent crimefighting poses you need.

Nightwing's accessories include two batons which we've seen before in his DC Universe version, stand with a sticker nameplate, and a mini-poster...which I immediately misplaced. You probably will too as I don't see too many people putting up tiny posters on their walls. I think all of the Legacy figures come with one, though I really miss the build-a-figure part for the $18 we're paying for these now. I suppose the price jump is due to the tie-in video game license but who knows.

So what's the verdict? This is a great figure and if you swap the headsculpt out with the earlier DC Universe Nightwing you'll pretty much have a dead-on version of the AC one. Our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store has both him and Harley online or you can try to hunt him down at Target where he appears to be hitting first. His body mold looks like it would be a great base for a custom superhero with the armored look and kevlar styled suit.

Batman Arkham City Batsuit figure Review

The line of 6" DC Universe figures is ever expanding and we now have figures from the video game Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. Toys R Us has an exclusive grey and blue Batman with the black mask that pays homage to the classic Batman design. This appears to be one of the modded costumes you can wear in the game as well. He doesn't come with any accessories, but his hands are fists so he wouldn't be able to hold them either.

Sculpting is pretty decent. There's a nice carbon-fiber texture all over his main body, the armored boots/gloves are nicely done, and the belt is pretty spiffy looking too. The face/cowl looks stern and the cape hangs well. The packaging does a nice job of displaying the figure and is part of the Batman legacy line that's out. No Build-a-figure pieces here unfortunately as it only has 3 or so figure in it per wave.

Now, articulation..this is where the figure disappoints. The range of motion is exactly what you see in the pictures. Because of the design neither his elbows, hips, or knees, can achieve a 90 deg angle. He has all the points of artic that a regular DCU has but they simply don't work. No ankle rockers and no decent movement forward/back means you can't really pose him walking that well either. You'll have to carve a lot of plastic out of the joints to fix this, if you want to go the customizing route.

Paint is a mixed bag. I'm not thrilled on how bright everything is but that's the classic look for you. Its applied neatly for the most part and there's a light wash over his body that brings out the suit detail along with his belt. The blue doesn't have any sort of wash which is a shame because there's a lot of cool armor detail that can be brought out here.

The verdict? Unless you have some customizing skill and want to carve the excess plastic from every joint (which I did, and it works) he's kinda a statue. The design is cool and there's a black and grey version which you may prefer. Our sponsors BBTS carries all the Batman legacy figures at great prices and Past Generation Toys has some of the Legacy as well.

Imaginext DC Super Friends Clayface action figure review

You've seen the Hasbro Marvel 'Super Hero Squad' style figures around and most other companies are capitalizing on entry-level minifigs for the 3yo+ crowd. Fisher Price is no exception but offer a different style of superhero figure by integrating DC characters into their Imaginext lines. Clayface is part of the newest assortment on the shelf and I almost passed him by as I thought he was just some sort of mud monster from one of their other lines.

Fortunately I took a closer look. Clayface's design is a simple one with two 'action features' of you will. He's hollow and has a hinge where you can open his mouth and fit Batman inside. Yes, he eats other figures. This alone scores high in the play-factor if you have a child who likes to feed their T-rex toys and Rancors.

The sculpt is to be expected of a toy aimed at the younger crowd. He definitely looks like a muddy clay and the black plastic specks blend in well with the plastic used for the body and the mallet. The mallet hand can be removed and fitted on to either of Clayface's hand, made of soft plastic itself. You could even use it with your BTAS or DCU Clayface with a little paint, it's nicely sculpted.

Clayface's articulation is limited to four points, five if you count the hinged jaw. But his charm is the simplicity of the figure's design. Basically a container he could hold your paint brushes, loose change, spare figure heads/hands, or serve as a Yahtzee cup. And even if your child doesn't know who Clayface is the possibilities for a mud-monster in their carpet-based-battles are endless. Clayface is available about everywhere and around 7-$8.