This Is Not The Dark Knight, But It's Damn Close
Following up my review for the Hot Toys Avengers Hawkeye figure, I was surprised to find my order of the Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece The Dark Knight Rises 1/6th scale figure Batman arrive in the mail. Granted it was one month late, but the Hong Kong collectible company is both notoriously and understandably late in their deliveries. Giddy as Hell, I opened the package to see what was to be found…
Once again, Hot Toys did not disappoint. The craftsmanship in the face alone was worth the extra 1 month wait. (I wonder whose job it was to paint Christian Bale’s eye wart… ) Like previous figures, it’s not 100%, but it’s close enough.
The figure comes with interchangeable hands, a masked and unmasked head (with different mouths for the masked head), and all the gear advertised: The grappling gun, a pump-action timed explosive gun that actually comes apart and can be attached to Batman’s belt, a couple of batarangs and smoke bombs, and a light-up replica of that weird mechanics breaking gun that appeared in the movie briefly. It also comes with an impressive light-up stand that’s made to look like concrete steps with a bat symbol stamped in it.
The masked head also has the feature of some of the recent figures that Hot Toys has released where the eyes can actually be moved to change where the figure looks, which gives it, on a scale of 1 to 10, a creepy factor of about five billion. Fortunately, the eyes move in unison rather than individually which prevents you from having a crazy-eye Batman which would be even more disturbing.
Now, in terms of flaws, the figure does have some noticeable ones. Firstly, and most importantly, the mobility of the figure is highly restricted by the full body rubber suit and it limits the number of positions the figure can take, which means you won’t be having Batman sitting cross-legged or posing Gangnam Style unless you’re willing to cut or rip the Batsuit at the joints. Secondly, due to the moveable eye feature, Batman’s head is not attached to his neck so that the eye mechanic can be accessed easily. Instead, the head is held in place by a magnet, and not a very powerful one. Setting up poses for shooting, Batman’s head went rolling several times.
Even with these flaws, however, the figure is damn cool. The details of the Batsuit make you want to watch the movies again just to compare. Batman currently sits on my shelf where he watches over my room and makes my friends jealous that I have him.
One additional note, especially to those with small children: This is not a toy. While it’s more likely that someone with mouths to feed has better uses for their money, if by chance someone with kids manages to get one of these, for God’s sake, keep it out of the youngin’s reach. They will break it. A good friend of mine had to say goodbye to his Ezio figure, thanks to his son.
The Dark Knight Rises Batman is sold through Sideshow Collectibles and is currently on backorder.
Originally written and published by Toshi Nakamura at Kotaku. Click here to read the original story.
