So this here is probably the most expensive Batman figure I own.
He’s worth it.
Bandai’s Movie Realization line only has a few notches in it’s belt thus far, with some Kamen Rider and Spiderman figures, but with a step into the realm of the Dark Knight, they’ve truly shown some serious potential. Let’s hope this is just the start.
You’ve all seen the gorgeous shots of the Bat-Pod this figure comes with, so I’ll leave that review for another time. All you need to know is that it’s about a foot long, has a lot of die-cast, rubber tires, and as much detail as function will possibly allow. In it’s place, I’ll focus on the figure.
Batman is just shy of 8" tall, to his ears. This makes him a very large 7" scale figure, or a somewhat short 8" one. His sculpt is surprisingly realistic, with the obvious anime undertones somewhat diluted in his proportions and costume. The detail work on the costume is just amazing. The belt, the gauntlets, boots, everything except the chestplate are very accurate to the real deal. It’s so well done, in fact, that I prefer this sculpt to the Movie Masters one. The chestplate gives it a unique look that some people aren’t fond of. I don’t mind the mesh-styling, but I will say that it isn’t nearly as interrupting as it appears in some pictures. The face sculpt is surprisingly Bale-esque, without being out-rightly so. Again, not nearly as anime as I was expecting.
He comes with 4 extra hands; 2 are for holding the Bat-pod’s handlebars, and the other 2 are for holding his extra accessories, the grapple gun and batarang. The gun is excellent, it fits snugly in his hand, and has excellent detail. The batarang is a little underwhelming, but he holds it nicely.
Articulation is perfect. He has a double-jointed neck, ball-jointed shoulders, bicep cuts, double elbows, and somewhat limited ball-jointed wrists. It’s also worth noting his gauntlet splines actually fold down, to make posing on the Bat-pod easier. He has double-jointed abs, allowing for excellent crunching, an incorporated waist joint, ball and socket hips, double knees, ball-jointed ankles, and toe joints. There is nary a pose he can pull off, and he looks impressive in all of them.
Paint application is excellent, especially on his face and eyes. It’s difficult to photograph, but this figure has some of the best painted eyes I’ve ever seen. He has the slightly glossy "war-paint" around them and all. Basically, wherever paint is needed, it is done, and done well.
So make no mistake, at nearly $100, this is a premium imported figure. However, I feel that this one makes a better case than most for that price point. It won’t be for everyone, as it certainly won’t go with your 6" collection, but I promise he will rain holy hell on your Movie Maniac collection instead. I picked mine up from BigBadToyStore.com, but I’d imagine with DC Direct planning on importing it, you’ll be able to get it from some of our other sponsors as well.
*Editor’s Note: A big thanks to DisThunder for sharing his review and pictures with us!
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