So… have you seen The Dark Knight Rises yet? Since it’s making gobs and gobs of money, I am going to assume you have. Well, there is certainly not an absence of toys to help support the last of the “Nolan Trilogy,” and we recently gave you a look at some of the Movie Masters Mattel is producing for the flick, but the variety extends far beyond that execution. There are tons of figures and role-play toys being offered for the younger fans, but Matty Collector is also supporting the movie marketing with some more collector-oriented offerings. One of these goes on sale on August 15th in the form of the Stealth Fusion Batman. This is a larger figure (more in the 8-inch or approximate 1:10 scale) that features an internal articulation system similar to the SDCC 2011 Swamp Thing figure. We have our usual pictures and thoughts after the jump.
In the collector world of action figures, innovations are usually measured in the form of sculpt detail, points of articulation, accessories, and bonus pieces. This figure attempts to move in an entirely different direction while attempting to hold the line at being on the forefront of the sculpt and articulation game. When new executions debut (especially in this fickle corner of collector-dom) they are often met with high scrutiny, and the last thing a company wants to face is being labeled as pushing a “gimmick” instead of a real step forward. Well, that is something that is completely out of the control of anyone or anything, save for the collector mass, so I am sure there will be a lot of assessments being made about this figure in the next few weeks once it starts landing on doorsteps around the world.
I am taking this figure as a one-off execution (at least for the Dark Knight Rises line), and since it is at a larger scale, it obviously won’t be integrating with much of your other current Batman items. But that’s okay. He is meant to be a stand-alone piece, and he is a unique tribute to the 6-7 years we have been living in this universe. He comes with two movie-accurate batarangs and and a fairly non-descriptive display stand, but the point of the figure doesn’t lie with the accessories, it is the unique functionality of the actual figure.
Like all unique executions of this nature, and if the aforementioned Swamp Thing taught us anything, this figure is going to divide the collector sect with loves and hates and everything in between. As I said, the cheese stands alone with this figure, and unless you want to mix him with the DC Retro-Action figures for a complete mismatch of styles, he is not going to fit in with much of anything you already own. I personally think he looks good and there was probably a risk involved with the rubber material used for the outer shell of the body. Even though I have seen the movie, I did not spend much of the viewing experience studying the Batsuit, but it looks good to me and there are not any gummy or soft sculpt spots due to the material.
The head, feet, and cape are the only parts of this figure that are not made up of the rubbery overlay, and the larger scale really helps with the detail and likeness in the face. I think this is actually one of the better (if not the best) representation of Christian Bale’s likeness from Mattel thus far. But let’s face it, you are not really curious about the face sculpt so much since you can see the pictures, so what about the internal joint construction and suit? Well, I can tell you that he is not wearing hockey pads.
I think most of you reading this article have some idea about how well you think the internal articulation structure works with this figure and all I can really say is that you are probably right. While I was surprised by the range of movement in some of the joints like the ankles and lateral hip joints, his movement in most other areas is still stifled to varying degrees by the suit overlay. If you have Swamp Thing, this figure moves better than he does, that’s for sure. The rubber is a lot softer and he has more internal articulation points, so you will get more poses out of him. But he does not move as well as a figure with traditional articulation. You are not going to get a 360° movement from the shoulders, or a full flex of the knees or biceps. All of those points do move, but I don’t think there will be a lot of dynamic posing available with the structure built the way it is. I can say that all of the internal ratchets are nice and tight, so any pose that you do display him in will hold. For me, though, he will be more of a collectors piece that I can position but have not a trace of articulation cuts. So he does have some movement like an action figure, but he has a shelf aesthetic more inline with a statue due to the hidden joints.
You know, I think that internal articulation is one of the movements toward the future of action figure evolution (if they are around long enough). It is cool that companies are experimenting with this right now, but it is still a work in progress. I think that we are at point where the ability to internalize joints is there, but in order to meet today’s standards of movement, there is still some work to do. Also, since Batman and Swamp Thing are about the same size, I wonder if we are playing at the smallest scale possible for this system at this point. If you know of any other figures that make use of this basic idea (aside from Barbie legs) please let me know in the comments section, I would like to know how this Batman stacks up with other attempts at this brave new world of articulation. Stealth Fusion Batman goes on sale at Matty Collector on August 15th.
*Thanks for reading and thanks to Toy Guru and the Batman team at Mattel for sending this along for a First Look. I hope they continue to experiment and make advances in this new articulation structure.
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