“What, you want one? Copy-bat….”
Next on the SH Figuarts Injustice hitlist is quite possibly the most central villain to the game’s story, and that of course means we’re talking about the Joker. The events of Injustice spiral out from a fateful decision the Joker makes to take his game to Metropolis and see if he can break the Man of Steel. Spoiler alert- he does. But as I like to say, play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
This may seem a little strange, coming from a bat-fan, but I rarely get very excited about Joker figures. The last time I remember being really amped up for one was DCUC, and that certainly didn’t disappoint. Most of the time, though, I’m not looking to upgrade my clown princes like I am my dark knights. In the case of Injustice, this was especially true of the “Insurgency” costume that both Mattel and Bandai selected for their figures. The standard costume of the game was a more traditional Joker suit with a kevlar vest underneath, but the other suit was a strange departure I didn’t care for.
Still, pics looked good, price was right, and he came in the mail a day after Batman. And I think he is successful in many ways over the previous Mattel version in making this costume work in plastic. The sculpt work is like Batman’s, very top-notch. It’s a bit of a misnomer to call this costume the Insurgency suit, since Joker (spoilers!) was a smear on the wall by the time of the Insurgency, but we’ll stick with that definition. The odd points and tails of the costume are done very faithfully, and the layout makes him appropriately gangly and spindly, yet still crams in the detail.
There are two areas this Joker completely outpaces his contemporaries, and the first of those is the head sculpts. Joker gets three to Batman’s pair, and they are all very worthy of display. The toothy grin is a standard choice and it does an excellent job, but the surprise for me was just how good the smirking face is. He looks devious as all hell. And not to be forgotten, the gas-mask head is equally unique and creepy. I particularly like the style choice of the older WWI style mask.
The second area would absolutely be his articulation. The Matttel version was decent, though missing some key points, and truth is, I don’t usually think about the Joker as needing much more than the standard. In the Figuarts version’s case, though, all the right joints are here, and their range of motion gives him incredible expression. His elbows and knees are more like the Figma-type of single point, but their range of motion is excellent. The hip and abdominal joints are well integrated and while they take a little working to get the range out of them, they also have really good travel.
Joker also comes out well in the accessories. In addition to the heads, he includes the usual compliment of extra hands, crowbar, dagger, long-barreled revolver, tiny playing card, and a pair of chattering teeth. I really like them all, and have a hard time displaying him with just one item like I do most figures. Like the figure itself, the attention to detail on each peace is really impressive.
So, simply put, this is an excellent Joker worth owning in his own right, and this goes doubly so for anyone thinking of collecting the Figuarts Injustice line. I expect him to be a little of a sleeper hit, and I think he will get difficult to track down once this line gets a few figures in.
