“Poor little bat. You’re in my world now!”
DC Collectibles this past week released its first wave of Batman: Arkham Knight figures. Based on the upcoming Rocksteady video game, the first wave includes Batman (well, duh), Arkham Knight, Harley Quinn, and the focus of today’s write-up — Scarecrow.
The new line, sculpted by Gentle Giant, features all-new packaging for the figures. Similar in design to its DC Comics Designer Series line, the packaging has a decidedly darker tone than any of its predecessors. It’s actually a nice box and if the figure weren’t so cool, I’d almost be willing to not open him.
But, you didn’t come here to read about packaging. You want to know about the good doctor Jonathan Crane. Well, believe you me, the detail on this figure is downright impressive. It reflects all the changes in Scarecrow over the course of the Arkham games.
While there’s still a bit of mystery surrounding the extent of Scarecrow’s injuries (inflicted by Killer Croc in the Arkham Asylum game), some are pretty clear. Namely, the leg brace. It runs down the length of Crane’s leg. As far as the figure is concerned, you can still bend the leg at the knee, but that foot only moves in one direction. The brace (and lack of range of motion) definitely gives Scarecrow a menacingly crooked stance. To make him a bit more poseable, there’s a pivot joint in his other ankle — kinda compensating for that crookedness of his stance, but not taking away from it either.
There’s a bunch of nice touches in the figure. The stitches all over the overcoat, the duct tape holding down the tubing on his leg, the buckles on his leg brace, and the texture of the pants themselves — it all lends to the figure. Gentle Giant really spent some time crafting these figures.
Then there’s Crane’s mask. Talk about creepy. From the color of it to the stitching over the mouth — man! It’s a touch disturbing. And if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that Scarecrow’s trademark gas mask has been grafted directly onto his face/throat (spoiler alert?!?!?).
The creepiness doesn’t end there, though. Oh, no. Dr. Crane comes packaged with a pretty disturbing mask that you can put on other figures, I guess to represent them being possessed by Crane’s fear toxin or something. See for yourself:
All in all, it’s a damn fine outing for DC Collectibles, and it’s one figure definitely worth picking up. Truth be told, I actually bought Scarecrow over the Harley Quinn figure. And if you know me (and I know you don’t), you know I don’t miss a Harley figure — that’s how cool of a figure this guy is.
Don’t forget to check out the newest episode of the Almost Internet Famous Internet Show. This week, we’re talking Lego’s UCS Star Wars Slave 1!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J6G55HBRKg
