Sunday, March 19, 2023

Action Figure Review: Batman (Hush) from DC Multiverse by McFarlane Toys

 


   No one can say that McFarlane hasn't released enough Batman figures in their DC Multiverse line, but they keep putting out awesome figures, people keep buying them, and I keep wanting to add to my collection, so who can blame them, right? Today I'm checking out a recent release in the DC Multiverse line: Batman from Batman: Hush. While one of the major selling points of this line is that most figures feature completely unique sculpts, this figure does borrow the body from last year's Batman Vs Hush 2-pack which used a black and gray suit instead of the blue and gray suit seen here. This one is much more iconic, though, and when I think of Batman: Hush this is this is the suit I think about. Hush is a great story (I'm rereading it right now with my daughter, who has never read it before) but besides that, it's amazing how much of an influence the Jim Lee artwork and the character designs have had on Batman's allies and villains in the years since. I loved DC Direct's Batman: Hush action figure line as it was one of the first times a DC line went so deep in such a short period of time, but those figures definitely are a product of their time and were intended for display rather than play. This version of Batman is absolutely intended for play and posing, though. He's fantastic and one of my favorite Batman action figures ever. Let's check him out after the break...




The Facts:

Height: 7 1/2 inches

Articulation: Hinged toes, double swivel hinged ankles, double hinged knees, swivel thighs, swivel/hinge hips, balljointed waist, balljointed mid torso, swivel/hinge shoulders w/ ballsockets, bicep swivels, double hinged elbows, double swivel/ hinge wrists, and a ball jointed neck.
 
Accessories: 4 Swappable hands, 2 batarangs, collector card, and display stand.
 
Non-Scalper Price: $20 dollars




Comparison:

* Here's a side by side of the blue/ grey single packed Batman from Hush and the black/ grey Batman from last year's two pack. Same figure, but vary different color schemes and different portraits. The current Walmart exclusive Gold Label DC Vs. Vampires Batman also uses this same body, too. 







The Positives:



* When I think of Batman, this outfit and style is definitely one of the primary images that comes to mind. The Hush Batman sculpt is an excellent body sculpt with lots of cool elements like a raised bat emblem, that excellent utility belt with the larger pouches, and a nice amount of muscle detail and costume folds and wrinkles. The gray is darker here than on the two-pack version while the blue is an excellent shade, still bold but nice and dark.




* The headsculpt is excellent. It's possibly one of the best Batman headsculpts in the line, which is impressive considering that McFarlane has released dozens of Batman figures in the line. It's very clearly Bruce in the cowl from Hush and the details on the mask are just fantastic with lots of nice highlights to bring out all of the detail. 




* I still remember how it used to be pretty common to open up a new Batman figure and find that his gauntlets were bent. McFarlane Toys is doing a great job of keeping that from happening and I'm thrilled everytime I open a new Batman figure and end up with sharp, pointy blades on the gauntlets. 




* The cape is a standard plastic cape. It's not terribly flexible. but it does look nice with a lot of detail and a bit of a dynamic swoosh to the sides. Cloth capes are far more posable, yeah, but they just don't look as dramatic as a well sculpted piece like this. 



*  I really like the articulation on most DC Multiverse figures from McFarlane Toys and the Hush body for Batman is definitely a good design. Solid, sturdy, and with a pretty good range of motion. Yeah, it's inhibited a bit by the plastic cape, but that's kind of unavoidable, I think. 


* Batman comes with two swappable sets of hands. The first is a standard set of hands: Regular gloves with a batarang throwing left hand and a batarang holding right hand. They're sculpted to look like gloves, too; not just painted standard hands.


* The second set of hands is pretty specific to the Hush storyline: Bruce's armored gauntlets with the Kryptonite ring he carries in his belt buckle when he visits Metropolis. Appearing in Chapter 5: The Battle, Batman uses a Kryptonite ring to fight Superman while Supes is under the control of Poison Ivy. 




* Batman also comes toting two batarangs. They're both the same sculpt and they fit in his hands just fine. I do wish he had come packed with the unique grapnel gun he carries in Hush, but these are pretty cool, too. 




* I'm always glad that McFarlane includes a stand with each of their releases these days. It's just a simple disc stand with the DC logo on it but it works well and keeps the figure standing upright in most poses.




* A collectible card is also included with the figure sporting an image from Hush. I also really like that there's a bio on the back, though it's a standard Batman/ Bruce Wayne bio and not specifically related to the Hush storyline. Still, very cool.










   I own many, many Batman figures, and this one is one of my absolute favorites. I actually sold my DC Direct Hush Batman a year or so ago when it seemed a repaint of the Batman vs Hush 2-pack figure was likely and I'm not disappointed to replace that figure. I've kept some DC Direct/ DC Collectibles stuff, but that was a figure I'm glad to replace. This guy is solid as a rock, has great extras and accessories, and has a fantastic sculpt and coloring. He's simply one of the best Batman figures you could ever pick up at mainstream retail (especially at that $20 price point) and honesty one of my favorites overall. This is an Epic figure and I'm glad that McFarlane is really going back to some older storylines for inspiration, too. The first couple years of the line filled with modern stuff, so it's nice to now have a mixture. I'd love to see more Hush inspired figures (Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Huntress, Killer Croc, Harley Quinn, Joker, the Riddler, and the HALO jumper Batman would all be welcome) to fill out the roster as those designs are just so representative of that era of Batman and they'd all be fantastic to have.


I've reviewed so many action figures of Batman/ Bruce Wayne that he has his own archive. Check out the Dark Knight Gallery for all of my Batman reviews.

For more DC Multiverse reviews check out the following:
Harley Quinn (The Suicide Squad)
Man-Bat (DC Rebirth)
Nekron (Blackest Night)


5 comments:

  1. Blue blends in the dark much better than Black, actually. Pure Black is not a color that is found in nature normally, it is in fact easy to pick out, unless in an area completely devoid of light. Then the color won't matter anymore.
    You can check this out to read why: https://www.6dragonskungfu.com/invisibility-the-best-night-stealth-color/

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  2. AFAIK, Batman passed from black to blue in order to make him easier to see in the comics. After all, drawing the sky blackish and cloudy, most of the buildings dark gray and also having Batman in Gray/Black colors make him harder to excel and show, while changing the blacks for dark blues on his suit made him easier to distinguish for readers and also dark blue makes a nice contrast with gray and black for the amalgam of colors.

    About Hush, i remember him on LEGO Batman, he is the first of the second Secret Characters alongside Ra's Al Ghoul, and he was really cool, using two revolvers and hushing as his standing actions. Sadly McNoWeapons will never drop him with them.

    Batman's figure is cool but i must say that the bat-logo on his torso is a bit big and wrongly placed vertically, like Carnivac says. But still i see him intimidating enough. Nice review and nice figure.

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  3. Yeah, black and very dark gray look pretty good in the movies, but it definitely tends to be tough to really show off the character against backgrounds and in the shadows in comics and art. I think that was even more true of older comics. I really like the blue and grey look for Batman, especially with the darker shades shown here.

    The bat logo is large but, looking at the art, it does seem to change size and even shape a bit from time to time throughout Hush issues and the various covers and promotional art.

    I was definitely disappointed that Hush came with knives, but it's Warner Bros. dictating that and not McFarlane Toys. Considering that the figure has trigger holding hands and McFarlane has released multiple weapon packs for very reasonable price, I think they've done everything they can to rectify the situation.

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  4. True, sorry, i tend to forget it's Warner Bros and DC the ones who forbid guns. Still McFarlane did it well with the weapon packs, and i am still waiting for Hasbrecolors to release a weapon/hands package.

    I mean a hands package too because i would like to have a Cobra Commander with two trigger hands in order to hold both the pistol and the sword. And a backpack for the pistol, because it's a mess that he and the Regal variant are the only CCs who can't have a dedicate gun holster and i have to put the gun back on the box when i use the pointing finger hand...

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  5. I'd love to see some accessory packs from Hasbro, but I imagine we're more likely to see deluxe releases with a figure or two with lots of extras. Despite having Hasbro Pulse where they can pretty much do whatever they want, they seem really beholden to keeping stuff a very specific way.

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