Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Action Figure Review: The Joker- Sonar Vision (The Dark Knight) from DC Multiverse by McFarlane Toys



   Today I'm looking at the third and final of the McFarlane Dark Knight Trilogy SDCC 2023 exclusive figures that are also being sold on McFarlane Toys Store and this one, well, this one isn't any better than the last two. Besides being about $8 to $10 dollars higher than a normal figure, Bane in his Trench Coat was pretty much the same as the basic figure but with fewer paint applications and no extra hands. The Bank Robber Joker was actually a pretty nice figure but he definitely needed an accessory or two, especially given the inflated price. This guy, well, he's a translucent blue version of the Joker. He's based on a scene near the end of 2008's The Dark Knight where Batman uses the sonar vision to infiltrate a building where the Joker and his goons have taken multiple hostages. Maybe if this had been paired with a version of Batman with the white lenses and some additional gadgets it would have made more sense but, as is, it comes off like a bizarre ghost of the Joker variant. Let's take a look at the Joker- Sonar Vision after the break...


The Facts:

Height: 7 1/4ths inches

Articulation: Hinged toes, double swivel hinged ankles, double hinged knees, swivel/hinge hips, balljointed waist, balljointed mid torso, swivel/hinge shoulders w/ balljointed sockets, bicep swivels, double hinged elbows, swivel/ hinge wrists, and a barbell jointed head..
 
Accessories: Collector card, and display stand.
 
Non-Scalper Price: $30 dollars




The Comparison:

* The Joker- Sonar Vision uses the same body as the standard Dark Knight Trilogy version of the Joker from the Bane build-a-figure series. No accessories or extra hands, though. Just the same figure molded in translucent blue with some white  highlights. 

The Positives:

* Is this the Joker from the Batman/ Ghostbusters crossover event? Or maybe the Joker from the Dark Knight's own version of A Christmas Carol? Perhaps a deleted scene from The Dark Knight Rises where after Alfred looks out at Bruce and Selina, Bruce then turns back and sees the Force Spirits of Ra's al Ghul, Bane, and the Joker watching him from a distance, nodding and smiling? No, of course not. As mentioned above, it's McFarlane's take on how the Joker appears while Batman is using his sonar vision. It's actually pretty accurate, really. I mean, this is kind of what the Joker looks like in that scene, though he's only shown briefly in the sonar vision. It matches how everyone else looks, though. 



* The portrait is the same as the one from the Bane build-a-figure series and the Bank Robber Joker, though it's blue with highlights. He kind of looks like Jack Torrance at the end of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, doesn't he? All frozen. Maybe Mr. Freeze got to him.





* The paint effect, while simple, definitely is far more impressive than just a translucent blue figure. Translucent figures are a popular go-to variant (and have their own niche fanbase), and I think this guy does look far better than I expected. 


* We've seen this body previously and the Joker's articulation is excellent. He's not a metahuman or anything but the Joker can move with the best of them. He's got a great range of motion and all of his joints work pretty well. Well, I did have one problem, but I'll get to that in a moment. 




* Included are the standard collectible card and the standard disc stand. They're nice extras and I'm always glad to have them with every release. 

The Negatives:


* The Joker's arm fell off at the right bicep while I was posing him. It actually goes back on and stays on pretty well, but something that was holding it on clearly snapped. I'm not exactly sure what it was but this is the first time I've had something like this happen on a McFarlane Toys figure in recent memory.

* Obviously when you have a see-through figure you're going to see some internal joints and places where the plastic is colored slightly differently. The Joker's knees really stand out, though. Maybe a bit of white highlights down the front of the legs would have distracted from the solid blue knee joints?

   The reason I ended up with this figure was because it was cheaper to buy the set of three SDCC exclusive figures from McFarlane Toy Shop (they were only sold as a set online) than it was to buy the Bank Robber Joker and Bane with his trench coat on the aftermarket. This guy is definitely a very Eh figure. If he'd just been a regular store exclusive sold at the usual $20 or so retail price point he probably would have been pretty novel. As a con-exclusive with a $8-$10 dollar price hike, though, he's just not worth it. He's really bizarre. At least his arm is staying on OK now, so that's a plus. If you want a Joker to stand next to Obi-Wan and Yoda, this is the one for you.



Looking for more reviews of the Joker? Then check out The Joker's Funhouse for more Joker reviews!

For more DC Multiverse reviews check out the following:
Harley Quinn (The Suicide Squad)
Impulse (Flash War)
The Joker- Bank Robber (The Dark Knight)
The Joker (The Dark Knight Rises) Jokerized
The Joker (Infinite Frontier)
Justice Buster (Batman: Endgame)
Kalibak (The Darkseid War)
Man-Bat (DC Rebirth)
Mister Freeze (Victor Fries)
Nekron (Blackest Night)
Nightwing (Titans)
Project Superman (Flashpoint)
Raven (Titans)
The Riddler (Arkham City)
Scarecrow (The Dark Knight Trilogy)
The Signal Duke Thomas
Superman (Black Adam) Black & White Accent Edition
Superman (Superman: Lois and Clark)
Superman Vs. Doomsday
Two-Face (The Dark Knight Trilogy)
Two-Face as Batman (Batman: Reborn)









 

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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 21, 2023 at 8:58 AM

    the ghost of heath ledger. :O

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Barbecue17November 2, 2023 at 10:30 AM

      Yeah, that's definitely the weirdest thing about this figure. It does look like a Joker ghost unless you remember the specific scene from the film and how it looked.

      Delete
  2. KooshmeisterNovember 19, 2023 at 10:13 PM

    This isn't "Sonar Version" Joker, it's a what-if depiction of Heath Ledger as Jack Frost in that one Santa Clause movie.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Barbecue17November 27, 2023 at 4:25 PM

      Have him team up with the upcoming Batman and Robin Mr. Freeze.

      Delete

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