Monday, October 2, 2023

The ABCs of 31 Days of Toy Terror: B is for Batman (The Dark Knight Rises) Jokerized from DC Multiverse by McFarlane Toys


   "Criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot," so Batman's costume is designed to frighten them. Many people are afraid of clowns, so a Jokerized version of Batman ought to scare a good number of people! McFarlane Toys has really been going overtime with their Jokerized variants, and who can blame them? Batman and the Joker sell and they make for a way to reuse tooling again. Some of the Jokerized figures have been very cool while others have been kind of bland and completely skippable. Today I'm checking out the Target exclusive Jokerized Batman from The Dark Knight Rises. This is the same mold as the Christian Bale inspired Batman from the Dark Knight Trilogy released earlier this year, but this time he's been Jokerized with a new paintjob. Even stranger, though, is that he's part of a Build-a-Figure series with a Jokerized Bane. What? Yeah, that's kind of odd. This definitely isn't something from the film though when I first heard about it I thought it might be based on Brian Douglas, the Batman copycat vigilante the Joker kills in the film. Nope. Just a weird, creepy take on Batman. Let's check out this unsettling Batman figure after the break...





The Facts:

Height: 7 1/8ths inches

Articulation: Hinged toes, double swivel hinged ankles, double hinged knees, swivel/hinge hips, balljointed waist, balljointed mid torso, swivel/hinge shoulders w/ ballsockets, bicep swivels, double hinged elbows, double swivel/ hinge wrists, and a barbell jointed head.
 
Accessories: Collector card, display stand, grapnel gun, 2 batarangs, and the legs for the Jokerized Bane Build-a-Figure.
 
Non-Scalper Price: $25 dollars






Comparison:

* On the left is the Jokerized Batman from The Dark Knight Rises while on the right is the previously released Batman from The Dark Knight Trilogy, which I never got around to reviewing. Other than the paint and details on the card, these two figures are exactly the same. Well, this guy's biceps move, something that many of the DKT Batman figures couldn't do as the joints were glued in place.

The Positives:


* I will say that that this is a creepy figure. The sculpt on the Batsuit is excellent and having it molded in a lighter gray does make the detail stand out more. The black around the Bat symbol actually looks really cool, too. I'm surprised that green or purple wasn't used here, though, but I still like the look. The purple utility belt is pretty slick and the green paint haphazardly on the boots and gloves seems fitting for this rendition of the Joker. 



* As always, it's nice to see that the spikes on the gauntlets are straight and neat. Bale's Batman has two rows of them on his costume and the green paint makes them look incredibly wicked!




* The cape is just a simple plastic cape, no cloth, but it's well sculpted and hangs down sleekly, not interfering too much with Batman's articulation. 

* The articulation is good, and that's been a pretty consistent plus on this line. These are all sturdy, durable action figures and my guess is that a normal kid could play with these with little to no fear of breakage. For collectors, Batman looks great on display and takes some excellent poses. He has a nice range of motion in most spots, too.



* The grapple gun is included here, just like with the standard figure, though rather than gold it's a really bright yellow. I guess that makes it seem more Joker-like? It's a nice sculpt and since this is such a bizarre figure, I'm ok with the color. 


* The same goes for the batarangs, though these things are definitely oversized. An alternate hand holding them would have probably been better, though they do look fine with this exaggerated costume. 


* 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.



* Batman comes with the legs for a Jokerized Bane. Weird, huh? I mean, what a strange concept. Jokerized Bane? Especially using the Tom Hardy Bane. As of my writing this review, only the Jokerized Batman and Joker from this series have been revealed, so who knows how a presumably Jokerized Scarecrow and Two-Face will be released. 
* So... let's talk about the Jokerized Batman portrait. It's definitely very stylized. The eyes are really cool with a unique paint effect, and the long, bloody smile is great. 


The Negatives:

* The Christian Bale cowl is really different from many other Batman cowls, in a way that's hard to describe. It has less detail and shows less of the face, so this looks more like an art piece than a Jokerized Batman. I do wish there was a more significant contrast between the skin visible through the cowl and the cowl itself. 






* Darn those incorrectly colored toe hinge pegs! Darn them all!










   If you don't dig the Jokerized aesthetic, you probably just aren't going to like this figure much at all. The Jokerized releases revealed over the summer really seemed to piss off some collectors. I haven't wanted all of them but I kind of like this guy. He's really odd and fits in really well on my Joker shelf, adding some welcome variety. The colors are bold, the Batman sculpt here is just excellent, and he does come with a few nice extras, too. He's a Great figure and while he's not everyone's cup of tea (especially if you hate clowns and/ or you're a criminal ), he definitely has his own unique charm.



This guy kind of counts as both Batman and the Joker, doesn't he? For more of Batman check out The Dark Knight Gallery. For more of the Joker check out the Joker's Funhouse.

For more DC Multverse reviews check out the following:Harley Quinn (The Suicide Squad)
Impulse (Flash War)
The Joker (Infinite Frontier)
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 4, 2023 at 10:15 AM

    I honestly don't get the whole Jokerized thing, but I don't understand why it's something people would get pissed about, just don't buy it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Barbecue17October 6, 2023 at 11:25 AM

      It's been a plot point in comics and used on variant covers and such, so it has a precedent and it can look pretty interesting when done right. I think so many collectors have a mindset that they either have to buy everything or that a company releasing a figure they don't want takes the place of some character they desperately want.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousOctober 6, 2023 at 3:42 AM

    Nah this just seems a lame way to squeeze more money out of a mold that was never meant to be used for it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Barbecue17October 6, 2023 at 11:28 AM

      There probably isn't much else McFarlane can do with these 100% unique molds for the Dark Knight films, so stuff like this helps to justify the costs I guess. That being said, I like this one quite a bit. The colors stand out and it fits with some of the imagery of the film. The Jokerized versions of the villains, though, well, we'll have to wait and see.

      Delete

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