Wave 21 (All-Star) Batman

aka the New 52 Batman

First and foremost, I apologize.  I would like to tell you that I have an older SLR camera and that is because of the poor photos.  The fact is, I have a lot to learn about taking photos, posing figures, and patience.  Hopefully as this blog rolls on, the skills will improve.

First off, as a retail figure, this is my current favorite retail made figure.  I know a lot of fan boys will trash this figure or mention that there are a lot better figures out there, and they are probably right.  This is MY favorite because it has a majority of what I look for in a figure.  I like my figures in the six inch scale, a great blend of excellent sculpt and great articulation.  Lastly, it has to be comic accurate (or as close as possible), something that is very hard for toy makers to pull off.  It also helps that Batman is my all time favorite character.

My buddy Shane and I have had conversations way too long about how I feel that comic characters should be drawn and Shane feels that artist should be allowed to be creative.  The best part of the New 52 is DC artists are expected to maintain a certain level of consistency with the look of the character.  The Four Horsemen hit this sculpt out of the park.  While I feel that Jim Lee draws Batman the best, he is not drawing him all the time and I love owning figures that are a great blend of multiple artists and this is what makes this one great.

Pros of the figure:

Obviously I already raved about the sculpt that is well deserved.  Pretty much all the parts are new to the DCUC line.  I believe only the shoulder and bicep parts are previously used.  I am a big fan of the New 52 costumes, especially Batman's (you really start hating the outside underwear after you have to put them on as a costume).  The etching in the costume looks great on the top of the figure.  Both Batman and the Superman figure share the same lower torso but it works better for Batman here.  The raised bat symbol looks great and is a nice blend of Lee and Capullo (another one of my favorite artists) and is perfectly sized for my liking.  The head sculpt is a nice blend of various artists and I love the stern look on Batman's face.  I always hate the teeth bearing faces on figures because it looks like they are holding in their bowels.

The cape here is the best cape I have seen on a Batman figure by Mattel and that includes the capes from DC Superheroes line.  Instead of the neck of the cowl being part of the figure and being painted, the cape starts at the neck and is one piece.  On top of that the shading in the cape is great as well.  Subtle shading that is not overdone to the point that it looks fake.  Below is a heavily flashed picture to give you a better idea of the shading on the cape.

The articulation is great as well but is really not a highlight on the figure since it is pretty standard across the DCUC line.

Cons of the figure:

Even though this is my favorite retail figure, there are some flaws.  As I mentioned before, I want the most comic accurate representation of Batman.  One of the new costume details is knee pads that look like bats.  If you told be this was an added detail two years ago, I would have laughed and said that it was stupid.  For some one known reason, I love it and it looks great.  Unfortunately, this detail is missing from the figure.  They have something there on the bottom portion of the leg as far as etching, but there is no top half of the pad and there is nothing that represents the bat look of the pads.

The famous utility belt is not bad but it is not great.  Pretty much every artist is drawing the pouches with no spaces in between, but this one has spaces.  The new look also gives me the impression that the pouches are more metal than cloth and the sculpt gives me the impression that pouches are a cloth type material.  I also like the Jim Lee look of the slight dip of the buckle but this belt is straight across.  Not a deal breaker but it doesn't help.

The other complaint is that of the retail curse, paint and coloring.  I was extremely lucky with this figure by the fact that the paint on it is very solid with only minor slop.  There is a part his exposed face that paint is missing from, but I will just boil and pop a head off of one of the figures I used to make a custom on.  The only other fact is I am not a big fan of the gray color of the suit and the lack of shading.  The gray is a lot darker than how most colorist are portraying Batman in the comic and, while it is not a deal breaker for me, it looks nothing like what I was promised in the preview pictures (below).  To top it off, they used the preview picture on the back of the packaging to show you how great this figure could have been.  From what I can tell, there is no shading on the gray portion as well and that makes me sad after seeing the preview pics.  Finally, most artist draw the belt all one color but the buckle and pouch snaps on the figure have a bronze paint app.  I realize they are trying to break up the color and not have a monotone color but I would have liked to have seen all gold with some shading. 

My last small gripe is in the form of the sculpt.  While the hands are new (added detail on the back of the gloves), I have always hated the partly open fists of the DCUC figures.  It takes away from a pose as no person punches with their hand half open.  I know some people like to have Batman holding a gadget or something but I am not one of those people.  The other sculpt issue is the thigh piece is shorter compared to other DCUC lines in the past.  This means Bats stands a cm or two shorter than most figures in the line.

The last complaint is the cape is too short for my liking.  I like the bat capes to at least be touching the ground or as close as possible.  I don't look at the figure in disgust, I just like longer capes.

It should also be noted that some reviewers have commented that their Batman has a bobble head effect going on with a loose neck joint, my figure did not suffer from this.

Final Rating:  Must get!

If you are a Batman fan and you collect DCUC then this is great addition to your collection.  The only real deal breaker that I see for certain people is if they are not fans of the updated New 52 costumes.  For me, the new design is a breath of fresh air and the Four Horsemen did a great job of putting the new design in 3D form.