Here we have Batman in-hand. As mentioned before, this is how he appeared in No Man's Land, though it should be worth mentioning that the trunks were ditched during this story arc. Personally, I think this kind of costume specifically looks better without them compared to modern suits like New 52 or Rebirth. As a reuse of the Knightfall buck, this retains the more classic proportions associated with Batman, however, we have the smoother torso that allows for different logos to be stamped instead of depending on replacing the sculpted piece molded separately from the torso. We saw this before with Dick Grayson as Batman as well as Silver Age, Night People, and Task Force pixel sweater versions of the buck, and this time, we have a version of Batman that looks fairly normal with a cloth goods cape...more on the latter aspect in a bit. Apart from that, the trunks are new with an era-specific belt.
His head sculpt is also new for this version, and I think it looks even better than the regular Knightfall head with the navy blue, narrower eyes, and ear length making him appear more grim in appearance than the first version of the Knightfall head. Maybe it would look even better with the SDCC shading. The articulation and accessories are the same, which is annoying since the more splayed open hands that came with the Silver Age version, the scowling head that came with Knightmare 2-Pack & Task Force, and a grapnel gun would have helped him feel more worthwhile as yet another reuse.
The worst thing about NML Batman is the fact that it does NOT include a bendy wire within the cape, making it feel flaccid and lifeless. It also doesn't help that the shiny materials used for Batman capes doesn't look that great without bendy wires to make them more presentable in a vanilla pose. To make things go from worse to inexcusable is that the reveals said the capes would be wired, but all samplings lack the integral component, and McFarlane said nothing. That being said, many customizers found that while you SHOULDN'T have to restore a feature that a toy manufacturer removed after claiming it's included, adding a bendy wire is much easier than you'd think. And this review shall go over how one disassembles their figure while installing a bendy wire in the cape. I'm sure everyone has their own preferences, and sizes may vary, but I used the UTILE Armature Aluminum Wire 100 ft 18 Gauge 1.2 mm Anodized Craft Bendable Wire for this project. It's cheaper than I expected, but for an item used for arts and crafts, the value is easy to justify.
Firstly, you'll need to pop the arms and rotator cuffs off the torso, and then afterwards have everything from the abs down removed. Use a beat gun or hair dryer at a high setting and use it around the neck of the toy. This allows the plastic to become more flexible, and that will be important for the neck piece as you try prying it off the torso. If it keeps resisting, keep blowing it with the hair dryer until it starts to peel off much more easily. If you hear a snap, don't panic. That's the glue being pried off instead of the tabs used to hold the neck in place breaking. If the cape is glued at the base of the neck, carefully peel it away so you won't risk any tears if you plan to use the same cape.
From here, guide the bendy wire through the edges of the cape via the holes at the tips on either side until you have them even in length for both sides. Be sure to carefully snip any excess wiring after doing so as well. From there, add the cape back on the torso, add super glue on either the tabs or the inside of the neck piece, attach everything, and let it dry until the rest of the figure is ready to be reassembled.
And voila! Your No Man's Land Batman has a bendy wire cape! Admittedly, the millimeter size of the wiring I used is a little thicker than the usual materials used by McFarlane Toys, which may explain why the neck piece isn't as flat as it should be on the upper body. It's not too distracting, but do keep in mind that you may want to experiment with other bendy wire sizes if you have either custom fodder or your own stash of bendy wire pieces to work with. You can do the same with the solid black Platinum variant of the figure, which is our third stab at a solid black Batman that looks vaguely like the Michael Keaton iteration! Though while the neck piece being blue on Batman helps separate it from the grey of his costume, I will need to look into how this wire should work with New 52 Superman if I get around to fixing him.
As for a size comparison, here we have him before his cape was modified along side fellow blue and grey Knightfall buck users in the form of Silver Age and the original version with a plastic cape and a molded logo. The darker blue and grey, combined with the shape of the logo we have, visually make this my favorite version in the mold history, especially compared to the. Righter blues and greys of Silver Age and the more off shades for both colors used on the original that make him look more yellow in tint. Best of all, he doesn't have his cape dragged on the floor, though Silver Age always has a bendy wire in his cape while OG came with a molded version.
For an idea of how Batman would change his costumes during my version of DC events, I imagine NML being the costume he wears in the first few years of his career while Cowardly Lot represents him in a new costume alongside Nightwing, Tim Drake Robin, and Barbara Gordon Batgirl before he helped form the Justice League. It's like how the events turned out in the DCAU! That being said, my love for the color scheme and new head along with how it would fit in my fan fiction still doesn't excuse how cheap this figure turned out. Budget cuts and price increases are already a common problem with toy manufacturers, but to give us the bare minimum on a figure that should have had at least more accessories AND a bendy wire in his cape after this serves as another reuse of the Knightfall buck is outright criminal. Unless you're either willing to add the wire, a fan of these colors on this buck, or are a completionist for the line as a whole, skip it and stick with Cowardly Lot (though I doubt you'd buy even that figure if you're still part of the usual anti-McFarlane NPCs rooting for the bigger conglomerate known as Mattel to take over the license soon).
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As for Batgirl, it should be worth mentioning that she clearly lacks the cowl that would denote her as a normal Batgirl. She was the daughter of the Cluemaster, a villain who would later get his plans spoiled by her as she takes the identity of Spoiler. Real name Stephanie Brown, she would later date Tim Drake when he was Robin despite not knowing his secret identity, become Robin, and later have a play in becoming Batgirl during Batman Reborn while Barbara remained paralyzed. This all changed when the New 52 rolled around and she returned to being Spoiler as part of a Batgirl team. While many would probably want her in a proper Batgirl costume, my guess is that Todd and company wanted to distinguish her from the other Batgirl figures we had in the past, especially with how most of them are masked and are usually black, blue, and/or grey. The purple is a nice treat, but I do wish that the details on the sides of her torso and the thighs are raised in relief, especially with how much of this figure already reuses parts from. Cassandra Cain Batgirl. Sure, the forearms, boots, and head are new, but a few steps further would make what is currently a decent figure even better. The belt belongs to Art of the Crime Batgirl, but the pouches match the ones on Stephanie loosely.
Her head sculpt, however, has a whole lot more effort put into it, from the etched detailing on her hair to a wash accentuating it, and the face cover adding to her rough and rumble life as part of the Bat Family. And unlike with Green Arrow, her good is not only a separate cloth piece but it can fold away AND is wired much like her cape. So maybe that's where all the wires intended for NML Batman went. Even the ponytail is a separate point of articulation! Otherwise, her range and points are about the same as with her wavemate and pretty much every other McFarlane DC Multiverse figure with a few exceptions. Her grapnel gun and Batarang are reused from the same AOTC Batgirl, though the latter is oversized and the former has a thick wire that looks out of place on a little thing like that. It's as ridiculous as the one that came with Detective Comics 1000 Batman, aka one of the worst and dated figures McFarlane made.
For a female BatFamily member comparison, here we have her along with Huntress, also from New 52. Honestly, having these two along with Cassandra Cain Batgirl and Barbara Gordon if she isn't Oracle makes this version of Stephanie Brown feel more logical as the go-to approach for McFarlane. Sure, a proper version of her as Batgirl would make people happier, and the figure could use a few more raises surface areas and better accessories, but I see this as the best figure of the wave that I bought. I can't comment on Monarch but he may be better. Shame the current wave sucks when it comes to accessories and delivering what was supposed to be included. We'll see how Nightwing turns out, that's for sure.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
No comments:
Post a Comment