McFarlane DC Multiverse Theatrical Joker and Bane (TDK Trilogy) review

The Dark Knight Trilogy is probably the most consistent quality DC film media we have gotten from start to finish. I don't make the rules. Anyone who claims it's overrated or thinks Rises sucked should tell me how much better the latter two halves of the old Superman and Batman quadrilogies were, or any of the post-Josstice DCEU movies, or Folie a Deux. The logic Joker follows of becoming a piece of anarchy with no true goal beyond wanting to watch the world burn makes him a real threat, while Bane's motive of going against Batman with Talia's help brings us full circle with the death of Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Begins. With the Nolan trilogy remaining a milestone far larger than any Batman film series, what better time than to celebrate its 21st birthday with the McFarlane Theatrical Deluxes for Joker and Bane in today's review?

Here we have The Joker in-hand, being a reuse of the 2023 version we got as part of the Bane BAF wave. While the figure may seem identical at first glance, the figure comes with paint for the inner coat, making it orange instead of leaving it purple like the rest of the suit. While the colors of these figures are generally accurate, I will admit that they may be a bit more saturated than they normally are depicted in the film. It could be partly blamed for the lighting in my camera, but at the same time, the clothes Joker wore are far from flashy. Still, the general proportions Heath Ledger had during filming are accurate, and I appreciate that the jacket isn't too too wooshy so it would look fairly natural without being in a closed in sculpt that inhibits leg articulation. I'm sure Todd could have done he figure with a removable jacket with alternate sleeves, though, especially with how easy it is to remove the arms of any McFarlane figure.

The headsculpt is mostly fine for the greasy makeup used on the hair and face, but the eyes as well as the mouth do look a bit more opaque than they normally would be. They just look a little more amateur with how thicc they come across when they should be a bit faded from being on there for so long. With a gun in one hand (that should have he clip shifted in place) and a knife in the other (one of the alternate hands with a good grip meant for it), you should probably know by now that the articulation is the same as all the other ones.

Other accessories we have for the Joker include an uzi (or an equivalent to it) as well as an alternate left hand with his signature card sculpted on it. Thankfully, it is painted unlike the Digital Silver Age Joker. He also has a left fist and a rocket launcher, which I wanted to mention because it and most of the weapons are a little too flexible for comfort. I know a lot of people are in the right to complain about how flexible Hasbro's Marvel Legends are of late, and while the joints on the McFarlane figures are thankfully not gummy, I have complained about how the same can't be said for the accessories. The rocket launcher is the worst offender since I swore it looked bent in the reveal photo like one of Maximum Deadpool's guns. Beyond that, the accessory count is much higher than what we had with the original version, who came with a stack of dollar bills (that I wish we got with this version), but the accessory count keeps going with not just the usual bad we've seen before, but a special display base for the trading card as well as a mini poster. These are new for the Theatrical figures yet should have been included in the first place. Who knows if any subsequent ones will be made, but the print work on the black stand with "THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY" with the symbol in the middle could be a bit crisper.

We also have an alternate side for the mini poster, one with the iconic "why so serious" phrase associated with this Joker. Oh and he also has a left fist and an splayed open right hand. All of this is generally good bang for your buck, yet we should have gotten this treatment for the Batman Returns characters (idk if the same happened with the shitty 2025 Superman movie characters because fuck that movie).

No doubt thanks to the character's popularity from the movie, we got plenty of different releases under McFarlane Toys. We have the traditional outfit he usually wears in the movie as part of the 2023 Bane BAF wave, where the alternate hands and head of the character were included along with a stack of money as mentioned earlier. The figure also infamously came with no weapons, not even a knife! The figure also had a redundant Jokerized repaint that feels closer to what Mattel used to do with their Dark Knight toyline back in 2008, only without a cartoony head to not scare kids back then.

We also have a Sonar version based on the brief moment where Batman's eyes were solid white to look for the Joker without being detected. It's one of those things you are most commonly getting from the Black Series Hologram figures, but without the base to light him up. He has even less included with him, it's almost throwaway. The same can't be said for the bank robbery version, who comes with an alternate masked head. Would be nice if he had a gun or a suitcase full of money, though.

And if that wasn't enough, we have an interrogation version without his jacket and using the sleeves most figures would later use, such as BvS Alfred. He came with plenty of alternate hands, a set of handcuffs, a phone, a table, and a pair of chairs. Would have been nice if he was included with a Batman, but at least the head is slightly altered for the damage he got when Batman confronted him.

As for Bane, we now have this as a standalone release rather than as a build-a-figure, which I will always appreciate given he doesn't really feel as fulfilling when it comes to that mark as the average BAF, be it Hasbro or McFarlane. This sculpt is getting very good, even if some may have complained that the proportions may not be 100% accurate to what Tom Hardy's physique was like while filming The Dark Knight Rises. I'd say it does a generally better job at fulfilling a real world body builder shape than what Hasbro does with their MCU figures, but that's a low bar with how they turned out (mostly Wolverine and Tobey Spidey), but at least it better captures how the actor looked in the movie compared to Batfleck's BvS figure. Still, while the paintwork is a little held back from fully recreating how he looked in the film, I still appreciate that we have slightly enhanced wash to accentuate the military gear he wore to loosely nod the outfit he usually wore in the comics. I know Bane has been complained about for not being a hulking monster compared to Batman, and Tom Hardy is a bit shorter than Christian Bale, but the design at least fits the realistic vision Nolan was going for, and hey, the performance of the character beats the average DC movie villain we got since 2019, and I'd rather have a Bane who looks very little like the comics yet acts like him than have a Lex Luthor who looks sort of like him but is always shouting 1A like a little bitch.

The head sculpt has a slightly enhanced paint job that doesn't look as sloppy as the original version, nor is it too saturated and as a result looks more worn and weathered. As for the actor likeness, it is pretty close to Hardy back when he was bald and mostly expressed himself with his eyes. I always like how the tubes around the mouth area vaguely resemble teeth or the white spot on the comic versions, makes for a cool nod while adhering to the Nolanverse aesthetics. While articulation is the same as usual, not only is the rubber military vest hiding his torso articulation yet still providing enough range, but the figure's wrist joints have not been misassembled wrong where the go in the opposite holes.

Much like Joker, he comes with his own collector card stand as well as a mini poster, but most of his accessories go to the hand department. While I am happy to have the figure, I don't think I got my money's worth with the accessory count here as much as I did with the Joker. Hell, Christopher Reeve Superman had a few more hands, a bendy wire cape, and an alternate hand, all for $5 less than the Theatrical Deluxe version (ironic because that would later be a thing for him).maybe an alternate torso piece so you can display him shirtless would have helped? After all, we got a similar thing to switch the capes on both Year Two and Night People versions of Batman, so what's stopping McFarlane from giving us a bare torso meant for a shirtless Bane?

That alternate side is making Bane himself wonder why he couldn't come with a broken Batman cowl, because in addition to the fists and splayed open, gesturing hands, he has trigger finger hands with nothing to hold, so he can only scratch his head in confusion. 

While not as frequent as the previous movie's villain, Bane had had a couple of previous releases prior to this: the aforementioned BAF with slightly worse paint apps and the misassembled wrist joints. Because the whole wave was Jokerized, the same happened to Bane's parts, making hi look like a G1 Constructicon. We also had an SDCC version with a leather jacket, complete with white fur underneath. I don't care if putting it with the set devalues the con exclusive; we should have had that included with the Theatrical set.

Here they are alongside the titular superhero himself, who is in his Begins costume instead of the suit he wore later in the trilogy. I should hunt down a version with a wired cape. Anyways, I am pretty happy to own fully poseable versions of the Nolan trilogy cast bit by bit, but while Joker was worth every penny in spite of his flaws, Bane could have had a bit more going on to justify the $35+ price tag. While yes, Joker's weapons could have been less flexible, at least he has a higher part count than what Bane has to offer. A broken cowl and a coat would have made him more complete. With these being easier to obtain than the previous releases, and Bane not being a BAF anymore, I recommend Joker wholeheartedly while Bane only for a discount.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Joker)

⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Bane)

Transformers Retro Wheelie review

G1 Wheelie is far from my favorite character, especially when I don't see him in a positive light from his design, voice, and personality. Sure, rhyming is his quirk, but Sky-Byte's haiku's are way better and far less annoying. I don't find much else to say about him when his TFWiki article gets old with the constant rhyming, though they apparently removed a joke that brings up him not rhyming in Japanese media. He hung out with Daniel in Headmasters, bit Prime's ankle in Dreamwave, did stuff in IDW, perved on a stupid anime chick in Japanese continuity, and somehow made it to the Energon Universe before a single Dinobot could. His one vintage storybook about him, the same one where his wiki article's main pic came from, is badass and easily the best media revolving around him. He's been increasingly getting merch as either an accessory for Grimlock or a Core Class figure, both in Studio Series 86, and now we have a Deluxe figure (the first since his GDO retool of Reveal the Shield Jazz from over a decade ago). Let's see if this size bump makes him worth getting once more.

 

Here we have G1 Wheelie in his vehicle mode. It's a pretty goofy alt mode that resembles a baby carrot mixed with a shrub and a butt plug on wheels, but this was the 80s, and far more convincing Cybertronian altmodes hadn't existed yet. TFWiki says it may be inspired by the Fiat Abarth Record Car, but even that is a stretch. I guess the two tone orange is a good color combo, but the gray on the tires and cockpit make it look less appealing as a whole. And yes, the slingshot can be used as a secret cannon.

While I don't really care for an altmode like this, the design is at least accurate but I will question the approach towards the color break up on the cockpit section. Shouldn't there be orange painted in the bottom portion where the canopy is? The thing is orange plastic painted gray so maybe that can be rectified if you don't care about being THAT slavish to the old toy.

For a vehicle mode size comparison, here he is next to the SS86 counterpart. For anyone wondering, the colors don't match because one is meant to be closer to the old toy and the other is directly based on the old cartoon. Personally, I like the altmode shape on the Deluxe, even if it still looks like a butt plug, yet it is at least less like one than the Core Class version.

Transformation is a bit more involved than I expected, all to make him more cartoon accurate with this design given this will eventually be a Sunbow release in the near future just watch. The transformation is about as similar to the Titans Return and SS86 versions, so at least it's consistent between the most recent versions of the character. I also like that we have some panels to help keep this figure secure, though they could stay in place better. The robot mode is far from the dopey, stupid toy design, which makes sense given this screams "pretool" for the cartoon version; much like with Seaspray, this is almost a genius move for Hasbro because putting the toy-inspired version in the Retro line before getting the cartoon version is a smart move given how most people likely skipped Brawn and Gears (as well as possibly Bumblebee given we have too many G1 options back to back + no toy accurate face), so this should help get people into the mold, and if they like it enough, then the inevitable cartoon version will be made. While the bot mode feels like a more refined version of the SS86 Core Class, you at least have the back of the altmode placed in a more natural place for a Transformer rather than some weird upside down crap catcher.

Head sculpt is meant to be a far more refined version of his stupid face-in-a-mascot-costume me do, though we have a condensed version of the canopy that covers his oompa loompa face. Seriously, I will appreciate it when Hasbro does some proper color break up with the Sunbow head. With a slingshot in his hand, his articulation consists of a ball jointed neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, hinged elbows, wrist rotation, waist rotation, universal hips, thigh rotation, hinged knees, and slight ankle rockers.

For a robot mode size comparison, here he is with the Core Class version we got 2 years back. With how little I view in the character already, that size class works fine for me; in fact, the scale between Grimlock and his own figurine of the guy confirms that the Core works best for when he's in your Season 3 display. Maybe the Deluxe could work better as sort of an older Wheelie like when he and Daniel Witwicky sacrificed themselves to blow up a ton of Nightbird drones? Could be a good idea. So to wrap up this review, he's alright for what you get, and while I wish we got the cartoon version first, maybe doing this pretool is the point of extending the wait. However, Hasbro should also do two repaints like the digibashes we got here, with eHobby style Dion cing with his orange Hot Shot counterpart while Shadowstriker comes in a 2-pack with an unmasked ROTF Bumblebee in reference to the 2-pack they made years ago (which also predated their brief Cyberverse rivalry).

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers X Godzilla Kaiju Rangers Wave 1 review

For a whole year, I never bothered with any of the MMPR Reignition toys as someone who was already tired of buying stuff based on Season 1. More power to those who got them, but I already have versions of the team, the villains, and the Zords I wanted. Plus, the super generic voice clips of half of the toys not sounding like any of the actors was a double pass. Then came the leaks for the Godzilla crossover figures, and those got my interest immediately. It took a good while for them to come out, but I was happy to finally get my hands on the first wave. The Power Rangers comic books have been a good read in general, and the same goes for their crossovers with Goji himself; hell, I wish more people would give them a shot instead of just either only reading Absolute DC and Skybound Transformers or claim PR is a dead brand while whining Sentai will come back ASAP (which is likely a side effect from the toku community losing braincells from watching recent Toku slop). Plus, seeing the Kaiju monsters lend their powers to the MMPR team as they take on both Rita AND Astronema surprised me even more than the usual fights people put both IPs in. So let's take a look at the first wave of Kaiju Rangers and see how well they turned out!

Here we have the Green Godzilla Kaiju Ranger in-hand. If you're familiar with the history of mainline Power Rangers figures, then these should be a bit closer to the proportions of a 5 inch Action Hero like what we got from Super Megaforce through Super Ninja Steel rather than the ones we got from Beast Morphers and Dino Fury. I say that because they have a slight bit of muscle to them, somewhere between the builds of both figures we had before Playmates. Thankfully, the chainmail representing the scales of the Kaiju, as well as the spikes in the back, forearms, and boots, add to an overall armored look that I would like to see more of in Power Rangers. Not sure what the suits would be made of, but I bet that if we got these in live action, then I hope they are made of a slightly denser material than the usual spandex we get to better convey the "scaly" influence of Godzilla and co. And at least for the Green Ranger he has his signature dragon shield but redesigned to go with the Kaiju aesthetic.

As for the Blue Anguirus Kaiju Ranger, whose shade of blue is much lighter than on the normal MMPR Blue suit, but with this being a whole different aesthetic for the most part it gets a pass. One interesting thing about this suit is the two tone blue combo to distinguish the stomach, biceps, and thighs from the pectoral armor, belt, helmet, and knee pads. The thing that will stand out the lost for this figure is the spikey shoulder pads and backpack, which makes sense for both Anguirus as well as correlating this loosely with the Triceratops associated with the Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger. The coolest aspect is that almost none of the figure is reused from the other characters except for the hands and maybe the thighs, at least for green and blue.

And finally, we have the Red Rodan Kaiju Ranger. Unique to this design is not just the pair of wings on his back but the more segmented armor design that is not borrowed from his fellow Rangers. The swept up shoulder pads combined with the tapered paneling and spikey claws already make him a favorite, even if Godzilla is a bigger name than Rodan.

The helmets are sculpted pretty well all around, arguably better than the regular MMPR Playmates figures. I love that we get new designs from the ground up even if we have that small hint of the classic design philosophy with the beast faces on top with the mouths being the visors (no sculpted lips though).

Articulation is consistent with all 3 of them: ball jointed necks and hips, swivels for the shoulders, wrists, and ankles, elbow rotation/hinge combos, and double jointed knees. While I know they had to preserve the sculpts, it really sucks they can't move their arms out like on the average Power Rangers figure we got since the beginning. Also while double jointed knees are great to have, the elbow joints they used are both questionable and remind me of some early Hasbro Marvel Legends we got in the late 2000s. Also, wrist swivels are fine, but those ankle should be ball jointed at least. 

I do like that they each come with a color matching Blade Blaster in regular gun and dagger modes as well as their unique weapons. Red comes with a stubby Power Sword, Blue comes with a Power Lance that would have been fine being stubby if the trip was weak, and Green has the Sword of Darkness. Maybe it was repurposed as the Sword of Brightness because Godzilla is not a bad guy.

The display bases are neat, and I like that they have a resemblance to what the team's Power Coins could look like. The names in the bottoms are to tell who is who, which helps for anyone not super familiar with any Kaiju last Goji.

Here they are with the Lightning Collection Remastered MMPR team, at least half of them already represented with the Kaiju upgrades. While they are 5.5 inches in height and therefore not in close scale with the 6 inch Lightning figures, you can fudge it a bit somewhat with the display stands if you wanted to add a "new" team with that collection. Overall, the Kaiju Rangers have some minor issues, mostly with the articulation and weapon sizes, but having them uniquely sculpted from one another, coming with a handful of accessories, and even being priced at $15 a pop makes them easier to recommend Ryan when Hasbro did those 30th anniversary basic 6 inch versions of the MMPR team. Sadly, much like how those were sold at Walmarts, the Kaiju Rangers are sold only at Targets. While Red and Blue were easy to get, Green was much harder to find (wonder why). If you can find them with ease, pick them up instead of the rinse and repeat Reignition Season 1 stuff.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐