Slightly over a decade ago, the Arkhamverse concluded with the somewhat bitter sweet yet still Knight entry, with the trilogy consisting of Asylum and City wrapped up with the Origins prequel released in 2013. While I'm sure there are fans in the DC fandom pretending to have authority over the lore and complain for contributing to the "edgy" side of DC, on top of there being the once funny yet now unfunny r/batmanarkham subreddit being just like any other shitty subreddit, nothing will change what makes the games worth revisiting thanks to their glorious atmosphere, the worthwhile fan service thanks to legendary voice actors Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, and the increasingly versatile combat all thanks to the upgrade system and subsequent titles fixing any issues we had in the past. While Batman was someone who would later go from more traditional spandex style costumes to later having an armored outfit in a vein like the Nolanverse (only more advanced), Deathstroke comes in the form of his Arkham Origins appearance. He did return in Arkham Knight, and we haven't seen much of him since then because we never got a new game where there is the Suicide Squad as playable characters, nosireebob. However, it's funny how people hate that Deathstroke and Batman became rivals yet say nothing about Kingpin being shared between Spider-Man and Daredevil. Anyways, let's review these two reissues!
Here we have Batman in-hand. Using the most advanced version of itself with hardened Kevlar plates over titanium-dipped tri-weave fibers like the second Nolan suit, it goes a step further with technology meant to heal wounds or stop bleeding from bullet or knife impact should anything try to go past the armor while also including a holographic screen for Batman to use with Oracle. While some would probably want their Batmen to be in traditional spandex, the context behind the Arkhamverse does make me like seeing more complex suits like this, especially with how satisfying the details get when you look closely. McFarlane translated the suit pretty well, though the dark grey should be slightly metallic to go with the black and the gold. While the gold belt looks blinging sweet, it should be either better detailed or weathered since he shouldn't be "prestige" yet. The proportions and the sculptwork are spot on to the CG model made by Rocksteady, though I know some will be split on the cape. On one hand, I would love to see a wired cloth goods cape on this figure since it goes well with all of the combat poses you could recreate from the game, on top of when he's gliding over Gotham. On the other hand, at least the sculpt of the cape looks good and is consistent with the original release if anyone wants it to be unchanged. Plus, who knows if this would come without a wire like some figures have of late (cough JLA Batman, cough Brandon Routh).
Head sculpt is done very well as one would expect for a video game take on Batman, and while my copy may have a slight side eye (doesn't seem to be a common thing), at least the paint apps are applied properly, and the ears haven't been victims of severe warpage. Articulation is standard for the line, and as for the accessories he includes, two of them are Batarange. One is a little thicker than the other yet neither is blunt like some other versions.
As for the other accessories, he comes with a Remote Electric Charge gun as well as a glue grenade, which I believe was used only in the Origins era of the Arkhamverse. A lot of these weapons use mostly weathering, but the grenade is decently painted for being the smallest accessory this Batman comes with.
He also includes an explosive gel dispenser, a folded up Batarange, and the Batclaw, which works like the usual grapnel gun but is moreso for combat.
Given he is one of DC's Golden Boys, we have the Prestige version with more gold paint used for the accessories he came with at the time (Batarange, REC, and gel dispenser). A Platinum release makes him almost entirely solid gold minus the Bat emblem on his chest. Imagine if it was dipped in gold chrome instead...
As for Deathstroke, we go back to the Origins days where his debut in the Arkhamverse brought many fans attention and tons of mesmerized eyes from all the reveal trailers and the battles between Slade and Bruce. Given Wilson's role as a mercenary, it only makes sense we would get a tactical armored take on the classic design, between the harnesses, bullet racks, holsters, and pads meant to keep him protected from almost anything yet make him agile and robust during combat. I also like that we got a long bandana-like ponytail coming out of his helmet, though be warned that your copy's sheaths may be as warped as the sword! While the costume is less flashy than the classic look, the use of a sand blue with silver and metallic orange at least works for a design like this, and it was cool to see a similar look for the live action debut of this character in the Justice League movie (with more footage in the Snyder Cut).
Head sculpt is perfect! Between the eye sneering back at you and the seamless half-blue/half-orange transition, it's my favorite mask worn on any version of this character. While articulation is the same in terms of range and points, I should warn that at least on my copy, the knees don't double-bend as well as they should. The lower points work fine but the ones closer to the thighs barely want to budge. Not sure if it's my luck or if it's a universal problem. May be as common as needing to straighten his sword. Some parts of his armor may hinder the articulation, so be mindful of that and watch out of any weak glue. It's something I want to look out for after seeing what happened to my Rebirth Zod.
His other accessories new to this release are a quartet of guns cast in solid black plastic, though they each have their own specific look based on what model they're based on. Makes me wonder why the smaller, standard pistols sculpted in the holsters couldn't be removed so we can use some new tooling.
Finally, he has a rocket launcher and a better painted gun with a possible silencer should be want to snipe anyone from a distance. King of looks like G1 Megatron without the scope and stock. Much like Batman, he has a solid gold repaint with a bit of black for the helmet's right side.
For a Batman comparison from two different iterations of the lore, here we have AK Bats and AO Deathstroke with the Tactical Suit version of Batfleck. Why is he included, you may ask? Because one thing those from the Snyderverse side of the DC fandom want is a Batfleck movie featuring Joe Manganiello's Deathstroke as one of the antagonists. Given we have to go a decade back to the leaked footage of Deathstroke walking out of the Flying Fox, this long-promised yet never fully realized idea is something several fans have been starving for even to this day. Idk if Paramount will do anything about the Snyderverse or do their own thing after Gunn's contract ends, but this version of Deathstroke fits in pretty well with your Snyderverse display if you always wanted it an enemy for Batfleck to fight instead of Jared Leto Joker. Regardless, if you never got these figures back in 2020, then I recommend you pick them up now that they have some new accessories. Are they perfect? Batman could use a wired cloth goods car to accentuate his posing potential, and Deathstroke could have had the limited articulation remedied with some retooling here and there, but I'm happy to own versions of these two based on the Arkhamverse. Makes me want to get the other characters based on the series; at least they do the game-based line up of action figures better than what Hasbro generally did with Marvel, Star Wars, Transformers.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Batman)
⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Deathstroke)
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