Batman Arkham City Action Figures - Two-Face

The much anticipated follow up video game to Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, is about to hit stores in a few and it looks amazing!  People who are games and/or collectors may be interested in Mattel's new Arkham City action figures which are part of the new Batman Legacy toy line.  Lets see how the Arkham City action figures measure up to the DCUC standards we've come to know.  This review will be on Two-Face for the Batman/Two-Face Legacy Edition two pack. 

When these toys were revealed earlier this year, I was intrigued.  Its Batman after all and that's right up my ally.  Two-Face is a bit of a hit and miss but all in all not a bad action figure. 

This version of Two-Face reminds me of a cross between the Batman: Animated series as well as Two-Face from the Dark Knight.  He is supporting the black and white suit which has a lot of holes burn marks and looks very cool. 

The head sculpt looks great too with the burnt side, of course, stealing the show.  Close up you can see better detail. The paint job is also pretty good. The transition lines between the two black and white are quite defined with no real areas of sloppy painting to be seen. One minor complaint about the paint, the Harvey Dent side of his face and hands could use a bit of shading but this is a main stream, mass market toy so i guess i can't have it all.

As far as articulation goes, if you're use to Mattel's DC Universe Classics action figures, than you may be slightly disappointed here.  Two-Face has most, but not all of joints we normally see.  Missing in action are the ball shoulder joints, abdominal joint and the ankle joints.  Out of the box, most joints were in fine working condition.  One hip joint was a little looser than usual but all others were functioning properly.

As you can see above, Two-Face is holding on to his trademark coin which is part of the action figure's mold and is not removable.  If you look closely you can make out detail on the top part of the coin, however the bottom side is faceless. 

Comparing Arkham City Two-Face to Mattels' DC Super Heroes Two Face (left) and DC Universe Classics Two-Face (right), you can see that Arkham City Two-Face is slightly bigger and also thicker than
the DCUC figures.  This may be a turn off for some people who are particular about scale and mixing in your DCUCs with your AC action figures. 

As you can see comparing a DCUC Batman to Arkham City Two-Face, two face is slightly bigger than the Dark Knight. 

Overall, The Arkham City action figures are really cool looking and on their own they stand up really well.  If you're going to compare them to Mattel's DC Universe Classics, then \articulation and scale are going to be slight concerns.  At the end of the day though, you have some really nice looking toys that are worth collecting if you are a DC Comics or Batman fan. 

To find Batman Arkham City action figures on eBay, click here

That's it for this review.  Be sure to check out our sponsors to help keep Action Toy Review alive and also be sure to check back for more info, news, previews and reviews.

DC Universe Classics - Batman Legacy (SDCC 2011)

Originally the Batman Legacy toy line was announced by Mattel back in March at the 2011 Toy Fair.  It is a 'new' toy line that will celebrate the Dark Knight's rich history.  You will see a variety of different versions of Batman characters from movies, video games as well as from different eras.  These action figures will be released in the stores soon but you will actually be able to find some of them online on various websites as well as on eBay.

For the most part, SDCC 2011 did not reveal too much about the Batman Legacy toy line that we already didn't know.  So, lets take a look at what may be the more interesting figures fans will want to get their hands on.  

Above is the Batman / Two-Face two pack.  These action figures are based on the upcoming Batman: Arkham City video game, set to be released later this year.  Compared to the DC Universe Classics toy line, these action figures have a much darker and grittier look and ....i guess the best way to describe it is....they are a little more realistic than comic book looking...

Next we have images of Harley Quinn (above) and the Joker (below), also from the video game, Arkham City. I quite like this version of Harley compared to her comic book version.

For those of you interested in purchasing the Arkham City video game, if you purchase it from Toys R Us, you will also get the chance have your very own Arkham City Batman action in his 1970's outfit (below).  You will not be able to purchase this anywhere else but I'm sure people will try to sell them on eBay for twice the value. 

I'm really impressed with what i see so far with the Arkham City action figures.  HOPEFULLY, we will see more like Poison Ivy and Killer Croc! 

As mentioned, Mattel is also releasing the Movie Masters action figures, based on the Christopher Nolan films.  See my Toy Fair 2011 post for more info.   You can get a Gordon/Batman prototype (from Batman Begins) two pack or a Honor Guard Joker and Batman two-pack (from Dark Knight).  Personally, the Movie Masters are not my favorite and I will probably skip.  I might go for Gordon though if Mattel does not release a different version.

So for the remaining Batman Legacy action figures, are more to what the DC Universe Classics fans are accustom to.   First we have Golden Age Batman which is basically the same body and cape as Batman from DCUC Wave 1 with a new head sculpt.  Also the bat symbol on his chest is different as well as Batman is supporting black underwear instead of blue.  Apparently, this version will come with a "Batmite" accessory

Then we have Golden Age Joker.  Basically a mismatch of parts previously used and the head sculpt IS new compared to DCUC Wave 10 Joker.  Accessories appear to be similar however.

This is a repaint of the original Batgirl action figure from the DC Super Heroes toy line back in 2007-08.  It was re-released in a two pack with Azrael in 2008 i believe......Anyway, the only difference in the sculpt is Batgirl's belt.  In my opinion, this is definitely a chance for the better compared to the older version.

Next up is Catman.  A completely new character which we have not seen yet in the DC Universe Classics toy line.  Why Catman, i have no idea.  There are maybe 10-15 other characters from the Batman Universe I would love to see, and we get Catman....Ok, well at least its someone different.  Lets be positive.

This Mr. Freeze is a repaint of the same action figure that Mattel has re-released as a repaint probably 4 times before.  In my opinion, the best version is the 2007 NY comic con version.  I believe this new re-painted version is suppose to represent a silver age version of the character. 

And finally, we have a modern age version of Batman, which is essentially the body of the DC Super Heroes Batman from wave 8 (which is still, today, my favorite Batman action figure) and the head of the DC Universe Classics wave 15 Sinestro Corps Batman

An image has been released of the Robin actiono figure from Arkham City video game. Can't say I'm a big fan of this one.

That's covers basically the first two waves of the Batman Legacy action figures.  Since it appears that Mattel will not be releasing anymore Green Lantern waves in the near future, hopefully we'll see more waves of these Batman Legacy action figures in the near future.  And hopefully it will include some of the main characters that we've been missing in the first 20 DC Universe Classics waves thus far.  Since Batman is the backbone to the DC Universe, I think its reasonable to expect a few more waves before Mattel moves their focus on to something else (Superman perhaps??).