"I need a new suit"

In The Dark Knight movie, Bruce Wayne needed to upgrade his Batman suit for better protection & mobility. "$Cha-ching$!" With that, Toy companies with the TDK license could already hear the cash registers ringing. Hot Toys being one of those companies, released their 12" version of the new suit as part of their TDK line. Early reports & comments were that the HT TDK Bats looked slighty chubby, so it went through quite a few modifications prior to release. After getting mine, it looked perfectly ok to me. Due to the design of the TDK suit, it allows for better posing, especially the neck. It does come with a shorter cape (I'm guessing so that it'll look better when riding the Batpod) than the Begins' version. The cape is removable & tends to fall off easily, that's my only complaint with this figure. The Bruce Wayne head included also looks better than the one included with Begins, this is due to a less "orange peel" texturing effect on the face & a lighter skin tone. The figure comes with his grapple gun, 2 bat-a-rangs & a mini bomb/ mine.

Let's put a smile on that face!

For my 12" figure collection, I'm focusing on building a gallery of my favourite Heroes with cool costumes. So when Hot Toys announced their line-up for The Dark Knight 12" figures, the 2 Batmans were definite additions to my want list but I passed on the Joker... Or so I thought. After catching The Dark Knight movie, the first thing I did when I left the cinema was call my trusty Toy Shop to place an order for the Joker! I was totally blown away by how brilliantly written & played The Joker was in the movie! The late Heath Ledger totally stole the show with his performance. Hot Toys had a lot to live up to in order to recreate the scary Joker in 12" form. They did manage to capture the menacing look in the face sculpt and did a satisfactory job on the costume as well. There are however complaints by collectors on the "cheapo" looking tie & the velcro used on the clothes instead of working buttons. I can overlook these flaws as long as the overall movie Joker look is achieved, and as you can see from my following photos, it managed just that in my opinion.
























As Joker said to Batman in The Dark Knight, "You complete me!" My TDK 12" Collection is definitely more COMPLETE, now that I have the clown prince of crime in it.

THE Dark Knight

My 12" figure collection started off with Takara's Batman Begins Batman. I was totally in awe at how cool that figure was when I first saw photos. 2 other companies (Medicom & Hot Toys) released their 12" version of Batman at the time, but none was on par with Takara's. Here's a nice comparison review of those 3 versions: MWCTOYS

For the sequel to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Hot Toys have upped the ante with the announcement of three 12" figures & 2 vehicles (!) from the movie. One of the 12" figures announced is Batman in Original (Batman Begins) Costume. Rather than just a simple reissue of their previous figure, Hot Toys went & corrected almost everything that was imperfect about that figure. Better suit, better inner body & most importantly a more accurate head sculpt. Beside those, HT also threw a couple of new stuff in for good measure. Stuff like a interchangeable Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) head & his Pneumatic Mangler (a new weapon Batman used in TDK).

























The Batsuit is quite flexible & allows quite a range of movement for the body underneath. I was expecting solid moulded plastic boots which will restrict movement, but was pleasantly surprised at how flexible the boots turned out to be. Well done, Hot Toys! With this new Hot Toys Batman, I can now safely say "Bye bye, Takara."

Misa Misa

I can't believe I held off doing a gallery for my first ever female 12" figure for so long, so her gallery will have the honour of being my first post in 2008. Misa Amane is the third Death Note RAH released by Medicom & I got her back in October 2007. Her box design follows the same trend as the previous 2, simple yet effective.










One of the highlights of this figure is the rubbery outer skin of the upper body which effectively hides any unsightly joints when her torso is exposed. Her outfit is also very nicely done, from the "fur" on the hood of the jacket to the cutting of her inner tank top that helps accent her curves. She comes with a few nice accessories like her own Death Note notebook, a cross necklace & even black panties :P. But all these came at a price, she doesn't come with any extra pair of hands :(. The arms of my Misa also pop off quite easily, not sure if it's a isolated case. Nonetheless, she's still a cutie & great to display with Light & L.

The Battle Within

The fourth & final Medicom Spider-Man 3 RAH figure has finally arrived! Joining the other 3 is Peter Parker but instead of the friendly neighbourhood version, Medicom went with the dark Peter after he got the black Symbiote suit. This figure is a mail order exclusive in Japan but I managed to get one through Sideshow Collectibles. The box is missing the flap which can enable us to check the figure without opening up the box. I guess as this wasn't meant for shop retail, they did away with that feature. This is also the only SM3 RAH that came shrink-wrapped. The head sculpt does a good job of capturing the likeness of Tobey Maguire, the cool expression that Medicom gave him helped. They also did quite a good job with the clothes, giving him a full Spidey upper body suit underneath his shirt & jacket. Medicom even threw in a pair of socks while they were at it. lol. If only they gave him extra hands doing the "gun pose" so we can replicate his corny dance in the movie.












"Check out my socks!"



















Here's a (poorly done) photoshop of the signature movie image.