McFarlane Toys The Merciless (Build-a-Figure) - Dark Knights: Metal

 It is assembled! It was very satisfying putting the figure together since it looks glorious! I think overall it was worth buying Wave 2 just to get this beast in hand. The Merciless is another member of the Dark Knights, led by Batman Who Laughs to give rise to a permanent Dark Multiverse. The Merciless is the dark mirrored reflection of a Batman who assumes the powers of Ares. Bruce Wayne of Earth -12 grows to be Batman in typical fashion. Ares, the God of War, creates a helmet that amplifies his powers a hundredfold. For a couple of years, Wonder Woman and Batman work together to stop him from conquering, falling in love in between. 

In a final conflict, Diana appears dead after being incapacitated by Ares, and Batman takes the helmet and dons it. Gaining incredible strength, magma control, pathokinesis (the ability to inspire rage and a desire to fight), and energy absorption, he kills Ares. He begins believing his old code to be worthless and becomes The Merciless. After awakening, Diana fears what the power will do to Bruce, and tries to remove it. So addicted to the helmet's influence, he kills her as well. He goes on a rampage that involves killing nearly every hero. His fight goes all the way to Themiscara and the Greek Gods. His world is about to end in the Dark Multiverse when Batman Who Laughs appears and recruits him to be part of his Dark Knights. 

McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Dawnbreaker - Dark Knights: Metal

 Bruce Wayne of Earth -32 is pretty similar initially. His parents die, and he sees the murderer, Joe Chill. His emotions leave him and are replaced by a cold void. A green lantern ring finds its way to him, and he uses its powers to find and kill Joe Chill. Now, Green Lantern rings don't usually allow the bearer to create a construct that kills, but Bruce forces his incredible willpower while flooding the ring with his cold emotionless void, breaking that one rule. After killing Jim Gordon for questioning his methods, the Green Lantern Corps comes after him. Then he up and murders them all! Wow. 

Afterward, he enters the Green Lantern Power Battery by shedding his former identity and adopting a Batman type persona after the cave of bats under the manor. As his world is crumbling, The Batman Who Laughs offers he join the Dark Knights in subverting the Multiverse. 

This isn't the first time by a longshot that Batman has had a power ring, but it is easily the evilest version! Change my mind! I like how they captured the figure. His skin is this dusky grey, he's got a mean sneer on his face, and his Green Lantern outfit really pops against the black underlayer. I added a slight black wash to most details to make things stand out more, as I'm finding more and more with these figures they are just missing a little something to make them more interesting. His accessory bats are neat, and his poseability works pretty well, though I wish he could look up more. Any flying character should have a lot more head flexibility.

McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse - Batman Who Laughs with Sky Tyrant Wings (Dark Knights: Metal)

Bringing back the same Batman Who Laughs you know and love (see review here if you missed who the Batman Who Laughs is: Batman Who Laughs review), McFarlane toys made him part of the Build-a-Figure The Merciless because he's a much cooler iteration, and THOSE WINGS THOGH. 

Alright, let's rewind a second. Sky Tyrant is Hawkman of Earth 3 (No, not -3, just 3), where good and evil are reversed. He's of course hella evil and kills to prolong his own life. He actually dies on this Earth, but Hawkman of Prime Earth does end up being infected by The Batman Who Laugh's toxin and unlocks these memories and violent tendencies of his Earth 3 alternate self. He eventually becomes part of the Secret Six alongside other infected heroes. 

The reality is, Batman Who Laughs never actually rips off Carter Hall/Hawkman/Sky Tyrants wings and uses them. That's just a variant cover for Hawkman #18. It is cool though! I like how they mixed up the chest gear and wings for Hawkman into Laughs. The sculpting as usual is both unique in places, amazing, and highly detailed. They really left out some paint here that they would have previously put on though, which I think is a product of Todd rushing through figures as fast as they can be made. Not complaining, but definitely, it's noticeable the product painting is less detailed than usual lately. He comes with the wings, The Merciless head, shoulder pauldrons, blade, and of course the stand and card.

McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Robin - Dark Knights: Metal

 

On the homeworld of the Batman-Who-Laughs homeworld, Earth -22, the Joker makes Bruce Wayne relive his trauma by repeatedly killing parents of children and then exposing the children to Joker Venom to turn them into infected orphans in the process. Batman breaks free and kills Joker, only to take in the children to try to find a cure. Eventually, Batman succumbs to his own exposure to the Joker venom and becomes the Batman Who Laughs. These children are the Crow Robins of Earth -22. 

This Robin looks great in many ways. He's got the slightly askew ties for his classic red and yellow robin costume, green fish scale shorts, and overly large green gloves and boots. The face sculpt is great, and it is a random draw as to which of the three Robin heads you get with the figure (grinning, screaming or winky face with open mouth). I love all the sculpted pockmarked arms and legs, the folds of the boots and gloves, and the way everything drapes. I'm not super impressed by the fact his face is a stark white but the rest of his body is a drab gray. It's a bit strange once you look at it long enough. The other thing I'm not fond of is the articulation. If DC Icons can do a Robin much smaller with double joints, what happened to this one? It's also a bit awkward, and unbalanced easily due to the way the knee joints are permanently bent.