DC Collectibles - Azrael (Arkham Knight)

The first character to wear the mantle of Azrael was in 1992's Batman: Sword of Azrael.  He is a deeply psychologically conditioned assassin/hunter for the Order of St. Dumas. Jean Paul Valley slowly works his way up to becoming an ally and even replacement for Batman. In the Knightfall storyline, Batman has his back broken, and allows Valley to replace him as Batman. However, Jean-Paul's methods are more brutal than Batman's, and he even reinvents the Batman suit to include claws, lasers and other more deadly gadgets.

The second character to wear the mantle of Azrael was Michael Lane. He is introduced in 2009s Azrael: Death's Dark Knight. Equipped with the Lazarus pit dipped Suit of Sorrows and the Sword of Sin, he is the champion for a different order.

In the Arkham  games, Azrael is a mix of both character histories. He is Michael Lane, but works for the Order of St. Dumas. He sees himself as a prophet, and tells Batman he is seeking to observe if Batman will be the warrior who will save Gotham at the cost of his own life. In Arkham Knight he sees the prophecy is coming true, and asks to be trained by Batman to replace him as Gotham City's protector. Then, shenanigans ensue!

This figure is really well done. His articulation gets somewhat limited by the soft rubbery plastic of his clothes, but even with that said, it is very decent. The paint details are fantastic on this figure, and I can't really think of any other way it could be better. The sword accessory is great as well. Overall, a very solid figure. I wasn't explicitly looking for him, but seeing him at original prince to add to the nicely developed Arkham Knight line, I couldn't help myself!

DC Icons - Nightwing (Hush)

As I've said before, Nightwing is easily my favourite of the Bat-family. Where man of the other supporting protagonist characters in the Batman storylines are dour, moody, grim or have outright psychosis (Damian!). He's funny, charming and his fighting style and willpower is unique to his character.

This figure is based on Nightwing's appearance in Hush (2009), where Batman is fighting a mysterious stalker named Hush who is sabotaging him from afar. Nightwing returns to Gotham for a funeral, and gets drawn into the plot by helping Batman uncover a larger plot against him involving Ras Al'Ghul.

This figure features the most minimalist of a Nightwing design, and yet it is superbly done. The paint is clean, the sculpt is fantastic (especially the face) and it does have a mix of shiny gloss and matte paints through the figure. His batons are not detailed, but are sufficient. I like the wingding with rope accessory. The original photo releases featured 2 batarangs, but honestly we don't need any, especially since the DC Icons accessory pack and Batman already have some.