Mafex Ra's al Ghul - Batman Begins

Ra's al Ghul is the leader of the League of Shadows, a secret organization that seeks to cleanse the world of its crime and impurities. Ras himself has appeared in many comics and notably as the main villain in Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan's first Batman film of the trilogy. I enjoyed Liam Neeson's performance as Ras, and to be honest there are days when his ideology doesn't seem too radical! That said, he doesn't concern himself too much with innocents vs criminals in the movie, so naturally, he has to be stopped!

This figure, in particular, is the outfit he wears while training Bruce Wayne in the art of Ninjutsu. He has his black padded armour, back hooked bracers, ninja sword, and you can alternate between his masked head and unmasked face. The unmasked head is a great look-alike to the actor! And the sculpt and paint is also pretty on point, though granted they didn't have to do anything much with that given it is mostly black with mixes of matte and shiny finishes. The biggest disappointment here isn't the number of joints exactly but how very limited the range of motion is in this figure compared to nearly every other Mafex I've collected so far. It's kind of bizarre, to be honest! Not the worst figure but far, but probably the least posable import figure I've seen.



Sculpt/Paint: 5/5 The sculpt and details are excellent. The armour and even the look of all the pieces are super film-accurate. The tabi, armour, gi and braces are super well sculpted and detailed. The figure doesn't have a ton of paint other than the printing on the face and hair details. All very well done. The face does look quite fuzzy however if you look too closely!

Articulation: 3/5 (29 points): While his articulation is better than many domestic figures, for whatever reason Mafex really put less in this. On the plus side, the diaphragm and waist joint move super well given there is a more static leathery armour chest piece. The head and neck also have a great range to them and gives the character a lot of attitude. After that, it's all downhill. The double-jointed elbows can't go past 90 degrees. The hips are really good, and I can overlook the single jointed knees but the ankles are pretty bad. They barely have any range and have no real pivot despite having toe articulation. I also really wish they had put in a bicep swivel because you can't even get him to bring his arms out front to have a two-handed sword grasp. Sigh!

Accessories: 4/5 The accessories are decent but not quite fully complete. He comes with his masked and unmasked "Henri Ducard" head, a sword hilt to put in the scabbard, his full black ninja-to sword, and sets of hands for punching, sword holding, shuriken gripping and open. These are all fine but two of these are a bit useless in certain ways. The second sword hand can only hold the end of the hilt, meaning it was intended that he holds the sword with both hands...but because of the limited arm articulation, you can't do that. And it looks a bit silly to hold a sword in one hand at the very end. The shuriken or slightly thumb gripped hands don't hold anything. You can put a Batarang in there, but I think in the film he has shuriken, which this figure doesn't come with. Too bad!

Fun Factor: 3/5: I had some issues with the figure. He does look really cool, and you can get him to balance in some nice poses but it's difficult. The shoulder pads come off a little too easily and need to be glued if you lift and play with the shoulders too much. The figure can be difficult to get into some good poses and stay balanced. The lack of good ankle and biceps make this tricky! So while I like having him in my collection he is not terribly fun to move around though I do like the end results.

Verdict: 15/20 Good. This is still a good figure don't get me wrong. The likeness, sculpt and details are fantastic and 100% source material. He can look good in some poses with his blade but damn can it be annoying to get him there. I wasn't too happy about how they made the shoulder pads and how they seem to always flare out unnaturally. Definitely get this if you are a fan of the Nolan films, but other than that, I can't say I'd highly recommend it. The Soap studios one looks superior honestly!

Henri Ducard/Ras Al Ghul. Lookin' good Liam!

This is good and I like that with this head you can
make him a generic ninja as well! However I wish he
had a rubber neck cover because the neck isn't exposed in the film

View from the back. Lots of
nice details in the scabbard
and ropes

It took a bit but he can balance on his own!

Where's his shuriken?!

A Naruto run! Forgot to take out his "other" sword haha

"If someone stands in the way of
true justice, you simply walk
behind them and stab them
in the heart"

"Death does not wait for you to be ready!"

Upon closer look, he doesn't HAVE an ab section!
Just the joints! 

You can bend the armor a bit to get more crunch
but because of how the material isn't very elastic
I don't recommend keeping him that way for any length of time.

"No one can save Gotham"