The Riddler seems to be one of those villains that are rarely portrayed as a serious threat. He's the king of the B grade villains in the Batman universe; supposedly clever enough to start something, but rarely finish. His catchphrase is pretty well known among geek culture (Riddle me this...), but he's rarely accomplished anything of worth in the comics. There have been a few storylines where the writer has taken the character seriously, and he does create some pretty crazy inventions with very roundabout ways of defeating his enemies and specifically Batman.
One that actually worked well was in the Telltale video game, Enemy Within. In the Arkhamverse, he really gets around town with his machinations. In the Arkham Asylum game, it's mostly just riddles and collectibles for you to find. In Arkham City, the majority of his appearance involves saving hostages to finally confront him in an end mission. Arkham Knight is the most insane, where he has somehow managed to completely revamp underground tunnels and passageways to make insane races SPECIFICALLY for the Batmobile tank. Like, in real life this would cost BILLIONS of dollars and several companies of crews to design. He does have a more prominent story role though, with capturing Catwoman and putting an explosive collar on her neck so Batman has to solve his riddles and save his burglar friend. This iteration of the Riddler is my favorite in a few ways. I like his suit, it's not over the top, but it's signature enough for him. My favorite is his cane design. It's very nifty looking, and most of his canes are pretty plain and kinda boring in showing the question mark design.
This figure specifically has a lot of nice detail, and I picked him up with a lot of figures for a steal of a price. Like earlier Arkham figures that aren't Batman, he doesn't really have the poseability, though honestly, he isn't a person who goes in a bunch of crazy poses. I have to primary gripes: his facial expression sneer is a bit too much? I would've preferred a grinning, arrogant facial expression. The second thing is he is ALWAYS wearing glasses, and either because of difficulty or just oversight, he doesn't have any. My attempt to use a spare Gordon's glasses resulted in breakage, so will have to try again with something else.
Paint/Sculpt: 3/3 I find the details and shading of the suit to be excellent. They have the dark washes to show this is Arkhamverse while maintaining the mid greens and skin tones of the character. I rarely find any flaws in the paint and sculpting of the early Arkham figures EVEN IF I really don't like the facial expression they chose.
Articulation: 1/3 (15 points) There are some characters that just aren't very acrobatic or need a lot of articulation and The Riddler is one of them. He's got basic swivels for hips, boot cut, elbows and mid-forearm. His head can swivel and his shoulders have some limited swivel-hinge range. That's about it! Pretty limited and hard to balance without a stand.
Accessories: 1/1 He comes with a very well-detailed cane, and his bowler hat can come off. I give them points here too for the fact even though the hat doesn't sit on his head snugly, it still manages to look not too bad considering how hard it is to design a hat on a plastic figure that also has plastic hair underneath. He also came with a stand due to his lack of balance.
Fun Factor: 1/3 This isn't my favourite in my villains' collection, despite my love of the design. He's hard to pose, isn't well balanced, can't strike a ton of poses, and really don't like his face. This is kind of the C-grade choice of my collection!
Verdict: 6/10 Limited You don't really NEED this Riddler specifically, and except for the hat and cane gimmick, there are a ton of better Riddler figures out there. That said, if you're an Arkham Rogue gallery completionist like me, it's a nice addition to have.
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| Kind of a jerk face expression! |
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| Love this cane |
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| I never noticed till this photo but his legs look super weird from the back. They are pinched at the knees in the sculpt which makes it decidedly less pant-like looking |
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| Ladies and Gentlebats! |
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