Revoltech Amazing Yamaguchi Batman - Arkham Knight

 I don't need to tell you about Batman in the Arkham Knight game. It's an amazing game with a great story and graphics, and it is the techiest suit I've seen in the series. It's also 11 years old at this point, so if you haven't played it yet, it's cheap in the Arkham collection on most game stores if you want to grab it. 

I started my very first toy collection by purchasing some 2012 TMNT figures and a 4 pack of Arkham City figures. I loved the games, and having some fun to play with representations was kind of like a little physical memento I could display on a shelf. It was all downhill into toy collecting from there! 

Out of all the Arkham figures I own, this may be the most excitingly poseable Arkham knight figure I've ever owned (that is under the Hot Toys price). The figure has a ton of dynamic movement and unique accessories I've never seen before, AND they really learned from their fragmented plastic shard cape fiasco from the 009 Batman figure by making this one with a poseable wired cape. 

This is only the second Amazing Yamaguchi figure I've owned, and while it is extremely poseable, it's almost a 3D puzzle to figure out how to get it exactly how you want it. I'm still not well-versed in this despite playing a bunch with the Ver. 1 of the Arkham Knight itself. As an aside, they are coming out with a Ver. 1.5 of that figure that actually has their two pistols and rifle. I'm a little tee'd to be honest that I bought the version previously, knowing how DC was being weird about it's license for figures that used guns. Sigh! Anyway, into the review!

Kaiyodo Amazing Yamaguchi Arkham Knight - Batman: Arkham Knight

 

Amazing Yamaguchi is a line by Kaiyodo of action figures with hyper poseability. So much so that when I read or listen to reviews about them, the largest complaint is how difficult it is to get into poses due to all the joint rotations, but once you do, they look...well, amazing! Using the Revoltech joint system (two pegs with a ball joint swivel), they're able to achieve extreme poses, albeit with exaggerated proportions compared to the source material. 

This figure of the Arkham Knight from the game is pretty cool. Aesthetically, not as bulky or imposing in this scale, but maybe that's because there's no equivalent for this line for Batman himself. This is an expensive import though, and as such the quality is fantastic. The sculpt is so detailed and the colours are vibrant, especially the shiny bits. The figure is solid and fairly easy to pose around, though like many Amazing Yamaguchi figures, there are certain poses that show surreal gaps, especially raising the arms above the shoulders. 

There are so many great accessories here, specifically for switching the figure into the Red Hood version. The weapons are very odd here, and it's something that has put me off buying a lot of McFarlane DC Figures. He comes with a couple of laser swords and two kris knives....which...I gotta say I played the game 3 times and never saw him use a laser sword once or those knives. This is a weird choice, but it's pressured by WB's decision that started with a mandate to remove guns from their figure marketing properties. This effectively means that since February of last year, no figures sold using WB's license can be marketed using guns. I don't know how this decision came to be, but now toy companies are selling figures with trigger fingers that are supposed to use guns, but don't come with them. This makes it a harder decision: Do you buy them and then hope the decision is reversed? Hope McFarlane or other companies sell a weapons pack later? Do you buy them and use your own weapon arsenal to substitute in? For the most part (this figure being the exception), I don't buy them. 

This doesn't affect most figures, but I passed up on the Arkham Knight Red Hood by McFarlane because...well the character isn't much without the guns. The same goes with Hush or a multitude of other characters. I just have those already with guns, so I don't need to buy a newer one that comes with less, you know? 

McFarlane Toys Arkham Knight Batman Vs. DC Collectibles Arkham Knight Batman

In full credit to Toy Galaxy's youtube channel for when Dan did comparisons between two of the same figures from different companies or lines, this is a quick comparison of the two Arkham Knight Batmans: DC Collectibles vs. McFarlane toys. A note: This comparison uses the Battle Damaged version from DC collectibles as I never got the original! 

Here are our categories!     Sculpt and Paint
                                            Overall Accuracy
                                            Accessories
                                            Articulation
 

McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Batman - Arkham Knight

 I've previously reviewed a DC Collectibles Arkham Knight Batman here: Arkham Knight Batman. It was a pretty decent figure with some flaws. I hadn't realized at the time to check, but that was a battle-damaged version with some mud and paint details added. My main complaint with the DC Collectibles one was the head size: it was way too small. In general, the proportions on that one weren't great though I will say it did have good paint detail and very shiny shoulder pads. I will do a comparison post shortly. 

This one is far nicer in many respects: Decent proportions, the sculpt details clearly show all his armoured parts, and he's got the bulkiness in the right places. He's fairly well-articulated but has fewer paint details. The accessories are enough here but no paint and AGAIN, no punching hands. This is a character you play in a video game that is literally punching enemies all the time when he isn't using gadgets or the batmobile.

4th Annual Top 10 Most Viewed Figures!

 It's a few (*coughs many coughs) months late but I've finally gotten around to the 4th annual most viewed figures! This year I've dived headfirst into the absolute INSANE world that is McFarlane toys in a big way. As in, I've had to really push myself away from not collecting EVERY DC Multiverse toy that came along. Some were easy decisions (often mediocre face sculpts from live-action DC films) and others were tempting but from comic lines, I had never read nor cared a lot about (White Knight, Last Knight on Earth etc). Advance warning this list of 50% McFarlane, 20% import, and 30% older figures I recently got hold of. I did recently get a Spiderman PS4 figure THINKING it was the real thing but sadly it is a knockoff. Maybe one day if I get the real one I'll do another comparison. 

So here are the ten that you liked clicking on! 

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!