McFarlane Toys Robin (Damian Wayne)- Page Punchers

I've reviewed a few Damian Wayne Robin's before, and even one from McFarlane, but I specifically ordered this one for a couple of reasons.

1) My old McFarlane Robin had a broken arm after some light handling, and despite gluing and drilling in a metal peg, was still too wobbly so it's permanently glued in place now. 

2) I didn't love the weird lopsided grimace on that one

3) The weapon he came with was really a Deathstroke blade and was bent as hell in the package. 

4) That figure's joints aren't doubled at the knees or arms and have limited motion

So here we are, I had never bought a Page Punchers figure from McFarlane before, but this one sold me pretty well! If you've never bought one, Page Punchers include a comic book featuring the character. I liked the comic, Batman and Robin. It takes place in the Reborn line where Bruce is dead and Dick Grayson has taken over as Batman. I never actually assume in comics that Batman is actually dead, so we'll see how this turns out! The main featured villain is Professor Pyg, thus the included accessory!

The figure does really well at giving Damian a new look. He's got better articulation, a sword that is actually meant for him, a removable, fabric hood attached to it, and a fabric cape that all have bendable wire in it! It's not the smallest stitching I've ever seen, but it works and adds more dynamism to posing. 

The main cons here are that he could be a more complete representation of his look in the very comic he comes with! The boots in the comic are longer, the belt is completely bright yellow like his cape, and I don't see any artist lines for his red tunic on the left and right of center in the comic. Strange. Yet, the cover is pretty close to the figure. I don't know what that's about, maybe his costume changes later in the line. The other con is because the sword is a bulky plastic, it is once again very bent. Hopefully, some boiling water and an ice bath will fix and straighten this out. 

McFarlane Toys Blight - Batman Beyond Future's End (Build-a-fig)

 

This is another figure that I would not have picked up if not for completing the Jokerbot, but at least it's an aesthetically pleasing one! Blight is the villain name picked up by Derek Powers, the corrupt CEO of Powers tech who later also acquires Wayne Enterprises to merge into Wayne Powers. He is exposed to one of his own extremely dangerous chemicals in an accident, and decided it would be a brilliant idea to then try to cure himself with unchecked levels of radiation. Scientists in DC are really off the wall! It's always "lets use this jackhammer to take out a chipped tooth or something with these guys!". They are highly overboard in their approach. 

Blight, with his entire body being a radioactive dump, has himself sealed in a suit to control his radiation bursts. He can blast out radioactive energy, and his body alone has enough radiation to melt most physical attacks on his person. 

The figure comes with the wing/claws for the joker bot, a glowing grasping hand, and a regular one to swap out as well as the card/stand. I will say (and I need to remind myself of this next time I buy a figure) that McFarlane nearly always releases a single version of a figure with different parts. In this case, the Meltdown version of Blight that isn't a build-a-fig comes with two energy effects to put on his fists, which is a much better deal if you don't care about the build-a-fig. 

Mcfarlane Toys Shriek - Batman Beyond Future's End Build a fig

The Future's End line, except for Batman Beyond and Batgirl Beyond, is something I would never have purchased otherwise. That said, I enjoyed the animated series and dig the character design. Mostly though, I bought just enough to buy parts for the Jokerbot I figure what does it hurt to buy two more?! Capitalism wins again. 

I never knew about Shriek, maybe I missed the episode? Anyway, Walter Shreeve, a sound engineer drove his company into the ground, lucky for him Derek Powers acquired his company. He built a sound suit capable of demolition using sound waves, but Powers had other ideas. He commands him to kill Bruce Wayne, who is luckily saved by Batman. 

The look of the figure is pretty sweet. Whether you know or like this character, he seems to sub in easily for robot minion cannon fodder. I like how they handled the energy effect and the lights. Other than that, doing just a few colours with textured suit pieces is definitely McFarlane's wheelhouse. 

McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Riddler - Arkham City

 I previously reviewed a version of this Riddler by DC Collectibles here. He's the smarmy C-grade villain here with an overblown sense of superiority and intellect. He supplies all the very simple riddles and traps for Batman to waltz through, frustrating him to no end. I love how somehow he must have millions of dollars to make these elaborate traps just to secure a hostage or two, or hide a trophy in odd places. With all that money you'd think he'd be wealthy enough to create Arkham City itself! 

This figure is a superior sculpt to the DC Collectibles version. Those pants aren't as weird, the face is less crazy sideways with the mouth, and the proportions are better. The paint is definitely worse though, and it has the McFarlane points that not everyone loves (flat knees/elbows, lack of paint on details, awkward ratchets and the diaper rubber crotch). 

McFarlane Toys Batman - Arkham City

 I have a lot of Arkham Batmen. Between DC Collectibles and DC Direct versions, I now own 9 different Arkham versions of Batman. Crazy! This one is better in a couple of ways than the Arkham Asylum version by McFarlane Toys, but disappointing in others. 

First, it uses nearly the exact same mould as the Asylum suit. The rivers and suit lines are the same, the arm and leg sculpt, and the boots, hands and neck build are identical. The articulation is almost identical except for one improvement and one stagnation. The Arkham Asylum Batman had these odd single jointed ratchet joint elbows that didn't move very far. Given that it was the start of McFarlane's venture into DC Multiverse licences and others, I let it go. Now though, everything, including shorter kid figures like Robin, has double-jointed elbows, so there's no excuse not to have that in all the figures. Hell, even Penguin had double-jointed elbows. It's insane that this Batman still uses the super old elbows. 

To the figure's credit, it's engineered slightly better at the torso. Now you can bend it better at the waist both back and forth and side to side. They must've raised the ball joint connection inside the torso because it is better that way than the Arkham Asylum figure. 

Other differences are the head sculpt, which has white eyes instead of the standard eyes in the game, but I don't mind that. The ears are still long while the face is a bit more reasonable in proportions. The gauntlets match the Arkham City suit and the cape has the side swoosh to emulate how the game has it drifting in the wind all the time in-game. The paint is much more lacking here than the other Arkham Asylum version, so that's also disappointing. It's an ok Batman figure, but given how many Arkham figures I have, I could have potentially skipped this one and gone straight for the Gold Label Solomon figure. 

McFarlane Toys Catwoman - Arkham City

 

I previously reviewed the story and the old DC Collectible figure of Catwoman here. This version of Catwoman is leagues better. First of all the face sculpt and paint apps are great. They are very accurate and most importantly don't look bloodshot! This has far more flexibility and articulation than even the Arkham Knight version of Catwoman, and comes with her signature whip! 

I didn't get to do any comparison pictures here since I had to pack away a bunch of figures to make room in the hobby room. The size is roughly the same as the DC Collectibles, but the DC collectibles has very strange proportions. 

My biggest gripe though has to be the rubber crotch area. McFarlane always makes rubbery crotches and most of the time they pass inspection. Usually, a character has a belt or some waist feature that visually blocks it off and reinforces the illusion. Here though, the diaper crotch part is really big. WAY too big, especially the butt. To make matters worse, because she has a flexible ab crunch, leaving it in that position exacerbates the gapping, making it look even worse than it usually would on these figures. Eeeesh. Still very fun to pose though! 

McFarlane Toys Penguin - Arkham City

 I've previously reviewed the DC Collectibles version of the Penguin from Arkham City here. I do like this version in terms of personality and how it is Arkhamfied to fit the game's aesthetic and darkness. This release I mostly bought for the Solomon Grundy parts, not cluing in early enough that of course they would release a gold label version with some more interesting paint apps. Foiled again like one of Batman's C-class villains! 

This version of the penguin purports a more sneering angry face! His accessory umbrella is about the same with more brass instead of silvery paint. He's actually got moving joints on his legs! Wow! That said, Penguin isn't much of an action character, so while you can do some limited things here, it's not over the top. One thing I don't quite get is that his hat isn't removable. His bandaged hand clearly looks like it is meant to both tip his hat and carry it! He's a decent figure all the same if you missed out on the first DC Collectibles penguin or if you just wanted the Solomon parts and he was an alright addition! 

McFarlane Toys Ra's Al Ghul - Batman: Arkham City (Build-A-Solomon Grundy)

 I've reviewed a Ra's Al Ghul figure before for the more realism-bent Christopher Nola Batman trilogy, but today I finally have a figure of the Arkhamverse version. In an attempt to rid Gotham of its worst criminal elements, Ra's and his league of shadows secretly fund the plan to create Arkham City. Batman, on the heels of the last game having been poisoned by Joker's Titan toxin needs some decades old blood to fight off the side effects, and who better than Ra's to get it from! After a tense encounter, he defeats him and takes some of Ra's blood. He later meets Ra's again when, unsatisfied with how Hugo Strange is handling Protocol 10, sees Ra's plunge his sword through Hugo! The more I think about Arkham games (except maybe Arkham Knight) the more I realize they put in too many villains from Batman's rogue gallery, giving each of them not quite the time they deserved (or maybe too much in Riddler's case).

The figure is pretty close to the game appearance, with some pretty impressive details, such as the well done tattooed dragons on his arms. It's a pretty good figure, and miles better than what I saw of the DC Collectibles release back in the day! After getting Talia Al Ghul from the older figures back in the day and seeing how bad it was, I decided not to buy all the figures. He's got good articulation and is a welcome addition to the Arkham rogues! 

McFarlane Toys Genestealer - Warhammer 40k

While I did like the colour scheme and look of the Blood Angel Space Marine chapter and made them my primary sci-fi models when I started the miniature hobby, I did think the other armies also looked pretty cool. The Tyranid race is a cool, dangerous look space alien that likely inspired things like the Zerg from Starcraft. A foundational footsoldier of that army of colonizing aliens is the genestealer, a many-armed clawed creature who is fast and deadly at close range. They reproduce by using their tongue as an ovipositor into victims, directly injecting their viral DNA into the host. The DNA slowly takes over, converting the (usually human) into a Genestealer cultist, a sort of part human part Tyranid that continues to spread the virus across the planet. 

I love the dynamic attacking look, and I needed some kind of enemy for the one Space marine I had for battle! I'm not keen on necessarily doing army building or collecting the other 40k offerings McFarlane has, but I would probably buy a cool Aeldari or something like a Terminator if they did come out with them. 

This figure does the many armed thing well and has good paint application. You can get it into all kinds of interesting dynamic poses! I love it even though it's not, particularly my favourite army in 40k! 

McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Titan Joker - Arkham Asylum

 The more I think about the first couple of Arkham games, Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, the more I think it's just a giant warning message about going straight to human drug trials. Most of the boss fights in Arkham Asylum directly involve the use of the Titan formula, kind of an untested mix between Bane's strengthening venom and poison ivy's control poison. The result is a crazy hypergrowth that creates insane henchmen. Joker, being the chaotic evil person he is, tries it on himself as a last resort to take down Batman, and becomes Titan Joker, a massive, clawed, mohawk-touting monster who also managed to grow like 10 feet tall. 

Not everyone loved the Arkham Asylum boss fight, though to be fair many of the boss fights were pretty simple in their attack and dodging patterns. I just thought it was funny to introduce this bane-ish Joker, then they manage to make it near tragic after-effect for the rest of the next game. This Joker is an absolute beast of a figure, and being a Megafig it doesn't come with anything but a card. No stand is going to hold this thing, are you kidding. It is EXTREMELY top-heavy, and I like the paint but the finish is so extremely glossy, it reflects a bit too much. I love the detail, but some joints are useless, like the diaphragm. I can't move mine at all. The elbow double joints are appreciated, but the plastic they used for them is really weak. Mine snapped off with just a couple of careful turns. They of course ratchet everything, which I get in practice since it makes it so big limbs don't just flop, but it was a bit too much. It grabs the joints to the point where moving it leads to weakening. I had to boil and pop the pin and rebuild the joint, and now am not too sure I'll be able to move it much at the elbow again unless I want to risk the same problem. 

Overall, it's a decent figure and I'm glad I got one that isn't a crazy aftermarket price like the original DC collectibles one. That one is like 300+ dollars everywhere I look, so it is nice this was made. 

McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Batwoman - Batman Beyond: Futur'es End Build-a-Fig

 

The daughter of Dick Grayson, Mayor of Bludhaven, is Elainna Grayson. Through involvement with Matt McGuiness, Terry McGuinness (Batman), Bruce Wayne and her father, she became aware

and involved in various crimefighting plots. Though she promised her father she wouldn't become involved in the hero's life, she eventually took up the Batsuit when Terry McGuiness had his identity stolen by False Face. She's had some combat training in the armed forces, and is also a bit of demolition expert! She demonstrates this in her fight with Blight where she levels a building on him! 

I like the style of the suit's shoulder pads, belt and eyepieces. The wings have the exact same problem as the Terry McGuiness Batman figure. The figure has a bit more range even than the Batman figure in the build-a-fig wave, and the diaphragm joint has an improved back bend. Nice!

Overall a really nice figure, the alternate figure has the unmasked head and jetfire for the boots, which is very tempting! One criticism I have is the same I have for many female figures, the FEET. They are very human barefoot shaped at the bottom as well as being small which makes them hard to balance and pose. DAMMIT. I need toy companies to listen here, stop doing this. In fact, all figures except big, animals, and bare-footed figures, make the bottoms of the feet flat. I don't care canonically what it is supposed to be, make it FLAT. 

McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Batman - Batman Beyond: Future's end Build-a-figure

 

Bruce Timm's Batman: The Animated Series is probably one of the most beloved animated Batman shows of all time. I certainly loved it as a kid, even though at the time I wasn't actually super into Batman (TMNT and Xmen was more my thing at the time). The show was followed up by New Adventures and then eventually Batman Beyond, a futuristic sci-fi cyberpunk setting 20 years later. That means 2019. Oh dear, if only they knew what we know now! 

Terry McGuiness is the new Batman under the tutelage of a very old Bruce Wayne. The themes of the show are much darker than the first two shows despite being developed by the same people. I quite liked the show, and am in general fond of when shows take characters ahead in time to tell different stories of how they've grown and changed. The new Batman of the future has a suit that conforms to his body, has thrusters and gliding wings for flight, and is generally immune to bullets, lasers, electrical shocks etc. Pretty supped up! It isn't hard to make a good figure out of this iteration of Batman, and for the most part, McFarlane nails it.

McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Lobo - Rebirth

 Lobo first appeared in comics in the 80s, as a bounty hunter alien from the planet Czarnia. He was shelved for a while and came back in the 90s. From the animated shows and movies I've seen, he is a mix of personalities between Wolverine and Punisher. I'm not even 100% sure of his abilities all the time, except maybe super strength and regeneration. Is he immortal...I think? Perhaps he's a bit Deadpool-like as well? At any rate, he rides around space in his space hog motorcycle, taking contracts. Sometimes he sides with the heroes and other times takes the villain's money. 

Every time Lobo has shown up, he's been kind of a badass. I sort of like this figure as something that could be good, evil, an alien biker gang leader, or whatever! He fits a few niches. They did an awesome job of the biker look, kneepads, facial expression and special mention for the awesome back of the biker vest! He comes with his signature hook and chain which is done fairly well. He's got a good heft to him and can get in some decent poses. This purchase for me was sort of out of left field, since I know very little about the character, don't have a lot invested in buying him, and wasn't even planning on buying him when I first saw the release. That said, I'm happier with him than I am with some other McFarlane figures! 

McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Red Robin (Tim Drake) - New 52

 

Who is the best Robin? Well out of the primary 4; Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, and Damian Wayne, my favorite often changes but I quite like Damian Wayne's brutal intensity alongside Batman. One thing is for sure, Tim Drake is the most analytically intelligent. He spent the shortest time as Robin before he was deployed to do his own thing as Red Robin. Then going back to Robin. Because comics! 

McFarlane Toys Sokka - Avatar: The Last Airbender

 

Sokka is one of the most hilarious characters in the show. He's a smart, tactical warrior of the Northern Water tribe who spins out endless jokes, witty sarcastic remarks, and overblown dramatic reactions. He's one of my favourites and is still a respectable and intelligent fighter. This is a really good representation of his appearance throughout most of the show. They put him in with all his weapons which is cool and the colours and sculpt are well done. His facial expression is animated enough in style, but his smirk seems more on the smarmy side than the coy side. His eyes should have been bigger. Anyway, still good. 

McFarlane Toys Aang Avatar State Gold Label - Avatar: The Last Airbender

 

Aang being the titular character of the show has a lot to do from the very start. First, his entire nation of Air monks has been completely wiped out by the Fire nation, so does he rebuild? He has been in a hibernating state for the last 100 years, allowing the Fire Nation to take control and commit atrocities when left unchecked. How does he deal with his guilt over running away from his destiny? Finally, how does he restore balance to both the physical world and spiritual world while also finding masters to help him learn to bend the other elements? I love how despite his changes in the show, he maintains a peaceful and harmonious outlook no matter how awful things become. 

McFarlane Toys Zuko Book One: Water Unhelmeted - Avatar: the Last Airbender

 

Avatar the Last Airbender is one of my favourite shows of all time. I have watched it from beginning to end at least 10 times, and have never stopped enjoying the great world-building, dialogue, and analogies to real-life societal issues. The "magic" system of bending is great, and they really explore what it is to be able to use those abilities creatively in the show. All the main characters build and develop throughout the 3 seasons, and there's a lot of other great lore out there in comics and the next story, The Legend of Korra. I've been hesitant in buying this line for a few reasons, most of which are that the sculpts end up being pretty sloppy and the poseability of the figures isn't generally very good. 

McFarlane Toys Jason Blood/Etrigan - Demon Knights New 52

Jason Blood is an expert in the occult and demonology from the 6th century. When the demon Etrigan was ravaging the area, Merlin bound the demon to Jason. From then on, Jason of the Blood has become an immortal being who can transform from man to demon upon uttering the rhyme:

Change! Change! O’ form of man!

Free the prince forever damned!
Free the might from fleshy mire!
Boil the blood in the heart for fire!
Gone! Gone! O’ form of man!
Rise the demon Etrigan!

His human side curbs the evil malevolence of Etrigan and the end result is a bit of a bawdy antihero. Jason Blood is immortal to the effects of age, able to use a wide variety of magic, and has all the martial knowledge of 15 centuries...which is a lot! This particular iteration of Jason Blood is from the Demon Knights comics. This is set in the Medieval era of DCU's universe, where Etrigan is working with Madame Xanadu through an exciting storyline that involves Hell, undead knights of Arthur's court, Vandal Savage and the murder of Merlin. Cool stuff!

This figure was bought just out of a pure desire for a really cool-looking demon figure. I have no particular attachment to Etrigan, though I do love his rare appearances in DC animated movies (which is the only decent way DC can do shows or films, fight me!). 

McFarlane Toys Deathstroke - Arkham Origins

 

Probably the coolest of all the DC Villains after Joker, Deathstroke is the Batman (with extra experimentation!) of the villain world. A gadget and martial arts villain, he really shines in the Arkham Origins game. The fight scene at the beginning is probably the best cut scene in the game hands down, and later on, he is the toughest boss in the Arkham franchise, especially if you play New Game Plus mode. 

I've previously reviewed Deathstroke from DC Collectibles here: DC Collectibles DeathstrScuoke. That figure did some things better than this one, some worse. I actually like the darker tones on the figure BUT there were a lot of areas that were not painted compared to both that figure and the game source material. Like, the left chainmail rib side wasn't painted at all. It's just so weird! Why McFarlane? Why you gotta rush your process so much? I actually went ahead and painted silver for the ab plating outline, the chainmail, and black over some of the battle damaged textures. It wasn't great but it looks much better than the plainness that was there before. I would much prefer McFarlane make fewer figures of higher quality and price than do stuff like this honestly. ANYWAY, it's decent for posing, the blade is bent but of a good sculpt. He is a bit lacking in accessories though, since he really only comes with the blade and that's it. No staff? Also, the nicely painted gun is sculpted and not something that can be removed from the holster. Missed opportunity! 

For all my gripes it is a decent enough figure and I like having a helmeted version of the character from the game that can scale well with the other McFarlane Arkham figures. 

McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Damien Wayne - Teen Titans

 There have been many Robins over the years, but four stand out namely: Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, and Damian Wayne. I like Dick Grayson better as Nightwing, Jason better as Red Hood, which leaves the other two. I really like Damian Wayne. Is he somewhat sociopathic? Sure, but that's because he was raised by Talia and his grandfather, Ra's Al Ghul. I think Tim Drake is still the best Robin on paper though. Smart, tech-savvy, excellent detective, and a really good leader. 

This is a pretty good scale and look for robin. He's got the yellow fringe and red, the nice black cape, hood, and long green gloves and boots. Everything you need! He also has the green mask, something that is standard for Damian as opposed to the other robins. I like his somewhat surly downturned mouth look, captures that contemptuous nature of Damian. What I'm not fond of is his sword. It's really supposed to be Deathstroke's sword but I would've much preferred Robin's katana. This one is too long and it's almost everyone's reviews and pictures I can see --including my own-- it's bent like crazy.