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 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 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. 

McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Robin King - Dark Knights: Metal

 Yet another Bruce Wayne of the Dark Multiverse is Robin King. Even though I've read the comics and have done some cursory searching, there's no listed Earth negative number for him, but basically, imagine if Bruce had been homicidal as a kid. In this story, Bruce stabs the mugger in the alley, THEN kills his parents with the mugger's gone! Sounds like there were lots of red flags before this...so....yikes!

Hearing a robin chirp at his parent's funeral, he took that as a delusional sign of joy, and eventually became a leader of youths who would overthrow the old order of power. He would lead them and become the Robin King, and eventually when Perpetua executes her plan with the Batman-Who-Laughs to take over the Multiverse, would be in charge of the Crow Robins. 

This figure looks pretty neat. I like the face application and general design. I think that's the big draw for me to all the Dark Metal figures: how they capture a dark, corrupted alternate version of Batman with a quick backstory and a sweet aesthetic design. Being a smaller figure, they've gone the route of their other scaled-down figures of having slightly fewer points and poseability. His one, in particular, is kinda rubbery-overlay feeling many places, and the ankles are difficult to balance despite the large boot size. 

DC Collectibles Robin - Arkham City

I've said it before, but Robin's design in the Arkham games is kinda neat I think. The issue with Robin if you're trying to hide your identity is he only has a domino mask. Not very identity hiding, to be honest. He's got a short cape so it doesn't get in the way of his acrobatics but still hides his profile a bit from the back. He's got his hood up to hide most of his head, and some armoured boots and gauntlets. He has a bit of a side mission in Arkham City where you play as him for a short amount of time in order to rescue Batman. I really enjoyed the mechanics of his extending staff and bullet shield. 

This figure in particular is quite a bit of an articulation loss when it compares to the Mattel Legacy Robin or the Arkham Knight Robin. The paint isn't bad, though they skipped out on some valuable shading. What I don't quite get is he comes with a black, featureless staff. In the game, it is supposed to be dull grey metal, with ridges throughout to indicate the extension capabilities and reinforced nature. This is just....a long piece of black plastic cut to size. Anyway! It's not the worst but if it wasn't for the lot I wouldn't have bothered even though it's my favourite design between his appearances in City, Origin and Arkham Knight.  

McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Robin - Dark Knights: Metal

 

On the homeworld of the Batman-Who-Laughs homeworld, Earth -22, the Joker makes Bruce Wayne relive his trauma by repeatedly killing parents of children and then exposing the children to Joker Venom to turn them into infected orphans in the process. Batman breaks free and kills Joker, only to take in the children to try to find a cure. Eventually, Batman succumbs to his own exposure to the Joker venom and becomes the Batman Who Laughs. These children are the Crow Robins of Earth -22. 

This Robin looks great in many ways. He's got the slightly askew ties for his classic red and yellow robin costume, green fish scale shorts, and overly large green gloves and boots. The face sculpt is great, and it is a random draw as to which of the three Robin heads you get with the figure (grinning, screaming or winky face with open mouth). I love all the sculpted pockmarked arms and legs, the folds of the boots and gloves, and the way everything drapes. I'm not super impressed by the fact his face is a stark white but the rest of his body is a drab gray. It's a bit strange once you look at it long enough. The other thing I'm not fond of is the articulation. If DC Icons can do a Robin much smaller with double joints, what happened to this one? It's also a bit awkward, and unbalanced easily due to the way the knee joints are permanently bent.