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 Midnighter - DC Classic Gold Label

I was completely unaware of this character until I read the Grayson volumes of comics back in 2017. I always loved Nightwing as a character, and this was a sort of new phase of Nightwing's career as an Agent 37. He works for Helena Bertinelli's (Huntress) spy group Spyral, and he encounters Midnighter keeping an eye on Spyral. They initially clash, and later Grayson convinces Midnighter to join him in his fight against a cult group, the Fist of Cain. 

But Midnighters story is more or less that of a normal human bioengineered and enhanced with neural implants to give him abilities. He was initially part of a covert group, then transitioned to The Authority, which watches over world governments. He hasn't directly dealt with Batman, but he has with many of the Batfamily. He is usually depicted as a pretty violent, brutal fighter with superhuman speed, resilience, pain control, and strength. He is equipped with a neural implant that allows him to process every possible combat outcome. Basically, if there's a possibility he can win, he will!

The figure is pretty good, and this simple design and colour palette is exactly McFarlane's wheelhouse. I love that he comes with punching hands, but where were those with EVERY Batman figure?!? I also like the batons, but I don't remember him fighting with these; he was just using a bo staff. 

McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Bat Joker - Batman Beyond Future's End (Build-a-fig)

 Batman Beyond is a great show, and it showcases some evolutions of the characters from the original Bruce Timm series, as well as a darker future. A prevalent villain (created by Batman and Cyborg, unintentionally) in the show is Brother Eye, an all-seeing artificial intelligence. Brother Eye sees human beings as a poison and seeks total control over humanity. To that end, Brother Eye has assimilated many heroes or forced them into hiding. It can meld its technology into organic beings to force them to its will. 

Brother Eye created Bat-Joker aka Jokerbot aka Jokerborg as an assassin to eliminate Terry McGinnis, the new Batman in the show. Bat-Joker has a dual personality set and head; the cunning and tactical analysis of Batman, and the viciousness of Joker combined with the order of the Eye. 

The figure is a really neat build a figure. The claws that look wing-ish at the back are more poseable than any backpiece I've ever seen, especially at this price point. The figure is tall and imposing, and the dual faces you can switch are pretty neat. There are no accessories in particular if you don't count the wing/claws which are meant to be part, but that doesn't take away from it being a really cool build-a-fig. 

Mafex Medicom Huntress - Batman Hush

Helena Bertinelli is a vigilante similar to Batman. Her parents were killed by the mafia and she donned a costume and went out to stop organized crime. She is often in a purple and white motif suit with expertise in several martial arts, typically sporting a staff, crossbow, bullwhip and some other projectiles. She is not bound by Batman's code, however, and has killed when she decides it is called for. 

In the Hush storyline, Huntress saves Batman after a mysterious cut to his bat grapple, landing him with a fractured skull. She staves off some criminals, saving Batman and starting a mystery involving several of Batman's rogues' galleries. 

I don't really have an interest in the Huntress per se, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy a really well-done female figure by Mafex for the DC universe that wasn't from one of the many terrible movies. The figure has some amazing articulation and accessories. Five pairs of hands, the staff, two heads and I love that Mafex does bendy wire capes. This one even has a wire in the bottom! My one frustration is that the hands slip out waaaay too easily and the one arm on this one also pops out too easily if you raise it to the shoulder level. 

Mafex Medicom Nightwing - Batman Hush

 

Nightwing is one of my favourite DC characters, Dick Grayson is my favourite Robin and this figure is by far my favourite Nightwing figure. Mafex has done an amazing job of this, and because of Nightwing's basic design, this Nightwing honestly fits in just about everywhere in your collection. 

As per the Hush storyline, Nightwing is helping Batman discover a grand plot that involves or touches nearly every main villain in Batman's rogue gallery. He doesn't play a particularly large role, but he does fight the Riddler and his goons. They discover some ash at the end of the scene from the Lazarus pit. 

This Nightwing comes with some amazing poseability, and some interesting accessories to make for some great posing. 

___________________________________________________________________________________

Sculpt & Paint: 3/3 Mafex nails it once again with this one, really clean paint, some gloss here and there, and great face sculpting and musculature. 

Articulation: 3/3 (31 points): This is fully fleshed out articulation with pretty good range everywhere. The most impressive is probably the butterfly joints that have a large shoulder cap and a large swivel inside the armpit area. It gives a lot of flexibility to the character when using his Escrima sticks. His hips have a second cap inside that allows more motion inwards. He comes with pretty decent ab and diaphragm work. His neck is extremely flexible, and maybe the head sits slightly too high on the top ball joint. 

Accessories: 1/1 He comes with everything you need for Nightwing: six sets of hands (punching, grasping, clutching, splayed, knife hands, and baton effect twirling), his escrima sticks, a long wire tied set of sticks, a back plate to swap to store his sticks and two heads (angry and calm, both with great hair).

Fun Factor: 3/3 He's one of my favourite figures outside my Naruto collection. He looks cool, you can pose him so well, he's got great balance and I regularly have him outside my glass Detolf shelves so I can change his pose and put him alongside other characters. 

Verdict: 10/10 No notes. 

Nice look here, if a bit grainy

VERY muscular back

Many a decent accessory. Forgot to include one of 
the clear poles for the stand (oh well!)

GRIT TIME

This is how you remove the back piece.
Interesting to see the Mafex engineering!

Clips work well but they're a little stiff, worried
they'll break one day if I'm not careful

Spin time!

This extended stick grapple rope is insanely good. The bendy wire
they use for Mafex is really durable and easy to handle

...also very long!

Look up!

Kinda sweet he can pose on his hands. 
Very well balanced figure. 

Some flying Grayson maneuvers!

All the Hush Mafex figures I have so far. Huntress
and Poison Ivy are up for review! I don't
think I'll be getting Joker, Harley or Riddler, but
who knows!

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 Solomon Grundy - Arkham City

 

Solomon Grundy has a few different origin stories. I believe the name (but not the origin story) is inspired by the 1842 English nursery rhyme of the same name: 

Solomon Grundy,
Born on a Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Grew worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday,
That was the end,
Of Solomon Grundy.

This poem is quoted in the game, but the origins of the character differ. Initially, in the late 19th century, a wealthy merchant named Cyrus Gold is murdered and his body is disposed of in Slaughter Swamp. Fifty years later he comes back as a revenant type supervillain and occasionally anti-hero. He is initially a villain for Alan Scott's Green Lantern but crosses over and becomes a problem for other heroes. He's basically unkillable with both super strength and stamina. He seems to be partly made of the same life force as Swamp thing and is nearly invulnerable to fire, cold, magic and other energy attacks. 

In Arkham City his origin story is a bit different: first appearing in Batman: Arkham City, this version was a merchant who was murdered and had his body dumped in a swamp-like Lazarus Pit, where a strange thunderstorm combined with the pit's mystical properties to resurrect him as an effectively immortal zombie-like monster. He temporarily became part of a travelling circus before he was found by Ra's al Ghul, who realized the swamp's true nature and took him to Wonder City. Seeking to understand the pit's properties, Ra's repeatedly murdered Grundy until Wonder City was eventually shut down and Gotham City built over it, with the Iceberg Lounge being built over Grundy's prison. After the Penguin finds him, he uses Grundy to kill traitorous underlings and attempts to kill Batman, who eventually defeats Grundy.

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!