Mafex The Dark Knight: Joker 2.0

In The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan, one thing stood out above all the rest in the film regardless of whether you are a superhero/Batman fan or not: the performance by the late Heath Ledger.  He was amazing as the Joker because he put such a unique take on the character's personality and appearance while also keeping to the essentials of what Joker's motivational psychopathy from the comics.

Mafex Medicom The Dark Knight Rises Batman 3.0

I really thought that Christopher Nolan did a great job of his Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises set of films. They were meant to be his own universe and his own slightly more realistic (as realistic as you can get with a superhero) take on Batman. There have been a few releases of Mafex Batmen from these movies, and out of the few I've seen, this one from The Dark Knight Rises seems to be one of the best all around. I much preferred the second film, but I enjoyed them all in their own way.

This and the Joker are my first Mafex figures, so I was really excited to have them and see what Mafex has been doing. They didn't disappoint. The details in sculpting and paint seem often superior to what S.H. Figuarts does, the articulation is top notch and the accessories are plentiful.
Also, this is my first figure that has a bendy-wire cape! So much fun what you can do with this guy!
This one has definitely become a top figure in my collection.

Mattel Multiverse - Batman (Batman Forever)

Batman Forever and its sequel, Batman & Robin, are not the fan favourites. In fact, most fans soundly denounce them. I recently rewatched Batman Forever for the sake of this review, mostly to compare scenes and likeness to the figure. I was a bit surprised that Forever does, in fact, do something better than the other films, such as a much longer romance and dialogue between Bruce and Dr. Meridian. His combat scenes are a bit more interesting to watch, though this may be mostly due to the improvement in the bat suit for the actor. Keaton couldn't turn his head in the cowl, so they had to use less dynamic fight scenes.

Regardless given that this is a 30 dollar figure, his likeness isn't too bad. They captured most of the look in the mask, even if the paint is a bit thick and lacking any shading/highlights to bring out the rest of the facial features. The general shape is pretty good, though I find the neck is a bit too thin. This may be mostly to allow some (albeit very limited) head movement.  I've held off on buying many Mattel figures for DC but I'm finding lately they have quite improved on the articulation and sculpt for their figures. This one has actually a ton of articulation points and even (a bit of a flimsy) toe hinge! Wow. The accessories are extensive enough and the best part (in my collector mind) is that the storage for all the pieces can fit in the stand he comes with. Bravo! That's classy, Mattel.

Marvel Legends - Spiderman (PS4 Game Version)

I absolutely loved the PS4 exclusive Spiderman game. It did everything I want out of a superhero game since the Arkham game series. Fun, action-packed combat sequences, fun story, hints of the comic book storylines so the fans can go "aha! That's from x when x does so and so!" and lots of good voice acting. I really enjoyed how fun it was just to web swing and wall crawl around the city. Unlike the Arkham games, you can sort of interact with people on the street and explore. The reflections they have in the game are crazy good as well. The game's spider suit is unique in that they designed some of the features to be less like super hero spandex and a bit more like athletic gear.

As anyone who reads this blog knows, I don't collect Marvel Legends...per se!
I have a couple I had planned on using for customizing parts, though at this point those figures are still on the shelf.

THIS figure though was bought because of how much I loved the game and wanted a game representation of the suit. It's a pretty good figure, not perfect, but well done and they did a good job of the white paint apps. They did fine for including a few accessories. The head sculpt isn't preferred for me when viewed straight on, but here's the breakdown!

S.H. Figuarts Naruto Vs. S.H. Figuarts Naruto (Sage Mode)

DING DING!

Although I was originally going to do the full comparison in the post, I realized there's enough to talk about that I'd make a separate post comparing these two figures. This may be a rare thing, but here are your categories to evaluate

Here are our categories!     Sculpt and Paint
                                            Overall Accuracy
                                            Accessories
                                            Articulation
                                            Price
                                   
I will credit this layout to ToyGalaxy's channel where he does Versus videos of two figures. Check him out here! Toy Galaxy's Youtube Channel

S.H. Figuarts - Naruto (Sage Mode)

If it hasn't been apparent from this blog yet, I am a Naruto fan in the same way I'm a Batman fan.
Love the franchise, am still watching the next generation show, Boruto, and love the figures that S.H. Figuarts has released. I wish they would release as many as they do Dragonball Z figures, but unfortunately, it seems it's not their priority right now since they haven't really released any since the Boruto figure (March 2018) and this figure (April 2018). That's nearly a full year now. Sorry if you're a fan of this line like I am, but I think the line is officially dead. They are still producing new statues, but that's just not my cup of tea!

Onto the fun stuff! This figure is great in so many ways. Earlier, they released an identical figure to this one without the robe, scroll or interchangeable arms (what were they thinking?). I held off on buying it, and am glad I did. Not only can you capture the scene where he fights Pain, but you can switch him to his regular figure as well as the face that shows the Sage mode (where he gets POWER MASCARA! Just kidding...)

His accessories also include a stand to hold up the large Rasen shuriken effect. So great!
And like the previously released figure, his colours are much brighter compared with the one originally released (which is still one of my favourites and have already reviewed here: Naruto Review

S.H. Figuarts Joker - Batman Ninja

In a world where Grodd has opened up a time portal to feudal Japan, Joker ha become one of the daimyo's, ruling from a giant mechanized Arkahm Castle against the other Batman villains, who ALSO have crazy castles.  If this isn't jumping the shark, I don't know what is! If you listen to the English dub, he is voiced by Tony Hale, famous for playing Buster Booth in Arrested Development. 

Joker appears with his hair grown out into a large bun/ponytail, wearing his classic colours in a mixture of western and Japanese style clothing. This is a pretty dead-on representation of his appearance in the animated movie. They've got every detail down with the small exception that his inner vest (purple edging) has a geometric pattern in the movie that isn't on the figure. We can forgive this!

S.H. Figuarts Batman Ninja

I, along with many DC and Batman fans was really excited earlier this year when the new animated film Batman Ninja released. I mean it's hard to go wrong: a new storyline set in Japan, sword fights, and all your favourite Batman characters and villains

Boy, were we wrong. I won't spoil things, but suffice to say there's a bit more than that that takes over the show and makes it a bit too silly. I personally would watch it again to see, but I wasn't as fond of the 3D animation style. The character designs were really neat though, so I knew I was getting the action figures designed by S.H. Figuarts. It's interesting to note that Figma has also made a few characters, but their Batman seems to have far wackier proportions.

Like the movie, I've heard both decent things about the figure and not so great things. Overall, I really the figure, but it does have a few things that I would change if I could.

Bandai - Sasuke Uchiha (2003)

There's nothing more interesting to a collector than finding something in a store that you didn't even know you wanted -- but once you saw it, there was no turning back! I attended an anime convention where I found this figure. A set of 3 figures were made by Bandai in 2003 of the Naruto series: Naruto, Kakashi and Sasuke. Now that I found mine at a very reasonable price (given its rarity), I'm pumped to get the other two.

Given that the highly articulated SH Figuarts line didn't debut until 2008, this figure is fairly well articulated and comes with a bunch of neat accessories. AND, it comes with an awesome art scroll of Sasuke with his name at the bottom (Uchiha Sasuke).
I was pleasantly surprised by how articulated this figure is given when it was made, but you can always trust a Japanese toy company to put their all into making figures and collectibles (especially these days).

It is not without flaws since some of the paint and sculpting isn't very clean. So let's dive into some ratings!

NECA Nathan Drake (Uncharted 4)

The Uncharted games were great. A part-time action/puzzler/platformer that had great charming dialogue, characters and while playing made you feel like you were really on an epic adventure of Indiana Jones' style proportions. The title character is Nathan Drake, supposed relation to the great explorer Sir Francis Drake. Using ancient manuscripts and relics, he travels the world with his trusty pilot and co-conspirator Sully, and other characters like Elena, Chloe pop in and out of the game.

This is a superbly well sculpted and painted representation of his appearance in the game. He stands at  7 inches tall, so he kinda fits more with my Arkham collection, but he's a stand-alone for me anyway. I'm not a huge fan of his yelling face for likeness, but the accessories he comes with are awesome.

Now, this is the first time I get a NECA (National Entertainment Collectibles Association) figure. I have always heard warnings and rumours of being careful when removing from the package or handling since they are very susceptible to breaking. So far I've been lucky, no breaks from the grapple, hands or anything else. It is a collectible, and I've had enough experience with stuff breaking from DC Collectibles that this is not a new thing.

Tip 1: Never yard on the smaller parts when bringing them out of the package. Try to cut around the pack to remove it as seamlessly as possible.
Tip 2: Wash your figure when you first get it. It helps loosen up joints and it doesn't hurt the plastic or paint to have some mild soap and water before letting it dry.