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| Wow. This picture is terrible. Sorry about that. |
As
much as I disliked The
Dark Knight Rises,
I was excited about this figure that combined that Bane’s
practical, militaristic look with the slightly sillier look of comic
book Bane.
Look
– I am a huge fan of Lucha libre, wrestling, and general costumed
spectacle, but Bane’s old singlet and wrist pump look was not the
best.
That
was one thing that annoyed me about Origins.
Much of the game felt like it was artificially difficult rather than
well thought out. Bane’s boss battle could have been epic and left
the feeling that you had battled the most powerful physical and
mental threat Batman had ever faced. A few small tweaks to Bane’s
attacks would have made him incredible. But rather than spending more
time with the character, the developers decided to just throw in
waves of goons. It was more annoying than exhilarating and it made
Bane seem weak.
There
was a similar situation with the gliding in this game. I was
expecting an expanded Gotham City with less restrictions on where you
could go and how you could use the grapple/gliding combos. Instead,
Origins
actually limited what you could do. What had been one of the most fun
aspects of the prior game became a source of constant frustration in
the new one. Why in the world would such a great feature become more
limited?
But
I’m not here today to review Arkham
Origins
(which overall was still a lot of fun but was definitely a step down
from Arkham
City).
I’m here to talk about Bane!
First
Glance:
This is a great looking figure with a scale that seems just about
perfect. He’s big enough to warrant his own special box, but not so
big he gets one of the new window boxes.
Articulation:
I feel like this is an instance where DCC did they best they could
with a tough character design. On the other hand, the jacked-up Titan
Bane figure has much better articulation and seems like he would have
been much tougher to work with.
Head
– ball joint
Shoulders
– ball joint
Elbows
– swivel/pivot
Wrists
– ball joint
Hips
– swivel/pivot
Knees
– swivel/pivot
Boot
Tops – swivel
Bane
has a pretty good neck joint. He can look up and down and side to
side. He doesn’t have a whole lot of tilt, but I’m happy with
what’s here.
The
arms are extremely limited in movement. I feel like DCC knew they
couldn’t do much due to the hoses stuck in his arms and just said,
“Screw it”. The shoulders rotate as far as the hoses will allow,
but don’t move up and down very much. The elbows rotate the same,
but have very little pivot. The wrists rotate fine and are
unrestricted. What bothers me even more than the limited arm movement
is the fact that Bane can’t stand normally. His arms can’t hang –
they just stick out like a He-Man figure. I never like that.
There
was an attempt made to give Bane better hip articulation than most
DCC figures have. In addition to swiveling, they also pivot out a
bit, similar to how Character Options articulates its Doctor Who
line. It’s a nice effort, but the grenades (?) on the character’s
hips keep the joints from being as useful as they could be. I can’t
really say too much, as this is what the character looks like. The
knees rotate well but don’t pivot much.
The
joints on this figure are blended into the sculpt quite nicely and
don’t hurt the profile at all, but they are extremely limited. You
just aren’t going to get very many dynamic poses out of this one.
Sculpt:
This Bane is a large, beautifully sculpted figure. As with all of the
Arkham
figures from DCC, he looks like one of the unlockable character
trophies pulled right out of the screen.
I’m
not a big fan of Bane’s facial features being exposed. As a matter
of fact, the first time I saw this mask in the game I thought it was
downright weird. But I suppose for the purposes of a video game
character with a large speaking role it is important – nowadays,
anyway – to be able to see the mouth and the eyes. And yes – I
use this justification despite Tom Hardy’s concealed mouth.
Side
Note: While I don’t like The
Dark Knight Rises
or its depiction of Bane, I thought Tom Hardy was fantastic and I
even kind of liked his wacky “Sean Connery on Jeopardy” accent.
Anyway,
this head sculpt is true to the game. The mask has a great thickness
and depth. The features underneath are well defined and distinctive.
Bane’s
torso is kind of crazy. The base looks like a flak vest and has
detailed plates and rivets. There are straps and tubes connected to
the Venom pump on his back and they all work well together. There are
these piston things in his neck that are totally gross. Since there
is no waist joint, Bane’s torso is all one piece. His sculpted web
belt has a lot of detail and the clasp on the front is a cool design.
I’m not sure why Bane needs that computer cable on his right
shoulder, but it looks cool.
Bane’s
arms are huge and each one sports different junk strapped to it. The
left has some tubes and a strap, as well as the activation unit on
his forearm. The right has a piece of shoulder armor and what appears
to be an armpit tube. Everything has clean, sharp edges and matches
the other doo-dads on the figure. Both hands have detailed fingerless
gloves and are sculpted in grasping positions. Very appropriate for
Bane.
Bane’s
trousers look like some kind of fancy, reinforced combat fatigues. I
like the pouch and grenade(?) designs on the thighs even if the
asymmetry doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Bane’s boots are
these huge, armored, steel-toed things and I want a pair badly. Those
things look so heavy I doubt this guy even needs a Leg Day.
Coloring:
Just like the open portions of this Bane’s mask, I am not crazy
about the design being painted on. And sloppily, at that. I get that
this is supposed to be Bane – The Early Years, but you’d think a
guy that can afford all of this combat gear and a custom intravenous
drug injection backpack could have somebody sew some trim on his
wrestling mask. I mean, I
can.
Regardless,
it matches what’s in the game and is well done. The black is
leathery looking and the white has the intended look. The facial
features are painted precisely.
I
am glad that Bane doesn’t have some kind of crazy color scheme. His
base gear is all earth tones and it looks good. All of the silver
bits – the vest rivets, D-rings, and clasps – are the same shade
and stay within their spots. Everything else has a subtle wash to
give texture.
There is a gauge on Bane’s chest that I think should
be centered but is too low, but it really isn’t a big deal.
Bane’s
flesh has the same well done style of coloration as other figures in
the line. The combination of the color of plastic and the washes used
has created a great look.
Flair:
I love that what we have here is a scaled-down version of the
gigantic Titan pump on the larger Bane figures. It’s more than I
would have designed for the character, but within the context of the
game sit makes sense. I’m not going to pretend to know what the
heck all of this business is supposed to do, but it looks cool and is
sculpted well. I find the skull shape in the center to be a little
silly, but I also love it. The pump and the connected hoses are
molded out of rubber and move fairly well as you pose the figure, but
they are glued into place where they connect to the arms and feel
very likely to pop out. As a matter of fact, one did as soon as I
opened the box:
I
glued it back on and will do the same with any others that come
loose. It’s not the best design in the world, and some of the hoses
have lost a bit of paint at their connection points.
The
green in the hoses is a striking contrast to the subdued tones of the
rest of the figure and works really well.
Accessories:
Nothing, but I’m not going to complain. This is basically an
oversized figure being offered for the same price as the standard
releases. I am shocked that DCC didn’t release it separately at a
higher price like they did Mr. Freeze.
I still don’t understand why that one was so expensive.
Packaging:
Bane got his own special packaging. It’s like a window box version
of the new clamshell.
Value:
I have to admit that this figure feels like a bargain. It’s a good
bit larger than the rest of the series, it has a lot going on
sculpt-wise, and it comes in its own fancy packaging. Bane is one of
the few from this line that truly seems worth the $24.99 MSRP.
Overall:
As much as I appreciate how ell DCC captured the look of Bane as he
appears in Arkham
Origins,
I am disappointed in this figure. I feel like the articulation could
have been so much better. While he does have a nice range of joints,
their functionality is so limited that he’s close to just being a
statue. I can’t achieve many of the poses with this guy that I
would like to. It strikes me as so odd that the massive version of
Bane from the boxset I reviewed on Wednesday
is so much more fun than this one.
3
out of 5
I
feel like a “3” is too harsh. Bane looks exactly right, he just
isn’t very functional. And I even understand why
that happened. But I just feel like more could have been done here.
Then again, for the price I feel like this is a good figure.
Okay,
let me do that again.
4
out of 5
I’d
like to see a better version, but that probably won’t happen. As-is
this guy still looks great on the shelf. He just can’t do anything.
Bane
should be available through your local comic shop. Failing that, try
BigBad, Entertainment Earth, and all the rest.
-Phantom
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