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And now, on with the show.
But
I’ll get to that. First I want to talk a little bit about Arkham
Origins because
I don’t think that I really have, despite reviewing a number of
figures from the game.
I
love the Batman:
Arkham
games for a ton of different reasons. They’re fun to play, they
aren’t insanely difficult, the stories tend to be solid, they look
fantastic, and they feature some of the most interesting
interpretations of Batman, his companions, and his foes. Not the best
– that would be the DC Animated Universe – but certainly versions
that are visually interesting while remaining true to the original
concepts. I don’t think anybody could look at the Arkham character
designs and have any major problems with them.
This
is why the toys are so great.
The
first two games – Arkham
Asylum
and Arkham
City –
are the best games I have ever played. I say this not because they
have the best gameplay or graphics or anything like that, but because
I completed them both. Not finished – completed.
I very rarely finish games and I don’t know that there are any
other games that I have completed. But those titles were so
compelling and fun that I was driven to find all of the hidden stuff
and get that 100%.
Actually,
it occurs to em that I did not complete City.
I didn’t do all of the challenge maps because I hate those.
I
was very excited about Arkham
Origins,
despite the fact that it was not made by the same developer as the
first two games. This sort of thing often happens with very
successful franchises and I figures that no way was Warner Bros.
going to let anybody fuck up their hugely popular and profitable
Batman series.
I
was sort of right.
Origins
has some great boss battles and a very good story, but in the end is
underwhelming. Much of the game felt like a step down from the
previous titles. Grappling and gliding through Gotham City isn’t
nearly as much fun. The gang battles are repetitive and grow
increasingly cheap – as the game progresses they feel more and more
like lazy ways to make the game challenging.
For
instance – the final battle with Bane would have been perfectly
fine if it had just been Batman and Bane one-on-one. It wouldn’t
have been as difficult without the random goons being constantly
thrown at you, but it would have been much more satisfying. As it is
feels video game cheap, if you know what I mean.
But
the biggest letdown is the Riddler side game. The story itself is
actually quite good, but the process is a chore. I’ve pretty much
given up on finding all of the Riddler stuff this time because it’s
just a hassle and the rewards just are not up to par with previous
titles. As difficult as some of the challenges in Arkham
City
were, I kept trying over and over because the payoff was worth it and
I felt compelled to continue. In Origins
it feels somehow tacked-on and not relevant.
Okay,
so I’m not totally happy with Arkham
Origins.
I liked it, but I didn’t love it. And while some of the character
designs weren’t all that exciting – Deadshot and Bane look like
North Face ads while Joker looks like a J. Crew model – Deathstroke
looks phenomenal.
Out
of all of the action figures that I knew of that were coming out this
year, this is the one I was the most excited about. I love the
character, but this design is just awesome. It combines the heavily
armored version of New 52 Slade Wilson with the great idea of not
looking fucking stupid. And while I didn’t know this when I
preordered Deathstroke from my Local Comic Shop, it features the most
impressive articulation of any DCC Arkham figure so far.
Which
is part of the problem.
Deathstroke
was the first figure I opened when I got the latest batch of Arkham
figures. I usually save the figure I am most excited about for last,
but this time I just had to open this guy.
I
have a specific process for every single figure that I open, whether
it’s a GI Joe, a Masters of the Universe Classic, or something from
NECA or Funko.
1
- I examine the figure for any paint problems that I might have
missed in the store.
2
– I very carefully inspect and utilize every point of articulation
on the figure. I loosen joints when it’s needed and if any are
particularly stubborn I will set the figure aside after I am done
taking pictures. When I go back upstairs I will bring it and do the
heat and cold tricks.
3
– I make sure all of the accessories interact with the figure in
the way they are meant to. I check the fit in the hands, holsters,
scabbards, or whatever. If I ever fail to mention this sort of thing
in a review, it means there were no problems.
So
I did all of that stuff with Deathstroke. His right elbow, abdominal
pivot, and the lower joints of both knees were stuck. I loosened the
knees and elbows with a little careful wiggling, but never got the
abdominal pivot to budge.
I
took my pictures and was putting the pistol in the figure’s right
hand when the arm just came off at the elbow:
The
pin was stuck in the elbow joint and both sides of the soft plastic
piece had simply sheared right off. It stayed in place in such a way
that I thought it was fine, but once I applied the stress of putting
the pistol in the hand it fell right off.
I
sent the Comic Shop a message and asked them to hold a Deathstroke
for me. The next day I went and made the exchange, opened the new one
up and carefully moved everything. I was particularly sensitive to
how the pins were moving. Everything seemed fine. And then:
DAMMIT.
Two
Deathstrokes breaking in two different places kind of makes this
figure an automatic fail. Not a “0” or “1”, but I can’t
very well give it average or better. Which is a damned shame because
this is a beautiful figure. I’m just going to go through the review
and comment on the normal stuff, then at the end I’ll score this
guy far lower than I wanted or expected.
FIRST
GLANCE
This
Deathstroke is one of the most visually impactful and instantly
impressive action figures I have ever seen. Period. The sculpting is
detailed and the paint looks fantastic. Deathstroke’s color scheme
is already eye-catching, but the design of this version is so
intricate and full of little touches that I found myself just staring
at it several times before I finally opened it.
PACKAGING
I have
to give DC Collectibles a lot of credit for making a clamshell that I
don’t hate. I mean, I’d still rather have a regular blister card,
but this design is pretty neat. The best part by far, though, is the
perforated edge on the back that lets you simply pull it open:
Granted,
you’re not really any less likely to cut yourself, but at least you
don’t need scissors to open the figures.
There’s
no bio to speak of, just sort of a synopsis of Arkham
Origins.
LOOKS
I’m
not kidding when I say that this is one of the best looking action
figures I have ever seen. The shape and sheer amount of detail is
staggering, as is the execution of the design. It’s one of those
rare figures that has presence.
I’m not quite sure how to explain it, but it generates this primal
need to have it on your shelf despite the fact that you know it’s
going to make all of your other toys look shittier by comparison.
The
head is an armored-up version of Deathstroke’s signature mask. It’s
angular and features the covered right eye, but my favorite part is
the detail in how it’s secured to his head:
That’s
just cool. Granted, I’m not sure what the deal is with the bandana
straps hanging out the back, but whatever. It looks cool and
sometimes that’s enough.
The
exposed eye is nicely recessed into the mask and has a tight and
accurate paint job. The whole head has a good deco, with solid colors
and silver wear painted on.
The
overall design of the figure is very Stormtrooper like. You know –
if Stormtroopers were actually deadly. There’s tons of armor
plating on top of a bodysuit. The armor is sculpted nice and thick so
that there’s a great distinction between it and the underlying
suit.
The
armor itself is symmetrical, but there are a lot of extra parts to
give this design a little more personality and make it more
interesting.
The
chest has a bandolier that is connected to the belt around the
figure’s waist. This is all one soft plastic piece that is separate
from the figure but not removable. The pouches are all different and
distinctive. Some thought went into these, because they are all big
enough to look like they could actually hold stuff. They have a
weight to them, as well. The back of the bandolier holds a scabbard
for the included sword.
Deathstroke’s
left shoulder has an extra piece on top of the plating. It has some
shells attached and some random thing that I can’t figure out but
that looks neat.
There’s
a holster on Deathstroke’s right thigh. The holster itself is a
separately molded soft plastic piece. The strap is part of the figure
and is similar to but not the same as the one on the figure’s left
thigh that holds a pouch.
The
paint job on this figure is fantastic and detailed almost to the
point of being overwhelming. The base of the costume – jumpsuit,
boots, gloves, balaclava – is flat grey. There seems to be a minor
error on the elbows where somebody didn’t realize that the inside
was part of the coveralls and not armor:
This
is not a huge deal.
The
armor is all metallic blue and flat orange. The deco is sharp and
aside from those elbows I can’t find any errors – no blotching or
bleeding. The damage – in the form of silver slashes all over the
armor – adds so much to the figure. It’s borderline excessive,
but really shows that this guy has been doing what he does for a long
time. And maybe isn’t so good at blocking.
The
various belts and pouches are all slightly different shades of gray.
They have washes and small details painted in so that they blend well
with the excellent paint on the rest of the figure rather than
seeming tacked-on. The black half of the mask, the eye, and the red
shells on the shoulder create some nice highlights on an otherwise
uniform figure.
ACCESSORIES
Deathstroke
comes with his staff, sword, and a pistol.
The
staff is segmented and looks collapsible. The black and silver paint
job give it a little more character than some other staffs I own. It
fits into Deathstroke’s left hand, but he can be posed to hold it
with both. It’s made of a hard, sturdy plastic. My only issue with
this is that there’s nowhere to store it.
The
sword seems awfully tiny. It looks awesome, though. The blade and
guard are firm plastic. The hilt is rubber, but this is so it can be
pushed into the figure’s left hand. Here’s a weird thing – I
couldn’t get the sword all the way into the first Deathstroke’s
scabbard:
But
it fits perfectly into the second figure’s:
I
can’t explain this.
The
pistol is fairly simple. It fits into Deathstroke’s right hand and
leaves his finger sitting beside the trigger. It fits perfectly into
the holster and stays there.
I kind of wish that the figure’s hands
were different so that he could hold the various accessories in
either hand, but this isn’t that big of a deal.
FUN
This
figure has a ton of articulation – I think the most of any DC
Collectibles release I’ve seen. Since it’s so remarkable I’m
going to run it down in detail:
Head
– ball joint
Shoulders
– ball joints
Biceps
– swivels
Elbows
– pivots
Wrists
– swivel/pivot
Abdomen
– pivot (maybe)
Waist
– swivel
Hips
– ball joints
Thighs
– swivel
Knees
– double pivots
Ankles
– swivel/pivots
That’s
a ton of good and well-planned articulation, but it comes with some
issues and limitations.
The
head can only move so much due to the shape of the mask and the
mysterious bandana ties.
The
shoulders are fairly limited because of the armor plates, but they do
have a greater range than they appear to. The elbows don’t have
particularly deep pivots. Because they are recessed into the forearm
armor, the hands don’t move quite as much as they could. All of
this combines to make it tricky – but not impossible – to get a
lot of poses out of the arms.
I
couldn’t get that abdominal pivot to budge on either figure. Not
even a little. And I was too afraid of breaking the damned things in
two to exert too much force. Thinking about it now, I should have
just given it my all with the first one since it was going back
anyway.
The
legs are restricted not by the armor on the thighs, but by the fact
that the hip joints simply don’t have a wide range. The
double-jointed knees are terrific, but this is happening on the left
knee and I don’t know why or how to fix it:
The
ankles don’t move much because of the way the armor is designed.
And as we all know this combined with the limited hips means that the
double-jointed knees are kind of pointless.
I
know that sounds like a lot of bitching, but even with the
restrictions Deathstroke has a good range of posability for a DCC
release.
OVERALL
This
action figure looks amazing. It kills me that such a well-designed
toy suffers from such critical flaws. If the joint pins had been made
of better plastic and a few of the joints had been designed just a
little better this would be one of the best figures in my collection.
As things stand I can’t consider it anything but a failure.
2
out of 5
I
ended up keeping the second Deathstroke – the one that the leg fell
off of – because I can slide the leg back onto the joint and it
still stands up. I can’t not
have an Arkham Deathstroke and if I go after a third figure there’s
no telling what could be wrong with it. At least this one can be
displayed.
As
I mentioned in my recent Previews Review there is an unmasked
Deathstroke coming out later in the year. It uses the same body and I
certainly hope that DCC can correct the mistakes they made with this
one. Especially since I have to buy that one to get Copperhead.
You
can purchase this figure pretty much anywhere – Amazon, BigBad,
your local comic shop – but I honestly can’t recommend it unless
you’re collecting the Arkham line. And if that’s the case it
doesn’t matter what I think anyway. It’s a shame because if it
weren’t for the flaws this would have been a must-have for any toy
collector.
Sorry you have had such bad luck with this figure.
ReplyDeleteI grabbed this guy and a Batman from a couple of local comic stores. I opened Deathstroke first, and immediately decided I didn't need Batman so I sold him on ebay.
I guess I was very lucky with mine, because all of his joints except for the ab joint worked right out of the package. That ab joint was super, super stuck. I had to take his torso off of the balljoint at the waist, wrap it with a towel and us pipe pliers to get a good enough grip on him to free it up. It popped so loudly I thought I broke him, but no, luckily it works fine and I didn't mess up the sculpt or paint with the pliers.
The scabbard on mine did fall off, which was actually fine because somebody at the factory forgot to paint the back of it (the part you can see from the front of the figure was just white plastic), so that gave me the opportunity to hit it with some black matte paint before gluing it back.
Ultimately, he is a cool figure, but even with all the joints working he still feels fragile. I actually like to move my figures around and pose them, so that's why I decided not to open Batman assuming he would be the same story.
I haven't had issues with any of the other Arkham figures, not even the first Killer Croc, who apparently has arm problems. I highly recommend the super... well, better articulated Batman. That's a great figure.
DeleteThank you for the review. Turns out you're not the only one with badluck with a Deathstroke. I had mine for two days, and his arm snapped off by simply bending it in the natural way. It appears to just be an overall QC issue.
ReplyDeleteDamn. That sucks. DCC has been doing so well lately. It's a shame they had to blow it on one fo the best looking figures they've ever produced.
DeleteSame thing happened to me i opened the package and was messing around with him and then his arm snapped off i didn't want to buy another one so i just super glued his arm back on, great figure overall.Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteIf I hadn't known that it would be easy for me to return the first one I would have done the same thing.
Delete