Welcome
to Arkham Week on Needless Things!
Every
day this week I’ll be reviewing one of the new Arkham
Knight
figures from DC Collectibles.
At
least, that was the plan until DCC delayed the release of the Arkham
Knight figure, presumably because it contained some sort of spoiler
for the game. If you don’t know, the identity of the Arkham Knight
is the big mystery of the game. And it has been handled wonderfully.
Hopefully I will have had an opportunity to finish the story by the
time this posts and I’ll know whether or not my theory is correct.
If you want to know who I am 100% positive the Arkham Knight is,
listen to this week’s Needless
Things Podcast
and I’ll tell you at the end.
As
a result of the delay of the Arkham Knight figure I only had four
figures to review. Until I realized that I had somehow forgotten to
ever review one of the largest action figures in my collection –
the massive Arkham City Clayface from DC Collectibles.
I
love Clayface, particularly the Basil Karlo version, which is the one
depicted in the Arkhamverse. He’s another tragic villain – an
aging actor who is desperate to cling to his fame – with an ability
that gives him a huge amount of story potential. He doesn’t have
the same limits as Mr. Freeze.
We
first meet Clayface as something of an Easter Egg in Arkham
Asylum.
Batman finds Commissioner Gordon locked in a cell, but when he turns
away there’s a “shlurping” sound and it’s someone else
(Quincy Sharpe, I think?). A few transformations later and it becomes
apparent you’re looking at Clayface, though you never see his true
form. It’s a creepy and rewarding moment.
Clayface
plays a much larger part in the sequel, Arkham
City.
The Joker is the main villain of the game, but at one point it is
revealed that Clayface has been posing as Joker all along and one of
the best boss fights in the history of video games takes place.
That’s what this figure is based on.
FIRST
GLANCE
This
figure is immense – much larger than Killer
Croc
or even Solomon
Grundy.
The frozen portions are beautiful. I do sort of wish this Clayface
had a different face. I get that the game designers were trying to
make him horrific and keep to the slightly more realistic slant they
have maintained with all of the Arkhamverse character designs. I just
like Clayface with a big monster head. This smaller skull is
disconcerting.
PACKAGING
A
big-ass figure is going to require an even bigger-ass box. DCC
maintained their style and motif and just made this thing huge. The
window gives you a great view of the figure and it’s easy to open.
Despite Clayface’s weight and bulk they didn’t feel the need to
use eight thousand different plastic ties to hold it in place. As a
matter of fact, they were even smart enough to put a thick plastic
band around the bendy arm to keep the necessary wire from leaving and
impression:
For
some reason I didn’t take a picture of the back of the box (I’m
assuming it’s because it didn’t have a bio or anything), so
here’s some instructions:
While
I didn’t really need them, I do appreciate that DCC thought to
include them and I’m hoping they continue the trend when it might
be necessary. There have been a few figures (mostly NECA) that have
baffled me as to how certain parts were supposed to work or interact.
LOOKS
Clayface
is over thirteen inches tall, which is massive, even in a 7” scale line. The
figure actually isn’t as heavy as I was expecting, but it still has
a good heft.
I’m
not sure how I feel about the frozen parts.
Over
the course of the boss fight, Batman has to use freeze grenades to
immobilize Clayface and eventually defeat him. That’s why this
figure has frozen parts. Or more accurately, DCC probably decided to
give him frozen parts so he wouldn’t just look like a giant turd
man.
The
ice looks fantastic and is actually one of my favorite designs on an
action figure, but my problem is that, like battle damage, it fixes
the character at one point in time. This can’t be regular, everyday
Clayface robbing a bank or kidnapping an heiress. This is boss battle
Clayface. There are no questions about his future and it limits the
potential play storylines. Despite loving toys I am years past
actually “playing” with them (except with my son), but I do still
consider play value. And the only mileage you can get out of this
figure is when he has Batman throwing freeze grenades at him.
Since
I mentioned them I’ll start with the icy parts. They’re awesome.
The ice crystals themselves are actually translucent and the “snow”
portions are a shimmering white. It blends out into the clay
portions, creating a convincing visual that Clayface is slowly being
frozen. While I’m not sure that I want the ice on the figure, it
looks amazing and is used sparingly. I really do feel that DCC put it
on so that the figure wouldn’t just be a big chunk of brown.
Even
then, though, it wouldn’t just be a big chunk of brown. There are
subtle variations in the paint on the clay portions that give them
definition and character. It helps the figure seem more like a
living, moving thing.
The
Clayface head is actually a sort of mask that’s covering up another
head, but I’ll get to that in a minute. Normally I would consider
this an accessory, but since it’s meant to be the primary face I’m
going to cover it here. The main head has the disturbing, skull-like
appearance of the video game character. It even looks a bit like
something out of the Evil
Dead
movies. The sculpted ridges give it a malleable appearance. The eyes
are pure evil. I lie the wash around them that gives them more depth.
The hinged jaw is not so much to make Clayface look like he’s
yawning as it is to keep the Clayface head on. It only sort of works.
Underneath
the Clayface head is a tiny, disturbing Joker head:
Well,
half a Joker head. This combined with the extra arm are intended to
represent Clayface mid-transformation. This little head is super
creepy and has an excellent sculpt. The bubbling mess on the Clayface
side transitions very successfully into a Joker face with just a hint
of clay coloring. It totally works as a concept. The Clayface head
doesn’t stay on so well. As long as you’re not touching the
figure or moving it, it stays put, so I can live with it.
Clayface’s
torso is ripped and ridged, and incorporates some gritty textures to
represent the clay. The way that the tendons and muscle definition
are sculpted makes this look almost like a Kelley Jones design, and
you know I am down with that. It’s interesting that the further
ends of Clayface’s extremities have less human definition and look
more earthen.
I
really like Clayface’s hands for two reasons – the fingers end in
a suggestion of claws and Karlo made a conscious decision to not have
pinkie fingers. He could’ve had five digits, he could’ve had
fifty. He went with four. I bet he’s a big fan of The
Simpsons.
Clayface
his big, clompy feet. Above that his legs are sort of dripping onto
them, which is a neat effect.
ACCESSORIES
Clayface
comes with a bendy arm, an axe arm, Talia al Ghul’s sword, and the
Clayface head that I discussed above.
The
bendy arm is very impressive. The material over the armature is like
a better version of the crap that Matty used to make Snout
Spout.
It is pliable and resilient like rubber, but gives like foam. Due to
the weight of the arm, there is a mechanism to secure it in place. By
pushing one of the ice crystals, you move a plastic ring inside the
shoulder joint that holds the arms in place:
Even
then the arms are a little tough to get out, but I don’t mind
because I am familiar with the alternative.
The
upper portion of the arm is solid plastic and designed to look like
Joker’s jacket sleeve. The paint achieves this effect nicely. The
bendy portion has lines on it that suggest it being in
mid-transformation from being Joker, as well as long, white
fingertips. Those are super creepy. Only the Joker fingers have
armatures – the rest will bend, but don’t hold poses.
The
axe arm is a bit simpler – it just pops into the socket left open
when you remove Clayface’s right forearm:
It’s
big and heavy as heck and looks great.
The
sword is the same one that came with the Talia al Ghul figure. It
looks great and has multiple paint apps. But more importantly, it
fits snugly into a slot in Clayface’s back:
Be
careful putting it in, as it is a tight fit and it actually goes much
further in than it seems like it will. Just be gentle.
FUN
For
such a massive figure, Clayface has a good amount of articulation.
Nothing below the hips has a huge range, but that’s a necessity. If
the hops, knees, or ankles had too much this guy would end up just
falling over all the time.
The
shoulders and elbows work nicely. My only gripe is that the head
really can’t move too much at all. It looks like it could, but
there’s very little play up and down. It mostly just swivels, so
you can’t have Clayface looking to his left while grabbing Batman
with his bendy arm, for example. A guy made entirely of a malleable
material shouldn’t have that problem.
His
accessories and interchangeable parts more than make up for any joint
limitations, though. IT’s fun to switch out his parts and I’d go
so far as to say that if DCC wanted to put out some sort of accessory
kit with different arms and heads or something I’d buy it.
This
figure could have easily just been about standing around and looking
imposing, but DCC went the extra mile and packed in some great
features, as well.
OVERALL
While
this is a beautiful figure for what it represents, I’m still not
sold on the ice. It looks fantastic, but I just don’t know if I’d
prefer an ice-free Basil Karlo. It wouldn’t look as striking, but
it would satisfy my desire for figures to be more neutral and less
scene specific.
Still,
this is a work of action figure art. From the design to the way it is
engineered, this Clayface is a true feat (of clay). It’s definitely
pricey, but if you’re a fan it’s a must-have. I applaud DC
Collectibles for doing such a bang-up job on this one.
4
out of 5
Buy
one from Amazon and help Needless Things pay the bills!:
Cool review! I snapped him up through your Amazon link! I've been meaning to get him at some point an your review, plus the chance to help Needless Things, tipped the scales.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to him!
Thanks for the support, man! I love this guy. He's so huge I still haven't quite figured out where to put him.
DeleteIt's hard to tell how large he really is from the pics, even when you say he's about 13" tall it didn't sink in. Then I saw him today in a Hastings, they had him on the shelf next to a MS Avengers 2 Hulk, and Clayface was almost twice as tall. So, yeah, that's friggin' huge.
ReplyDeleteI meant to say twice the size, not twice as tall. Little detail, but I wanted to clarify.
Delete