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, and on Friday we’ll be posting a
special episode of the Needless Things Podcast where we take a look
at the Arkham
video game franchise.
Side
Note: The Arkham Knight figure has been delayed, so I’ve only got
four reviews. Word I’m getting is that it was pushed back due to
the figure itself containing spoilers for the game. I think it’s
somewhat prosaic that the antagonist from the oft-delayed game is,
itself delayed.
I
tend to start these reviews by talking about how much I love
whichever of Batman’s nemeses I’m covering. Some of them, like
Firefly, I don’t have a whole lot to say about. He’s fine. He
sets things on fire. Whatever.
But
most of these characters are ingrained into my consciousness from the
many forms of media they’ve been represented in, as well as their
various appearances in the comics I’ve read. For the most part I
think Scarecrow has been better represented than just about anyone.
Not more
often,
but more effectively and more in line with my concept of the
character.
As
with almost every character that has appeared in them, the Arkham
games did a fantastic job with Jonathan Crane. In Asylum
he starred in his own series of side quests, throwing Batman into a
nightmarish world that served as a fun diversion from the main game.
In
Arkham
City,
Scarecrow was absent but for an Easter Egg hidden in a boat in the
harbor. Once you unlocked the entrance to the boat, you discovered a
disgusting, roach-infested lair. At the far end is what seems to be a
dead goon, but he convulses and screams when you approach. There is
also an invoice from Falcone shipping for hundreds of thousands of
dollars’ worth of live insects. There are also three ominous
messages that can be heard using the Cryptographic Sequencer,
foreshadowing Crane’s return in Arkham
Knight.
Finally,
in Arkham
Origins,
Crane played a bit role as a doctor.
To
a certain extent, Scarecrow has ended up with one of the best-crafter
stories in the Arkhamverse and his return was highly anticipated, at
least by me.
I
don’t want to spoil any story points from Arkham
Knight,
so I’ll just say this about Scarecrow in the newest game: He is
terrifying and dark and I hear John Noble’s voice when I walk down
dark hallways at home. Noble never would have occurred to me as the
voice of Jonathan Crane, but now that’s the voice that I’m going
to hear for the character in the same way that I hear Kevin Conroy
when I read Batman.
FIRST
GLANCE
I’m
so glad that DC Collectibles (formerly DC Direct) stopped sculpting
the figures in poses. This is mostly due to the improvements in
articulation. As good as the first few series of Arkham
figures looked, characters like Bane, Zsazz, and Scarecrow suffered
from hideous cases of Pooping Crouch.
This
Scarecrow succeeds in updating the look we saw in Asylum,
while making it more functional and even a bit more true to the
character’s comic book looks. And also making him look like he was
on the receiving end of a severe Bat-whooping.
PACKAGING
This
new DCC package is great. The five-sided window box design looks very
cool, and each franchise has its own graphical designs. Here we have
some industrial, Gotham-looking stuff and a cool wireframe of
Scarecrow on the back surrounded by the rest of the first series
figures.
We
also have sculpting credits for Gentle Giant. I apologize for the
blurriness. I was tired or possibly inebriated.
LOOKS
This
new look works so well for Scarecrow’s expanded role in Arkham
Knight.
In the first game he was more of a boogeyman – far from the main
antagonist. The Scarecrow we see in the new game is a fully
functional character that interacts with the narrative in a much more
meaningful way. As such, he needed to look like a person that
occupied space and that would move about in the real world.
Scarecrow’s
head is the scariest we’ve ever seen on him, but still retains the
look of his moniker. It almost looks like Professor Crane skinned a
corpse and sewed the mouth shut. The features are very skull-like,
which adds a new dimension of creepiness. The paint enhances the
skinned-corpse look and the dead, white eyes add to the creepiness.
The tubes and filters are built into the mask and serve to make it
more grotesque. When Scarecrow talks in the game it’s pretty
horrifying.
The
hood is a separate rubber piece. I was surprised at how sturdy it was
and how well it stood up to being pushed out of the way to move the
head around. It’s fantastically sculpted, as it has the shape of
several pieces of fabric that have been sewn together rather than
just a hood shape with stitches sculpted on the outside.
Scarecrow’s patchwork coat looks great and
lends to his zombie Templar look (if you haven’t seen the Blind
Dead
series of movies, you should). The color is consistent across the
figure and the stitching is wonderfully random. The individual
stitches aren’t the same size and are spaced apart differently.
Scarecrow is not an accomplished tailor.
The
rig on his chest has a bunch of cannisters and test tubes attached.
Apparently with duct tape. Scarecrow is also not an engineer. The
test tubes on his shoulder seem impractical (wouldn’t they be a lot
more convenient on his belt?), but look cool. And the Arkham
design team have a thing for sticking things on people’s shoulders.
Scarecrow
has a sort of glove/brace thing on his left hand. It reminds me a lot
of the New
Adventures
Scarecrow design that I don’t like (though it looks good here). His
right hand is the Main Event here. There’s a big contraption on his
forearm with cylinders and tubes on it that terminate in what look
like syringes extending from his hand. Except that in the game he
just shoots gas out of those, which is not as creepy but works much
better visually. There are various buckles and straps above this
thing that really serve no purpose other than looking cool. The ones
directly on top of the elbow are a soft rubber and can be moved
around to facilitate posing.
The
transition of the coat is a bit awkward around the waist area, as the
fitted torso and the billowy tails don’t quite match up, especially
with the gap at the lower abdomen. It doesn’t really bother me, but
I did notice and it is odd.
The figure’s
legs look like they’ve been through hard times. The straps and
tubes and whatnot all look good and have tight paint jobs. The
trousers have a texture to them that’s sort of like burlap. The
brace on the left leg is fantastic. It’s hinged at the knee and
looks so much better than if it were just sculpted on. I’m not so
crazy about his short pants, but they do show off the excellent
sculpt jobs on his boots. The laces and tongues look great.
Scarecrow’s
overall appearance suggests a guy that has trouble not just walking,
but doing anything.
He’s all uneven and misshapen and just generally looks rough.
Batman whooped his ass, but good.
And now he wants revenge.
Side
Note: Slight spoiler – Arkham
Knight
is very, very dark and Scarecrow is presented as more sinister and
terrifying than he has ever been shown before. I’ve been surprised
at the places the game has gone. If you want to hear more, be sure to
listen to the Needless Things Podcast this Friday.
ACCESSORIES
Scarecrow
comes with a scary zombie mask.
I’m
about forty percent through Story Mode as I write this and I haven’t
seen an actual mask like this, but it does look like the visions
suffered by the victims of Scarecrow’s fear gas. I don’t think
it’s specifically for Scarecrow, as the strap is pretty big and it
can fit over many differently-sized heads.
The
mask is creepy and the paint is great. I’m fine with getting an
extraneous accessory as long as its appropriate.
FUN
Scarecrow
has as much articulation as you could want from a deranged, evil
professor. It is amazing to look at this figure and the Arkham
Asylum
figure and see just how far DC Direct/Collectibles have come. The old
Scarecrow was essentially a statue with some moving parts. This is an
action figure.
The
joints are somewhat limited by the constraints of the character
design, but they all have as much range as I might want them to.
Scarecrow is not a professional wrestler; he’s a scientist with a
mangled body.
Side
Note: I know I’m going a little heavy on the whole “Batman messed
Scarecrow up bad” thing, but it’s certainly implied in the games
and I really
like that narrative. The Batman of the Arkhamverse is brutal and
doesn’t pull punches. He routinely threatens to break every bone in
people’s bodies, as well as actually breaking a few. While
Scarecrow has not, as yet, named his maiming as part of his
motivation, it certainly seems like part of the narrative to me.
The
long coat tails prevent much movement from the legs, but the braces
and straps suggest that Jonathan Crane wasn’t going to be competing
on Dancing
With the Rogues
anyway.
The
fun of this figure is in trying to pose it in the most creepy and
menacing ways. I spent a good bit of time hunching it over, bending
its legs in funny ways, and fiddling with the head to achieve
sinister weirdness.
OVERALL
I
generally prefer my Scarecrow a little more scarecrow-y and with a
hat, but this is a great evolution of the character for the
Arkhamverse. It’s actually a lot more subdued than I thought it
would be. Crane could have easily been packed with more tech and/or
gore, but I feel like the game designers showed some restraint to
keep in line with the spirit of the character.
And
DC Collectibles did a fantastic job of adapting it. The proportions,
textures, and details are all top-notch, giving us one of the best
Scarecrow figures to date, even if it doesn’t have a hat.
4
out of 5
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