Mattel - Batman and Bane

This is Batman and Bane action figure from the movie "The Dark Knight Rise" at 3.75 inch or rather almost 4 inch scale produced by Mattel. I guess it's natural for us to buy the action figure from our favorite movie or series and eventually it's always the same process - watch it, like it, buy it - if not as a toys for us to play around, maybe as display items on our shelf or at least as a memory for that particular movie or series.... simple as that

The local price here is SGD 12.90 (about USD 10.25 / EUR 8.50 / 802 Yen) which is slightly cheaper than the typical action figures/toys from Hasbro that usually available at SGD 19.90 (about USD 15.80 / EUR 13.00 / 1,237 Yen).

This is now the 3rd and final Batman movies from Christopher Nolan and apparently I have not yet watched the first 2 movies (I already ordered the Blu-Ray Disc from Amazon, so I will watch them soon anyway) and I have not purchased any Batman comics, series or movies toys or merchandise at all, so this is my first time indeed.

So first thing first, let's have a look at the Batman;

Even at slightly lower price, I noticed that the sculpt and detailing quality from Mattel is quite admirable especially on this Batman.

Then again, despite the nice sculpt and detailing quality, articulation wise it's kind of freaky. Basically this figure can't do much actually. Although there is some sort of articulation joint for the knee, the usual kneeling post is kind of hard to achieved;

The designing and production team in Mattel in charge of this series seems to be obsessed with great details and nice looking arm and thus there are no articulation joint on the elbow. Therefore you only get arm movement from the shoulder;






Basically this is all you get;






OK, plus the head that can turn from left to right....






In a way, this remind me of the old Star Wars action figures produced by Hasbro in the 90's era;

As for the cape, Hasbro did the same long time ago for their Star Wars action figures like Darth Vader for example;

And thus, due to the poor articulation, not much pose I can think off really when it comes to action pose... I guess this standing pose is what this Batman can do best;







I borrowed a sword from Kamen Rider action figures to make it more interesting;








A Mattle made Batman and a Vespa.... brilliant!!!!!









And now, let's have a look at the bad guy Mr. Bane;

There are several variaton of colors and uniform designs for Bane and although naturally I would prefer the one that I saw on the movie (sleeveless arms), I decided to take this one instead as the blue colored vase is kind of cool and the black colored sleeve is kind of interesting as well;

Sculpt and detailing wise, for 4 inch action figure, the quality is very good;









But when it comes to articulation, this is when things turn sour - eventually this is all that this Bane can do;







And again, this reminded me of the Star Wars figures produced by Hasbro in the 90's era;

No weapons or additional accessories comes with either Batman or Bane figures, I guess that explains the cheaper price and thus I have to borrowed this rifle from one of the Star Wars figures to make this Bane looks more "manly"......

Due to poor articulation, not much action pose I can think off apart from this standing pose;

Overall, for it's decent price (if compared to the typical action figures at the same scale from Hasbro) the sculpt and detailing quality is very good. While they cannot matched in every department (especially articulation) against some of other movie lines like the modern G.I. Joe, Avengers and Spider Man (all from Hasbro), "The Dark Knight Rises" figures are solid for the price especially if you preferred this scale. Obviously I cannot forget about the articulation issue and yes, in my opinion it is kind of disappointing considering the technology we have at this point of time, if Hasbro can do it, why Mattel can't? I guess people don't mind paying a little extra for more features right?

On the other hand, since Mattel said this is intended for those 4 years old kids so maybe for them the lack or articulation is not a big deal... or is it? kids nowadays are smarter you know!!!

So for adult toys collectors and especially those who like to play with them, I guess you will be a little disappointed but maybe there is chance that you will buy this anyway since the price is quite decent. As for me, apart from Cat Woman, I don't think I want to buy more figures from this movies.

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