Before I begin this review, I must introduce Infinite Heroes. This was Mattel's first foray into the 3.5 inch tall figure business back in 2008. They were released under the DC Universe mega line, which has figures in all sorts of sizes and shapes, ranging from...well...every superhero and super villain ever conceived. They don't usually come with accessories, and the articulation depends upon figure, but in my personal view I think they are quite cool and there is a great variety of figures to collect. Tonight we look at the Gotham Knight 3 pack, featuring the characters of the animated short, which used animé to narrate the events that happened between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight...to some extent. The movie featured shorts focusing on Batman's war on crime, the mob's hold on Gotham City, Bruce Wayne's past and his dark descent into technological madness, and ultimately his maturation into Batman.
The three pack consists of The Scarecrow as seen in the In Darkness Dwells short, made by Madhouse productions, Deadshot as featured in Deadshot, also by Madhouse productions, which leads me to believe Batman is based on his appearance in the Madhouse shots. I like Deadshot's story in the latter. He is essentially the anti-Batman...except he gets taken out like a b!^@#.
The Batman comes with ball jointed shoulders, elbow, knee and waist articulation. The cape and neck is different from later releases, so this is an unique figure. The head is also unique. I think it's a very cool sculpt. This Batman can be posed in many different ways.
By 2008 standards this was already lame, and given the 14 points of articulation figures that GiJoe has always made since the 80's, and Star Wars' entry into 3.5 inch tall super articulated figures in that year, this figure is sorely lacking. But it's Batman, man. This is Batman between movies. Again, I share with you my distaste for plastic capes. It gets worse on later figures. But enough bashing, this is a pretty cool, unique Batman figure. I heard there's a light blue repaint which was released in some multi-set, but coverage in Infinite Hero figures is very minimal. They released sooo many figures and variants, 8 years later it has become very hard to compile. I was unfortunately not collecting modern Batman figures due to the high number in scalpers at the time. Living in a small town had its limitations. If you need to buy this pack, you are not buying it for Batman. You are buying it for the two other figures.
Still, Batman is an unique sculpt, different from all the other Infinite Hero figures, and a must have if you are a completist like me. It's a great figure, ready to pounce on all villains. But is he going to be taken down by the "Anti-Batman", Deadshot?
Floyd Lawton is the Anti-Batman. He is also flashy, vain, and murderous. He's a killer for hire, with some enhancements. He features a huge red fedora, and his trenchcoat. I really liked Deadshot's design in the movie. It certainly gives us a good "movie-style" realistic Deadshot. It is disappointing because it is 3.5 inches tall, and I would have liked a Nolan-Verse Deadshot that worked with Mattel's Batman Begins line. It is still, a nice unique Deadshot. Later this year Deadshot is going to be played by Will Smith and is going to go back to his armored costume, though if you've watched the Suicide Squad trailer, Floyd Lawton can be seen in his civilian garb, wearing a reddish hat and a trench coat. I am not entirely familiar with Deadshot's entire comic book history, only his earliest incarnations, and what we have seen in the media recently.
The figure has terrible articulation though. Those old fashioned swivel elbows do not go well with ball jointed elbows. He cannot hold his rifle well, and he just can't pull off any meaningful poses as a sniper or a close range assassin. The one I originally had came with an unpainted shoe. I had to get another one. He's just a pretty but disappointing figure. Could be worse though.
At the end of the movie Deadshot removes his trench coat gloriously as disguised characters in anime cartoons often do dramatically, and he reveals his armored form in order to go hand-to-hand with Batman. I would have preferred a figure of that specific iteration with extra articulation. It's still a nice figure, and this set can be found cheaply. One more villain for your Infinite Heroes lineup!
For those who complained that the Nolanverse Scarecrow was not scary enough, this version takes the whole Scarecrow thing a little too seriously, putting a Scarecrow on top of the costume. A very interesting, creepy design, complete with a half torn mask, and essentially four arms.
This is an incredibly expressive figure, and a departure from most Scarecrow toys. It does have some odd articulation though, like ball jointed ankles, but no jointed knees. Huh? This means he can look like a pigeon toed scaredy cat, or a ready to attack supervillain. He looks like he is dancing the whole time, which is one of the Scarecrow's physical scare devices. Once his victims are poisoned with fear gas, he does some interpreting dancing for them so they will be really scared. Every villain has a hobby, I guess.
At the end, he is defeated and presumed killed. Batman rescues all the hostages. Next time we see Dr. Crane, he has become a drug dealer with unintended consequences. Gotham's new craze is fear toxin, apparently.
I got this three pack two years after Infinite Heroes ended. It was my first foray into Infinite Heroes. I have always liked figures between 4.5 inches tall up to 6 inches tall because they fit in with all the Kenner figures I used to collect prior to 2004, so naturally I avoided these...and again, they never made it into the town I lived in. I can see why they are called "infamous"; they are a mixed bag of goodies. Fun designs, but weak construction, weird proportions, etc. These might be the best three of the entire line. I also bought them under the suspicion that they were 5 inches tall. When I received that tiny package in the mail...boy was I mad. I hated the idea of 3.5 inch Batmen. They were commonplace during The Dark Knight Rises and some of the recent Multiverse lines. Thankfully they seem to be gone now, but they really did come a long way. We shall be looking at more in the coming days!
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