Is this a review I really need to do? Probably not, but I’m doing it anyway. Queen Studios wasn’t a shop that was on my radar going into 2025. I’m guessing that’s true for a lot of folks and that’s probably why they had a media blitz when it came time to promote their brand INART and its new 1:12 scale Batman action figure from the movie The Dark Knight Rises. Now, when I say “media blitz” I mean that relatively speaking in the action figure collector universe. I kept seeing video reviews for this thing pop up everywhere a few months back and I definitely ended up watching my fair share as I had no idea who this company was. I’m not on YouTube nor is my blog big enough to get that sort of attention so if I wanted to review this figure I was going to have to buy it. And buy it I have so here’s another review of this thing many talked about months ago.
A trio of Batmen.
One of the most expensive action figure purchases I’ve made in my life was a Hot Toys Batman based on his look in The Dark Knight. I loved that movie when it came out and I really wanted to own a piece of it. There really wasn’t much in the 1:12 scale at the time, but Hot Toys had the film covered. The price was way more than I was used to spending, but looking back on it, I’d guess it was far less than what I’ve been shelling out of late for sixth scale Mondo figures. I loved that figure when I got it, but I was also terrified to touch it. If you’ve never owned a Hot Toys figure, it’s basically a big action figure with a rubber suit. The kind of thing that could split or warp and the figure itself was pretty stiff. I had a hard time with the optional parts and one of my cats even ate a Batarang on me (seriously, what the hell, Izzy?!). Still, I loved the actual look so I kept it on display for years, but when I moved into my current house I boxed it up and then never took it out. After a few years of the thing just sitting in my bedroom, I decided to part with it. I wasn’t getting any enjoyment out of it so it no longer made sense to hang onto it.
“I’m Batman!” “I’m Batman!” “No, I’m Batman…”
When I parted with that Batman I never intended to replace it with a similar figure at any scale. Since getting that, the Nolan Batman trilogy concluded with The Dark Knight Rises, a movie that was just okay. My enthusiasm for the trilogy waned and at the end of the day I just love other versions of Batman a lot more than the Nolan take. I still think elements from those films are cool, but do I need to own them as toys? The reviews I watched for the INART Batman made me question that. And then when I heard the MSRP was only around $69 it really got my attention. Since it’s for the Asian market only, that $69 quickly became more like $100 for folks in the US, but considering what other figures in this scale cost these days, it still wasn’t a terrible value. I reluctantly passed, but then Mezco had to go and unveil their Joker from The Dark Knight. He looked awesome, way better than their The Dark Knight Batman who is more like a mini Hot Toys in construction. I wanted the Joker, but I’d need a Batman to pair him with which got me back to this INART Batman. To ebay I went, as that was the only place I could seem to find one I was confident wasn’t a bootleg, and more money was spent than what it would have cost me over the summer. Oh well.
Deluxe gets you a base an armature for posing. Cool?
The INART Batman comes in two versions: standard and deluxe. I got the deluxe which basically just includes a stand and an unmasked portrait. The difference in price seemed small, so why not? I love a good stand. This Batman is based on The Dark Knight Rises, but the costume is basically unchanged from The Dark Knight. Someone more obsessed with those pictures could probably point out some detail that was changed, but I’m not interested. It looks the part to me. The packaging is pretty robust as INART ships the main box in a shipper box which is also in a brown shipper itself. The actual product box is just black with the logo on it. There’s no window, but I guess that’s fine for something primarily sold online. Inside the box is a tiered tray system with some instructions and a cardboard envelope in between the trays which contains the soft goods cape. I will say, as far as instructions go these are the most robust I’ve seen with a modern toy. They tell you what each item is and what each hand is intended for. It even has diagrams for the articulation and informs you how much range each joint should have. I could probably save myself some time and just post a pic of that in place of the articulation rundown, but I’m not going to take such shortcuts.
Batman doesn’t use guns…that fire bullets. Just ones that fire an EMP and bombs. Bombs aren’t as bad as bullets, right?
The Batman figure comes without the cape applied. It stands just a tick over 6″, and considering that Christian Bale is listed as an even 6′ I’d say that’s some pretty damn good scaling if you figure the boots would have bumped him up an inch or two. What attracted me to this release is that the body construction is all plastic. It’s a mix of PVC and ABS and there’s no rubber overlays in use. It has a very light feel in hand, similar to a MAFEX figure, and the quality is very nice. The finish is matte and per the instructions it is painted, though I’m guessing this is all black plastic. There are different textures at play as there’s some parts that feel like Kevlar and some parts that are smooth. The torso is all segmented, but the pieces are fit together very well. The proportions look great and the copper colored belt looks pretty screen accurate to me.
The Cape looks great when it’s on, but it can be a pain in the ass getting it there.
The cape is in a cardboard envelope and the way it attaches is pretty interesting. The chest where the Batman logo is sculpted in is actually removable and what holds it in place are a pair of small magnets. The cape is connected to a pair of plastic tabs which slot into two gaps of the chest. The magnetic piece is then supposed to be reapplied and that will hold it in place. Getting the tabs to actually stay put is a little cumbersome. I had to try it a couple of times to really get the magnetic piece to sit properly on the figure. I wish they had made slots for the tabs to actually slide into, but it’s a minor inconvenience. The cape itself is not wired, but it is pleated and it hangs really nice. For the price though, it would have been cool to get a drape cape and a wired one especially considering we get a flight stand.
The three faces of INART Batman. I’ll let you decide what each one is going for.
Batman is outfitted with a bunch of accessories, most of which are good. What’s not good are the optional faceplates. There are three included and there is barely any difference between them. They’re fairly neutral, but I’ll post pictures and maybe you can spot the difference. For hands, we have sets of fists, open, sticky bomb gun holding hands, relaxed, EMP rile supporting left hand, EMP rifle trigger right hand, Batarang holding right hand, Grapple Gun holding right hand. As you could have probably guessed based on those descriptions, we also have a grapple gun, EMP rifle, sticky bomb gun, and four Batarangs: two large, two small. The guns all look pretty damn good. I think the sticky bomb gun was featured in The Dark Knight, and it may have reappeared in The Dark Knight Rises. There’s nice detail on all of the guns and the finish is really nice on the matte parts and the copper parts. The hands are as advertised and work very well for their intended purpose. The figure does have some difficulty in looking down the barrel of the guns, but it can be fudged. There’s also the unmasked portrait which features a neutral expression and a terrific likeness to Christian Bale. It connects at the lower neck peg and doesn’t feature any articulation where the neck meets the head, which is a little odd. It was a bit tricky getting the standard neck part off and I did resort to hot water to do it. The peg inside is pretty sturdy though so I probably could have bent back and pulled. The display stand is pretty hefty and has a shiny plate on the front featuring the film’s logo. The armature included is pretty standard and works well.
The Bale likeness is pretty damn good.
As this Batman is an import figure, it articulates like one would expect an import figure to. For the most part. We get the typical setup with a ball jointed head and joint at the base of the neck which works very well for whatever you need. The shoulders are ball peg joints with a shoulder pad over them on a double hinge. There’s no butterfly joint which may disappoint some, but it is a ball peg so you get some up, down, in, and out range. The shoulder pad should be moved out of the way when you articulate the shoulder and bicep swivel, but it feels pretty sturdy. The elbows are double-jointed and bend past 90 degrees and the wrists are ball pegs. The torso is somewhat complex as it’s segmented throughout the diaphragm with a ball joint at the waist. It works more for twisting and shifting side-to-side than bending forward and back. Range there is pretty basic, but there’s some nice nuance afforded by this setup. It does get gappy at the waist, but the belt is floating and can be manipulated to hide it. The hips can kick out 60 degrees, per INART, and kick forward a full 90. There is a thigh swivel and the knees bend past 90 degrees. The ankles are ball pegs that swivel, will kick forward and back and rock side-to-side. There’s a toe hinge as well which is nice and stiff.
He’s Batman, so of course he has Batarangs.
The articulation range isn’t super impressive, but what does work really well are the aesthetics of the joints. These are the best looking elbows and knees I’ve ever seen on a figure. INART sculpted the pieces all the way and there are no gaps or unfinished parts. The texture is so nice I thought it was silicon or something. The toe joint is also really well done and I love how effortless it is to line-up the seems of the costume with all of the articulation points such as the thigh swivels, biceps, and toes. I think Queen Studios did a really good job balancing articulation and aesthetics with this one. Yeah, they may have sacrificed a little on the articulation end, but not on the aesthetics. Considering this is based on a real world costume that also limited movement for the actor in it, I think it’s the way to go. The only shortcoming for me is the lack of a true butterfly joint. I do wish he could hold some of the weapons just a little better, but for the most part I’m pretty damn happy.
And he has a grapple gun – can’t forget that!
And that pretty much is also how I feel about this release in general – pretty damn happy. This Batman looks fantastic and the quality is apparent in the sculpt and construction. I’ve never interacted with a release from Queen Studios before, but I definitely wouldn’t mind handling a few more. They are apparently doing their own version of Heath Ledger’s Joker and I’m not ruling it out. I liked the Mezco one so I got my preorder in, but I didn’t have to pay a deposit. Given how the ’89 Batman from Mezco is not true 1:12 scale, I am a little nervous their Joker will be too big. If the one from INART comes around and looks better then I can easily pivot to it. I’m just curious how they’ll approach the character. It’s definitely on my radar and I look forward to paring this Batman up with a Joker, whoever ends up supplying it.
We’ve got more Batman figure reviews, and if you want to check out something from the early days of this blog, here’s a review of the film this figure hails from:
When it comes to the world of more high end action figure collectibles, I’ve been able to get my hands on a few. Some rather prominent companies have yet to cross my path though, and it’s not really for any reason other than they either don’t make what I like or I don’t really like…
I mentioned in my look at Batman’s best films that I had gone into total lockdown mode for The Dark Knight Rises. I got off of social media, stayed away from review sites, and just basically blocked the world out where Batman was concerned. I wanted to walk into this film with an unformed opinion.…
You may have been wondering why I decided to devote an entry earlier this week to a nearly twenty year old action figure of mediocre quality, and if so, now you know why. I wanted to take a look at the DC Direct Batman based on his appearance in the Jeph Loeb written, Jim Lee…
When it comes to Mezco and its action figure offerings I have a very specific taste. To me, the majority of their super hero figures look little better than Mego. Some people like that aesthetic, but not me personally, and I’m certainly not into paying 100 bucks for the honor of owning such. Some frequent readers here may be surprised that I never reviewed either of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles four-packs the company released last year and that’s because, to me, they looked like dried-out turds left out in the hot sun to bake. I saw plenty of folks singing the praises of that set and I think it’s great that they enjoyed it, it just wasn’t for me.
With Mezco, the stuff I typically am drawn to are their creations based on live-action properties. I love the look of their Batman ’89 and their Michael Keaton likeness under the cowl is spot on. I don’t love the approach they took with the silicon body, but if you want to read more about that there’s a link at the bottom of this one. I really liked their take on The Crow based on the 90s film. I didn’t get it, but I certainly gave strong consideration to doing so. And my favorite figure I picked up in 2023 was the Mezco Green Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It was a perfect character for Mezco to tackle because it was based on a live-action series where martial artists in spandex suits and helmets wield goofy weapons. The fact that the character is helmeted made it even more perfect because even though I said I prefer Mezco’s take on live-action properties, they don’t always nail the likeness. The Crow works because he’s covered in paint. The unmasked Tommy Oliver head they included with the Green Ranger is just okay. And that’s fine because I’d never display him unmasked.
It’s impossible to convey how huge this show was in 1993.
When I got that figure the plan was just to get the one. I’m strictly a casual MMPR fan who feels drawn to the toys of today because the toys of yesterday were so hard to come by when I was a kid and actively watching the show. The Green Ranger is the best of the rangers so it made sense as my lone representative for the series from Mezco. It turned out so well though that my attention turned towards the rest. There was a White Ranger released in 2024, but I don’t need two versions of the same character. Plus, I fell off the series right around that character’s debut. I have a full squad of rangers from the Hasbro Lightning Collection, but it’s merely adequate. Over time, as often happens, the flaws with those figures become harder to ignore. They’ve stood untouched on my shelf for years. I don’t intend to go down any extensive MMPR rabbit hole at this point, so why not splurge a little and get a set of Power Rangers that I’m really going to enjoy? Couple that with a milestone birthday in 2024 and I decided to say “screw it,” and gift myself an expensive set of Power Rangers.
Time went by. I scored a great deal on Entertainment Earth because of a promotion that applied even to preorders. Month after month would come and go with the product getting pushed out. Eventually, I got irritated by the whole thing and began questioning if I really wanted it. We had some expenses come up, the holiday season also came and went, and I just hated the idea of this expensive item coming due at any moment so I cancelled. Not a week later, product starts hitting. God damnit, Mezco. I lost the deal I had on the set and figured that was that. Then Big Bad Toy Store actually got the product and showed it as in-stock and ready to ship. And to my surprise, there was no additional markup. Usually with Mezco, BBTS will put up preorders at MSRP, but once the item actually hits, they jack up the price to capitalize on the FOMO purchases. Maybe they had a high number of cancellations on this one since it was sitting out there for so long (years, I want to say) and needed to just make sure they sell the product they have at the price quoted before they try to extract a little more. I don’t know. I ruminated on the subject a little then obviously gave in since we’re here today talking about this set.
Some nice new artwork for the box.Lots of plastic baggies to keep things as protected as can be.
The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Box Set from Mezco checks in at a whopping $400. That’s a number more commonly associated with a video game console and not a set of action figures. Considering that most Mezco figures retail for $100 or more (I think the Green Ranger was $110) this set actually feels like a pretty good deal. That’s five figures each with a vast assortment of accessories at $80 a piece. I won’t call it a bargain because $400 is $400. Maybe a week long stay in a hotel for that kind of cash could be considered a bargain, but not action figures. The big question then is do these figures justify their cost? With the Green Ranger, my conclusion was a somewhat tepid “Yes.” The figure’s great, I just wasn’t convinced it absolutely had to cost what it did. And that was at a significantly higher price point. These figures are off to a better start by virtue of that fact, but an $80 action figure is still a pricey thing. I’m not sure if I spent that much on a single action figure in this scale in 2024. I did spend $75 on a figure so it’s not as if I’m far off the mark, but there is certainly something to prove with this set and expectations are and should be high for that price.
The accessory tray is pretty comprehensive.
The figures come in a pretty large box with multiple trays within. The box has what I assume is new artwork commissioned for the release and it’s all fine, but it’s not a window box so if you want to not only hold the figures, but just see them, then you’re going to have to open it. Once removed you have your five figures. It’s actually more like two figures as the male rangers share a body and the two female rangers share a body. And that’s fine as the characters were fairly similar in the show when suited and I wouldn’t expect a sculpt tailor made for each figure. Especially because the helmets and soft goods are unique enough.
And there they are.
Just standing them all in a row and taking it in the look is impressive. From a normal distance, they look like miniature versions of the characters from the show. The helmets are the right shape. The details are all in place when it comes to the sculpt work on the helmets or the stitching in the gloves and boots which are sculpted in. The colors are bright and vibrant and the white vinyl or decals for the diamonds on the chest is nice and opaque, even, and straight. As is the case with Mezco, we have a mix of soft goods and plastic. The heads, gloves, and boots are all plastic while the body is covered by the soft goods. If you get up close, you can see the threading in the suits which I suppose isn’t screen accurate, but I’ve also never been that up close and personal with a real Power Rangers suit. They obviously take on the look of the characters when using the American actors since the Yellow Ranger was played by a male in all of the Japanese footage. And that’s fine. For an American audience, Trini is the Yellow Ranger and it would look out of place if the figure had a male body, even if that’s what we typically saw on TV. I think it would be cool if Mezco did a one-off Yellow Ranger release on the male body for those who want a Super Sentai display, but I don’t know if such a thing is likely.
There should be a lot more black around that morpher.
The presentation is strong, but not perfect. Nothing is, and when a figure costs 80 bucks we’re going to scrutinize the Hell out of it. The helmets on the males look fine, but the females do stand out a bit as oversized. I do think some of that is other toys and media playing tricks on us. The Lightning Collection, and most action figure lines, scale down the helmet heads slightly. Some of the older lines scale them down a lot to the point where one would question if a human head could actually fit in them. They’re pretty big on the show, but if you’ve spent years looking at figures where they’re a little smaller then it’s going to have an effect. Similarly, the Yellow Ranger being a male in the show more often than not means the figures usually look out of whack. However, in this case, I do think the helmet size is too big. For the Pink Ranger, it’s mostly fine. That helmet always looked bigger on the show, probably because of the size of the actress, so it’s not standing out. The other drawback I notice right away is that the diamonds on the chest, in particular the ones on the sides, have a wavy quality to them. They should be sharp, but it must have something to do with the vinyl coating in use here. What may bug the hardcore fan the most though is that the morphers are not the right color. They’re all silver here when in the show only the front is supposed to silver. The sides should be black, which is an odd detail for Mezco to screw up since they went through the trouble of making the coins in the morphers look so damn good.
We may have a slightly different body than Green, though Billy somehow seems to be a bit taller than Jason and Zack.
We’ll talk first about the male rangers: black, red, and blue. To my surprise, these do not appear to be identical to the Green Ranger I already have. I think much of them are shared, but there are some differences. Or at least one noticeable one. Under the suit, it feels like there’s just a basic action figure body. The Green Ranger I have at a little over 6.5″ while these new ones are right around 6.375″ which surprised me a bit. It looks like the Green Ranger is getting a bit more length out of the torso so perhaps it’s not the same body underneath. I don’t know if either figure is truly 1:12 scale, but it looks fine to me. The suit is stitched in the back so it’s not removable and the belts are an imitation leather. They’re painted with black striping and the Power Morpher is nicely detailed and personalized for each character. The blade blaster holsters are removable and they just tab on and off.
Posing is going to be pretty solid with some limitations thanks to the soft goods.
Running your fingers over these figures will allow you to feel out the articulation. It’s impossible to know exactly what’s underneath without taking one apart, but I’ll do my best. It sure feels like we have a ball joint in the base of the neck and I know we have a double ball at the head. The shoulders appear to be simple ball hinges and there is a bicep swivel, double-jointed elbows, a glove swivel, and ball hinge wrists. The diaphragm seems to feature a double ball and there is a slight waist twist. Hips are a mystery, but they got to the side a little better than 45 degrees and kick forward about 90 degrees. There is a dedicated thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, boot swivel, and a hinged ankle and rocker. Because these guys have different gloves and boots than the Green Ranger, those had to be re-sculpted and Mezco made at least one notable improvement and it’s with the ankle rocker. The Green Ranger’s ankles are pretty poor, but these new ones should have little trouble keeping their feet flat on a shelf. The actual boots do have an odd shape to them. In some poses it looks like they’re curving out. I’m not sure if it’s the connection to the leg that’s causing that. It can be posed away, for the most part, but out of the box I was wondering if the left and right shins had been swapped at the factory.
I like that the hands are nice and soft so swapping is easy and getting weapons into hands is as well.
The articulation is all basically there, save for a butterfly joint. It’s just limited by the soft goods and your own courage. If you try to put these guys into splits you’re going to have to stretch the material. I’m not saying the figures can’t do it, but I’m not willing to try. I wish I was some semi-famous YouTube guy who gets review samples so that I could really go the distance with these, but I’m not and I’m out a considerable amount of money should I break something. The joints that feel the most limited to me are the waist, shoulders, and those hips and it’s all because of the soft goods. The waist, for example, doesn’t feel like it wants to turn much. The shoulders don’t like being raised out to the side a full 90 degrees. The material is stretchy and it can probably take more abuse than I’m willing to dish out, but it’s also form-fitted to each figure. They’re not frumpy, which means if you leave these guys in a position that’s stressing the material it could stretch out permanently and lead to a poorer fit. That’s always going to be the limitation with this setup and it’s the same with other scales too. Have some fun with them in hand, but maybe don’t leave them on your shelf in anything too crazy.
As expected, the females share the same body.
The female rangers are pretty much the same, only smaller, and with another detail I wasn’t anticipating. The pink and yellow rangers stand at just a tick under 6″ and I like the height separation between them and the boys. They have a more feminine shape with slender limbs compared to the males and a more defined hourglass shape to the torso without being unrealistically curvy. Kimberly, the Pink Ranger, has her skirt piece as well which seems to be just a separate piece that’s not sewn into place. The articulation feels to be the same, but the body underneath feels like it’s a silicon one. It’s my understanding Mezco tried this with a Spider Gwen figure and it’s being utilized here. The silicon body covers the torso, waist, and thighs and gives the figures a squishy feeling. These types of bodies are known for eventually cracking and tearing, but if it’s hidden underneath soft goods then who cares? I would think it’s an added expense so I’m surprised to see it in use here, but maybe this is a technique Mezco is going to utilize more going forward?
I find these two pose a little better than the boys. The torso and hips have a bit more range.
For whatever reason, this approach makes the women the more articulated of the pair. The actual articulation points are all the same, but they can really crunch forward and back in a way the males cannot. The legs seem to kick forward better as well and they also kick back all the way so they can theoretically do splits in both directions, though I still wouldn’t really advise it. The joints are stiff, but smooth, and if you have handled a figure like this in the past then you know what I mean. It’s a metal armature, basically, that’s inside the body so you do need to be somewhat mindful of that. Sometimes a joint can get pointed in a direction you weren’t expecting. As a result, the limb won’t move the way you want it to, but it’s just a matter of figuring out which swivel point got turned around and going from there. The one downside is it seems like joints can either separate or just aren’t tight enough. The right leg on my Pink Ranger doesn’t want to go out to the side and stay there. I don’t know if the hip is disconnected or if it’s just weak. It’s not floppy, but it sucks that the range isn’t there with her.
The boys.And the girls.The unmasked portraits are pretty hit and miss.
All of the characters come with an array of hands as well as an alternate, unmasked, portrait. The quality of the unmasked heads varies from character to character. I would say the Billy and Jason heads look really good, Zack and Kimberly okay, and Trini looks nothing like the actor. Billy doesn’t have his glasses which is technically accurate to the show, but for this era, I think most fans picture actor David Yost with his spectacles on. For hands, every Ranger comes with fists and gripping hands and then after that it varies. Red Ranger has a set of flat palms with his thumb to the side and a set of flats with his thumbs towards the palm. He also has martial arts posed hands (kind of his signature pose) and loose gripping hands. Black Ranger has the same, minus the martial arts posed hands, while Blue Ranger loses the flat palms with the thumb off to the side and the loose gripping hands, but picks up palm-striking hands. Yellow Ranger has the same spread as Black Ranger, plus a set of “Tiger Claw” hands. Pink Ranger has the most as she has the same spread as Yellow, but swaps the flat hands with thumbs turned inward in favor of splayed open hands like she just loosed an arrow. She also has an additional right hand specifically shaped for nocking an arrow. All of the male hands can be shared with each other and the same is true of the female hands, you just wouldn’t want to put a male hand on a female body and vice versa.
I’m guessing most will pose the Rangers with their signature weapons, but I’ve also liked the Blade Blasters.Remember the combined Blade Blaster attack?
Each Power Ranger comes with their trusty blade blaster. These little gun to knives accessories are identical to the one that came with the Green Ranger meaning they’re capable of going from knife mode to handgun mode just as they did in the show. They’re hard plastic and well painted but Mezco did not include the “Power Rangers” writing on them. Some require a little extra oomph to push the dinosaur head forward when converting to the gun mode which can feel a little scary, but I haven’t had any issues. The actual blade doesn’t fold out and is instead a separate piece that pegs in. Mezco included five so you can have all five Rangers wielding their blade blasters in knife mode if you please or firing with the included blast effects. They’re a thin, translucent, red and likely made of an acrylic so do be careful when handling them. If you don’t want your Rangers to brandish these arms, they can be stored in the included holsters which is probably where most are likely to end up. Upon doing so though, it becomes clear that the blasters are a tad oversized compared to the ones in the show. They look big in their holsters and even the promo shots for this set seem to show a smaller weapon. This wasn’t something I really noticed with the Green Ranger since he doesn’t traditionally carry one of these things, but it’s plain to see here.
These are the weapons most associate with the Power Rangers.
Each Ranger also has their signature weapon. For the Red Ranger, it’s the power sword which is lovingly painted and looks terrific. If you think it lacks a little something though there’s also the charged version which is basically the same sculpt but molded in translucent red. I honestly don’t remember the sword doing that in the show, but it probably happened. I doubt it looked like this though given the show had very cheap and simple special effects. It looks a little jarring in Jason’s hands and it’s not something I see myself using, but maybe I’ll come around on it. It does have the opposite problem of the Blade Blaster which is that it’s definitely too small. Mezco clearly played fast and loose with the scale on this stuff. For Billy the Blue Ranger, he has his lance which is sort of like a blue trident with a topper on both ends. In the show, he could separate it and brandish two, smaller, weapons so Mezco included a set of small, handheld, tridents. They also included two bigger ones and an adapter piece to facilitate connecting either set to form the actual lance. I’m not sure which is more screen accurate. One looks too big and one looks too small and I don’t think it had a silver center handle in the show. It’s at least made of a sturdy plastic. My Lightning Collection Blue Ranger’s lance always curved when held because the plastic was so soft. There are also some lightning effects for the lance included, which is always appreciated.
That foam gun is certainly something.
For Trini the Yellow Ranger, she has her daggers which also resemble sai. Again, they’re well painted and do what they’re supposed to, and unlike the other weapons so far, the size seems fine. Zack’s power axe also looks great and has a sliding handle so it can be wielded like a pump shotgun. Sizing for it seems fine and it can make use of the blast effects included. Kimberly has her bow (I guess power bow?) which also has a real string affixed to it which is stretchy. She has three arrows as well to wield and the weapon works well enough, though it’s always a challenge to get an action figure to pull off a bow look and she’s no exception. Also included are some optional weapons. For Billy, we get the Anti-Sonic Foam Gun which looks like an old Nerf double ball blaster, but painted blue. There’s a non zero chance that’s what the actual prop was. It has an optional effect part if you want Billy spraying foam on your shelf. I’m not sure that I do. There’s also three Thunder Slingers which are basically handheld slingshots, but made to look like something a Power Ranger would handle. They look great, but this is more stuff I’m likely to just look at once and then put away forever. And if you’re curious, yes, there were five of these in the show, but Mezco only provided three. I think they could also combine with the Blade Blaster, but no such functionality exists here.
This is a well put together piece of plastic.This is a contender for shelf pose.The blast effects probably need some tweaking.The more I look at it, the more I think they should have made this blast one piece.
When the Power Rangers combine their weapons they form the Mega Blaster. Rather than put tabs and holes into the weapons, Mezco just gives you an assembled Mega Blaster. Every component looks every bit as good as the individual weapons because I’m pretty sure its the exact same stuff just stuck together. There are even five effect parts so you can have the gun blasting the bad guys, which are going to have to come from another toy line for now. It’s cool and it at least makes things a little easier and lessens the risk of paint rub and such if we were expected to physically attach the weapons to each other. If I’m being honest with myself though, I kind of miss the fun of assembling the weapon. That’s part of the appeal of Power Rangers for me: combining weapons, combining robots. The blast effects are seemingly colored correctly, but tough to get straight and flimsy. I wonder if it would have worked better as one, big, piece?
For when they want to cosplay as Tommy.“Hey guys, what gives?”
We’re not quite done yet though as we have a few more accessories in the box. Both the Red Ranger and the Black Ranger wore the Dragon Shield at points during the show so Mezco included two Dragon Shields and the armbands that go with them. They’re the same parts as the ones included with the Green Ranger so if you want a trio of armored up Power Rangers on your shelf you can do so. The arm bands are loose enough that you can slide them on without having to pop the gloves off. That also means they won’t fit the smaller female arms, but the shield itself is also way too big for them. Lastly, we have a stand for each figure which features a circular base with their respective Power Coin image printed on it and an articulating, transparent, plastic, armature. This is the standard Mezco stand, and while the base does take up a lot of real estate on a shelf, they do work well. A good stand is something every premium collectible should come with.
And who could forget about the individual stands?
That is a lot of stuff and a lot of words. What have we learned after reading all of this? That these Mezco Power Rangers are as advertised. They capture the look of the American version of the show quite well. The Mezco approach is perfect for this property and this is basically a match made in Heaven. The articulation is pretty good, though the format will always breed some apprehension when it comes to extreme posing, but I think most will be satisfied with what these figures can do. There’s basically nothing left out when it comes to extra stuff. We get the unmasked portraits, 54 individual hands, weapons, blasters, extra weapons, the Mega Blaster, stands, and even some extra Dragon Shields. Oh, and those little baggies Mezco always includes for storing accessories if you decide to ditch the box. There’s nothing missing, as far as I’m concerned. I guess some folks may want individual morphers, but that’s an accessory for plain clothes Power Rangers, if you ask me. There are all kinds of other one-off weapons in the show, but none made an impact with me to the point where I want them included. I guess the Power Crystals might have been cool? Again, I’m reaching here as I would be unlikely to ever do anything with such in my display.
That’s not to say everything is perfect. While I think the proportions for the male rangers are pretty damn spot-on with the American show, there’s no denying that the Yellow Ranger looks off. The shape of the white diamonds on the torso of all of the figures are also off. It might be something where if you play with the suit enough you could smooth those lines out, but it’s certainly a hassle. The scale with the weapons is all over the place and the morphers on the belts are the wrong colors. Depending on your point of view, that’s either a bunch of nitpicking or a bunch of problems for figures that cost $80 a piece.
Blue Ranger helps illustrate the difference in proportions between the two brands.Hasbro Black is definitely better equipped to wield the Power Axe in blaster mode.One has a big head and one has a small head. Too bad we can’t split the difference.If you like the laser arrow, then the Hasbro one has a leg up, but look at those mismatched pinks.The Hasbro Red Ranger is horrible proportioned and the colors are all over the place, but the Mezco Jason definitely has sword envy.What you’ve been waiting for, direct comparisons to the Lightning Collection. These are the originals, not the Remastered editions.
That means the real question is are these figures worth it? There is a part of me that looks at the price tag for this thing and can’t fathom how it could possibly be worth such an investment. Even big time Lego sets are usually in the $300-$350 range. This is beyond even that and when this thing was first announced I don’t think I could have envisioned me picking it up. On the other hand, if these Power Rangers were released individually over a couple of years at $80 a piece would I feel differently? Yes. My brain looks at an $80 Mezco figure of this quality and is able to both realize it’s still a lot to pay for a toy, but it’s not outrageous in this market. Mondo is doing The Real Ghostbusters at $101 a piece spread across probably 2 years, when all is said and done, and I’m in on them. And a Mondo sixth scale X-Men figure sets me back over $200 by itself and I’ll probably buy anywhere between 4 and 6 of those this year alone (if Mondo hits its goals).
No matter how you pose them or what you place in their hands, these are going to look good on your shelf.
This is an expensive hobby. Action figures are not thought of as luxury goods because the term luxury makes people think of limousines and monocles, but that’s what they are because they’re just baubles. Things no one needs that don’t perform a function; they just exist to be admired and fiddled with. They’re not even proper children’s toys which have some nurturing capabilities. Accepting all of that, I can definitively say that, for me, these figures are worth every penny. They’re fantastic for what they are. These are the only Power Rangers I will ever need. I have no use for my Lightning Collection set any longer and I cannot fathom buying another Power Ranger for myself for the rest of my life. These are exactly what I want as they look and feel like 1:12 scale Hot Toys figures. It’s the perfect format for me and for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
There’s no denying how awesome this looks.
And I’m apparently not alone as this set now appears to be sold out everywhere. That doesn’t mean it’s gone, the very popular TMNT set has been reissued already and had a variant set released as well. Maybe Mezco wants to do a variant with the other actor likenesses? Maybe they want to do the movie suits? I don’t know, but Hasbro is more than willing to license the brand out so I wouldn’t rule anything out. And like most companies, Mezco likes money and if they feel the demand is out there then they’ll make more. You just never know with them because their communication is so terrible. If you’re a big fan of the property then I think you should get these and it might even be worth paying over MSRP. If you value each figure at $100 then $500 isn’t much of an overpay, or you can wait it out. And if you get it and completely disagree with what I’ve said here then I bet you’ll have no trouble unloading it at cost. It makes the set almost a risk free proposition. I don’t think that’s going to happen though. Most people who get this, aside from those who may run into quality control issues, are going to be thrilled with what they have.
If you want to check out more Power Ranger and Mezo talk then look no further:
Remember San Diego Comic Con? That event back in July? Well, it turns out people are still waiting on product tied to that event. It’s become such a huge event in the world of collecting that most companies that attend have some sort of event exclusive to either sell or give-away. The action figure producers…
We continue to bang out action figure reviews here in 2023 just in case there’s one that needs to sneak onto a year-end best of 2023 list. Is today’s figure such a contender? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth talking about. Super7 has managed to crank out three waves of Mighty Morphin…
When it comes to the world of more high end action figure collectibles, I’ve been able to get my hands on a few. Some rather prominent companies have yet to cross my path though, and it’s not really for any reason other than they either don’t make what I like or I don’t really like…
I don’t usually do year-end wrap-up posts. My collecting is usually too narrow to really warrant it, but this year I felt a little different. I probably spent way too much on my hobby in 2023 as there were a lot of releases that came in bunches. It’s probably going to have a somewhat negative impact on my collecting in 2024 as I try to narrow things down and stick to what I really want as opposed to what just looks cool. I’ve already made the decision to not collect NECA’s The Last Ronin line as I just have too much TMNT as it is and I don’t love the designs from those books enough to warrant figure purchases. Plus, where would I put them? I’ll probably be scaling back on Turtles in general since most of what I want has already been produced. Am I going to stop? No, not entirely, but I’m finally at a point where I can see something new on the shelf and not feel like I have to buy it.
That’s 2024’s business, let’s talk 2023 one last time. Rather than just rank the figures I reviewed in a top 10 or something, I figured I’d do it more like an awards show only my awards are both celebratory and dubious. You can’t have good without the bad, so if you’re one of those types that just hates anything that could be perceived as negative then maybe skip those. I’m also limiting this to figures I purchased in 2023 that were also current. Getting a figure that was new to me didn’t qualify if it was released prior to 2023. On the other hand, release dates are pretty loose so it’s possible you personally got something on my list in 2022 that I received in 2023. That’s just the action figure business at work. Let’s get to it though as so that we’re not here forever.
This figure took so long to come out that I was starting to think it was never going to come out. Mezco isn’t known for its communication so folks who had preordered this thing, and paid in full, in 2020 were left completely in the dark. Maybe it would come, maybe it wouldn’t? 2023 ended up being the year where that wait finally came to an end. Was it worth it? Probably not. If I had a category for most interesting release of the year this figure would win that as well. It’s certainly an experience. Mezco did nail the Keaton likeness though which was the most important factor for me. I just question how well this silicon body is going to hold up over the years. Runner-Up: Super7’s The Simpsons Wave One
I mostly collect 1:12 and 1:10 scale action figures, but every now and then a company gets me to dip my toes in something else. Usually that something else is 1:18, but Mondo has absolutely been killing it with its 1:6 scale line of figures from X-Men the animated series. There have been 3 releases in 2023: Magneto, Jubilee, and Sabretooth, and it’s Sabretooth that takes the crown for me by just a smidge. He looks awesome, poses well enough, and came loaded with accessories. These figures half shelf-presence for days. The only negative is the cost and space and that Mondo solicited 5 figures in 2023 which really did some damage to the old toy fund. Gambit should be arriving any day now too with Logan and Omega Red coming in 2024. I better make room! Runner-Up: Mondo Magneto and Jubilee
Worst Company – Hasbro
Sorry to kick you while you’re down Hasbro as the company just announced a layoffs to take effect next year, though maybe look at the top of the company instead? Either way, Hasbro keeps getting worse with its action figure offerings. The Power Rangers brand is stale, the Dungeons & Dragons stuff based on the old cartoon were riddled with quality control issues, and prices keep climbing on Marvel Legends and Star Wars while accessories and paint apps get cut. They’re putting out their most bare bones releases ever in those lines, but at a price greater than we’ve ever seen for those lines. More expensive plus poorer quality is not a recipe for success. I currently have two Hasbro action figures on pre-order and I’m not looking to add anymore. Runner-Up: Super7
Best Company – NECA
A more conventional round-up of the best figures of 2023 would have included these boys.
Basically, see what Hasbro did in 2023? NECA did the opposite. For the most part. Yes, their prices have gone up as well, but we haven’t seen a reduction in the product to go along with that price hike. NECA still keeps putting out tons of unique sculpts that are fully-painted with a generous assortment of accessories. They also managed to deliver their long-awaited Turtle Van and the product turned out pretty damn awesome. Now, lets just not talk about the pricing debacle that is the TMNT Sewer Lair. This is supposed to be a positive entry. Runner-Up: Jada Toys(even though I didn’t review any of their stuff here)
Super7’s The Worst is their own collection of takes on popular, villainous, tropes, I suppose. Their first wave in their Ultimates! collection didn’t thrill me, but I could not keep myself away from wave two’s Robot Reaper. This thing is just a fun, clever, design and it’s also a fun action figure to mess around with. Some of the accessories I could do with out, and part of me feels like a sucker for paying full MSRP knowing full well it’s sure to be discounted, but when a company puts out something good I don’t mind paying full price. Runner-Up: Boss Fight Studio Saurozoic Warriors
Medicom’s MAFEX brand is basically known for being super-articulated and super expensive. Figures routinely cost over 100 bucks for those of us who dwell in the west and it’s hard to figure out why. Sure, some of the licenses they grab don’t come cheap, but Bandai puts out similar or better products for considerably less. And sometimes even for the same license. This Scarlet Spider figure is one I enjoy quite a bit despite feeling like it’s not worth the tasking price. It’s a better figure than what Hasbro is set to release very soon (one of two I have preordered), but I could very easily make the argument that the Hasbro one is a far better value which trumps any advantage the MAFEX figure brings to the table. Runner-Up: Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Robotic Rocksteady
I’m not sure if Super7 has ever made a prettier action figure than Goldar from its line of MMPR figures. I mean, he is a sort of dog-faced monster, but the gold armor they sculpted and painted looks terrific and the character looks like it stepped right out of a television set in 1993. I can’t say the same for basically anything else in Super7’s MMPR line. It’s also the figure that I’ve seen break on camera in figure reviews more than any other. Whether it be the neck, wrists, or those damn wings, this is a finicky, fragile, mess of a figure. I don’t even like handling it as a result. I basically selected the head I wanted and the wing options and I don’t intend to change anything or move much. In some respects, it’s a terrible action figure, but also a great one. It’s a conundrum. Runner-Up: None
Go ahead Venom, squeeze the life out of this twerp and his weird-shaped head.
This is one of those figures you may have received in 2022 that I got in 2023. Walmart put it up for preorder in the fall and didn’t ship them for awhile, if at all, while some were able to find it in-store in December. No matter, it’s my pick for worst figure of the year that I personally reviewed. And it’s kind of getting it on a technicality, as the worst figure I bought in 2023 was a reissue of an old figure in the McFarlane Batman – The Animated Series Mr. Freeze (what’s with figures based on 90s animated shows getting the shaft?). This Spider-Man is the infamous cel-shaded one, but I’ll defend the cel-shading to a point. It’s not awful like most of the X-Men figures were in 2022, though it’s nothing special. It’s fine. Everything else sucks though. The head is a bizarre shape and looks stupid, the body is way too undersized for the character this figure is based upon, and while it articulates better than some Hasbro Spider-Men, it still does some weird things. The accessories, which include two extra sets of hands and some web splats, are also terrible and since it was a Walmart exclusive it was really annoying to have to track down. Hasbro did a whole line of figures based on the ’94 cartoon series and yet they didn’t make the central character, Spider-Man himself, available in his red and blue threads to a mass audience. What a stupid decision and another deserving reason for Hasbro’s status as worst action figure company of 2023. Runner-Up: Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Magneto
I’m just sorry I don’t have an actual award to give him.
When Mezco first unveiled its take on the Green Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers I had a feeling it had a chance to be THE Green Ranger for me. I’d have no need for any other. It was another long wait, and the figure was released annoyingly enough as a convention exclusive, but it lived up to the hype. This figure is not perfect, but it’s the best representation of the Green Ranger in 1:12 form. The details look great, the proportions suitable for the source material, and the soft goods actually enhance the figure and not detract from it. It has all of the accessories you could want plus a flight stand. There are effect parts and even an extra holster for the Blade Blaster, if you want it. I was skeptical, and I almost put this guy in the runner-up category for the too expensive, but Mezco delivered a great product. It’s so good that I’m almost tempted to get the rest of the MMPR team, but then I look at the price tag and I feel pretty satisfied to just stick with Greeny here. Runner-Up: None, this figure was in a class by itself
Those are my thoughts on 2023. To my surprise, I didn’t pick anything from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but then again, that brand had a lot of good releases in 2023, just nothing exceptional. I considered doing a “Best Toy Line” and that probably would have gone to NECA’s cartoon TMNT line, but I didn’t feel that strongly about it, nor could I come up with a corresponding worst toy line. As for 2024, I’m looking forward to it. I have a ton of stuff preordered with Bandai and its Dragon Ball line including some figures that I’m already eyeing as potential Figure of the Year when 2024 is nearing an end. And then there’s Mondo X-Men that I have preordered and we’ve seen artwork for Rogue and Cyclops so that line figures to expand. As for Mezco, I may have given them top prize for 2023, but I’m not planning on picking up anything from that company in 2024. Their brand is pretty specific and it often doesn’t appeal to me. It will take a perfect marriage of enthusiasm for a brand on my part and their unique talents to get me to buy another one. And while I may scale back my toy buying in 2024, don’t expect to see my reviews vanish anytime soon. There will still be plenty to talk about.
Looking for toy-related posts that are more broad than a single review?
It’s been probably 13 or 14 years since I’ve purchased a Marvel-branded action figure. This is somewhat shocking to me because from the age of 7 to around 25 I spent who knows how much money on Marvel action figures. I was there for the inaugural Toy Biz line of Marvel Superheroes and X-Men…
It’s the first Turtle Tuesday in a little while that I don’t have some new TMNT review to post. Given that, I think it’s time to revisit the rankings I did last year for NECA’s toon line of action figures. This has become NECA’s most popular line, and while it has cooled a bit since…
Wednesday, August 18th, ended up being quite an eventful little day in the world of toy collecting. There were some reveals from major toy companies, leaks, and even those long neglected Street Sharks fans got something to get excited about late in the day. Personally, it was a good day for me too as I…
Remember San Diego Comic Con? That event back in July? Well, it turns out people are still waiting on product tied to that event. It’s become such a huge event in the world of collecting that most companies that attend have some sort of event exclusive to either sell or give-away. The action figure producers of the world all go about distributing those in different ways. Some companies strictly sell product at the event on a first come first serve basis. Others like to make the product available online too for non-attendees. Some setup preorders that ship after the event while others open preorders for a future production run. In short, the whole concept of an “exclusive” is barely hanging on, but no one cares because if a company has a neat figure ticketed for the show then most would like to be able to buy it without going to San Diego.
The Green Ranger is only my second figure from Mezco joining the 1989 edition of Batman.
For Mezco, one of their exclusives this year was the Green Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Mezco opted to sell the figure at the event and also allow fans to preorder one before the event which would ship once the event was concluded. NECA did the same thing and I got their set several weeks back. Mezco took their sweet time though and even though the event ended nearly two months ago, I’m just now getting my Green Ranger I paid for back in June. And that was after it sat in “label created” purgatory for a month in the FedEx app. Speed is clearly not Mezco’s strong suit. This figure, after all, was first unveiled more than 2 years ago. At least with this one Mezco didn’t put it up for preorder and take everyone’s money back in 2021, lord knows it was a long wait for Batman. Making the most popular Power Ranger a convention exclusive though was surprising, but maybe Hasbro limited the distribution. Either way, the figure is out and in people’s hands now and I’m here to tell you if it was worth the wait.
I’m not a huge fan of soft goods costumes on figures, which is why most of what Mezco puts out doesn’t appeal to me, but this figure works with about the only eyesore being this seam on the rear of the figure.
My experience with Mezco is very limited which I detailed in my Batman ’89 review not that long ago. In short, most Mezco figures don’t appeal to me. Their bread and butter is soft goods clothing and most of my interests are taken from animation or comics and soft goods on most superhero bodies just look frumpy and bad, to me. I wouldn’t pay 10 bucks for most Mezco figures, let alone the $95 and up many go for. Where Mezco’s strength lies with me is in live action properties. I got the Batman figure because it was based on a live-action movie and I wanted a figure that looked like it stepped off of the big screen, but at a smaller scale than what Hot Toys provides. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fits that aesthetic very well. Plus, it gets to compete with other versions of the characters released in just plastic. It’s apparently quite challenging to get these simple designs to translate well to plastic making the soft goods approach very intriguing. When Mezco first showed off its render of the Green Ranger, I knew I wanted it because it looked almost perfect. I’m basically a casual fan of MMPR, but I’ll grab a Green Ranger when it’s interesting or otherwise just looks good and I can be happy with just that. Mezco’s offering figured to be the most expensive Green Ranger I’d ever get, but it also looked like a safe bet to be the best.
The Lightning Collection (left) might be closer to true 1:12 scale. The Super7 version (right) is supposed to be 1:10.
The Green Ranger comes in the standard One:12 Collective box with insert tray inside. There’s some artwork on the front of the character which is repeated on the back. There are no product shots and no window, but since it was sold only at a convention where one was on display or online I guess it doesn’t matter. The figure comes covered with bits of plastic to protect the paint and soft goods, but isn’t otherwise held down by anything in the tray which is nice. Once placed on a surface, the figure cuts a pretty nice profile, though Mezco clearly took some liberties with the design. The figure is a little bulkier than the actors who played the character on television as well as taller. I mentioned this in my Batman review, but I find it amusing that an action figure line that lists the scale right in the name seems to play fast and loose when it comes to scale. Jason David Frank (R.I.P.), who played Tommy the Green Ranger in the American broadcast, was only 5’11” but this figure is about 6.5″ making it half an inch too tall. And if you’re thinking maybe Mezco was trying to match the height of the Japanese broadcast, that actor was actually a touch shorter. The scale isn’t really a huge concern for me as this is a one-off in my collection, but it might bother some.
“How dare you exclude The Shredder from the comparison shot?!”
The figure itself is quite impressive in hand. The helmet looks to be pretty spot on to the show, including sculpted seams and belt buckles on the rear. The helmet is a very saturated shade of green with a bit of a matte finish. Some may have preferred a glossy finish, but I really like how this turned out. There’s plenty of gloss on the visor and the painted details like the red diamond and silver dragon teeth are cleanly applied. The only detail it appears to lack are the nostrils for the dragon portion. The Dragon Shield is modeled after the Japanese costume and is painted gold with a slight pearl finish to give it that shine it had on television. The black is cleanly applied in the center and the arm bands match the finish of the shield. The Power Morpher is glued down to the belt and has all of the right details in place. The paint there is terrific, as is the black linework on the belt itself.
It would be great if the suit didn’t have this lined texture, but on a shelf it won’t be as visible.
The soft goods costume is stretchy and feels almost like a nylon material. The texture is a bit off from the show, but that’s going to happen at this scale. It also lacks that silk-like shine the material in the show had, but that would have likely been quite hard to duplicate and on a shelf this is going to look pretty damn good. You do have to accept that there are going to be seams in the costume, but most can be posed away. Where the suit is sewn shut on the rear of the figure’s torso is a bit ugly, but it’s also on the back and should be out of sight. The only real nitpick I have for the appearance is that the green triangles on the gloves and boots don’t quite fill the area carved out for the paint. Aside from that though, the presentation is terrific right down to the zipper placement on the gloves and boots. The white diamonds are present on the shirt portion and they’re printed on. The shield is removable (I have yet to remove mine as it looks like a pain to get back on) as well should you wish to display your Green Ranger without it. The arm bands are floating, but in order to remove them you would likely need to remove the entire glove first and I don’t know if they’re designed to come off.
Mezco went for a different look with the unmasked portrait. I don’t hate it, but I’ll also never use it.
In terms of capturing the Jason David Frank likeness, I might give the edge to Hasbro.
This figure comes loaded with accessories, many of which will feel familiar to those who purchased the Super7 Green Ranger. I suppose that’s because there aren’t a whole lot of obvious accessories for a Green Ranger figure, so companies end up doing the same thing. We do get a non-helmeted head featuring the likeness of the late Jason David Frank from his first appearance on the show when he had long hair held back by a green sweatband. The green is a dingey green and it has some brown paint over it to make it look dirty. He’s sporting a cocky expression that’s at least different from what we’ve seen out of other toy makers, but the likeness isn’t quite there for me. It’s not terrible though and the portrait is well-painted. Even if it was perfect, it’s not something I’d ever use for a display.
He has the required Dragon Dagger and the hands to “play” it, but getting him to pose with it is trickier than I’d like.
It is possible to fake it, but as you can see, the button pressing hand won’t actually be on the dagger. The button pressing hand also doesn’t actually grip the dagger so you can’t just do a one-handed pose with it.
The Green Ranger also comes with an assortment of hands. Out of the box, the figure features fists, but he also has five other sets of hands to choose from: clenching, gripping, trigger finger, open, and a set of flute/Dragon Dagger playing hands where the right hand is posed as if it’s pressing the buttons while the left is a gripping hand with two fingers extended. They obviously pair with the Dragon Dagger which looks fantastic. The little, gold, buttons on it are separate pieces though and I’ve read reports of them popping off for some folks so do be gentle when trying to slot the dagger into one of the hands. It pairs with the included black holster that just clips onto the belt. It has a strap on it that’s designed to come off to allow the dagger to slide in, but it’s really stubborn and took some courage to pry open.
Does the Green Ranger really need a Blade Blaster? No, but I’ll take it.
And it even converts into “pew pew” mode!
If you don’t want to display the black holster on the figure’s hip, there’s also a white holster which is what the other Rangers use to carry their Blade Blaster. The Green Ranger only used a Blade Blaster once, that I can recall, and it was when he was a villain, but Mezco still included one anyway. It’s pretty neat because it actually functions like the one on the show with just one alteration. That means it can convert from pistol to dagger mode and the only cheat is that the blade portion is a separate piece that pegs in. Everyone else who does Power Rangers at this scale or near it just does multiple pieces for the Blade Blaster so it’s pretty cool that Mezco was able to do one that works. The paint is also pretty nice on it. I normally would never consider displaying a Green Ranger with a Blade Blaster, but Mezco did such a nice job that I’m really tempted to.
Did you want the Sword of Power? No? Too bad!
Now that’s the sword you want! And it should probably go without saying, but this version is far better than the Hasbro or Super7 one.
And that’s not all as we have three more weapons to talk about. All three were also included with Super7’s Green Ranger (I bet they’re happy they managed to beat Mezco to market) and they are the Sword of Darkness, the Sword of Power, and the Mega Heater. The Sword of Darkness is the best version of this weapon we’ve ever received. The sculpt is perfect, there’s no bending or warping like there was with the Hasbro version, and the tassel was done with a black wire so it can be posed. The paint is also very nice and, once again, I’ll be really tempted to use it in my display because I just always loved the look of this blade. The Sword of Power is fine, but I don’t like the look of this weapon so it will never see action for me. The Mega Heater also looks like it should and this figure can hold it with both hands. It’s fine, but it’s just not as interesting to me as the other weapons available.
It’s lightning time!
There’s also some bigger lightning.
Blade lolly!
To spruce things up with said weapons are some effect parts. For the Dragon Dagger, we get two, green, lightning effects with one being shorter than the other. They can slot over the blade and add a little drama to your posing. You can also attach them to the clenchy hands, if you wish, which I think he did when he was evil in the show, but I could be mistaken. Both parts are done with translucent, green, plastic and have some bend to them, but they’re not so soft that they can’t hold their shape. There’s also a green wave type of effect that the Dragon Dagger slots into. I don’t recall this from the show and I also don’t think it looks particularly good. It just makes the Dragon Dagger look like an oddly shaped lollypop. Your mileage may vary.
Here we have the little blast.
And here’s the big blast! These things actually make the Mega Heater worth displaying.
For the Blade Blaster and Mega Heater we get some blast effects. They’re done in traparent plastic and painted red. The smallest, and thinnest, of the three is intended for the Blade Blaster when in gun mode. It does not slot in very easily, but I was able to get it in there. These pieces are a bit brittle feeling so you’ll want to be careful not to snap them. There is a little flex towards the end, but not where the peg is. My small one is slightly warped too, but it looks okay in the weapon. The other two blasts are for the Mega Heater. One is long with a more pronounced muzzle flash while the other is shorter and seems to get thicker as it stretches out from the gun. I definitely prefer the longer one, but both definitely enhance the otherwise ho-hum Mega Heater for me to the point where I could talk myself into using it at some point. Lastly, we have the traditional Mezco stand which has three hinges in the armature and ends in a rotating claw. The base is black with the Dragon coin painted on in gold and it looks fine. It also gets the job done for more dramatic poses or serves as a base.
And lets not forget the stand. It can be used as a foot peg stand, or you can attach the armature for something more dynamic.
That’s a whole lot of stuff in the box, but can the figure make much use of it with its articulation? Figures in soft goods are always limited to some degree when it comes to articulation because clothing over plastic is going to be more cumbersome than bare plastic. That’s just a fact. It doesn’t mean the figure needs to be articulated poorly though. The head is on a double-ball peg and it can look up and down a bit with plenty of room for nuance posing. The shoulders are likely just ball-hinged joints that can’t quite come out to a horizontal position. There’s forward and back rotation, but given the soft goods, you probably shouldn’t try to rotate all the way around. There is a biceps swivel and the arm bands slide out of the way easily to access that. Following that is a double-jointed elbow which bends past 90 degrees smoothly. The forearms swivel where the glove meets the arm and the hands are on ball-hinges so they have all of the movement they’ll need.
Did the Green Ranger ever make lightning snap from his hands? I feel like he did.
In the torso, it feels like a ball-joint in the diaphragm area. Tommy can arch back and forward some, though the Dragon Shield will get in the way a bit if it’s on. It also rotates just fine and bends to the side nicely. At the waist, it feels like there may be a twist, but it’s very tight and I don’t want to force it. The hips can go out to the side almost to a full split, but don’t quite hit 90 degrees kicking forward. There’s no range kicking back, but there is a thigh swivel under the clothes. The knees are double-jointed and bend well past 90 degrees and there’s a boot swivel below that. The ankles hinge forward and back an acceptable amount while the ankle rocker is pretty limited rotating in. It actually has more range going out which is a bit odd and not really useful.
If you don’t care about screen accuracy then you can have your Green Ranger play the flute one-handed.
Mezco’s Green Ranger, in some respects, moves better than I expected. The shoulders are a bit finicky, but the rest is all nice and smooth. There’s some trepidation that comes with the design because if that costume rips it’s game over, but it’s very stretchy so it’s not as scary to move as it could be. I probably wouldn’t leave it in too stressful a pose, but most should be fine. Really, the only thing I don’t care for is that this figure still can’t really play the Dragon Dagger. It can get close, and if you force it the dagger can reach the helmet’s lips, but once you stop forcing it the arms will snap back into place. It’s definitely easier to fake it with this figure than it was the others, but for $95 I feel like we shouldn’t have to. The Dragon Shield is pretty stiff and rigid, but it doesn’t appear to be causing any issues. The figure probably just needed a butterfly joint to really be able to pull it off, but Mezco declined to include such.
I bought this with the expectation being that it would be the best Green Ranger figure in this scale out there and I do believe it has delivered on that. I don’t begrudge those who wish to spend less and feel happy with one of these other two though.
That $95 price tag is really the biggest negative about this figure. Especially since most are going to have to pay a shipping charge to get it, unless you happened to get it at San Diego Comic Con. And since the item is waitlisted it may cost even more to acquire at this point. I don’t know if any figure in this scale should cost that much, but at least with this figure I feel like we have the best Green Ranger figure to date. And that goes for larger scales as well. It’s not a perfect 1:1 likeness to what was on television screens in 1993, but it’s 95% of the way there and the only differences seem to exist for the figure’s benefit. He’s not as skinny as he could be, but not jacked like some of the other action figures released. The soft goods give it a close to screen accurate look without the overly sculpted wrinkles and such we’ve seen from Hasbro. All of the little details are there and you’ll be hard pressed to want any additional accessories. Maybe the green candle?
This one is expensive, but damn does it look good.
Mezco’s Green Ranger was a long time coming, but it was worth the wait. If you have the spare coin and a love for Power Rangers, then give this one a look. I think it’s an easier sell when you’re like me and don’t need the whole team because that’s a serious investment. As a one-off splurge, this figure is quite a treat. If you think getting it will tempt you to get the other five then I guess make sure you’re prepared for such an expense.
Interested in more Mezco or perhaps you want more detail on past Green Rangers?
When it comes to the world of more high end action figure collectibles, I’ve been able to get my hands on a few. Some rather prominent companies have yet to cross my path though, and it’s not really for any reason other than they either don’t make what I like or I don’t really like…
We continue to finally offload some long standing preorders this year and up next is Mighty Morphin Power Rangers from Super7. It was June 2021 when these figures were announced to the surprise of many. Why? Because Power Rangers are now owned by Hasbro, probably the biggest toy producer in the world who has its…
In the early days of the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic I found myself filling the social hole in my heart with toys. That has continued, but in the earliest days I went backwards. I grabbed some toys that I had wanted as a kid, but never got, and I talked about them here. One such toy…
When it comes to the world of more high end action figure collectibles, I’ve been able to get my hands on a few. Some rather prominent companies have yet to cross my path though, and it’s not really for any reason other than they either don’t make what I like or I don’t really like what they make. Mezco is more of the latter as their approach to superhero characters with soft goods come out looking like Mego to me. There’s nothing wrong with that aesthetic, if you like it that’s fine, but me personally? Not really. And it’s definitely not something I have any interest in spending upwards of 90 to 100 dollars on. The company seems to have a really dedicated following though so there’s obviously a market for what they do. As for the company itself, I’ve heard mixed things. I’ve read too many horror stories from people trying to get a replacement for a defective product and having their concerns go unanswered. The company is known for its lengthy delays on product with zero communication about where any of it is. And they do the thing that a lot of companies do where they launch something with rendered images and the waiting to actually see what the figure will look like usually lasts until release.
This body takes some getting used to.
The Bat Ass.
Needless to say, I’ve approached the company with some degree of trepidation. I’ve been able to ignore most releases from Mezco because I just don’t like the product, but the one that did catch my eye was their reveal of Batman from the 1989 film of the same name released on this day 34 years ago. The Michael Keaton version of the dark knight has always been a favorite of mine. It fits right in with the theme of this blog as Keaton’s Batman was my introduction to a more grim version of the character. Prior to the Tim Burton-directed film showing up on my television (my family rarely saw films in the theater when I was a kid) my only point of reference for Batman was the Adam West version. No disrespect to Mr. West and his show, which I adore for different reasons, but this Batman was an all together different animal. I had lots of the Toy Biz and Kenner releases that tied-in with that film and its sequel and Batman was a pretty big deal following the release of that film for basically the rest of time. The funny thing with that film though is that most attempts at action figures have failed to “wow” me. I’ve basically disliked them all for one reason or another and the best ones have all been in larger scales that I’d rather not collect. When Mezco showed off their version, it was the first time where I saw that depiction of Batman in a 1:12 scale that I felt matched up the 1:4 or 1:6 scale figures out there. Once I was able to get over the price, I did commit to buying one. And then the wait began. And it went on and on and on….
He moves reasonably well, but there’s a fear element that comes into play every time.
That’s about as far as I dare go with a kick.
Three years! That’s how long it took for this product to go from flashy internet pictures to reality. No excuse has been given as to why it took so long. Mezco would just put up a release window, and when that came and went they’d bump it to the next quarter and we did that dance for years. Did they have issues with the license? Maybe, but a lot of companies have their hands in Batman so that seems unlikely. Was it this new-fangled seamless body they had been working on? Very possible, but it’s not something they haven’t attempted before. Maybe they were forced to time it to the release of The Flash which features Keaton’s Batman? Again, maybe, but probably not from the start. If such a mandate came down it was probably pretty late in the game. Did Mezco have cash issues? I don’t know, but I suppose you can never rule it out. For whatever reason, it took a long time for this figure to get to me. I had honestly given up on ever seeing it. I wasn’t that worried about it since I ordered through Big Bad Toy Store so I didn’t pay upfront. Those who had through Mezco certainly had more to worry about and more to be angry about, at that. They all got their figure a couple of months ago, as they should. I had to wait a little while longer and in the interim I’ve often found myself not really knowing how to feel about this one. I normally avoid reviews of anything I plan to review myself, but my curiosity got the better of me with this release. Now that I have my own figure in-hand, I’m still sorting out my feelings on this one.
The white residue is annoying and seems to have accumulated the most under the arms.
Batman arrives in a plain, but somewhat flashy, box. It’s all black with the film’s logo on it which is honestly how it should be. Inside, the figure and its many accessories are housed on a tray and everything is packaged rather well which is obviously a good thing. If you’re going to charge as much as Mezco does, then you damn well better make sure the product gets to people in good shape. Out of his packaging, Batman stands at right around 6.25″ to the top of his head. Michael Keaton is not an especially tall man meaning this figure isn’t true 1:12 scale, but it’s fine. The film often did its best to try and shoot Keaton from angles that kind of hid how short he is. Low angles and isolated shots were relied on with the one scene that really broke from that being Batman’s run from the Joker with Ms. Vale in tow. And wouldn’t you know, he kind of looks goofy in some of those shots. Mezco took some liberties with his height, but also with the cowl. I may prefer the 1989 movie, but when it comes to costumes I much prefer his look from Batman Returns. Well, the cowl anyway. I could take or leave the armored torso of that film, but the cowl was more stream-lined and appeared to be made of a thinner material. In the first film, it’s more rounded on the sides and quite thick. It did help it to cast more shadows around his mouth and eyes, but at the cost of almost looking squished. Mezco’s take on the cowl strikes me as somewhere in-between the 89 version and the one we see in Returns. And it looks pretty good. I see the Keaton likeness in the opening of the cowl as well as in the eyes. And the details of the suit itself also look pretty nice, save for one thing.
This setup sucks. Big time.
All of that white stuff. Batman is basically coated in powder as part of the shipping process. The body, being seamless, is basically rubber with a metal skeleton underneath it. It’s like a high-end version of those rubber, bendy, figures that were pretty common once upon a time. To prevent it from cracking or sticking to things during transportation, the suit is coated in a powdery substance that looks terrible, but should gradually ware off. Handling this figure is honestly the best thing you can do for it. Some have turned to vinyl coatings and such, but I don’t know if that’s recommended for long-term use. At least I know I’m not willing to try it, but I will concede that I’ve seen some sharp looking results from those who have taken that route. This rubber body does create a disconnect between the hard plastic of the hands and cowl and the rest. It’s more muted and not as dark. It’s also hard not to shake the feeling that the head is a bit oversized for this body. In the movie, it kind of was due to the cowl, but perhaps not to this extent. He’s also not meant to be displayed like this as just a body with a head so I don’t want to be too critical, but it is a $100 action figure so I don’t know that it’s really possible to be too critical.
This is the best I could do with the cape, and as you can, it’s still not flush. I’m not OCD, but this drives me nuts.
It also fits him like a poncho so you’re going to want to take advantage of those wires to pose some of that away.
With a cape added, the figure starts to look more like its big screen counterpart. That is, if you can get the damn thing on. Mezco included two capes with this figure: a wired one and a non-wired one. Both capes are fairly large and feel like a faux leather material on the outside and plush on the inside. There’s a lot of material here that basically covers the entirety of the figure, but it’s quite wide giving Batman a bell shape. This is what I don’t like about soft goods at this scale. They just don’t have the proper weight to behave like a larger cape would. It should, at some point, start to come back towards the body instead of just continuing to fan out. It’s why I much prefer the wired cape as that can be controlled some, but it has its own problems. Both capes affix to a ring under the head and it’s supposed to snap-in to the collar on the figure. The problem is, the squishy body doesn’t provide enough resistance and working it in becomes an extremely frustrating process. Plus, Mezco decided to make the heads connect via a magnet. It’s honestly not a bad idea as this costume prevented Batman from being able to move his head so why bother with a ball joint? The issue this creates though is if you can’t get that cape to snap-in properly, the magnets in the head and body are not strong enough to just hold it in place. There’s a gap that’s left behind and it looks stupid. Part of the problem is the cape is sewn to the ring around its entirety leaving very little room for the chest. There are product shots on the back of the box that are clearly using a different cape because of how it comes out of the bat logo on the chest. There’s just way too much cape here. And even with the wires, the cape is still a chore to maneuver. I’ve seen many people just clip it behind the figure to get that more tapered look, but that hardly seems acceptable to me for a figure in this price range. They also did the same thing Medicom did with its Hush Batman in not using enough wires. Mezco included a wire in basically every other seem rather than all. Why cheap out there?
My pictures aren’t going to do these faces justice, but trust me when I tell you they look great including bloody-faced Batman.
There’s another magnet in the belt which works with the grapnel gun accessories, but unfortunately not the Batarangs.
The rubber body is essentially confined to the torso, hips, and the limbs. It ends just past the elbows on the arms where the gauntlet begins which is a standard, harder, plastic. The same is true at the legs where the body ends just past the knee and the boots are done in plastic. The belt is floaty and also plastic and there isn’t much holding it in place. There’s a groove sculpted into the waist for it, but it’s going to move around constantly. The squishy texture of the body is definitely an unusual sensation with an action figure. It feels more springy than a stress ball, almost like handling a water balloon. The legs and arms have a nice shape though, while the torso is sculpted well from the front. From the side, he loses a bit of shape. Poor Batman has no ass, but at least Mezco gave him some nice, large, shoulders that tape well at the bicep. Someone should show Hasbro that this is how you sculpt a shoulder in relation to the bicep. There is some sculpting on the back and I have to assume it’s accurate to the film. I don’t recall ever seeing Batman’s back without a cape. There’s even a sculpted seam on the rear of the cowl that, again, I’m willing to just concede is accurate to the film as I can’t recall a good shot of the back of Batman’s head.
“Joker’s robbing the bank, better summon the Batmobile!”
“I remember you being a lot bigger.”
Where this figure is going to shine brightest is with the heads. The figure comes with an articulated head which is by far the worst in the set, but even it looks okay. The eyes articulate on it, so they’re very large in relation to the rest giving him a real surprised look. I don’t care for it personally, but I get why Mezco did it as the figure can’t turn his head so this gives people at least some ability to allow Batman to look to his left and right. The neutral head without the eye gimmick is plenty fantastic. The Keaton likeness is damn near perfect and I love how the eyes came out. He looks confident like he’s about to knock some sense into some hoodlums and all of the cowls have this nice, satin, finish to them that really captures the look of the film. The one drawback that’s basically present on every headsculpt is that the Batman logo is not painted as cleanly as it could be. All seem to feature at least a little yellow on the bat logo, and that’s really not excusable at his price range. Especially on a figure with very little paint. The other portraits include one with a slightly open mouth like he’s talking and a battle-damaged one from after he wrecks the Batwing. The mouth is open on it like he’s taunting the Joker with his own catchphrase (“You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?”) and there’s even a touch of scuffing applied to the ridge over his left eye. It looks great and while I think the vast majority of people who get this figure will just stick with the neutral head, these other ones are totally viable for a display as well.
The head with the moving eyes helps a little bit when trying to sell an action pose, but it only goes so far.
I do like the wired accessories to the point where I think I’m going to have to display him with at least one.
That basically concludes the aesthetics portion of this review. Now, considering all of the attention this unique body construction has received, I think we’ll just jump right into articulation. As stated previously, this figure is basically a metal skeleton with rubber coated over it. I expected it to be a bit stiff out of the box, but was surprised at how smoothly it moves, for the most part. Mezco does include a brief instruction sheet with this release that basically cautions against moving any of the joints past 90 degrees. Doing so will risk taring a hole in the body itself and you don’t want to do that to your $100 toy. I wish they had included an image of the body itself without the suit over it as I think it would be helpful to know how the figure is truly constructed. I found that moving the arms out to the side was a piece of cake, but sometimes they don’t really want to rotate forward at the shoulder and I have to assume something is getting in the way. I was able to bring the arm out, and then forward, and that usually worked. For whatever reason, it’s more of an issue with the right shoulder than the left and the hips seem to function the same. Out to the side is no problem and Batman can do some splits, but going forward can be finicky.
He’s also got this big ass thing if you find the grapnel gun too understated.
It also articulates, though it doesn’t have any wired accessories.
In addition to that basic movement, we also get rotation at the biceps, a bend at the elbow, a twist at the glove, and little ball-hinges at the wrists. The legs can rotate a bit at the thigh and bend at the knee. The boots also swivel and at the ankle we get a little range going back, almost nothing forward, and a little bit of range at the ankle rocker. The knees and elbows both have no issue hitting a 90 degree bend. I think they could go further, but I’m not pushing it. There is some rotation at the waist, which Mezco doesn’t draw attention to, and even an ab crunch. Engaging such is kind of scary though, but it appears to work pretty well. It at least allows for some adjustments when posing the figure if you want it to be as tall as possible or maybe rotate a little to work with the accessories. Mezco recommends not leaving the figure in anything extreme for too long. I’m not sure what passes for extreme. Can he be left on the shelf with a bent elbow or his arms out to the side? I don’t know. It doesn’t seem particularly stressful for the arms to be out to the side, but I can totally see a bent elbow perhaps doing so. It feels like there’s enough material over the skeleton to prevent issues of the steel becoming exposed in most places. With this figure, it’s really going to be a case of “time will tell” as what happens if it starts to dry out? Will this body become brittle after awhile and split in places? I don’t know, and I don’t know if Mezco could honestly answer that or not. It’s a risky everyone is taking who purchases this figure.
Remember his bomb? It’s okay if you don’t.
And I think this tiny, little, thing is his smoke bomb.
If you like accessories, Mezco certainly has you covered. Batman is known for an assortment of wonderful toys and we get just about all of them in this set. For starters, he has four sets of hands: fists, gripping, a wider set of gripping hands, a trigger right hand, and a more open left hand. For the tighter gripping hands, he has four Bataranges. They’re sculpted well and have a touch of silver paint at the tips and look like the real deal from the film. He also has a fifth Batarang connected to a thin, bendy, wire for him to use like a grappling hook or an offensive weapon. There’s also a tiny vile of his smoke bomb stuff (at least, I think that’s what it is) which he can hold and he also has the little remote for the Batmobile. There’s a silver shuriken, which I don’t remember at all from the movie, and he has his time bomb which is this little steel-colored gadget. It has a really intricate sculpt and I’m surprised at how far they took it for something that’s largely obscured by the gripping hand.
You also get an action stand, which I think is pretty typical of Mezco releases.
For the trigger hand, we get the grapnel, or spear, gun. Batman can hold it effortlessly and it also features a magnet of its own so that it can attach to the right side of his utility belt. There’s a hook attached to a bendy wire that can also peg into it like it’s being fired or you could extend it entirely. He also has a second hook with no wire. It’s supposed to slot into the end of the gun like it’s loaded, but mine doesn’t seem to fit. I don’t know if it’s defective, but I’ve seen plenty of images of others who got it to work properly. We also get the collapsed version of the grapnel gun. This is what he has attached to his belt in the getaway scene that he has Vicki grab onto. It also can attach via a magnet to his belt and it can accept the bendy wire hook. There’s also that gigantic, double-grapnel hook gun which Batman uses to escape from the museum. It slides over the figure’s forearm and the two firing mechanisms are articulated so it can spread out like it’s going to fire a line to either side. It feels a little delicate, but it looks really cool and it’s well-painted, just be sure to go easy with it. Especially since the gauntlet portion is painted silver and it would be a shame if that rubbed off on the figure. Lastly, Mezco includes a stand that features either a peg for the foot to slot into or you can slot in a transparent arm which is also included. It’s a solid stand and a pretty conventional one at that. The base is the Batman logo, though like the movie poster, it’s a traditional Batman logo and not the one on the figure’s chest with the two added points at the base of the bat. It’s fine, though this figure doesn’t need much help standing and the metal skeleton makes it heavier than a typical figure. It’s also a little strange since Mezco doesn’t recommend leaving the figure in any crazy poses, though if you just want him with his arms out it can work for that. I’m still happy to have it, even if I end up using it for a different figure.
It’s only a matter of time until Batman gets his own “Bat-verse” film or special.
There’s a lot going on with Mezco’s take on this version of Batman. There’s also some baggage too considering the long wait, especially if you were one of those individuals who paid upfront and had Mezco just hanging onto your money with no communication for three years. There are certainly issues with this figure, and some of them should not be. The biggest offender for me is the cape, which is just not well-engineered and poorly designed. It has me considering a third party cape, which is pretty absurd for an action figure in this price range. The seamless body is also something I’m still not entirely sold on. It looks okay, and the white residue is not as bad in person as I thought it would be. I still wonder if it was necessary though. Do we really care if we see joints in our action figures? Plus, with the cape you can hide a lot of that if you want to. It seems to pose okay, but I’m also afraid to pose it. It’s not a fun way to make a toy.
At least we can all feel a little safer now knowing Batman is out there.
At the same time though, the likeness is fantastic. This is the best looking Michael Keaton Batman I’ve seen. I think it rivals the figures in a larger scale. NECA did one in a 1:12 scale a few years back that was okay. It was almost too accurate to the film though and he had kind of a frumpy look. Mezco took some creative licensing with their adaptation and I think the figure benefits from that. It has me really wondering what I would do if they announced a Batman Returns version with the same approach. Would I be down for another one of these seamless bodies? Ehh, it’s a tough call. I know I wouldn’t be if it had the same cape and I definitely wouldn’t pay upfront and order through Mezco. I’m almost left hoping I don’t even have to make that decision. Considering the price of this figure and the unknowns surrounding how this body will hold up long-term, I have a hard time recommending it. I definitely don’t at the current aftermarket/post release price which is around $170-$185. It’s just not worth that kind of money. It’s barely worth considering at the MSRP which was $110, if I’m not mistaken. What it comes down to, for me, is how much you value having a little Michael Keaton on your shelf. If that’s worth a lot to you, then I think you’ll ultimately be satisfied with this figure. Excepting the cape, it looks great and it has a lot of accessories. If you don’t have much of an attachment to the Keaton Batman and you just thought it might be fun to have this version of the character with your other Batmen, then it’s probably a luxury you can do without.
If that’s not enough Batman for you, I have a few more toy reviews you can check out:
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