Roy's Toys Shelf
The Mini Directory Home     News Reviews     The List NYTS     Links Dictionary   Gallery
				New Reviews
Dark Knight Detective Batman- Batman, Legends of the Dark Knight, Hasbro Meat and Potatoes; 4.9 Perks; 5.0 Homer Factor;5.0
						Description; Batman as he should be; black and bad to the bone. The figure is approximately 7" tall and has a sculpt influenced by Kelly Jones; voluminous cape even Spawn could envy and long, pointy ears.  The sculpt is very detailed, capturing the Dark Knight's musculature, without over doing it, like the Total Justice pieces.  The figure is jet black, accept for gold hi-lights of the utility belt and the bat-symbol on the chest. The figures comes with a very large batarang and the huge cape is removable.
	AT LAST... a Batman figure the way it's SUPPOSED to be.  For years, toy-fans have been bludgeoned with Batman figures with more gadgets then Q could shake a slide-rule at.  Net-launching this, missile-firing that.  Oh, the humanity!!!!  Granted, there were some gems in there, but over all, it was gimmicks galore.  This is ironic since over the Caped Crusader has avoided gimmicks and stuck with basic tools and using his ability to improvise to find weapons.  Well, Hasbro finally got the hint and released Dark Knight Detective BAtman as part of the Legends of the Dark Knight line.  Bad news, this was the LAST of the series, and the figures over all were very well done, such as the Clayface figure.  Although it's the end of the line, what a way to end it.  The meat and potatoes of the figure are terrific.  The sculpt is awesome on this piece; the wonderful snarl on the face, the Kelly Jones ears and musculature, and the cape doesn't simply drape over the figure, it seems to have a life of it own.  The over all effect is to reinforce the Dark Avenger of the Night feel.  The painting on the piece is also perfect; no more grey and blue, but simple black with gold hi-lights.  The articulation... well, nothing's perfect.  Like most Hasbro figures, the articulation is nothing to write home about; shoulders, hips, neck... and that's it.  The perks aren't extensive, but fitting for the figure.  Bat's comes with a cape which is very large and envelopes the figure, adding to the piece's threatening appearance.   A nice added touch is the cape is removable.  He also comes with a large batarang/fighting-rang some such thingy that he carries in his right hand to fight with.  Unfortunately, that's it.  Granted, there's only so much you can do with Batman before we go into the realm of the corny.  However, maybe a bat-shaped stand would have been a nice addition. Homer factor?   Finally; no more cheap gimmicks and lame constumes, no more blue and purpelish-grey nastiness.  Just a Batman figure in basic, menacing, powerful black. So after years, and years, and years, and years of bizarre figures, Hasbro finally fit a home-run with this piece, even if it isn't perfect.  Alas, just when they finally got it RIGHT, this series came to an end.