Hot Toys Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Batman figure review

For all those who hated Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, I highly recommend the Ultimate Edition version. I was a big fan of that extended edition. In both the theatrical and longer form, I loved Ben Affleck’s different, yet familiar take on Batman. While I missed the Hot Toys Dark Knight figures, I was determined to finally add a Hot Toys Batman in my collection. Let’s see if I made the right choice with this one.

Packaging:  I really like this packaging. There’s an embossed seal of the bat logo with various portraits of Batman. The package framing is set up in a subtle manner to convey the Bat signal. With this package, the black and grey is fitting the Dark Knight. This package opens up slightly different than most Hot Toys offerings with a slanted setup. There’s an inner lining with another Batman portrait — this time of the figure.

Lifting that inner lining reveals an almost intimidating setup with a slew of accessories and the figure. Before you start digging in, I definitely recommend giving the instructions a careful read to understand the articulation limits and restrictions.

Likeness:  Hot Toys has a tricky task here in trying to convey Affleck’s likeness with only the cowl opening section. Not that I’m an expert on Affleck chin, but I’m impressed with the execution here. Lately, a lot of Hot Toys head sculpts have been lacking, but the Hot Toys Batman made its way from prototype to my shelf without any changes.

Scale:  Batman marks my first Hot Toys DC figure so I don’t have anyone to compare him with scale-wise. Affleck is three inches taller than Superman star Henry Cavill making for a weird visual. I’ll have to do a comparison when I finally get the Justice League Superman even though my hopes for a non-bitter beer face Superman still goes unrealized.

MORE:

• What was Ric Flair’s best year in wrestling?
• Six actresses who would be the perfect Wonder Woman
• Legends of Tomorrow Season 3 – who should leave the team and who should join up
• Game of Thrones: The Dragon and the Wolf review S7 Ep7

Paint:  There’s not a lot of paint since the bulk of the figure is covered in the suit save the mask opening. What’s there might be minimal, but it’s impressive. Hot Toys does outstanding work on stubble creating a nice effect to really sell the lack of shaving. But it’s the teeth that are really impressive as they have a real sheen like enamel.

Uniform:  When we got our first look at the Hot Toys Batman, there was a lot of concern about the bulkiness of the suit. The outcry was enough that Hot Toys revamped the fit to better accommodate Affleck’s physique. I’m glad they took the extra effort to get it right as it looks great.

I love the texturing of the outfit. It offers a realistic look of a protective suit. The scratches along the body suit add another level of detailing. Check out the utility belt, which sports some nice gold accents to convey a metallic appearance.

The cape is the one aspect that was a little frustrating. It kept riding up along the shoulders and lacked the poseability to make some iconic Batman poses, like deflecting bullets with it. Batman didn’t do a lot of that in BvS, but it seems a missed opportunity.

It also hands odd in the sense that it bunches in the middle and doesn’t flow onto the ground fully. I do like the dirty bottom section of the cape as the train would collect a ton of grime and filth. The Suicide Squad figure features a more dynamic cape so that might be worth tracking down if you’re interested.

Articulation: Batman has much more flexibility than I assumed from looking at him. The cowl/cape setup is done in a way that you can only move so far to the right and left before it looks weird. The suit restricts more dynamic leaping punch poses, but overall, Batman has a reasonable amount of articulation beyond museum posing.

Batman has:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders
• elbow
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• torso
• waist
• hip
• knee
• ankle

Accessories:  As usual, Hot Toys goes above and beyond on the accessory count. Batman has a ton of necessary accessories.

One (1) Batman head with three (3) interchangeable eyepieces and three (3) interchangeable lower part of faces capturing Affleck’s facial expressions

I like the display options available from this and there’s less stress than swapping out heads. I didn’t bother with the eyepiece swaps as I liked the original piece, but the face plates were a lot of fun. I imagine I’ll switch them out often.

There’s eight hands: one set of fists, one set of relaxed palms, weapon holding palms, right hand for Batarang clutching and right hand for branding iron holding. If you position them right, Batman can hold three Batarangs in that hand.

Additionally, there’s a grapple gun with various tips. I liked this feature a lot more than I assumed originally. This definitely increases posing/display options.

Batman also comes with a grenade gun, four Batarangs, a Batman symbol branding iron and BvS figure stand. I didn’t have much use for the stand since the cape isn’t dynamic. But the bat actually lifts up providing a cool looking base.

He also comes with the exclusive sniper rifle. This was from the scene where Batman planted the tracker onto the LexCorp cargo truck. You can pose it pretty well although you can’t get him in an aiming position. The rifle features spring loaded stands and is a really nice add-on.

Worth it? At $235, Batman clocked in more than the standard Hot Toys figure, which was surprising considering the lack of light-up feature.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Where to get it?  He’s long sold out at retailers so you’re going to have to try the secondary market via resellers on Amazon.com or eBay. Or you can hold out and wait for the Justice League version.

Pre-Order: Justice League DC Comics Batman Tactical Batsuit Version DC Comics Sixth Scale Figure