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Ver 1 Joker 8.5
out of 10
Pros:
- Great articulation
- Nice accessories (although it could've used a couple more)
- Fantastic clothing
- Great paint application
Cons:
- Good stylized Joker sculpt, but don't expect Heath Ledger
- The velcro is kind of cheap
- Expensive
Bank Robbery Joker 9.5 out of 10
Pros:
- Incredible Heath Ledger Joker likeness
- Lots of accessories (including some that Ver 1 Joker missed
out on)
- Great clothing
- Mask fits the extra head perfectly
- Great paint application
Cons:
- Velcro
- Expensive
Combined Joker/Ultimate Joker 9.8 out of 10
Pros:
- Best Joker you'll ever buy
- So lifelike in person it's scary
Cons:
- Same as Ver 1 Joker since it uses the same clothes.
- VERY expensive
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The Dark Knight Joker, Bank Robbery Joker &
Combined Joker by
Hot Toys
The Dark Knight has been a huge success and
Hot Toys just keeps getting better and better with each new product that
comes out. Luckily for collectors (but not for their wallets) HTs was
able to grab The Dark Knight license and make some beautiful 1/6 scaled
figures which stand 12"s tall. I decided for this review I'll be
reviewing The Joker in his trademark costume first, followed by the Bank
Robbery Joker review and finally the ultimate Joker figure which
requires a simple head swap of the two.
Version 1 Joker
I guess I'll start with the clothing. It just looks awful to see clothes
in 1:1 scale (clothing that fits a real person) on a 1:6 scaled
figurine. This makes the clothes look bulky on the figure. HT Joker's
clothes were sewn with thinner material which solves this problem and
allows for a lot of fine detail. There are pockets, buttons and even
chains for the pants. The gloves and shoes are sculpted, but they look
very convincing as if they were made out of leather. the blue shirt
pattern is very impressive. There are a lot of small details all over.
What isn't impressive however is the velcro used to keep the green vest
together because it is very weak. Another nitpick is the inside of
Joker's purple coat. It's orange in the film, but red on the figure. I
have heard this is due to lack of reference images for the tailor so
this can't be blamed on HTs. Finally, the last nitpick is the tie. It
just looks very cheaply made and some collectors have been exchanging it
with the DCD 13" Joker tie.
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the same time. This allows for some great
poses and if you have any other 12" figures around, you just know you
want to make Joker put a blade to their mouth.
Here's where this very expensive piece of art falls a bit short; the
head sculpt. Now, this isn't a bad looking head because it does have a
Joker vibe to it, however, it just doesn't look much like Heath Ledger
at all. Like the coat, I've heard this is due to lack of reference pics
as well. The face has a lot of details including wrinkles and texture
for the skin and, of course, Joker's scars. It is also very well
painted. You can tell there is face paint over his skin and it doesn't
just look like a guy with a white face. I can imagine long wavy hair
being hard to sculpt, but HTs has done a great job with the hair.
Joker comes with 14 Joker cards and each individual card has it's own
unique design straight from the film. Also included is a bunch of
American bills with Joker graffiti over the President's face. He also
comes with the stiletto knife used throughout the film and there is even
a sliding switch which can be use to reveal or conceal the blade. There
are extra set of hands that are interchangeable for holding different
accessories. The pegs that attach the hands to the wrists are very thin,
so I suggest heating the wrist up a bit with a hair dryer before
switching. This helps preventing the pegs from snapping. Lastly, he
comes with one of those crotch stands for support with a Dark Knight
emblem on the base as well as a nameplate.
Bank Robbery Joker
Like Ver 1 Joker, this Joker sports some very impressive clothing. It
doesn't look too fat or bulky on HT's True Type body. There are some
very nice looking patterns on his shirt and the shoes and gloves look
very nice. I haven't really compared pictures to the bank robbery in the
movie, but I'm sure there would be very few nitpicks. If I had to think
of one, looking over the pictures I took, the velcro on the BR Joker's
shirt is weak just like the velcro on the vest of Ver 1 Joker.
 Again,
BR Joker uses the same True Type Body as most HT figures do. One thing I
did not mention above is that they are very well proportioned. Being
used to 6" articulated figures like the Street Fighter or Marvel Legends
line, I couldn't believe the difference when I got my first True Types.
Nothing else that I own beats it.
Unlike the Ver 1 Joker, the BR Joker really shines in the head sculpt.
It was beautifully sculpted by the very talented Yulli at Hot Toys. She
just keeps getting better and better. Search up pictures of HT's Harvey
Dent if you need more proof. This is the best piece of official Joker
merchandise you can buy with the best Heath Ledger likeness. The paint
application is great and so is the detail. Better yet, BR Joker comes
with an extra head sculpt with slicked back hair for the Bank Robbery
mask.
Bank robbery Joker comes with the same bills and cards as Ver 1 Joker,
but he also comes with a handgun, the MK760 (both have removable clips),
a blue luggage bag which can carry 4 grenades and 3 smoke grenades.
There are also extra sets of hands for holding different accessories.
Like I already mentioned, he comes with clown mask and it fits perfectly
on the slicked backed hair head. Finally, he comes with the same type of
display stand as Ver 1 Joker.
My only complaint about BR Joker is that some of them have the neck
glued to the neck post. It still has a full range of poses since the
articulation comes from the neck post itself, but this makes it a pain
in the ass to swap heads. A lot of work is required if you want to get
that head off. What I did was take off the jacket and shirt, boiled some
water, placed the figure into the pot head first (Make sure the figure
doesn't touch the bottom of the pot because you don't want pressure
which could warp the figure) and heated up the neck post until it was
easy enough to pull it off the figure. Ver 1 Joker's head comes off the
post easily enough, but I had to boil him up too to remove his neck
post, as well to switch it with the BR body to create the ultimate
Joker.
The Ultimate Joker Figure
A lot of Joker fanatics (including myself) were willing to shell out
extra cash to get both Jokers to create the ultimate Joker. What most
people do is remove the default hair down head of BR Joker and place it
on the Ver 1 Joker body. This is the best looking figure I've ever
owned. It's a true work of art. Due to the way the neck was sculpted,
Joker even has a hunch and I couldn't ask for anything more (except for
maybe a price drop in future HT figures). Finally, one of the best
scenes of the movie was when Joker was tempting Batman to break his code
after the chase. In this scene, Joker was using the MK760 and if you
have the BR Joker, you can equip the Ver 1/Ultimate Joker with the MK
like the way it should be. You can also equip this Joker with BR's
handgun.
If I had one big complaint about TDK Hot Toys, it's that they make
everything else in my collection look like crap. This includes cold
casts statues, pvc statues and a polystone statue. If you're a collector
and a Joker fan, forget about any other collectible and be willing to
shell out the cash for these. You still may find him in stock at some
online retailers, but if you can't then there's always eBay, but don't
wait in case prices start to sky rocket.
- J'Tonello
(January 28, 2009)
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