DC Collectibles The New Batman Adventures 02 Two-Face Review

We had a week off from our DC Collectibles animated Batman series.   No fault of my own, they just didn’t ship any new figures last week.  To make up for this egregious mistake we get two figures this week which made this my most expensive comic shop visit of 2014!  Today we get two more members of The New Batman Adventures’ rogues gallery: Two-Face and Mr. Freeze.  I believe that most people given a “Sophie’s Choice” between the two would choose Mr. Freeze, after all that spider-legs form is incredible.  So instead I’ll make a case (hopefully) for why you should trust and believe in Harvey Dent.

I’d be interested to know what considerations go into which version of the character gets made.  I’m much more familiar with the Batman the Animated Series version that had the giant yellow eye and big red lips.  For New Batman Adventures they slimmed him out a bit, turned his eye white, and made his lips black.  The differences are subtle enough that I don’t feel that they really need to go back and release the other version.

So what is my biggest gripe with DC Collectibles?  QUALITY CONTROL!

I took a slight risk with this series going forward.  When I went to my local comic shop to pick up Catwoman I noticed they only had one left on the shelf.  This concerned me because I want to make sure I get one every week.  I ended up having the entire series put on my pull list.  On the plus side this does guarantee me (barring some horrible freak delivery accident) one of each figure on their release date.  What I lose through this agreement is the ability to search out the best quality figure.  I’m pretty much at the comic store’s mercy as far as which figure they pull for me.

The two figures they held for me looked good in the package, so that was a relief.  I’m also glad they pulled them since there were not any Mr. Freezes or Two-Faces left on the pegs.

While Two-Face looks good in the package he did have a few quality control hiccups worth mentioning.  He has two issues with his right (all white) leg.  First being a fairly typical problem where the paint dried around the peg in his knee.  This isn’t a huge problem since I can just heat it up a bit and get it moving.  Even if it is stuck, the articulation does not lend well to him doing many poses besides standing straight up.  So I’m fine if his leg stays straight forever.  The second problem is a little more unfortunate; the back part of his leg isn’t plugged into the hip joint correctly.  What this does is  cause his legs to be uneven lengths, and with his tiny feet it makes him very hard to stand up.  Sure he has a stand, but I’ve never been big into displaying figures on them.

While he has some structural issues the paint is pretty well done.  All of the straight lines are correctly placed with very little slop.  The only problem I have is some slight bleed of the blue skin into his hair.  His face and head look really good otherwise.  I’m pretty impressed with Two-Face’s paint work.

One feature these figures shine on is the accessories.  Two-Face is no exception and comes with some really cool stuff including a character specific stand, gas mask, Tommy Gun, pistol, two canisters, a bag (that actually opens!), four additional hands, and a stopwatch.  In case you were wondering he does technically come with a coin, however it is affixed to an open hand and can not be removed.  The gas mask is BY FAR my favorite accessory.  Optional masks are just exciting and he looks completely bad-ass in it.  It slips right onto his face and stays there snug, so you should have no fear of it slipping off and getting lost forever.  I was also happy to find out that the two canisters can fit inside his bag for easy transport.

I’m four figures into the DC Collectibles animated Batman action figure line.  I’m still feeling good.  I’m aware of the problems and just have to adjust the way I play with them.  While I will agree that I shouldn’t have to be so cautious with an action figure, I make sacrifices for properties I really love.  I think this is the first DC line that really grabs me, so even with the warts I’m willing to endure for the time being.  Although let’s try not to have these double figure weeks any more DCC!  Spending $25 a week to get a new figure feels good.  Spending $50 a week isn’t as fun, I felt like I had to skip my Basically Burgers run after the comic shop since I spent so much.

If you don’t have a local comic shop to go to, Amazon has Two-Face available as well.  You just have to accept the risk that you may get a dud figure … it happens to the best of us.  It is the way of the DCC collector.

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