Batman and the Case of the Busted Shoulder

Earlier this year I reviewed the Play Arts Kai Batman action figure (reviewed here) and loved it. In fact, I loved it so much that I’ve already ordered the black and white exclusive edition that was released at SDCC (mentioned here) and am looking forward to that arriving.

Unfortunately, when I opened the new Armored Batman action figure (last mentioned here) things didn’t go as well as I had hoped. You see, this was going to be a review of the new toy . . . and I was fully expecting to love it. Great sculpt, the paint looks good, and everything was going perfectly until I went to rotate the right arm at the shoulder. And then SNAP and Batman’s arm is no longer connected to his body.

But I am holding out hope that contacting Square Enix North America will lead to a replacement Play Arts Kai Armored Batman. This guy ended up costing about $70 after shipping and it’s going to suck if I cannot get a replacement; but since the toy broke moments after opening the box and posing it I can’t see any reason why the company wouldn’t send me a replacement figure. And maybe directing them at this post will let them see exactly what happened.

What Did Happen?

As I said, while attempting to rotate Batman’s right arm at the shoulder the piece snapped right off. The ball part of the shoulder joint appears to be completely fused in place and the plastic clip holding the arm to the torso snapped as I tried to rotate the arm up. Really frustrating; I know we all hate when a toy has fused joints and are locked in place, but it’s even worse when you can’t even see the joint. That cloak hides everything perfectly, which is great when a toy works but not so cool when something goes wrong.

Looks Awesome

As you can tell by these pics, the Armored Batman looks amazing. I love how the artists armored up the design with heavy plates, a chin guard, and even thicker padding on the arms. As soon as I can get a replacement figure from Square Enix I’ll take a second shot at reviewing this guy, but until then you can enjoy the few photos that I snapped. Everything below this point was taken after the shoulder broke. The shots with Batman’s arm in place below this point were taken with the arm just barely hanging by the small bit of connector that remains attached to the arm.

Fingers Crossed!

So I will sit here and wait in the hopes that someone at Square Enix responds and helps me out. Digging through their site I am not really finding an easy way to contact someone directly so I’m instead starting a thread on their forum and linking to this post. Here’s hoping it all works out! I’ll try to keep you guys updated; I’m sure I’m not the only one who is curious to see how Square Enix’s customer service deals with this sort of problem.