Review – DC Comics Unlimited “Injustice” Batman

As awesome as the online photos of the DC Comics Unlimited “Injustice” Batman* action figure look, the figure is even nicer looking in-hand. Designed to mirror the video game character specs, the action figure is one awesome looking Batman action figure . . . who happens to suffer from an annoying articulation problem.

Sculpt

Starting with the remarkable, the sculpting work on this DC Comics Unlimited “Injustice” Batman* action figure is everything we could ask for. Like some sort of hi-tech blended with medieval armor, the character design bothers some of the Batman purists but (IMO) is a great way to update Batman for a hardcore combat game. Plates of armor over the underlying bodysuit, with everything layered beautifully, all come together to make this one fun design.

And that cape and the way it joins to the body really adds to the look of the figure. The actual sculpt of the cape is fairly neutral — it kinda hangs there and doesn’t have the character we’ve seen in other cape shapes — but I love the way the cape is married to the shoulders and looks as if the armored plates overlap parts of the soft plastic cape. The cape’s really just glued directly over the figure, but the effect is excellent.

Paint

Fortunately, someone behind the video game realized that an all-black costume — while it may sound very cool — is tough in practice since a solid black costume gets lost in shadows and once a character starts moving the details all blur together and vanish. So with the DC Comics Unlimited “Injustice” Batman* action figure we get a Batman wearing a black bodysuit and then covered in silver armor plates, some blue patches, and a gold belt. It’s not your typical Batman color scheme, but I personally love the look and think the silver really helps out that medieval/hi-tech knight look.

And what I really appreciate is that the paintwork is relatively clean and quite nice for a mass market action figure. Check the above pic for a look at how the tight paintwork complements the sculpted details on the figure. As always, you can click those photos to open even larger versions; I hate tiny pics in reviews.

Articulation

The Injustice Batman review at ThEpic Review nicely states my thoughts on this figure’s articulation in one short line:

The articulation is really a mixed bag here and has some major flaws.

You see, the DC Comics Unlimited “Injustice” Batman* action figure almost has the standard DC Universe Classics articulation, but the minor differences mostly eliminate the one big positive difference — the hip joints, while similar in design to DC Universe Classics figures’ hips, hide the ugly quite well — and leave me a bit torn on whether or not the articulation is bad or just adequate.

• Head – It’s either a swivel hinge or one of those dumbbell double ball-joints hiding inside that neck, but since the head doesn’t pop right off I’m not pulling any harder. Either way, the figure’s head gets good side to side and near-zero up and down movement.
  
• Torso – There is no waist swive or ab crunch. Instead, we get an ab swivel. I at first thought it was going to be one of those ball joint-like abs like we see on modern G.I. Joe action figures . . . no, just a swivel.
  
• Arms – Swivel-hinge shoulders, hinge elbows, and what might be ball-jointed wrists. I say “might” because the wrists only swivel on mine, but the review at ThEpic Review calls these ball joints so it’s possible a manufacturing flaw is damaging the range of motion. A bicep swivel or swivel at the elbow would have dramatically improved poseability.
  
• Legs – I already mentioned the hips, and the figure also has hinged knees, hinged ankles, and a swivel just above the knee. The left hip on mine is loose and even the right leg feels a little floppy; this guy needs a stand.
  

  Closing Thoughts

  The DC Comics Unlimited “Injustice” Batman* action figure looks great, with as awesome a sculpt as I could ask for and strong paintwork. But the articulation issues — and the looseness of the legs on my particular toy — bring things down a notch and make this one I’ll say you can skip. The costume is great, but unless you just have to own this particular Batman design I think you can safely spend your money on a different figure.

  Tags: 2013, 6-inch, mattel