Batman (Arkham Origins)
Adding to my Batman action figure collection, today I’ll be talking about the version released in the DC Comics Multiverse line by Mattel, for the game Batman: Arkham Origins.
Despite what the name would suggest, the Batman: Arkham Origins game was not the first installment of the series, making the game something of a prequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. Therefore, the costume design for the Arkham Origins Batman had to look more basic than the suits that followed, resulting in the look used for this action figure.
Arkham Origins Batman looks a lot less armored than the Arkham Knight version, but the design is still inspired by the gray and black look from the Batman: Year One comics.
The sculpture is quite detailed, as each panel in the suit is clearly defined and even though there are a lot of smooth surfaces on the costume, the spaces between sections have sculpted textures and both the gauntlets and the greaves have a nice amount of details sculpted in them.
The non-removable cape is made from a thin faux-leather material and is attached at the back to the base of the cowl. Again, the cape was cut rather narrow, but it has the distinctive shapes at the bottom and feels just the right size not to get in the way of the articulation.
Arkham Origins Batman has the following articulation design:
• Barbell mounted neck.
• Pin & disk shoulders.
• Hinged elbows.
• Swivel wrists.
• Swivel waist.
• Pin & hinge hips.
• Lower thigh swivels.
• Hinged knees.
As is the case on most of the figures in this line, the neck joint functions as a simple swivel and neither arms nor legs can bend quite to 90° because of the character design, but the overall articulation still makes for a fun figure; although in this particular case, the gauntlets have a protruding plate at the back that does get in the way of the wrist joints.
The paintjob on my figure is pretty good, with no conspicuous paint errors anywhere. The one little thing that baffled me is that they decided to paint the pupils on the mask in a light blue color that sort of gets lost against the white of the eyes, but then again, this is not a big deal.
Arkham Origins Batman comes with no extra accessories even though his right hand is sculpted with a gripping pose. Again, figures in this scale don’t really suffer from lack of accessories borrowed from other lines, but in the case of Batman here, it is somewhat more difficult to come up with suitable pieces of gear for him to grasp.
I must say that I actually like this Arkham Origins Batman figure better than the Arkham Knight version. There is something about the less angular design and the color palette that I find very attractive, and the Arkham Origins one seems to have a slightly better articulation range.
Errex Score: 85/100
Category: Featured, Other Games, Toy Reviews, Video Games