238 Police Shootout T-800 is a ****ing embarrassment when you consider it was coming off the heels of the superior Tech Noir and DX 13. I'm positive that it was originally intended to be a DX figure before that line went caput. All the signs are there. Multiple heads, moveable eyes, the base, etc. What we ended up getting though was just a half assed figure through and through. That smaller, out of scale, pipsqueak body is awful. The only improvement that body offers are the double jointed elbows, something every T-800 should have to begin with. That super tanned skin tone ruined the heads for me. What could have been a stand out character with super pale skin from blood loss and disease turned out to be another generic looking, idealized version of what Hot Toys considers to be "Caucasian". The biggest offender are no alternate clothing options. I don't know what they were thinking here. I love that grey shirt with the proper line design on it. It pisses me off that not only did they not give a second shirt without holes and blood (it should have been standard) but they went out of their way to put blood stains on the back so you couldn't flip it around. It reeks of cutting corners and not thinking. I was looking forward to this figure for years, it had to have been my most anticipated. After all that fuss of, "please Hot Toys, make a Police shootout version to go with the Tech Noir", I opened it up and got the biggest sense of mediocrity I've ever experienced with a doll. I can see why it lingered for so long and went on sale.
Die Cast Robocop. I love mostly everything about it like the sculpt, the faceplates (best faces they've ever done for a masked character imo), the weight of it, the articulation, the sound effects, the alternate chest plate and helmet. There's just three problems. The colors, or lack thereof, suck. The prototype paint job was gorgeous and looked like he just walked off the screen. What we got looked like a dull, unfinished prototype at best. That silver/grey look was a huge disappointment, the biggest case of bait and switch I've ever experienced with something so expensive. I can't believe they approved that. The other thing that's disappointing about it, and again, this goes back to cost cutting I believe, is the materials they used for it. Why they insisted using rubber overlays for the knees and elbows is beyond me. Like ED-209's rubber dome, it just feels like a slap in the face, like Hot Toys is goading us. It didn't need rubber anything and yet they still persisted. The biggest offense though is that ****ing cheap clear plastic they use. I first discovered it with the Toy Fairs Begins Batman which used the same crap for the ankles inside the boots. It deteriorates over time and cracks with ease. Where did Hot Toys decide to utilize this on Robocop? In the ball jointed shoulders of course! It's just so stupid. I'm not looking forward to the day where I go to check on mine and the shoulders can't fit back onto the arm any more. For $300 ($400+ if you were crazy enough to get the chair without a discount), it should have had the best paint job and made of the best plastics possible. No excuse.
Toy Fairs Batman Begins. One of the worst figures they've done, by far. Instead of putting some effort into their 5th attempt at a Bale Batman, they decided to just go with a repaint and an awful, cheap ass one at that. The rubber suit flakes because they painted it making it look like garbage. The ankles break and it can't stand because of the clear plastic they use. Even the replacement boots they offered deteriorated over time. The Wayne headsculpt was a huge downgrade from the prototype. The cape they made is probably the worst cape I've ever seen on a toy, period. The clasp system they used for it was also crap. Keep in mind, this came out at a time when Hot Toys figures were $180-190. This ****ing figure was an unprecedented $224 and wasn't even an improvement over it's $140, 2008 counterpart (the Original Costume Batman). It's definitely one of their worst of all time. Broken joints right out of the box, an ugly, reused suit and a hideous cape. I sold the ones I had pretty early on and got major bucks out of them, so I can't really complain. Instead of having more $$$ in my pocket, it would have been nice to have had a great 1/6 Begins Batman on my shelf instead.
DX 10 T-800. That headsculpt on the prototype was bad so expectations were already really low. He looked dead and bloated in what had to have been the worst specs pics for a Hot Toys figure I've ever seen. The final product wasn't much better. The accessories, weapons and body are super nice and I loved the idea of having the garage surgery scene additions to it, but the PERS eyes, hair panel, and the silver back gorilla head shape and face killed the figure for me. He looks okay with the sunglasses, but that wasn't even the point of this version. The appeal was the scalped head and Cyberdyne aspects of the figure, which they totally botched. As far as looks go, he doesn't fit with the older, more dated MMS 117 T-800, Sarah Connor, and T-1000 and he definitely doesn't fit in with the more modern DX 13 Arnold (their best T2 and Terminator figure to date). The eyes and head are what kills it. PERS and DX in general are usually the death knell for most of the figures in the line, with a few exceptions. I think it would have been better off as a standard figure, maybe with two heads with different expressions and painted eyes veering off to the right giving that classic Arnold glare. Thankfully, the greatness of the DX 13 made me forget all about my hang ups with it. It just sucks that we don't have a clean, regular Uncle Bob of that same quality. You either have the sad frog man or the suntanning gorilla with crazy eyes.
DX 14 Mime Joker. Not a bad figure per se, it has one of the best likenesses and looks terrific on the shelf. It's just a disappointing release with it's cardboard backdrop, top hat and pen quills. Hot Toys hyped up the fact that they spent major $$$ on getting Jack Nicholson's likeness rights that they alone had . . . only to do one release and a plain one at that. Prior to this figure, in a catalog they mentioned doing a bunch of different versions and teased the Mob gangster look. Instead of getting a release like the Mob or Museum Jack that could come with and a **** load of accessories and unique portraits that weren't the white skinned, ruby lipped, green haired clowns, we got a generic, barebones mime with a cardboard display. It's a nice figure, that nobody really wanted. It's the kind of version that should be the last one they'd put out after exhausting all the better looks . . . oh wait. Sadly the disappointment doesn't end there. They dreamed big hyping up the likeness rights and boasting that they were going to do all these versions, but it appears the Mime Joker is not only the last Hot Toys Nicholson collectible we'll see, but the last Nicholson collectible ever. Hot Toys was the only game in down and they squandered the **** out of it in typical Hot Toys fashion.
Batman Returns Batman, personally my biggest disappointment. Hot Toys announced the license in 2011, no doubt capitalizing off the fame and hype for DX 09 Batman, DX 08 Joker and the Batmobile. They told us to expect Batman and Penguin by December 2012 and even announced that they would be doing Quarter scale figures based on the film. The anticipation was there, then for years it just went off the radar. Everyone kept asking about it on message boards and facebook and Hot Toys just ignored the demand while acting like they didn't even announce and tease it. It took like 5 years to just get Batman in hand, the shame of it is, it's average at best. If the final product they ended up delivering came out back in 2012, I'm sure it would have been acceptable. After waiting years though? Nah, it's a huge disappointment. I remember we were all thrilled when it was finally shown at SDCC in 2014. I think it was Biojex who snapped pics of it against Sideshow's will. It planted this anticipation in my head that it was going to be great because that proto, sans accessories, looked gorgeous. The downside to it however was that it would still be another YEAR until specs pics and preorders went up. The wait and hype for it was ridiculous. It made everyone ponder what it would come with and what it would be that, when the final product came out, it didn't meet any expectations. Everyone assumed this was DX 15, and I'm sure at one point it was at some point. So there was an expectation there. Ironically this figure was the death of DX, for better or worse. What we ended up getting was mediocre. The Bruce Wayne head is awful, the likeness to Keaton isn't even there. It's got to be one of the worst likenesses they've ever done. Keep in mind, JC Hong posted pics of a prototype head paint master that looked awesome so it stung even worse. Also, if you want that torn cowl for that iconic look where he unmasks, you have to buy a stupid bonus set with a generic tuxedo look that most people didn't want. There's no glider, something everyone expected. The faceplate options SUCK. They range from neutral, to goofy, to even goofier. There were great expressions in the movie of Batman being pissed to sadistically grinning, but nope, all we got were generic, unusable faces that jut out of the cowl and look ridiculous. Biggest offense is the ****ing articulation. They had 4 years to improve on the DX 09 Batman's 1989 body and suit, but the only improvements are the cape and ratchet joints. For the Returns Batman they somehow went backwards. His arm movement is fine, but from the torso down? He's literally a statue. The DX 09 could move out it's legs, do some wide stances, and had that great ankle articulation in the boot that the Reeve Superman had. The Returns Batman? You get legs that can't even move and a solid plastic boot design that can't even articulate. To top it off, like Robocop and Begins Batman, it utilizes that cheapo clear plastic for the ankle socket that's already breaking down. To it's credit though, it does have a fantastic sculpt that is sharp and gorgeous. That Batman cowl and head is probably the best looking Hot Toys Batman sculpt they've ever done, granted you keep the neutral face plate in it. It's the only Batman that doesn't look like a goofy ****er. I'd get killed in the Hot Toys BvS - Batman thread for this, but that cowl and face look just as bad as their DX attempts of googly eyed, mouth agaped Bale. Affleck looks all mousy, the faceplates are too small and ill-fitting and his head and attached paper cape are floating above his shoulders. The Returns head is all sleek and well done in comparison to the rest of the figure. Assuming it was in development for 4 years (I doubt it, Hot Toys probably finished it back in 2012 and put it on the back burner), it's a disappointment. Like Police Shootout T-800, Alien Ripley, etc. we know they're capable of better. When you pair that up with the fact that we'll NEVER see a 1/6 Penguin and/or Catwoman to accompany him, it burns even more.
Gonna read that again.
