I find it funny how people complain in this section so much about never getting anything Burton Batman related yet the last couple releases (Mime Joker and the Batman/Bruce Wayne two pack) they've done have gotten tepid reactions. Those figures were pretty good releases overall other than maybe the Keaton sculpt could have been better on the Wayne fig but it wasn't terrible and yet people seemingly are indifferent to those releases. I get that people want Penguin and Catwoman but Bob is still a cool potential release in my opinion. He's always been a fan favorite and has a cool look in my opinion.
The reaction to those figures is funny because they're almost like polar opposites in why the reactions were, as you said, so "tepid." Mime Joker is fantastic, quality wise, and I'd argue that it's possibly an even better Nicholson likeness than the DX 08, but it's such a obscure choice for a figure. It's a great look and an incredibly unique looking figure, but when you have so many other sought after looks to choose from (Museum Joker, Mob Joker, Forst Appearance, etc.) I think a lot of people were left a little puzzled by it, and, because it is such a niche choice for a figure, that reaction is to be expected. On the flip side, there's the Returns Batman, and I feel like a lot of things contributed to the mediocre response to that figure, Hot Toys, themselves, being just one of those factors.
Unlike the Mime Joker, Returns Batman was not a niche choice, and a lot of people clamored for it...and clamored for it...and clamored for it...and clamored for it...and waited for it...and waited for it...and waited for it...and waited for it...and wondered if it was cancelled...and some even gave up on it, altogether. Unlike the Mime Joker, though, I think the mediocre reaction to it has a lot to do with the fact that it's just a mediocre figure. I think the DX 09 left a particularly high bar they needed to reach, and I think that the amount of time that passed only continued to raise those expectations, and then, suddenly, the wait is over and the figure they're looking just doesn't meet those expectations. You get a Bruce Wayne head that's one of their most mediocre, generic likenesses ever, a bunch of faceplates that, while featuring a great likeness, seem like modified versions of the existing ones, and a lack of the glider. Now, most of that doesn't sound all that bad, and it may have even had a great reception, had it not taken 4 ****ing years, but, simply put, what came out was not worth the wait.
