1/6 Hot Toys-MMS 236-TDK Armory (with Batman, Alfred, and Bruce Wayne Figures)

[LipSmack]

I sit down and have my morning coffee. I log into the Sideshow message boards. I hit several sections. When I get to the DC section, I see numerous Bale Batman threads clustered at the top in succession. Usually, the armory, this thread, is at the top. I check thread, there's usually nothing new. I notice a discussion about "moar" Bale Batman figures despite the fact that this set hasn't even shipped yet, I comment on it. I commentate on what I've seen. I visit the boards for info, to participate, have lolz, review, criticize, have fun, and cry. When it came to this particular discussion, I felt like crying/complaining (if we even want to call it that) about these over eager beavers that can't wait to see more of the same character. That was my choosing. It's a message board, instead of joining in on the "I hope Hot Toys makes a thousandth Begins or TDK Batman", I chose to state that I'm sick of seeing it in this place.

Am I being reasonable?

when you post these essays telling us how much we annoy you, yes.


your right, this set hasnt shipped yet, does that mean we should lock the thread until it does, so poor little difab doesn't have an aneurism during his morning coffee? just dont look in this threads until its shipped I guess

youre more annoying than any post talking about how much bale bats is wanted... go to the marvel section, theres days where the whole first page is Iron man threads... what do we do about it? click over to page 2 and start some discussion on other topics

edit: I know none of this was directed at me personally, so dont read into my use of "us" and "you's"

 

[DiFabio]

PERS on my DX 12 bugged me too, something usually always bugs me on one of the figures I get, even when they're great (DX 13, 66 Batman and Robin have been my latest favorites and even I have a few nitpicks for them). Personally, I thought the DX 12 had a great body, belt and suit but was garbage in every other department. That figure won FOTY from Hot Toys though, so what do I know.

Point is, perfection will never be achieved. I think Batfans at this point would be happier accepting what they have instead of looking or holding out for more. Some don't even have a 1/6 representation of what they love. It's always going to be "well, this one is good but it could be a little better, can't wait for the next release". That's been going on ever since the DX line started. If the numerous releases aren't to someone's liking, there's a good chance they'll never be happy. Let's say the hypothetical "new TDK suit Batman with improved cowl sculpt and realistic eyes" comes out, it'll still be flawed. Same with whatever Begins Batman Hot Toys conjured up. With all the official and custom options available, it's not like it's impossible for someone to get close to their ideal Batman. Look at the wonders people have achieved with the Medicom cowl head + DX 12 body or a little paint and cotton, or a belt swap here are there.

 

[The Clown Prince]

I hear what DiFabio is putting down, no figure will ever be perfect thats why there is always the custom route. I dont mind a re-release if done sparingly and well updated. Figures get traded, sold, broken, or plain missed by collectors all the time and if along the way you can get your mitts on a new one awesome. I do believe that when there is so much focus on the same line, truly new figures will not see the light of day. I wish there was a way to vote on the next project, have a say in what gets produced. That way companies wont just pump items out because they know their popularity will sell, but because the consumers have actually clamored for it. I love the idea of the armory, but Nolan batman has had its due and the armory has been done, Im super excited for Alfred. Alfred is truly new and since no figure comes out 100% like you might want there's the custom route which is why I signed up for Fan's custom work. I cant wait for my Hot toys custom Alfred to join custom Batman dx12, Swat Gordon, Anne Hathaway Selina, and Dream EX my Bat signal (along custom Demon Bats, custom MOS Superman, DX13 Joker, Harley Quinn, custom two face, custom Ras Al Ghul, Iconic Statute Bane and current personal custom Talia)

 

[Pixelpiper]

You're not talking about the Toys Legend Armory having "been done" are you? That's not licensed, so as far as Hot Toys is concerned, and most consumers, the armory has never been done before.

 

[DiFabio]

Thanks Clown Prince. Ironically enough, the proto Hot Toys has been using for this is the Toy Legends one. There are only a few new aspects to it, like the stand it plugs into.

It's fair game though I guess when you consider Toy Legends isn't a license holder and they took a cast of the DX 02 for their armory stand in. Still funny how Hot Toys used an unlicensed set to show off.

 

[Fan]

Thanks Clown Prince. Ironically enough, the proto Hot Toys has been using for this is the Toy Legends one. There are only a few new aspects to it, like the stand it plugs into.

It's fair game though I guess when you consider Toy Legends isn't a license holder and they took a cast of the DX 02 for their armory stand in. Still funny how Hot Toys used an unlicensed set to show off.

Where does that stand? Don't really think so. Was discussed before and the logic conclusion was that if both are accurate on a similar level, both of course have to look pretty similar.

Still there are differences, like the front doors that are much more accurate on Hot Toys official release.
You can see that especially when the doors ar closed, that's not the TL armory in the proto pics:

 

[LipSmack]

Thanks Clown Prince. Ironically enough, the proto Hot Toys has been using for this is the Toy Legends one. There are only a few new aspects to it, like the stand it plugs into.

It's fair game though I guess when you consider Toy Legends isn't a license holder and they took a cast of the DX 02 for their armory stand in. Still funny how Hot Toys used an unlicensed set to show off.

Proof?

 

[DiFabio]

There were photo comparisons months back. They had the same exact finish on the pillars and the inaccuracies with the missing piece in the armory (some one made a diagram of that with the missing pice circles in red). They clearly used it as a stand in atleast. Lets not forget that they had crappy paper taped/glued for the logo on the name plate base and remote as a place holder. This was discussed back in December.

 

[LipSmack]

There were phot comparisons months back. They had the same exact finish on the pillars and the inaccurate with the missing piece in the armory. They clearly used it as a stand in atleast. Lets not forget that they had crappy paper taped/glued for the logo on the name plate base and remote as a place holder.

Did the pictures have lots of little red circles?

 

[Fan]

There were photo comparisons months back. They had the same exact finish on the pillars and the inaccuracies with the missing piece in the armory (some one made a diagram of that with the missing pice circles in red). They clearly used it as a stand in atleast. Lets not forget that they had crappy paper taped/glued for the logo on the name plate base and remote as a place holder. This was discussed back in December.

Weren't these the first proto pictures that Hot Toys released of this?:

(...) Was discussed before and the logic conclusion was that if both are accurate on a similar level, both of course have to look pretty similar.

Still there are differences, like the front doors that are much more accurate on Hot Toys official release.
You can see that especially when the doors ar closed, that's not the TL armory in the proto pics:

After that I only remember the pictures from the Secret Base store and recently from the convention in Tokyo.
Never seen anything from TL that HT used there.

Can imagine they got there hands on a TL armory as well but I can't imagine they'd simply rely on their specs or use it for their own piece's promotion.

 

[DiFabio]

The spec/pics were used in the comparison by a member here. Everyone in December was calling Hot Toys out for taking the Toy Legends set and tweaking it for their shots. I'm not imagining this, I remember being involved in the convo in this very thread.

They both had the same inaccuracies, the same looking weapons/accessories that insert into the walls. Hot Toys simply put it on the pedestal it's on, tweaked the lights, made the cage doors close properly and I *think* messed with the placement of the panels. It's still the same Legends model, as if they got one, modded it (like a lot of collectors did), as a place holder. The paper logos were at a display where the remote was clearly just there as a place holder.

 

[Fan]

The spec/pics were used in the comparison by a member here. Everyone in December was calling Hot Toys out for taking the Toy Legends set and tweaking it for their shots. I'm not imagining this, I remember being involved in the convo in this very thread.

They both had the same inaccuracies, the same looking weapons/accessories that insert into the walls. Hot Toys simply put it on the pedestal it's on, tweaked the lights, made the cage doors close properly and I *think* messed with the placement of the panels. It's still the same Legends model, as if they got one, modded it (like a lot of collectors did), as a place holder. The paper logos were at a display where the remote was clearly just there as a place holder.

Flew over all posts in the thread using the search for TL and all I could find were pointless statements of some convinced HT just modded a TL armory for their proto pictures with no single proof.

If you compare them closely you'll find that there are many many differences in the construction and also many fine differences in the accessories on the back doors (that were also described as "exaclty the same" by some btw ).
Modding a TL version to look like the HT proto would have been a lot more work for HT than to build up their own from scratch.

Again, how much different are both supposed to look compared to each other, considering the fact both were designed to look like a model of the original??

 

[Pixelpiper]

I've never seen any images from Hot Toys where the Armory was a modded Toys Legend version. The first images I saw were press shots, maybe even these here: https://www.sideshowcollectors.com/...nd-Bruce-Wayne-Figures)&p=6410146#post6410146

This is different in every single detail than the Toys Legend product here: https://www.sideshowcollectors.com/...-Dark-Knight-Batman-dioramas-Armory-Tech-Desk

They're both Batman's armory, but they don't appear to share even one square millimeter of material/design in common. To say that one is based on the other is like saying that one company's Batman figure is based on one from another company.

Some obvious things: frame for the doors is a completely different casting. Mesh completely different. Base (not the name tag surround) completely different.

 

[DiFabio]

I'll take your word on it. I just looked at both of them using google and other than the tweaks, it looks like the same thing to me (and others). Same textures, same paint/rusting on the cylinders, same tray layouts in the wall, even the same inaccurate configuration for the paneled sticky bomb gun and bullets (that don't match the actual film prop, guess Hot Toys and Legends had the same reference). It's not unheard of of companies to "borrow" things for mockups, but I digress, I'll leave it to you to be the authoritative on all things Nolan Batman.

 

[Pixelpiper]

Hot Toys:

Toys Legend:

I'm not trying to be insulting, but anyone who says those are the same product should probably collect Mattel and Hasbro instead of Hot Toys.

So I could go on… Hinges completely different. Every screw in completely different place. Casting/piece lines/seams in different places. Weapons are different (design/sizes/proportions). Cut-outs in back storage area positions are different.

Maybe Hot Toys will ship everyone the Toys Legend version, but that's not what they've been showing.

 

[Fan]

I'll take your word on it. I just looked at both of them using google and other than the tweaks, it looks like the same thing to me (and others). Same textures, same paint/rusting on the cylinders, same tray layouts in the wall, even the same inaccurate configuration for the paneled sticky bomb gun and bullets (that don't match the actual film). But I digress, I'll leave it to you to be the authoritative on all things Nolan Batman.

Hey man, no offense. I know I got a good eye for details and you can rely on me when I say these are completely different things, has nothing to do with beeing "the authoritative on all things Nolan Batman" but it sounds great btw.

 

[a-dev]

Duplicated inaccuracies would seem to suggest, unsurprisingly to me, that HT at least copied the unlicensed piece without actually bothering to look at the movie themselves. Granted I say that without any familiarity with this thing or what its supposed to look like.

 

[Fan]

Then they would have copied the wrong front and rear doors as well I think, but they didn't.










Just a quick comparison to point out just a few of the differences.

 

[DarkMagic]

Thanks for those comparison pics. Besides all the detail differences, the HT just overall looks like a more solid and quality build.

Those pics got me wondering about something again...Batman never uses the largest batarang in the movies, does he?

 

[Fan]

No problem. Good question, actually the bigger ones are about the size of the reular Batarangs we know from the HT releases already, so I'm now wondering if the ones he used in the very few movie scenes were about the size of the smaller or of the bigger ones? Will have to check that at some point.