Hot Toys The Dark Knight Joker DX/Artisan 1/6 Scale Figure

[Raleig.h]

I just don’t think I could ever like InArts Joker at this point. At least speaking for the sculpted, the kelpy hair, giant head, terrible eyes, the bunchy wrinkled bathrobe of a coat, and the magnets that fallout constantly or were glued in the wrong way, are all giant detractors to me. The head and the coat are the key features for Ledger, and I fear InArt fell flat on both accounts. Everything else is nice though.

 

[HyperDrive]

I just don’t think I could ever like InArts Joker at this point. At least speaking for the sculpted, the kelpy hair, giant head, terrible eyes, the bunchy wrinkled bathrobe of a coat, and the magnets that fallout constantly or were glued in the wrong way, are all giant detractors to me. The head and the coat are the key features for Ledger, and I fear InArt fell flat on both accounts. Everything else is nice though.

Needed to apply heat and pull away the hair strands on sculpted Joker to make it look good, just like they recommended. Only a few people ever did that.

I agree, the stock eyes are horrid and because of that, he just looks stupid. But they were an easy fix if you converted to separate rolling eyes. No more derpiness.

I plan on seeing what the HT bathrobe coat looks on the INART. It’s the only outfit item that registers better to me in terms of its color and shaping of the lapels and whatnot despite the oversized buttons. I noticed everyone always kept the stock IA coat way too close together which made him look like he just walked off with a coat off the rack vs it being worn in. Another reason why most IA Jokers we see look dumb as heck.

 

[Wor-Gar]

I just don’t think I could ever like InArts Joker at this point. At least speaking for the sculpted, the kelpy hair, giant head, terrible eyes, the bunchy wrinkled bathrobe of a coat, and the magnets that fallout constantly or were glued in the wrong way, are all giant detractors to me. The head and the coat are the key features for Ledger, and I fear InArt fell flat on both accounts. Everything else is nice though.

How far we've come in 2 years.

 

[intothevoid]

No, I get it. And, like, I understand that without the Lu1yo sculpt DiostaR was talking about, we wouldn’t even have this one, but, like, you’ve always been onboard the customs bandwagon for as long as I’ve known you and I commend it. Those three sculpts posted a few pages back are incredible and I envy the people who own them, but, at some point, it’s like “the thing literally just came out, they aren’t revisiting it for another 2 to 3 years tops, probably, so, like, what’s the point in fixating on the few things that are wrong as opposed to the 80-90% that’s vastly improved over the 10-20% that aren’t right now?”

Sometimes it reads like “yeah, you plebs may be happy with your ******, mass produced $500 Hollywood Boulevard Joker impersonator and his lion’s mane of hair, but you will never know the luxurious reality of non-3D printed, hand painted make-up smears and authentic male pattern baldness!”

Nah, you're reading too much into it bud. I myself have not spent a penny on any 1/6 stuff for over a decade at this point. I 'retired' but recently all this wave of redos and renewed competition has made the hobby (and the TDK trilogy line, which I solely collect) interesting again, and it's primarily driven by the custom game levelling up to the point where the licensed versions needed to pull their pants up too. Now i'm just waiting things out and seeing where the dust settles so to speak until the next 'wave', and that's where i'll make my move.

As for the dot, it really is a QC thing and the rest of the pics i've seen the dot is in the perfectly right place

 

[Wor-Gar]

As for the dot, it really is a QC thing and the rest of the pics i've seen the dot is in the perfectly right place

what is this mysterious dot?

Misplaced paint? Robotic malfunction? Is it just a Group-OCD thing?

 

[batfan08]

Nah, you're reading too much into it bud. I myself have not spent a penny on any 1/6 stuff for over a decade at this point. I 'retired' but recently all this wave of redos and renewed competition has made the hobby (and the TDK trilogy line, which I solely collect) interesting again, and it's primarily driven by the custom game levelling up to the point where the licensed versions needed to pull their pants up too. Now i'm just waiting things out and seeing where the dust settles so to speak until the next 'wave', and that's where i'll make my move.

As for the dot, it really is a QC thing and the rest of the pics i've seen the dot is in the perfectly right place

Honestly, that’s valid and yeah, I kind of came to that conclusion on my own (hence the deleting the post). I always remember being really impressed by your lmaresqd1 stuff back in the day, so, I kind of assumed you had already partaken in all those custom sculpts I pointed to a few pages back. I think I tend to just view this stuff in the macro sense where I’m putting this up against the DX 01 I remember from over a decade ago and I’m…amazed by the leaps and bounds that have been made. Did you ever think we’d see semi-mass produced rooted hair in an official capacity from any of these companies? I never did.

 

[webhead05]

FWIW, I've got no problem with folks pushing for greater accuracy because it's absolutely true that that's how the hobby moves forward. My contention, however, is that in pursuit of perfection, we often lose perspective. Anyone saying that InArt or the DX32/33 are bad, unimpressive, etc. are taking criticism a step too far, IMO. Whatever else they may be, these are damn good figures, point blank.

 

[DiostaR]

No hard feelings @batfan08, you misinterpreted my posts, I was really just pointing out an issue with that specific sculpt and it was my only post about it.

Some of the custom collectors might be like that, but i'm not.
You can ask all the people that know me, I'm all about love and respect. I'm still the same collector I was before getting into custom and I'll stay like that.

I know where I come from.

 

[Raleig.h]

Needed to apply heat and pull away the hair strands on sculpted Joker to make it look good, just like they recommended. Only a few people ever did that.

I agree, the stock eyes are horrid and because of that, he just looks stupid. But they were an easy fix if you converted to separate rolling eyes. No more derpiness.

I plan on seeing what the HT bathrobe coat looks on the INART. It’s the only outfit item that registers better to me in terms of its color and shaping of the lapels and whatnot despite the oversized buttons. I noticed everyone always kept the stock IA coat way too close together which made him look like he just walked off with a coat off the rack vs it being worn in. Another reason why most IA Jokers we see look dumb as heck.

The issue is, I applied heat to the hair, and converted the eyes to SERS. Still not satisfied.

I am a stickler for details and getting everything looking right. I tried every method, the only thing I stopped at, was removing the grenade rig, which I think does help.

 

[DiostaR]

what is this mysterious dot?

Misplaced paint? Robotic malfunction? Is it just a Group-OCD thing?

You know the little red dot of lipstick the Joker has on his cheek in the mob scene ? Well on Dean's copy they misplaced it and it doesn't look that good. Probably a QC issue as on the other copies it's fine.

 

[Raleig.h]

This is probably the happiest I had ever been with my InArt Joker. I had the coat pushed all the way up to give the shoulders some more structure.

I would’ve liked the head to be up a bit more, but due to InArts weak neck peg, the hair pushing up against the layers of clothing, and just the weak neck joint, the head won’t go any higher than this for me.

 

[HyperDrive]

This is probably the happiest I had ever been with my InArt Joker. I had the coat pushed all the way up to give the shoulders some more structure.

I would’ve liked the head to be up a bit more, but due to InArts weak neck peg, the hair pushing up against the layers of clothing, and just the weak neck joint, the head won’t go any higher than this for me.
View attachment 737758

For me it worked, even despite the wrinkly coat. I think the custom body is great and very reminiscent of his hunched over stature in the film, and the shoulders looked good, more so in person.

The issue is, I applied heat to the hair, and converted the eyes to SERS. Still not satisfied.

I am a stickler for details and getting everything looking right. I tried every method, the only thing I stopped at, was removing the grenade rig, which I think does help.

Yeah I understand. It made a world of a difference for me when I gave it SERS.

 

[batfan08]

No hard feelings @batfan08, you misinterpreted my posts, I was really just pointing out an issue with that specific sculpt and it was my only post about it.

Some of the custom collectors might be like that, but i'm not.
You can ask all the people that know me, I'm all about love and respect. I'm still the same collector I was before getting into custom and I'll stay like that.

I know where I come from.

None taken! I can be Howard Chan’s harshest critic (see the 89 2.0 thread; he can still get ****** for how that one turned out), but I like to take the Ws where I can…especially where Hot Toys is concerned. Thus far, this one checks the three boxes I look for most in a Joker figure: 1.) expressive, 2.) does a pretty damn good job of approximating Ledger’s likeness and 3.)it hasn’t been FUBARed by Yulli.

 

[newapelles]

No, not being sarcastic at all. You know me better than that, I hope. I called them wonky because of the placement of the irises. The sculpting isn't perfect, no... neither sculpt is in various places. Of course its up to the user which inaccuracies you're willing to let go versus the ones you're not.

That said, the eyes are the same distance apart on the InArt as they are on the HT, but there is something odd. Maybe the bags under the eyes. Not sure.


View attachment 737730

Wow, you can really see how much better the InArt likeness is to Heath here. The Artisan's nose is WAY off, but it has more realistic eyes and the rooted hair looks a lot better (except for the hairline).

 

[MxBxM]

No, not being sarcastic at all. You know me better than that, I hope. I called them wonky because of the placement of the irises. The sculpting isn't perfect, no... neither sculpt is in various places. Of course its up to the user which inaccuracies you're willing to let go versus the ones you're not.

That said, the eyes are the same distance apart on the InArt as they are on the HT, but there is something odd. Maybe the bags under the eyes. Not sure.


View attachment 737730

It is the black paint around the eyes. It makes them look too close for some reason.The InArt sculpt is great, it is the paint and too much hair that makes it look weird.

The Hot Toys is very good too and it just reminds me of the mob scene. I'll give to Hot Toys because it looks great out of the box. Cannot wait to get mine.

Now, the JND needs to step it up and beat both of these offerings.

 

[rory]

Yeah, I can see that. The irises do look black. And I did mention the 'bags' (lower lids) throwing off the likeness perhaps.

In that picture and most comps I've seen, HT looks more real to me, I not questioning that. Just the sculpt in relation to Heath. I had forgotten how bulbous Heath's nose was -- that was something that bothered me on the InArt, but then I saw that it was actually more correct than the slender nose on the HT. So it got me looking at Heath's features again. Like, neither have the down-turned tear duct shape correct. Etc...

Yeah, I see what your saying. The realism and likeness are two different scores. So one sculpt can have more of one and less of the other, and they can appear different to different collectors.

 

[HyperDrive]

I really don’t see how the likeness isn’t strong. It’s the hair in how caked it is, especially at the hairline, that holds it back and also the faint striations that should be more prominent (like how Hot Toys did it) for the Raccoon painted eyes. But the base sculpt and even despite the inadequacies, it’s a strong sculpt, and yes, overall, it’s better than Hot Toys who doesn’t even look like the character. IMO.

His pupils were also positioned outward a lot of the time. While mine are more aligned (not cross-eyed anymore, I converted them to SERS), maybe I should still position the pupils outwards.

Like others have mentioned, he also looked different depending on the scene and prosthetics and make up on different days when filming or posing for costume tests/promotional material, etc.

 

[Godfather1408]

Quite funny watching people on kits page asking for Artisan or trying to find one.... Poor kit he didn't stick the artisan.

I don't mind waiting for my sideshow one bank needs a rest.

 

[Gipetto0812]

For me it worked, even despite the wrinkly coat. I think the custom body is great and very reminiscent of his hunched over stature in the film, and the shoulders looked good, more so in person.


View attachment 737769
View attachment 737768
View attachment 737770

Yeah I understand. It made a world of a difference for me when I gave it SERS.

I've said it before, but you've done a really good job on restyling the hair

 

[Spanbauer]

Yeah, no shame in saving the $150 and getting the sculpted hair version! This looks excellent in its own right.