Over last Christmas I got various Suicide Squad figures. Yes I know the film wasn't the best ever and it divided fans like mad but I still maintain that the film has it's merits and I appreciate that they tried something different with the Joker, even though most people seem to hate it.
Lets face it though, it was always going to be a daunting task following up acts by Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill and Heath Ledger. The quality of the film aside I thought the figures that Hot Toys produced for it where pretty eye catching and I operate on a rule that if the figure catches my eye enough, I don't care what it's based on I'll have it!
Lets face it though, it was always going to be a daunting task following up acts by Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill and Heath Ledger. The quality of the film aside I thought the figures that Hot Toys produced for it where pretty eye catching and I operate on a rule that if the figure catches my eye enough, I don't care what it's based on I'll have it!
So far I've bought four Hot Toys figures based on the film, 2x Jokers, 1x Harley Quinn and Batman. Today I'm showing off the Jokers and Harley.
Enjoy the pictures and quick thoughts on each of the figures.
The dynamic facial expression is a nice change from Hot Toys (who tend to just do vacant female faces) but I have to admit that her extreme expression limits her display options a little. overall though it's a great likeness.
Harley has pretty good articulation but not great. She has the god awful ball joint elbow that Hot Toys uses for female figures which means she can pretty much only achieve 90 degrees at the elbow but at least the clothing doesn't restrict her at all.
She has articulation at the top of her neck which means you get decent movement there, and her pig tails have articulation too so they don't restrict any head movement. It's her lower half that suffers though, her knees are fairly restricted due to the rubber mesh effect on her legs, you can get a decent angle to them but I'd be worried about damaging the material. Her boots restrict her ankle movement quite a bit too. Overall though I'd say the articulation is good enough to match many of the characters poses from the posters etc.
The jumper she's wearing is very well done, they've nailed it tbh here. I love that it covers the shoulder and elbow joints whilst not hindering any movement. Her shorts/hotpants are just on the edge of not working. It's difficult I guess doing such a small piece of clothing in this scale but it works well and doesn't look off too much from the front.
The stockings are a strange rubber like mesh that's attached to a clear material, creating an illusion that they are mesh stockings. The effect works pretty well and looks great. She also comes with her tracksuit top/sports jacket. Again it's done well and looks quite close to the actual thing, it's easy to put on or take off too. Just a quick note tho, given that it's red I highly recommend displaying her without the jacket on, red always tends to bleed onto these figures and you wouldn't want to ruin her arms.
The regular edition comes with a fair amount of accessories, including a gun, baseball bat, a chunk of concrete, a purse and her jacket. The special edition also comes with an oversized mallet. As always she comes with various hands to swap out too. Female figures always suffer in this category for some reason but this figure is a little better than normal.
Joker is up next. Specifically Hot Toys purple coat Joker MMS 382.
The head that he's shown with here is actually from the Arkham Asylum figure. I feel the below head sculpt matches this figure much better, Purple coat Joker comes with a manic smiling face sculpt pictured a little further down.
I guess I can't not mention the issue with his purple coat! Whilst it's a great piece of 1/6 scale clothing and looks fab on, there are numerous reports on the net regarding colour bleed. If you're reading this and also own the figure, just like with Harley, be very wary of leaving him posed wearing the jacket. His white skin soaks up the purple and I've seen some pretty bad pictures online. If you must display him with the coat then wrap his arms and back in cling film or tin foil.
Regarding the rest of his outfit though I think it's great. I especially like the batman tights that he's wearing.
Articulation wise it's pretty standard Hot Toys muscle body. No abdomen joint as he's going topless but he benefits from the lack of clothing overall. You won't struggle to get him in a variety of poses. I always prefer figures that has a head separate to the neck too. It allows greater posing options. His boots limit the ankle movement a little bit but this figure doesn't really call for deep stances anyway.
As mentioned previously, the above face is actually what the purple coat Joker comes with. Both heads are good sculpts and capture the actor well. I personally prefer the serious face sculpt over the smiling/grimacing face. One thing I will say is that the paint work on this figure is very well done.
His various jewellery is scaled well and doesn't look over sized at all. Chains can sometimes look too chunky but at this point Hot Toys pretty much always nails it.
His tattoos look faded and realistic. It makes me think back to how
impressed I was with the Expendables figures that Hot Toys did a few years ago.
Pictured above is the Toy Fair Exclusive Arkham Asylum Joker. Is it weird that I like his naked feet? haha, it's not something you see often in action figures.
I'll be honest, I might not have gotten the Joker figures if it wasn't for how impressed I was with Harley Quinn. When I saw how good she was I committed to buying both. Once I had him in hand though I was happy I did get him. People really seem to hate this version of the Joker but I think he's fine. Yes he could have done more in the film. All the haters can rejoice I guess as we might not see this iteration of the Joker again given how much of a mess the DC cinematic universe is in.
Final thoughts to sum up these figures, they are what 1/6 is all about. Great sculpting, great outfits and accessories and a pleasure to mess around with and pose up. Due to the terrible reputation the film has I'm sure these figures will continue to float around the internet on sale. I'll most likely pick up at least Deadshot but maybe another Harley Quinn figure too.
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