Toy Review: Hot Toys Bank Robber Joker (Guest Review by Metin Seven)
The first Guest Toy Reviewer for TRE starts off 2009 with Hot Toys' 1/6th-scaled BANK ROBBER JOKER [tagged] and Metin Seven (of Seamour Sheep & Marty Mole-fame) shares with us his impressions of the much sort-after figure from The Dark Knight - Movie Masterpiece series. (Metin has my envy for owning it and I can but drool a waterfall on the computer-screen LOL).CLICK TO READ-ON.
[FYI: All text via Metin Seven]
INTRODUCTION: Since the mid-Nineties the internet revolution has helped a lot of interesting subcultures to flourish. The increasing popularity of designer toys has bridged a former gap between art and toys. Like computer games, toys can be roughly divided in two major categories: cute toys and realistic toys. The rise of realistic toys was stimulated by McFarlane Toys, founded in 1994 by the celebrated comic artist Todd McFarlane. Usually, modern realistic toys are so well-executed and relatively high-priced that they’re more suitable for mature collectors than for children.
One of today’s most popular toy producers is the Hong Kong based Hot Toys, mainly known for their realistic toys derived from well-known movie, game and comic characters. Hot Toys has licensed a number of characters from The Dark Knight, including The Joker. Their initial Joker release featured the figure in his most characteristic appearance, with a purple coat and the rest of the outfit he wore in The Dark Knight. The talented sculptor Yulli is responsible for the detailed Joker head and the figure is a fine piece of work.
After the release of the first Joker figure Hot Toys released a second Joker variation in December 2008. The new Joker figure is inspired by the scenes from The Dark Knight featuring the Joker as a bank robber, wearing a relatively inconspicuous suit and a clown mask. If you happen to be among the few who haven’t seen the movie yet then I guess the fact that the Joker is one of the bank robbers in The Dark Knight was already spoiled for you the moment you heard about the Joker Bank Robber Edition toy figure.
The Joker Bank Robber Edition figure is my personal favorite when it comes to comparing the two Hot Toys Joker figures. First of all the two creatives who were responsible for the first Joker head sculpt, art director JC Hong and sculptor Yulli, have created not one but two all-new head sculpts, which both bear more resemblance to Heath Ledger’s facial characteristics than the first edition’s head. On top of the sculpt the paint job is also very impressive, recreating the smeary blend between skin tones and white paint tones of the actual movie character.
The second reason why I prefer the Joker Bank Robber Edition is that the first Joker edition has a less realistic appearance than the new one, because of the cartoon-like saturated colors used in the first edition. Although the first Joker figure is more iconic with his purple coat and green hair, that also makes him more of a comic figure in stead of a realistic human wearing face paint as a twisted scar disguise.
The Joker Bank Robber Edition comes in a beautiful box featuring classy Dark Knight artwork. The Joker is wearing an impressively detailed miniature remake of Heath Ledger’s bank robber outfit. Even the pattern on his shirt is accurately recreated. Furthermore the box is packed with the following accessories: the Joker’s luggage bag, his clown mask, a handgun with removable clip, an MK760 automatic rifle with removable clip, four hand grenades, three smoke grenades, a figure display featuring a Joker name plate, a small stack of dollar bills, a deck of Joker cards, the two removable Joker heads mentioned earlier, and two extra hands with different gestures.
The base of the Joker figure is an 1/6th scale mannequin that is about 11.8 inch (30 centimeters) high. The figure’s pose can be manipulated with over 32 points of articulation. The removable hands (solid gloves, no separate hands) are attached to the arm by a wrist ball with two plugs on opposite sides. During the removal of a hand the wrist ball came along with the hand, and a reasonable amount of force using a pair of pliers was necessary to remove the wrist ball plug from the hand again. No damage occurred to the plug or the hand though.
The most remarkable feature of the Joker Bank Robber Edition is its detail. Hot Toys has done an impressive job recreating as much authentic features of the actual movie character as possible in the 1/6th scale figure. Next to the striking likeness of the head, the other items such as the clown mask, the outfit, the weaponry and the bag are also very faithful to the original movie character. The bag even features fully operatable slide fasteners.
IN-CONCLUSION: By recreating the detailed characteristics of the Joker figure Hot Toys has succeeded in reincarnating the already legendary Dark Knight movie character, paying a stylish tribute to the mourned Heath Ledger. May he rest in peace.
NOTE: The review posted here is an excerpt of the original by Metin Seven. Check out the full review HERE.
