Review of Coin Blast Two-Face Action Figure
Batman: The Dark Knight

Introduction

While some of the other summer blockbusters have continued to keep my attention with new collectibles - like Indiana Jones - we haven't heard much from the Dark Knight.  Nope, I don't have any of my new Hot Toys goodies yet (although the Bank Robber Joker should be here soon), and Mattel's Movie Masterpiece line hasn't coughed up much lately either.

But I was surprised to see the regular Dark Knight action figure line show some life a couple weeks ago. There's a new wave of figures hitting, although I've only seen this particular set at Wal-mart so far. They are distinguished from past waves by the addition of a 'collector card' with each figure. They've repackaged up the same old Joker again, with various Batman repaints, and one very new figure - Two-Face. This ain't the Movie Masterpiece version, but it'll have to do for now.

As I said, I found him first at Wal-mart, and only at one of those so far, but he should be showing up at Target and Toys R Us very soon. You can expect to pay around $8 or so for him, depending on the retailer and depending on either the a) huge pre-Christmas sales or b) even huger post Christmas sales.

Packaging - **
This series has the worst packaging of the year, at least of a mass market line. It's dull, with very little graphic detail.  The addition of the collector card helps though, adding at least something to break up the monotony of the huge Earth...Moon...edge of the Batsignal...whatever that orb is supposed to be on the right side.

Sculpting - ***
This isn't the MM line, and you won't see the same level of detail - or scale. These guys are smaller, and Harvey runs just 5 1/2" tall. He'll fit in fine though with the other regular movie figures.

Considering this small scale, the Eckhart sculpt isn't too bad. The head is a bit elongated, stretched from top to bottom, but you can see the general Eckhart attributes in the eyes, nose and chin. The hair has a reasonable detailed sculpt for the scale as well.

The fried side of his face is surprisingly gruesome. This figure is in the same line that has the 'kiddiefied' version of the Joker, lacking the scars and drippy face paint, and yet we get much of the scarred tissue on Two-Face. There's more detail to the sculpt than the paint ops bring out.

While the head sculpt is really one of the better ones we've seen in this series so far, he is a bit pinheaded, exaggerated by the thicker body.

The body sculpt is reasonable, and they've added a burned texture to the left side of the suit. He stands great on his own, even with the limited articulation.

Paint - **1/2
The quality here is actually above average for a mass market figure, with the only slop visible with a magnified inspection. But there could be additional operations that would have brought out the sculpt and details.

Some of the parts are cast in the appropriate color, but there are a number of paint operations, including the hair, eyes, tie, belt buckle, etc. These are all fairly clean, with reasonable cut lines. You can find a couple spots of errant paint using the macro lens, but the human eye will have a tough time finding them in person.

However, a better paint job on the burned face would have given him a much more realistic appearance, and would have brought out the quality of the sculpt.

Articulation - **
None of the figures in this series have been super poseable, but this guy is very 80's in his design.

There's a cut neck, cut shoulders, cut waist, pin elbows and knees, and T hips. No wrists, no ball jointed neck, and no cut biceps, which gives you far fewer posing possibilities.

He does stand fine on his own though, which is always a key consideration.

Accessories - *1/2
The collector card is actually the best of his two accessories, which tells you a lot. This card looks great, and might make a terrific sixth scale poster once you have your Hot Toys Two-Face in hand.

The other accessory is a huge coin, that doesn't have any scarred side.  It's not even two headed. It has the head on one side, the eagle on the other - what's up with that? There are little hooks all around the edge that hide inside the coin, and with the press of a button (in the middle of the eagle), they pop out. Another accessory for the crap box.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
The limited articulation isn't as much of a fun killer as the lack of a gun. The lame coin accessory won't do much for most kids, but at least this is a gruesome villain for Batman to battle.

Value - **
This is getting to be the current eight dollar market - almost no accessories and a barely articulated figure.

Things to Watch Out For -
Watch the paint job, since it's very possible to have some variation in quality.

Overall - **1/2
While this figure has some serious issues, it's actually one of the better non-Batman figures in the line they've produced so far. He won't hold a candle to a MM version of Two-Face, but he's certainly a huge improvement over Joker or Scarecrow. Now if Mattel could just kindly get back to the MM line and get out some more figures, please.  Consider that a Christmas wish.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - **
Sculpting - ***
Paint - **1/2
Articulation - **
Accessories - *1/2
Fun Factor - **1/2
Value - **
Overall - **1/2

Where to Buy 
This guy should be popping up at most mass market retailers that carry the Dark Knight figures.

Related Links -
I have plenty of links to Dark Knight goodies:

- I checked out the Batman and Joker figures from Hot Toys (the first releases). I should be looking at the new Bank Robber Joker very soon.

- there's the 13" Deluxe versions of Batman and Joker from DCD.

- in a smaller scale, there's the Movie Masters versions of Batman and Scarecrow.

- Mattel's version of the 12" Dark Knight. Cheaper, but there's a reason.

- there is also the slightly larger Action Cape version from Mattel - even cheaper!- in the small scale action figures, I looked at a couple of the regular figures.

- and for comparison sake, check out the Batman Begins figure that DCD did in this line.

- and if you're wondering about the previous Medicom, Hot Toys and Takara 12" Batman Begins figures, check out my comparison review.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

Discussion:
Want to chat about this review?  Try out one of these terrific forums where I'll be discussing it!

Enjoyed this review? Be sure to head back to the main page to find thousands more just like it!