#25: Batman Legacy - Arkham City Harley Quinn

Although Harley Quinn's costume is a great, iconic design, the powers that be at DC have recently seen fit to give her costume a new look. It's awful. Fortunately, this is an entirely different interpretation of her costume from the Arkham City game, which is awesome. The game is awesome, not this version of her costume. Not that I don't like it, it works for the game's world, and it is good enough that I bought the figure.

Harley isn't Mattel's first attempt at a figure based on the Arkham series of games, but until now they've all been somewhat disappointing, especially the Joker. I haven't seen the Catwoman in person yet, but I'd say that Harley is the best of the lot so far. For a Mattel figure, this has a mind blowing amount of new tooling. In fact, as far as I know, the entire figure is a unique sculpt. Also in a departure from the Mattel norm, Harley has swivel-hinge joints on her elbows and knees, rather than the standard swivels. In addition to the Batman Legacy standard mini-poster and figure stand, Harley includes the bat that she uses to knock out Batman in the game.

The only problem with the video game figures is that they are a little taller than their comic based counterparts.

When did you get so tall, Harley?

Overall this is some of Mattel's better work, and it's too bad all of their figures aren't up to this standard. It's my understanding that media adaptations of comic characters are more lucrative than the comics themselves, so perhaps figures based on those adaptations are given better budgets to work with. Either way, I'm keeping an eye out for the Catwoman/Batman two pack.

#105: Batman Legacy - Batgirl

Finally, Batgirl! Mattel originally released Babs as a two pack in DCSH, before I was collecting. Then they re-released her in a two pack with Azrael which I never saw. Both versions are currently way too pricy on the secondary market. So, of course when Batgirl is released in the second wave of Batman Legacy, it's hard to find, showing up at K-Mart first. I still haven't seen one in stores, but I was able to order one from Amazon for the same price as retail (and combined with something else to get free shipping), so no complaints there.

As is unfortunately common, QC isn't to as high a quality as one might hope. The right leg is bent from the packaging, but at least it's not so horrible that Batgirl can't stand. Also, her right bicep swivel was stuck in place, but I was able to take care of it with some time in the freezer. Since this is an old sculpt it reveals that the problem of skinny arms goes all the way back to DCSH days. It's as ridiculous as ever.

Aside from those complaints, if you're at all familiar with DCUC figures, you know what you're getting. There aren't any real accessories aside from the stand and mini-poster, but Batgirl's hands aren't sculpted to hold anything, so a Batarang would have been useless anyway. I'm glad to finally have Batgirl as a six inch figure for my collection, so I'm pretty stoked.

#99: Batman Legacy - Batman (Modern Age)

When I first saw images of the modern age Batman figure, I thought that the grimacing face was a bit much, and that I would skip the figure, even though I have been wanting a black and grey Batman without a yellow bat symbol on his chest. Thinking about it more, I decided that I can actually dig the face. Since this is a modern Batman, in my mind that means he is The Goddamn Batman, so it works for him to look really pissed off.

I believe this mold was originally used for one of the DC Super Heroes Batman figures, and there are certain details that help set it apart from the standard DCUC body, so that's cool. There are even bat symbols on the soles of his boots! He comes with a bat symbol base and a mini poster of Batman swooping around in a cave with bats flying around him. I think this is one of the better Batman figures that Mattel has made in the past few years, so for now I am considering it the definitive Batman in my collection.

#94: Batman Legacy - Catman

Word on the street is that K-Mart is getting the second wave of Batman Legacy earlier than other stores for some reason, but there have been reports of this wave showing up at Wal-Marts as well. Why K-Mart? Because Mattel, that's why. Whatever the reason, I found Catman at a K-Mart, the only Batman Legacy figure in the store. 

The Catman figure is pretty cool, and I think it has some unique parts. The gloves and boots seem to be new, and the cape has added arm straps which I think are unique. It's a different look for a caped figure, and I think it's cool. The head is of course new, and it has something cool: sculpted in stubble. For accessories, there are a couple of knuckleduster claw things. Instead of a build a figure piece, Batman Legacy figures get stands and a mini poster. The stands are oval with the Bat logo and have the character's name along the side. Catman's poster is an image of him exchanging blows with Batman in midair high above the city. 

Now here's hoping I can find Batgirl!

#90: Batman Legacy - Prototype Suit Batman and Lt. Jim Gordon

As I was waiting for Target to finish its toy aisle reset, I was pondering how much I wanted the Jim Gordon figure. Since it comes in a two pack with the prototype suit Batman which I wasn't interested in, I tried to decide if I wanted it enough to effectively pay double price for one figure. The only alternative would be to find a Gordon loose online, but I try to avoid loose figures when possible, as I'm somewhat picky about that sort of thing, and part of the fun of toys for me is getting them out of the packaging. So the second time that I saw the set on the shelves, I decided that I would cave and buy the set.

The prototype suit Batman was originally released in the Movie Masters line. It's actually a pretty good figure, although not the most exciting choice. Has there ever been some sort of proto-Batman figure from the comics made? Thanks to the typical Mattel packaging, the left leg is a bit warped, but I am hoping to to fix that by giving it some time with a rubber band. The ski mask is made of a soft rubber, and is fortunately removable. It looks a bit too bulky while on the head, and the likeness of Christian Bale is pretty good. A stapler would have been a cool accessory for this figure.

I'm digging the Gordon figure, partly because it is free of packaging deformation, partly just because it's a Gary Oldman figure, partly because he's got a gun, and in general it's just good. The likeness is maybe not as good as the Christian Bale, but it gets the job done. So, the gun. In the Movie Masters line, there weren't any proper accessories, just bits of "evidence" included with the figures. Joker came with a joker card, Harvey and Two-Face each came with a full scale replica of his coin. The rest were junk, like an oversized Batman cowl, or an oversized Scarecrow mask. So ultimately I suppose it is a good thing that Gordon wasn't part of the Movie Masters line, because a gun is a much better accessory than whatever he might have come with otherwise.

I definitely feel like I overpaid for the set, but the prototype Batman isn't too terrible. If you don't mind loose figures, it's probably a better idea to just get Gordon online instead of buying the set.