Toy Review: Public Enemies Target Exclusive Batman 3-Pack

09/4/10

Public Enemies 3-Pack: Batman

The animated film, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, was well recieved by the public, enough so that DC and Warner Bros. are planning Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, a sequel of sorts. It wasn’t my favorite DC Animated movie, but it was a fun romp. I couldn’t get over how many “moments” old Bruce and Clark had together, though. It was worse than Lord of the Rings, than “Oh, Frodo”.

That didn’t stop me from wanting this set though. I thought we wouldn’t be seeing it locally, since the DC Infinite Heroes (Mattel’s 4″ line) wasn’t doing too well. They were priced about the same as Marvel Universe figures, but didn’t show the same workmanship. That’s saying something since I thought most of the first batch of Marvel Universe figure were crap. The DCIH line has been pretty crappy from the get go, with inferior articulation, and an overly soft, cartoony aesthetic. They felt like something geared towards children, but we already had that with the Justice League line. Though they were also comical in their look, they have a much stronger style that unifies the line. The DCIH figures just looked… well, they stayed on the pegs till they were finally brought down to P150 a pop, so you do the math.

This 3-pack here was a Target Exclusive in the States. We didn’t get them at retail, but I found this one at the recent Metro Manila Comic Con for only Php 500.00. I couldn’t pass it up. I saw that 4″ Batman sitting there, the last one among a sea of 3-packs featuring Superman, and I went ahead and paid the dude behind the table.

I’d heard about this Batman figure online and knew that it had the articulation that the DCIH line had been missing. From what I saw of pics of the Superman and Captain Atom figure, they also had the same joint count. Having only the Microman Batman who kept falling apart for my 4″ scale collection, I wanted to get this one to fight with my Marvel guys. Which is why I acted so fast.

Lesson 1: always, always inspect toys carefully before you buy them, even ones in the bargain bin.

I’m assuming the reason this was the last one left was because there are quality issues galore. Bats has got tons of flashing (excess plastic that wasn’t cut from the figure after being removed from the mold) and some sloppy/fuzzy paint lines, Atom has got two spots on his chest left unpainted where the red should be (dunno how that happened), and Lightning has two left hands.

That’s right. Two LEFT hands.

Insert Rage Guy graphic here.

This is why you shouldn’t fixate on one figure only. Since I was so enamored of Batman, I barely glaced at the other figures when I was checking it. Now, everytime I look at Black Lighting, I’m hit with a wave of Buyer’s Remorse.

Two LEFT hands.

Still, I can’t really be too annoyed since the pack WAS only Php 500.00. For the price of a single Marvel Unverse figure, I’ve got a decent looking 4″ poseable Batman figure, and equally poseable Captain Atom figure with a single paint issue who can probably be used as a custom, and the crappy Black Lightning. It’s not a bad deal.

But I keep coming back to that TWO LEFT HANDS.

Argh.

Plus, Lighting doesn’t share the same articulation as the other two. His upper body’s fine, but he’s lacking the swivel/hinge (or balljoint, whatevs) at the hip that the other two have. It’s annoying as all get out. Instead of being able to do this:

He can barely pull off this:

But enough of that.

The set comes with a nice little backdrop; a crumbling brick wall with a “Lex Luthor for President!” poster and some graphitti sprayed on it. It’s a fun include that you can use for a display if you’re too cheap or lazy to buy/make high end one *raises hand*.

Personally, I love it when toy companies go that extra mile and put some brain juice into their packaging. If you saw something like this next to the crappy packages of the Hasbro 3-packs, which would you pick up?

Yeah, thought so.

On to Batman.

As I said, I really wanted a 4″ one to fight with my Marvel Universe and GI Joe figures. He’s just about the right size, maybe a skotch too small, but it’s barely noticeable unless you put him back to back with someone. If Batman used guns, you could load him up with ordnance from the Joe collection or any other 1/18 scale line. I’m hoping he’ll fit into that Tumbler Batmobile I keep seeing at Toy Kingdom.

He also fits in well with the Microman line, so if you have Batgirl, Catwoman, Superman, and or Ras Al Ghul from Takara, you’re in luck.

While the Takara Bats still beats the Mattel Bats on joint count and flexibility, I have to give the contest to the Public Enemies figure because it’s just far easier to play with. The Takara figure has always been a display piece. It comes with lots of tiny parts that are easy to loose and that are hard to get into position. They become loose with time and are awfully fragile.

This one doesn’t really have those problems.

What it does have is sculpt issues. It’s not the DEFINITIVE Batman figure just yet. The sculpt is very SOFT looking, and sort of reminds me of Adam West. He doesn’t have a belly, but the muscles aren’t defined as well as a superhero’s should be. Like Bruce Wayne got had a few months off and took in a few too many Krispy Kremes on his way home from patrol.

It’s not bad,but it does bother me.

Which basically sums up this set just fine. It’s not bad, but I don’t think it’s something you should go out of your way to buy. If you found it at Php 500.00 like I did, go ahead. But don’t fret if you don’t. You aren’t missing much.