The Batman EXP Series: The Riddler
by: Average Joe 2 years, 7 months, 2 weeks, 2 days, 10 hours, 18 minutes ago
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7.99
Mattel
The design for The Riddler in “The Batman” is probably my favorite design of the entire show, which is why I am so disappointed with this figure.
For those who read my review on “The Batman: The complete first season” (which you should have), it’s pretty apparent that I am a HUGE fan of the show, it’s characters, and the overall design. During season 2 of “The Batman” we were introduced to the newly redesigned Riddler voiced by the always creep Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger for those living under a rock). The new look for The Riddler was a MAJOR departure from what we’ve seen since the character’s debut in 1948. Normally the character has either sported a bull body leotard (as in the Adam West series), or the green suit/bowler hat that he current wears. Personally, I’m not a fan of either design. First off let me clear up one misconception of the character. The Riddler is NOT The Joker. Sure they wear the same colors, but The Riddler relies on his intelligence and keen mind, whereas Joker is just nuts. Having said that just because he’s an intelligent character, that doesn’t mean he has to run around in a suit and tie.
I’m a big fan of the old saying “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” because in my opinion if you base your judgement solely on something’s appearance you’re often setting yourself up to look like a fool. Enter the newly designed Riddler. Gone is the bowler hat, green suit, and multiple purple question marks across his body, and now we are treated to a new Riddler with more of a “goth” look. His new design features long black hair, a green mask that wraps around his face, a green, sleeveless body suit that is all brought together by a large black question mark on his chest, and even some small black tattoos (yes they are tattoos) that stretch from his jaw to the corners of his mouth almost looking like a goatee.
As I’ve said before, I am a big fan of this design because it’s NOT what we’re used to. Who’s to say that The Riddler has to dress in a suit and tie? and besides, by today’s standards which is more common to see, a goth style person running around in tight clothing, or a grown man running around in a green suit with a purple tie?
Being such a huge fan of the character I was pretty anxious to see what they’d come up with for the action figure, and now I can say....they could’ve done better. Having said that, let’s go over some of the different aspects of the figure.
Packaging:
I’m not a big fan of this whole “EXP” line of Batman figures from Mattel, but I will give them credit in that the design for the package is nicely done. It’s small enough to avoid being too bulky, the colors are vibrant, and the artwork is great.
Sculpt:
The sculpt is good, but nothing mind blowing and out of the ordinary. It does managed to capture the style of the show (blocky/angular anatomy) nicely, and matches up in scale with the other figures from the series. The figure does manage to stand on his own (especially with his accessory in place), and features a odd looking arm claw in the shape of a....you guessed it question mark that actually fits onto his arm nicely.
Paint:
Once again nothing ground breaking, but a nice paint job nonetheless. My biggest question is why his tattoos on his face were left off. That’s one of the most interesting parts of the character and it was just seemingly forgotten about...odd.
Articulation:
Head, shoulders, and legs are all you’re going to get. I’m sorry but this is an ACTION FIGURE which means kids don’t want to just have these characters charging into battle with their arms straight ahead of them. Throw in some elbow and knee joints at least to give the character a little bit more posability would ya?
Accessory:
Why they included this claw thing instead of his regular “pimp cane” (the one in the new show really does look like a pimp cane) is beyond me, but it works for what it’s supposed to do which is basically keep the figure from falling over. The claw does look great attached to the figure because it fits so nicely over it’s shoulder. If you press the button, the serrated edge springs forward. One misleading thing is that it has a joint at the top of the claw, only you can’t open or close it...I can already see kids all around the world breaking this thing in half because they thought it was pose able.
Overall the figure isn’t bad, but it’s not great either. I was hoping for something a little more....interesting to reflect the new attitude/look of the character.
