Arkham Knight

Look, it's that guy who got named after the title they'd already come up with for the game, and mostly exists to force you to drive the Batmobile when you really don't want to! Besides the discovery of a militia training facility in South America, virtually nothing is known of the Arkham Knight until his arrival in Gotham where he quickly earned himself a fearless reputation amongst the city's leading criminals. Working together with Scarecrow, he has sworn to kill Batman and will stop at nothing until he is dead. This figure is technically part of Series 1, alongside Harley Quinn, Batman, etc. Why did it get delayed for four months? No one knows. Well, presumably DC Direct knows, but they haven't said. So we're left to make up excuses! The Arkham Knight figure was delayed because the first batch made had a molding and paint error that made it look like he had a visible wang, and they all had to be destroyed. Is that the real reason? No, of course not, but it is until DC says different. Arkham Knight's helmet was designed as an intentional mockery of Batman - you can have radio transmitters without them looking like pointy little ears, you know? In the game, the mask had visible HUD readouts flashing across it, giving the impression of inhuman eyes. The toy doesn't duplicate that, just giving us a plain black visage. The rest of the costume is designed with Batman in mind, as well. The Knight wears armored gauntlets that are strong enough to deflect blades, but light enough to allow rapid strikes. There even appear to be some sort of mechanisms on the elbows. More punching power? His armor plating is shaped to help deflect batman's grappling hook claw, and most of it is unreflective. He has a utility belt, loaded with grenades and bombs, and there are lots of straps all over the costume. Since Arkham Knight is a military invader, the base of his suit is camouflage - but since it's camouflage to help him hide in Gotham City at night, it's black and red! Smart! The plates on his upper arms are glossy black, suggesting that they're partially reflective, working as part of the camo. Early art for the character showed Arkham Knight's chest symbol as a big A, with another upside down A beneath it - a reference to the Arkham Asylum logo (as in, the logo of the asylum, not the logo of the game). While the double-A symbol is still appears on the shoulders, the chest is just a single. Of course, that's in the game: the toy was working from a third design, so the chest symbol here is two separate triangles, creating a very stylized A. It's the only pure white area on the entire figure, so it really stands out - and since the rest of the costume is a twisted reflection of Batman (again), it's probably highly bulletproof. Arkham Knight does not come with the pistols he uses through most of the game, but rather, a big fancy sniper rifle, from his climactic boss battle. It's mostly a bluish silver, and has one handle the figure can hold (there's a second, but it's permanently folded up against the body of the gun). There's a small red symbol painted near the barrel of the gun, and spoiler, it's not the Arkham Knight's logo. The figure moves really well. He has swivel/hinge rocker ankles, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips, a hinged and swivel torso, swivel/hinge wrists and elbows, balljointed shoulders, and a balljointed neck. Getting the torso hinge to move is incredibly tough, but trust us, it's a real joint. His shoulder armor is soft and flexible, so that it doesn't block the arms. The figure stands more than 7⅛" tall, but at least he moves well. Like we said, this figure should have been released months ago, but considering how disappointing Scarecrow was and how nice Arkham Knight is, maybe that wait was worth it. -- 09/17/15

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