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DJ! Drop a beat!
Born and raised in the hellish prison known only as "The Pit,"
Bane was the sworn protector of Talia al Ghul, daughter of League of Shadows master Ra's al Ghul. Determined to finish her father's mission to raze Gotham City, Talia and Bane also seek revenge against the man responsible for Ra's al Ghul's death - Batman.
I considered getting McFarlane Toys' "Dark Knight Trilogy" figures to have a Scarecrow and Two-Face to go with NECA's Joker, but they honestly didn't look good enough. And that meant I couldn't build the Bane BAF! I thought Target's "Jokerized" exclusives looked fun, but I could never find all of them, so I didn't get those either. Eventually McFarlane announced they'd be doing a "Gold Label" release of Bane with his coat... but never said where it was going to be exclusive to. The answer (for US fans) turned out to be "SDCC," but that would have been helpful to know before the show, not after. Singles' Day to the rescue!
Mattel made a couple Bane figures when the movie came out, but, you know... "Mattel." There's definitely a ceiling on how good they could possibly be. Especially since Mattel's Movie Masters were in a strict 6" scale, meaning even a tall character
like Bane would look puny next to everyone else. No worries about that here! Todd does his figures in a 7" scale, meaning this figure stands 7½" tall; and lest you think that means he won't work for a 1:12 collection, remember that it's still half an inch shorter than the DCU Classics Bane. McToys' in-house style does tend to favor overly long legs, though, so Bane's proportions look a little "off"; like, if I'd gotten this as a Build-A-Figure instead of a fully assembled release, I'd be convinced I'd put the legs on wrong somehow, that the pegs weren't attached all the way. Maybe if they were the same length, but thicker? Stockier?
Bane is wearing his vest, rather than going shirtless -
partially because that's how he's seen more often, and partially because it allows McFarlane to cheat on production. You know how they always have those rubber pelvis covers, rather than just trying to design legs that work with the joints? Well, Bane's got that, but his vest is made of the same stuff, meaning about an inch and a half of the toy's midsection is just hollow PVC. There had to be a better way to do that! The sculpt is as good as it can be on such a soft and flexible material, though it's probably no surprise that they skimped on the paint apps - especially on the plain green back of the figure.
Back when the pandemic started and it became apparent too many
people were too selfish or too stupid to let this end quickly (hey, happy official fourth anniversary of it not being over yet - you'd better still be wearing your mask when you go out, or we're very disappointed in you), I saw a lot of Heath-Ledger-Joker-mouth masks, but me? I chose Bane. Still get a lot of compliments on it, too. And while the voice and the "tactical vest and fur-lined coat" look have been adopted into other media, the movie is still the only place that has a Bane mask like this, with the tubes on the front and the fully exposed eyes and temples. Iconic!
If you've played with a McFarlane figure in the past couple years, you know what to expect from the articulation: hinged toes, swivel/hinge/swivel ankles, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, swivel/hinge
hips, a balljointed waist, balljointed chest, swivel/hinge/swivel wrists, double-hinged elbows, swivel biceps, balljoint/hinge shoulders, and a barbell head. Say what you will about the rubber torso, at least they made the two pieces overlap far enough that even moving the joints as far as they'll go doesn't really expose the inner workings, so that's a plus. The BAF version of this figure included three pairs of hands, but this one only gets fists, no alternates.
But the thing that makes this exclusive desirable is his coat. When Mattel made Bane with his trenchcoat, it was a sculpted piece; now that McFarlane has made one, he opted instead for softgoods. And sure,
that may be because it meant none of the toy's parts would need to be resculpted, but it still makes for a better Bane.
It's a very nicely made little piece. The outside is brown (faux) leather, and while the white "fur" trim doesn't continue all the way around the inside, it does go far enough that you're unlikely casually to spot where it ends. There are no sorts of buttons or anything - this isn't a Mezco One:12 Collective release or anything - but it looks accurate on the toy and that's really all that matters. That, and it's removable, so you can display your figure two ways.
Geeks have a short memory. When Heath Ledger was announced as the Joker, there were page after page of complaints that he'd never be any good in the role. When footage of Tom Hardy being Bane leaked, people pretended they couldn't understand him speaking. Now Bane Voice has become indelible, as recognizable and linked with the character as Robert Newton's West Country accent is with pirates. I still kind of wish I had the Jokerized Bane BAF to go along with this one, but if I'm only going to have a single McFarlane Dark Knight Rises Bane, the one with the coat is the one to have!
-- 03/13/24
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