Home Comics & Toys Hot Toys MMS 432 Justice League Batman Tactical Batsuit Review – Bat in Black

Hot Toys MMS 432 Justice League Batman Tactical Batsuit Review – Bat in Black

5 min read
5
Batfleck (19)

I don’t think I’ll ever be a fan of the 2017 Justice League movie. It feels like a blockbuster designed by committee, it’s a mess of a flick thanks to some hasty editing and the less said about Henry Cavill’s super-lip the better. Some of us still like to sleep at night after all. Maybe there’s a better version of the movie out there somewhere, buried deep within director Zack Snyder’s cuts and shoots before personal tragedy forced him to to take a sabbatical from the project and hand it over to Joss Whedon.

Maybe, but not likely, as the film went down in history as a yawn of justice that still managed to make decent bank at the box office. What Justice League did give us however, were some terrific designs. Batman’s suit for most of the film is my favourite cinematic version to date, Wonder Woman looked amazing in action and Aquaman’s armour looked impressively regal.

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It’s Batman’s tactical suit that stole the show however, a blend of armour and spandex that popped beautifully alongside comments from internet comedians thinking that they were god’s gift to humour for pointing out that Owlman wanted his goggles back. Yes, the man who directed Watchmen and Justice League envisioned a certain look for Batman that drew inspiration from his previous work, get over it.

Anyway, the tactical suit is a fun design. It’s bulky, but not “I’M GOING TO PUNCH SUPERMAN IN THE FACE” bulky. It’s the penultimate Batfleck suit from Hot Toys, and one that I’ve been waiting for since the middle of 2017 to arrive. Fellas, it was worth it. Straight out of the rather nice box (I’m so sick of the standard Batman V Superman design by now, four figures later), here’s what you get inside:

  • The figure (duh)
  • Justice League stand
  • Spare bat-hands for pointing, grabbing and quick puns
  • Batarangs
  • Bat grenades
  • Bat grapnel gun
  • Bat lines for Bat grappling hook
  • Bat grapple hooks for bat grapnel gun
  • Bat barbs (the pointy things, not the sidekick)
  • Bat line launcher
  • Bat goggles
  • Bat spare eyes
  • Bat spare face plates

There’s a lot of stuff here, that is repeated from previous releases. Pretty much everything, now that I think about it, but hey spares! If you ordered the deluxe version, there’s also a Motherbox included, but don’t feel bad if you missed out on it. It’s neat, but it’s also an ornate paperweight that you could club penguins to death with in case you feel up to the task.

For the faces, you’ve got your usual trio of plates: A neutral facial expression, an angry one and a more tired face, much like Ben Affleck after having to hear someone mention Martha for the 89 671th time. The goggles are a neat touch, easily applied by lifting the tabs off of the cowl and inserting them into place. You can go full-on with said goggles (my preference) or you can use the secondary pair that props up on his face.

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As for the figure itself? I love it.Being a Hot Toys figure, the paint and sculpting is naturally fantastic. There’s a gorgeous texture on the armour, reminiscent of carbon fibre and the overall figure feels satisfyingly hefty to hold. The suit itself feels like a brilliant evolution of the Dawn of Justice Batsuit. The texture is less raised, but it’s still there and feels slightly thicker to boot.

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It doesn’t have the gold dry-brushing of the BVS costume, but I don’t think the Justice League movie costume did either. What’s really nice, is that the costume feels like it can be posed in more dynamic forms without having to worry about serious creases in the fabric. I currently have my figure setup in such a stance, and I’m pretty confident that when I change it in two weeks, the suit will be as crisp as the day I took it out of the box.

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One thing that is a massive improvement? The option to change bat-hands, thanks to the gauntlets being a touch looser. That makes for easy swaps, adjustments of the sleeves and posing,a  godsend for anyone who screamed at the Armoured Batman figures and their notoriously difficult appendage system.

There has been some debate over the neck of the cowl of this figure, but honestly I love the thinner sculpt. It sets it apart from the more beastly cowl of the BVS Batman, fits in with the tech-design and moves nicely without ever feeling like it’s going to snap off and splinter. The biggest achievement however, is the cape.

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Hot Toys Batman figures have always been lacking in this department, but the Tactical Batman cape is simply marvellous. It’s not made to be posed in dramatically windy conditions, but to rather drape behind the figure in a natural manner. The over the cowl fold on this one looks cinematic, the shape is beautiful and the textures look straight out of the film. Heck, it even has a divine shape on the sides, a subtle A-shape that creates maximum dramatic cape action.

As for posing, there’s a  fair amount on this figure. You can move the arms nicely, the legs have a decent spread and the head can be turned enough to make Michael Keaton jealous. If you’re looking to create some movie-quality poses for your instagram, you should be easily sorted on this front. But sweet DC, what a figure overall.

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It’s my fifth Batfleck, and the best of the lot. I’m saying this knowing full well that I have a sixth Batfleck pre-order locked i, for the regular Justice League costume. I think I have problems. But if this is the penultimate release ahead of a long drought for Batman collectors (Make a Batman Forever toy with nipples already, you cowards), then it’s a heck of a bang to go out on.

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Not just one of my personal favourites in my collection, the Justice League Tactical Batsuit figure from Hot Toys may just be my favourite out of a dozen that I own.

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Last Updated: January 29, 2019

5 Comments

  1. Price?
    Or is it a Martha-load

    Reply

    • The D

      January 30, 2019 at 06:41

      It is! You’re looking at $265 on average for one of these dudes.

      Reply

  2. Tbone187

    January 30, 2019 at 09:56

    A classic Batman would be cool tho. The blue on the inside of the cape, the yellow and black sign on this chest and a proper yellow tactical belt. These ones all look too similar and are kinda boring actually.

    Reply

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