Fanholes Figure That! (MAFEX The Dark Knight Rises Batman)

Probably not news to anybody who follows this blogspot, but MAFEX/Medicom Batman is awesome! MAFEX actually stands for Miracle Action Figure EX. While I'm not 100% certain, I would imagine the EX is short for extreeeeeme!!!!!!

He is certainly extremely poseable.

"Hahahaha! Awesome. Batman defends your hooch from Deadpool." - Ben a.k.a. fishmilkshake (Action Figure Blues Podcast Host and Forum Administrator)

This figure is more closer in scale with DC Universe Classics and Marvel Legends than the Mattel Movie Masters version. It has all the articulation of Marvel Legends and better, without any of the drawbacks. In my opinon, he doesn't look ugly and the shoulder pads cover up any weird tomato-looking ball joints. In addition, he is easy to pose. With Marvel Legends it feels like it's either a marionette and loose as hell or so tight that if you try to move an arm you might break it. Here, the joints are not loosey-goosey, but they are not super-tight either. To me, they move like butter and hold that pose like butter in the fridge. Or as Goldielocks might say, they are juuuuust right. He comes with enough accessories to be awesome. There is a grapple gun, a sonic rifle, swap out fists (a.k.a. punchy-hands), open hands and one right-trigger hand). However, there are not so many alternate hands that one becomes overwhelmed with options.

I'd like to address the two major drawbacks I'd heard about up front, and simply state I'm completely fine with both. One, the figure can stand just fine and does not require the stand he comes with to be stationary.

Two, yes his arms do pop off at the drop of a hat. But to me, that's better than breaking off while the ball joint stays in the socket if you get to overzealous with your poses.

I've also heard that some folks thought the cape should be wired. Speaking as a collector who has a wired Mattel Adam West Batman from the two-pack with Robin, I can safely state that it doesn't really help pose the cape very well anyway and the non-wired cloth version makes either Batman figure easy to sit down in a Batmobile.

In the final analysis, MAFEX The Dark Knight Rises Batman is honestly the best 6" movie Batman ever.

- Derek

Fanholes Figure That! (Figma Kamen Rider Dragon Knight)

Hey Fanholes readers/listeners, welcome to the first installment of Fanholes Figure That! Today I'll be reviewing my first ever Figma/Max Factory purchase. Some figures that were of interest to me were Space Adventure Cobra, Golgo 13, Gantz, Roger Smith and Dorothy of the Big O. More recently there has been a movie Spider-Man and later on this year we will be seeing a series of Avengers figures from this company.

I ordered this from the online import store Mandrake Japan. Why Kamen Rider Dragon Knight? Well to be perfectly honest, he's one of the few Kamen Riders I know b/c I watched the American version of the show for a little bit. Also, he was only 800 yen. A Figma at that price seemed to be a steal. The first con was that handling was 500 yen and the DHL shipping (which I used the last time with Mandrake Japan on the Raideen Soul of Chokogin) was 2000 yen. So 3300 yen later, instead of an $8 steal, it's probably about your average price for a mid-end Figma. About $33-$35.

Now why was it such a "steal"? Well because this store is crazy honest. If ebay was this honest, it would be a ghost town. The item was listed as DAMAGED, BOX OPENED.

Absolutely nothing was missing. All parts were included. If there was the slightest hint of damage on the box or in these pics, I probably placed it there myself. All that was done was the factory tape at the top of the box was cut. That was it. Thanks Japan, you are awesome! The box, by the way, is totally collector friendly. I cut a few pieces of what I assume was factory tape on the plastic trays, but they separate or reassemble with great ease.

The figure comes with a little plastic bag labeled FIGMA that seals at the top, should one want to get rid of the box and place all the accessories in the plastic FIGMA baggie.

The character has multiple hands that are secured by a clear plastic hand rack along with a clear base stand with positioning arm for action poses.

The legs do have tomato ball joints, but they are expertly concealed by these rubber flaps in the front which is quite aesthetically pleasing. Also while the rubber could hinder articulation, it is actually easily bypassed with specific ball rotation so the flaps of rubber can go inside or outside the joint like tucking in your undershirt.

You can change out hands for fists or even the Dragon head, Card Changer or Dragon armor.

The accessory that I most fear losing is his tiny little change card. I thought it was missing at first, but it was just on his belt buckle and not in the little tray space provided as it tends to shift about the box once opened.

While the majority of this seems pretty awesome overall, there is one thing I was let down by.

It was my understanding that the Figma/Max Factory folks were approximately six inch scale. To be honest this looks like it fits in better with one's S.H. Figuarts collection. I'm told because of there being so many Figuarts Kamen Riders that the scale for this item was designed to match the existing S.H. Figuarts line. Ultimately, while this is a fun and interesting figure, the scale discrepancy led me to send it to my fellow Fanhole Justin. He has a blooming S.H. Figuarts collection and I thought Dragon Knight would have a happier home with him.

Though I will say that while pulling apart joints and inserting pegs into raw accessory arms was a little hair-raising, the rubbery softness (as opposed to the hard plastic of Figuarts, in my limited experience with them) was much less stressful than changing out Gohan's face and parts. In fact, I pretty much never want to touch Gohan's other parts ever again. The Figuarts box didn't secure them very well and while I never want to touch Gohan's alternate parts ever gain, I could see messing with the alternate hands and accessories on this Figma/Max Factory item just as much as I have been doing with the MAFEX Batman. The box is collector friendly unlike poor Gohan's and the changing of parts and accessories (while there are many more than MAFEX) are at least non-stressful and pretty easy for the most part.

Derek (derekwc)