Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Play Arts Kai - Arkham City HARLEY QUINN!

Play Arts Kai - Arkham City Figure No. 5 - Harley Quinn - Square Enix 2013

Of all the Batman characters to suffer in the hands of constant redesigns in recent years, the award for the most drastic changes would have to go to our dear old Harley Quinn.  It wouldn't even garner much attention if her original costume wasn't so cool to begin with.  But I digress.  The first change was atrocious.  The 2009 video game, Arkham Asylum, dressed her up as a sexy nurse.  It was embarrassing.  If it made sense to dress a psychiatrist as a sexy nurse, they should have dressed Commissioner Gordon in a fireman's outfit while they were at it.  Next up was the 2011 Arkham City redesign we see here.  Following this design she was revamped for the DC Comics New52 reboot as well as for the game Injustice: Gods Among Us.  This Arkham City design is my favorite all all the non-original looks.  Yeah, she's overly-sexualized, but at least she looks tough and her outfit seems functional.  Plus the candy-striped baseball bat is a fun new accessory that I can totally get on board with (I was starting to amass as many oversized Harley sledgehammers as Catwoman whips).  Let's check her out below!






Harley's packaging comes with the standard "bookcover" flap so you can view the figure and accessories in the tray.  It stays shut with two small pieces of Velcro.

















Her chest is just too damn big.  It looks silly.  Seriously.  I don't want to feel like a creep for having this displayed.  
At least the DKR Catwoman from my last review had a slightly more realistic size.



(I never realized her belly tattoo was of Mistah J.)



Harley comes with two extra hands (making a total of 4), two Uzi machine guns, and her signature baseball bat, complete with dents from overuse.
























Harley Quinn also comes with a display stand similar to the Mattycollector flight stands or the stands that come with Figma toys.  I personally rarely use stands like this, but it's a pretty great addition.







Time for some Comparison Pics!


Here are the PAK Arkham City Catwoman and Harley together.  I love that they're slightly different heights.





Here's the whole gang for comparison: (Left to Right) Mattel AC Catwoman, DC Direct AC Catwoman, PAK AC Catwoman, PAK AC Harley Quinn, DC Direct AC Harley Quinn, and Mattel AC Harley Quinn.





Mattel - PAK - DC Direct




Cheers!



4 comments:

  1. These PAK gals do look great, but I have yet to commit to any of them. A newish comic shop near me has a few of them right now, and I can't help but look them over every time I'm there.

    And I agree, her boobs are pretty darn massive! YEESH!

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    1. It took a while for me to cave. It was the DKR Catwoman announcment that finally pulled me in. I've had good luck getting them pretty cheap on ebay and amazon.. at least $!5 below retail. I officially can't buy that variant batgirl figure. She looks good, but I don't love love her and I'm on a budget. I kind of hope they don't show anything too tempting at Toy Fair (although I would love a Pfeiffer or Newmar Catwoman in this style)

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  2. Any interest in reviewing the Figures Toy Company 8" action figures? They've done MEGO staples like WW, Supergirl, Batgirl, Catwoman, and Batgirl but also new figures Lois Lane, Harley Quinn, Mary Marvel, and Batman 66' Batgirl/Barbara Gordon. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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    1. I have a great respect and nostalgia for these 8" figures, but I work very well with self-imposed limitations and I long ago decided to not collect soft-goods toys. I remember always going to this ratty old flea market on the way back from Sunday morning church in the late 80s. (My dad is a coin collector so we'd always stop at roadside gems like that). My brothers and I would feel awkward in our dress clothes around all these tattooed smokey people, but we'd always venture in to find treasures. There was one booth that had a bunch of vintage Megos. I remember wanting the Catwoman in that weird blue and red costume so badly. I thought it was a fake outfit until I found a backissue of Brave and the Bold with her wearing it on the cover (http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Brave_and_the_Bold_Vol_1_131). Of course that made me want it even more. When Figures came out with that retro Catwoman I nearly broke my soft-goods vow, but I held to it. I love seeing them in other people's collections, but they're just not for me. I'm thinking about starting a small collection of the Medicom Sofubi toys to scratch my nostalgic itch for Catwoman, but that's likely as close as I will get to Mego-type toys.

      It's funny you happened to comment on this older review, because they just showed pictures of the upcoming Arkham Batgirl Play Arts Kai figure. I had thought my PAK collection was in a stalemate, but I'll definitely be getting and reviewing her when she comes out. I was trying to think how long it had been since I bought one, but couldn't remember... almost three years. About time for another! :)

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