By Chris Troy
Happy Halloween FPNYC Faithful! Hope whatever you have planned for this/weekend doesn’t involve being dressed as M.O.D.O.K. and drinking a ton of tequila, because that’s my plan for the year (and as of writing, it’s been 12+ hours later and I’m STILL hung over). That being said, anybody pick up Arkham City for their Xbox or PS3 yet (I think PC users still have to wait a bit)? The game is damn good, as it improves on several things from Rocksteady‘s previous release, the million units selling Arkham Asylum. If you’re a fan of Batman and/or excellent video games, it’s worth your time.
And if you’re a Bat-video game fan, you REALLY need to pick up the Arkham City tie-in graphic novel. I know, I know, tie-in books usually blow and are usually widely ignored when it comes to the actual game’s, but things are different with this one. It’s written by the game’s head writer Paul Dini (who was also one of the original creators involved with the 90s Batman Animated series, as well as runs on Bat-books like Gotham Sirens & Detective Comics) and drawn by the game’s concept artist Carlos D’ana. The hardcover collects the mini-series & web-only episodes, which connect the 2 games, as well as some behind the scenes artwork. A solid collection to add to your book shelf.
Last week I mentioned I picked up some new Marvel Universe figures, and promised to give a review of them this week. So unless I want to be labeled a liar, I better do so. X-23 & Commander Steve Rogers were the 1st two ML figures I’ve purchased since Spider-Woman, and man, the line has come a far way since then! Hasbro has been getting better with these figures since their debut a few year back, but now it’s really showing how much the line has improved.
Let’s start with the sculpts. Back in the day, unmasked heroes and female characters were not the line’s strong point. Now? X-23 looks like a teenage girl (and not a repainted Black Widow) and while Steve’s face is a little off, it’s still good for a figure of that scale. It’s also nice to see these figures are 100% new sculpts, and not repaints. They’re both pretty well detailed, as both figures have a ton of little buckles, straps and belts sculpted on to them. My only beef is that X-23 claws are a little flimsy.
Hasbro did a bang up job on the paint jobs for both this figures. X-23’s design is pretty simplistic, being just silver and black, and Hasbro captured it well . Steve obviously has a red, white & blue motif to hold up (being Captain America and all), in addition to the silver & brown gear here’s rocking, and it all comes together great for this figure . Not to mention the various stars and stripes painted on him. Again, all captured fantastically. Hasbro’s also ramped up the articulation on these figures, as the legs & wrists have been improved to have more points of movement.
The fact that Hasbro keeps these figures in-scale with each other also makes me super happy. I’m slowly building teams for my collection and it looks nice on the display self. Steve and X-23 go for $14 each, and both are currently in-stock if you want ’em. And speaking of teams, I just picked up a certain Clawed Canadian that’s on both X-force and the Avengers, so expect to see a review soon.
