Medicom Mafex #119 The Dark Knight Returns Triumphant Batman Figure Review

Medicom Mafex takes their recent Dark Knight Returns Batman figure and doubles down with the battle-damaged Dark Knight Triumphant version! Huge shout out to Big Bad Toy Store for carrying an awesome selection of figures and making getting these in my collection so much easier!

In a dark future Bruce Wayne, now 10 years retired from his duties as the Batman, watches Gotham fall prey to a vicious new enemy, the Mutant Gang. After suffering a brutal beating in his first match up against the Mutant Leader, Batman comes back with a vengeance, humiliating the Mutant Leader in front of his followers and causing many of the former Mutant Gang to take up the mantle “The Sons of Batman.” They are instrumental in restoring order to Gotham, leading up to the thrilling battle between Batman and Superman and the exciting climax of the story.

The Medicom Mafex Dark Knight Returns Triumphant Batman takes the previous Dark Knight Returns Batman and ups the ante with beautiful new sculpt work, a return to the traditional blue and grey costume scheme, and savage deco work depicting Batman’s brutal battle with the Mutant Leader. The accessories with this figure, as before, are all beautifully sculpted and easy to change out. Batman comes with: One grim-faced, battle-damaged head with amazing detail, one unmasked head, with incredible paint applications, a “folded down” cowl, which can be used with the unmasked face, only four mini-batarangs (all of which I have kept safely stored in the packaging, this time!) Batman also comes with five pairs of hands: two open/relaxed hands, two reaching hands, two fists, two cape clasping fists, and two batarang throwing fists. Each batarang can be positioned in between the fingers of both hands and looks amazing. What makes this really special though, is the attention to detail. Each right hand features the exact same damage to the knuckles, giving consistency to the figure, regardless of which hands you have him posed with.

The Medicom Mafex The Dark Knight Returns Triumphant Batman once again does incredible justice to his two dimensional counterpart. Batman, this time, is in his signature blue and gray costume, with the black bat emblem blazoned across his chest. His utility belt is a brighter gold/yellow that enhances the figures appearance by drawing the whole paint scheme together. The paint applications were even tighter than the previous version, with very fine detail given to the damage and a beautiful black wash over the entire costume. The cape is similar to it’s predecessor’s, but my only gripe was that one of the wires came out from under the rubber cloak piece, so I’ve had to work on fixing it to tighten the posability better. The sculpting on this figure is even superior to the black and grey version, given that the damage rendered to the costume and figure is meticulously applied. Aside from the battle damage, this figure shares the same body mold as it’s predecessor and as such, has the beefy musculature and proportions. The unmasked face is incredible. Bruce is sporting a black eye, which is swollen shut. The skin tones are spot on with flesh and his gray hair has just the right amount of wash over it to give it depth and life. This figure, with the unmasked head just looks so choice! Also, if you have the first offering, Yes, the unmasked head will fit on it as well and looks just as cool! My biggest gripe though, is that this isn’t the uniform Batman was wearing in his initial battle with the Mutant Leader. He had the costume with the yellow oval around the bat. Why am I pointing this out, you might ask? Well, quite simply, the damage detail on this figure… claw marks across the bat, tunic torn off at the shoulder, tears across the pants, all match the damage he sustained in the first battle against the Mutant Leader… while wearing the yellow oval emblem costume. When Batman defeats the mutant leader later in the book, he does so wearing the black and gray costume with only the bat emblem on the chest and that costume doesn’t get shredded the way this one did. That being said… I still absolutely love the look of this figure and had a lot of fun posing him in ways depicted in the comic book.

The Medicom Mafex The Dark Knight Returns Triumphant Batman is as articulated as the first edition. Batman’s head and neck are both on ball joints which give the Dark Knight an extended range when looking up and down, side to side, or having a little “attitude.” Both masked and unmasked versions have the same amount of movement. His shoulders have nice butterfly joints which allow for forward and backward movement, while also allowing the arms to rotate 360 and get into the nice “T” poses. Batman has double jointed elbows, which will only bend so far in, due to his muscles and both wrists hinge and pivot, equally well regardless of which hands are on them. His ab crunch is exceptional and coupled with the crunch at his diaphragm allow Batman to lean forward very far as well as giving him a deep back bend. His waist and the torso will both pivot, lending to some neat posing possibilities. Batman’s legs feature the standard Mafex dropdown, allowing him to get into some nice splits, kick forward very far, but not back as much, although my legs were a bit tighter and didn’t seem to have as much forward range. He has double jointed knees which really bend nicely and finally great ankle pivot, swivel, and hinging, along with articulated toes.

After getting the first Dark Knight figure, I couldn’t wait for this one to arrive. He has moved right next to the previous figure as my favorite Mafex offering, so far. Like his brother figure, The Medicom Mafex Dark Knight Returns Triumphant Batman also shares space on my desk. The Medicom Mafex The Dark Knight Returns Triumphant Batman also sits at the typical import value of around $95, but again, is worth the money. Though technically a repaint, the level of additional detail helps him stand out, but my leg articulation costs him a little bit in the ratings as does the inaccurate costume as mentioned earlier, therefore he receives 4.75 out of 5 Toyboxes! Thanks for stopping in and reading through! See you all soon, until next time, Geek Out!!!!