{"id":11955,"date":"2011-03-07T07:00:24","date_gmt":"2011-03-07T13:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=11955"},"modified":"2011-03-07T07:00:24","modified_gmt":"2011-03-07T13:00:24","slug":"dcclassics-com-review-collect-connect-bane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=11955","title":{"rendered":"DCClassics.Com Review:
Collect & Connect Bane"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> Okay, so like “Bane Week” was supposed to end on Saturday. Oops. Anyway, it’s Monday morning, I’m feelin’ good and I’m ready to conclude IAT’s look at DCUC16 with a look at Bane! Well, mostly ready. This might take a couple cans of Dr Pepper to get through. It’s 5am and I’m just getting started.<\/p>\n

With Green Lantern Classics 2 being found in Wal-Mart\u2019s ’round the country, I thought it best to plow through my backlog of DC Universe Classics reviews last week and get 16 wrapped up in record time. And “Bane Week” was a success, other than not getting wrapped up exactly on time. I’d say you might look forward to a “Stel Week”, but it certainly doesn’t sound exciting, does it? Maybe “Green Lantern Week” so we can get some of that movie tie-in traffic… Anyway.<\/p>\n

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Bane is a character that I love or hate depending on the writer. Initially, he was an all-out villain. He was created by Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, & Graham Nolan in ’93 as an “evil Doc Savage”. He would break Batman’s back within the year and instantly be catapulted into the top ranks of Bat-villains. His origin was relatively simple, his father had fled the country of Santa Prisca to avoid a prison sentence and the courts imprisoned his son as a substitute. Bane, a small child at the time, was raised to adulthood in the prison and ultimately became the “king” of the inmates. The prison would later use Bane as a test subject for an experimental drug called Venom. It had been fatal for all the previous inmates, but Bane’s physique and strength of will allowed him to survive. He quickly discovered that the drug greatly increased his physical strength which he used to break free from the prison.<\/p>\n

His obsession with Batman led him to Gotham City where he broke Batman’s back, Azrael nearly killed him for his trouble, and he ended up in Blackgate prison. This, to me, is where Bane gets interesting. He gets clean and free of Venom, turns a little anti-hero, and begins searching for his father. He’s featured in a great run of Gotham Knights<\/em> by Scott Beatty, but this take was short-lived. Geoff Johns absentmindedly had him back on Venom and snapping spines again just a few months later. Crap. A few more Bane stories like that would follow, but fortunately for Bane (& for me) Gail Simone adopted him into the Secret Six back in 2008. His appearances there are more in line with his anti-hero persona and he’s been getting some great stories and characterization ever since.<\/p>\n

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For most of the longtime DC Collectors, we’ve had a placeholder Bane in our collections courtesy of the DC Superheroes<\/a> line, though DC Direct had a decent version as well. My original DCSH Bane broke after a shelf fall (and Vault’s mysteriously exploded at the bottom of a toy bin, so the only comparison shot we have is the much maligned “Camo Bane” from that line). The new collect & connect Bane makes most of your other Bane toy’s obsolete, though the one advantage of having the older DCSH figure around is that some of them came with an accessory of Bane’s one true friend, his childhood teddy bear, Osito (knife not included).<\/p>\n

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Bane’s height is debatable. He’s generally listed at 6′ 8″, but if you’ve seen any Bane artwork, you know comic artists love to draw him in a variety of sizes, some much, much larger. It’s in that regard that I say the Bane presented here, at around 8″ is probably just right. I wouldn’t complain if he was a little smaller, but this height has a good dynamic with the regular size figures. It works.<\/p>\n

While we’re on the subject of height, all during “Bane Week” I completely forgot to pull out my handy height chart! I’ve gotten a couple e-mails and comments about it, so I tossed in most of the figures that I received questions about here. It’s actually interesting to see them lined up like this, because almost the entire wave is taller! For most of them it’s okay, but what’s up with that Riddler? Maybe this is the Venom-addicted Riddler after all…<\/p>\n

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Bane’s sculpt is interesting. He’s mostly based off of the Lobo\/Despero design, but I can’t tell if the figure reuses that buck or if the 4 Horsemen sculpted Bane anew on that body and he received new tooling. I don’t imagine that I would be able to tell the difference, but something about the shared parts just seems different. Maybe I’m crazy. Anyway, Bane does have some unique parts – his boots, belt, shirt, arms, and his head. Everything else is either from or is based on Despero, including Bane’s curious lack of nipples. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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The new pieces are nicely sculpted and give Bane all the right little details from the segmented venom line to the zipper on his mask (which I never once thought to question in the various art, but in person I find myself asking why a mask would have a zipper across the top). I’m also quite happy with what the 4H chose to do for the mask. It’s been drawn a different ways to Sunday – all variants around the central theme, but the 4H found the right balance and the mask looks great. The venom line is done in a cool translucent green and is soft enough that it doesn’t obstruct the articulation. It’s also cool that, while the tubing plugs into his head snugly, it comes out easily. If I were a kid, I’d have Optimus Prime or Captain Power ripping that thing out in every fight. Heck, I admit it, I have<\/em> had Optimus Prime rip it out in a fight.<\/p>\n

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Articulation is what we’ve come to expect. Ball-joints at the head and shoulders, swivels at the bicep, wrists, and waist, hinges at knees and elbows, the Mattel hips, rocker ankles, and the ab-crunch. Everything works pretty well and has good range. The only posing issue I had with Bane was that he doesn’t have holes in his feet. If the pose you want him in needs a stand, he won’t be able to use it. <\/p>\n

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A couple paint issues on Bane. The mask and belt are both thankfully crisp and really help to keep the overall figure looking sharp, but there is some slop on the gloves. The main issue with Bane is the difference in plastic between the torso and arms. The color difference is obvious to the naked eye and only amplified by the camera. The airbrushed paint on the torso doesn’t help as nothing that dark appears on the arms making the contrast between them even higher.<\/p>\n

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Overall, I was pretty happy with Bane. I know that he’s taken some flak for his proportions & anatomy, but let’s face it, Bane’s not really from the “realistic anatomy” department of DC Comics. I think the figure turned out pretty well despite having that intrinsic drawback to being reproduced in three dimensions. I did have to heat up his head to get it on the peg, but I’m excited to finally swap out that crouching camouflaged monstrosity out for a nice, fully articulated Bane figure. It\u2019s just too bad he can\u2019t hold Osito with those fists.<\/p>\n

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For more DC reviews, check out our
\n DC Universe Classics Collector’s Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Okay, so like “Bane Week” was supposed to end on Saturday. Oops. Anyway, it’s Monday morning, I’m feelin’ good and I’m ready to conclude IAT’s look at DCUC16 with a look at Bane! Well, mostly ready. This might take a couple cans of Dr Pepper to get through. It’s 5am and I’m just getting started.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":11959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[6,34,10],"tags":[420,70,378,665,522,926,20,782],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/banTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-36P","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10402,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=10402","url_meta":{"origin":11955,"position":0},"title":"DC Classics Update: Wave 16 Packaged & Renegade at TRU","date":"December 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"On Facebook today, Mattel showed us our first packaged pics of DCUC Wave 16. I was expecting this delayed wave to be in the Super Power packaging (with buttons!), but it now serves as our first look at the 2011 packaging - the nice part? It's bigger! Plus, some early\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5365,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=5365","url_meta":{"origin":11955,"position":1},"title":"DC Classics 16 Pre-Orders & Green Lantern Classics??","date":"May 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"BBTS and ETC are were taking pre-orders for DCUC16 (DCUC15 will be unveiled in a few days). Interestingly, these pre-orders are for a set of 7 or a case of 8 with one All-Star, so we'll be seeing some changes to how the waves are constructed. But, perhaps more interesting,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11869,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=11869","url_meta":{"origin":11955,"position":2},"title":"DCClassics.Com Review: Mercury of the Metal Men","date":"March 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Bane Week kicks off with a look at Mercury. Mercury is important to your collection if you're trying to build Bane or complete your Metal Men team and that's about it. I wanted to be excited about him, but I was disappointed by some of the design choices. And then,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11916,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=11916","url_meta":{"origin":11955,"position":3},"title":"DCClassics.Com Review: Azbat \/ Azrael Batman","date":"March 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Bane Week continues with a look at \"Azrael Batman\" - at least that's what Mattel calls him on the box. In the comics, he's simply the second Batman, referred to by fans as \"Azbat\". I don't really care what he's called, he's a cool figure and it's particularly fitting that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12193,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=12193","url_meta":{"origin":11955,"position":4},"title":"DCClassics.Com Review: Green Lantern Sodam Yat","date":"April 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"About a month ago, right after Bane Week, I found GL Classics Series II. Star Sapphire was painted like crap, so I left her behind. Over the last month, I've waited patiently for a second case to show up. No luck. And I'm tired of these guys clogging up my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9905,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9905","url_meta":{"origin":11955,"position":5},"title":"DCUC Hal Jordan 2-Up Charity Auction","date":"October 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"One official, fully painted DC Universe Classics Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) 2-up prototype figure is be being auctioned right now to benefit the Mattel Children\u2019s Hospital UCLA!! One official, fully painted DC Universe Classics Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) 2-up prototype figure is be being auctioned right now to benefit the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Four Horsemen"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11955"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11955"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11961,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11955\/revisions\/11961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}