{"id":19763,"date":"2012-07-20T01:43:32","date_gmt":"2012-07-20T06:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19763"},"modified":"2012-07-20T01:52:44","modified_gmt":"2012-07-20T06:52:44","slug":"dark-knight-rises-movie-masters-commissioner-gordon-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19763","title":{"rendered":"Dark Knight Rises Movie Masters
Commissioner Gordon Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>How do you get a toy collector to buy a second version of a toy he didn\u2019t particularly like? A new, improved deco? That certainly helps. A fun new accessory? Doesn\u2019t hurt. An alternate build a Batsignal piece? Well… damn it. Luckily, the changes to this version make him more palatable.<\/p>\n

Months ago, Mattel released a pair of Dark Knight Movie Masters two-packs as part of their Batman Legacy line. Now, while I love the films, I haven’t been that keen on the Movie Masters line. Prior to Dark Knight Rises<\/em>, I did buy the villains and the supporting cast (not a big investment at six figures), but I think that was largely out of growing up on Batman movie toys more than really loving the figures themselves. That’s pretty much exactly why I picked up the Gordon \/ pre-Batman 2pk when it came out. I waffled a bit on the $28 – I had little use for the Bruce Wayne (though I did end up popping his head on my unused Batman), but I wanted the Gordon. Enough so that I’ve now bought him twice, the original 2pk and now this Walmart Exclusive version. <\/p>\n

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The sculpt on that original, the same one used for this repaint, is okay. The body itself is the suited body that virtually every Movie Master uses. Gordon did get to spice things up with a trench coat, but, let’s face it, the Movie Masters get by on their head sculpts. The fantastic Christian Bale likeness (that has yet to get the suited body, ironically), the great Aaron Eckhart likeness, the fun Scarecrow sculpt, the good (but overpainted) Michael Caine, and then you get to Gordon. I think it looks enough like Oldman to get the point across, but when you place him the collection alongside those other sculpts… he ends up looking a little more like a cartoon version of Oldman than a realistic sculpt. I took some shots from multiple angles to try and find one that might capture more Oldman than the straight-on view further down. The results were mixed. <\/p>\n

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The head sculpt does have one thing that puts it light years ahead of the original figure though – the glasses are clear. The frosted lenses on the original were a real annoyance for me, so I was happy that Mattel had at least corrected that mistake with this reissue. Sadly though, they opted to still paint the brown line in for his mouth. I still can’t figure why they thought that was a good idea for either release of this figure. <\/p>\n

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The colors are what really set this figure apart and, like the clear glasses it’s another feature that makes me really regret buying the original. At the time, I didn’t mind Gordon in the lighter colors. I love the movies, but I don’t pay enough attention to know when, if, or where Gordon wore a grey suit and trenchcoat. I was cool with that choice for the figure because there was already a lot of navy blue in the display. That said, I love these colors. It may or may not be, but these colors feel more accurate to the film.<\/p>\n

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Like the sculpt, the paint on the figure is largely about what happens above the neck. The body is almost entirely molded in the appropriate colors and the sparse decos (the tie, the belt, etc.) are all sharply done. The head almost comes out clean. The hairline and eyes are working for me, but the mustache is too sloppy and helps contribute to that cartoony appearance I mentioned earlier. And a second shout out to get rid of that awful definition line in the mouth. Bad, Mattel, bad! Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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Articulation is pretty standard for the Movie Masters line – they almost all have the same body. The ball-jointed neck works great, there’s another ball-joint at the shoulders, swivels at the biceps, wrists, waist, mid-thigh, hinges at the elbows, knees, and ankles, the 4H hips, and an ab crunch. Everything works like you’d expect and the trench coat is pliable enough that the leg articulation will hold the pose against it. <\/p>\n

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Gordon sports two accessories. The first one is the same gun sculpt that was included in the original. The 2pk Gordon’s gun was very soft and while this one isn’t that bad, it’s still not as solid as I’d like (you can see the warped barrel in the pic above). Still, it does count as an improvement, I guess. The gun fits into his left hand decently, but it’s not as tight a fit as I would like. <\/p>\n

Gordon’s new accessory this time around is an axe! The inclusion of an axe makes me chuckle. It makes sense given the Batsignal piece, but it’s still a funny accessory for him. I’m not knocking it though. Gordon does hold an axe in the second film, so it’s movie accurate, and it means this Movie Masters figure has TWO accessories. The world might just end… <\/p>\n

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Gordon’s primary selling point is his Batsignal piece. I haven’t gotten to build my Batsignal yet – I’m holding out for a KMart Batman (with the blueprints) and all the stores near me have oddly run out of Bane figures these last couple weeks. I love the idea of the Build-A-Batsignal so I will get around to those two figures (along with the final two when released). I actually wish I could get a non-movie front for it because I think it’s one of the best Batsignals we’ve seen over the years to use for 6″ figures. It’s easily going to get me to pick up a couple MMs I might’ve otherwise passed on. <\/p>\n

So, back to Gordon. Walmart exclusives are usually annoyingly cheap, so I have to credit Mattel for not just including a repeat piece (or no piece at all) with this exclusive. That’d be par for the course frankly. But Mattel did us right. They gave Gordon an alternate<\/em> piece: a shattered front for the Batsignal. Now granted, I’ll be displaying the thing pristine, but that doesn’t make this less fun. It’s a way for me to change up the display and this is something I would’ve absolutely loved as a kid. It’s genius. In addition to the shattered glass front, the ‘metal’ Bat-logo is also included with bits of clear plastic still clinging to it. Which… *gasp* I guess means this Movie Master has three<\/em> accessories. <\/p>\n

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Overall, Mattel did a good enough job with this figure that they basically proved their prior 2pk worthless. At this point, I paid $28 to get that Bruce Wayne head for my Batman (never mind that the SS Bruce is still at my TRU for $13 or the fact that the Gordon 2pk is at Walmart for $15 on clearance). That said, it isn’t the first time a later release has given me buyer’s remorse and it won’t be the last either. <\/p>\n

Being a Walmart exclusive, this is the only one I’ve seen so far, but it wasn’t a hard decision to pick up. This Gordon trumps the 2pk one all around. The colors are better, the glasses are clear, there are more accessories, and a fun build-a-batsignal piece. I do wish the head sculpt were better and the line on the mouth is begging for removal, but this is the Gordon figure going on my Batman movie shelf. Now if I could just figure out how to get Mattel to make a comic-based Gordon as a Classics figure…<\/p>\n

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More Dark Knight Rises Reviews:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\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":"

How do you get a toy collector to buy a second version of a toy he didn\u2019t particularly like? A new, improved deco? That certainly helps. A fun new accessory? Doesn\u2019t hurt. An alternate build a Batsignal piece? Well… damn it. Luckily, the changes to this version make him more palatable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"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":[70,1602,1556,178,20,198,688],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-58L","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20852,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=20852","url_meta":{"origin":19763,"position":0},"title":"Dark Knight Rises Movie Masters Ra’s Al Ghul Review","date":"September 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes movie toy lines have to hold back the announcement & release of a certain figures to avoid spoilers. Sometimes it\u2019s annoying: I\u2019m still mad about not getting a Dick Tracy Blank figure. Sometimes it\u2019s funny: Hulk\u2019s Dad being the Absorbing Man. Sometimes it\u2019s kinda weird like Ra\u2019s Al Ghul\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19266,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19266","url_meta":{"origin":19763,"position":1},"title":"Dark Knight Rises Movie Masters: Catwoman Review (Goggles Up)","date":"June 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"In a month, I\u2019ll be sitting in a theater watching Dark Knight Rises. It\u2019s easily my most anticipated film of 2012 (sorry, Avengers, you were awesome though...). It\u2019s that excitement, combined with wanting that C&C Batsignal that\u2019s led me to snap up the Dark Knight Rises Movie Masters. I\u2019ve been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19075,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19075","url_meta":{"origin":19763,"position":2},"title":"Dark Knight Rises Movie Masters: Alfred Pennyworth Review","date":"June 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"You know it\u2019s Summer when the days heat up, the kids run free, and the stores fill up with all manner of mass-produced, poorly-executed movie toys. Usually, they\u2019re an easy pass for me, but this year Hasbro\u2019s 6\u201d Avengers and Mattel\u2019s Dark Knight Rises Movies Masters have me hooked. One\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2584,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=2584","url_meta":{"origin":19763,"position":3},"title":"Dark Knight toys headed back to Retail","date":"November 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Mattel has provided an update on the future of the Movie Masters Dark Knight line: Hey Dark Knight Fans, I've got a hot update on Movie Masters\u2122 The Dark Knight products... You already know that initially the plan was to offer one new figure per month at MattyCollector.com. Thanks to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20973,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=20973","url_meta":{"origin":19763,"position":4},"title":"Ask Mattel September “15th” & Link Round-Up","date":"September 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Ask Matty - September \"15th\" Edition DCClassics.Com Asks: On the Mattycollector forums, Matty Justice League said that Dark Knight Rises product will continue into 2013. Does that continuance currently include more Movie Masters? The Dark Knight Rises line will continue as primarily a kid line at Toys R Us, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ask Matty"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19870,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19870","url_meta":{"origin":19763,"position":5},"title":"Dark Knight Rises Movie Masters GCPD John Blake Review","date":"July 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Initially, I thought I\u2019d be buying this figure as a \"generic policeman\". It was cool to get a Joseph Gordon-Levitt figure and all, but who in the heck was John Blake anyway? Speaking of, there could be Dark Knight Rises spoilers, particularly in the comments, please proceed at your own\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19763"}],"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=19763"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19782,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19763\/revisions\/19782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}