[En Sabah Nerd]

Bane and Killer Croc arrived in the mail today. This is the first generic comic Bane figure collectors have gotten in over a decade so I'm thrilled to have him but that doesn't mean he's beyond criticism. His articulation is largely standard compared to the rest of McFarlane's Multiverse but his torso is just one static piece except for a ball-joint at the waist which is prevented from crunching forward. His elbows feature swivel-hinges but an additional swivel at the bicep would've been helpful, I think the left elbow swivel on mine is stuck but I'm not sure how much I'd be using that one anyway since that's the tube arm. While he's mostly well painted there are a couple of spots where the paint is notably incomplete such as the black from the mask not going all the way to where the sculpting ends on his neck or the strap on his left bicep not being totally colored. The sculpt though is fantastic, granted some artistic liberties have been taken. The different textures between his boots, pants, top, mask, harness, and Venom tank are all excellent. Where some may take issue is his skin, Bane is typically drawn with fairly normal (sometimes hairy) skin but for this figure they seem to have taken into account how real steroid abuse can lead to acne scarring and stretched skin. Not counting the tubes Bane stands at around 9" tall which works with the 7" scale of the line considering this is Bane clearly jacked up on Venom and he's been drawn as even bigger than this sometimes. Bane may be the smallest megafig in the line so far but he still overall feels like a worthy addition. Some extra fist hands would've been really nice but these are so nicely sculpted that I'm not lamenting only getting these.

This Killer Croc is sold as an Arkham Asylum figure and the details of his costume line up with that but the actual details of the figure itself feel a lot more like a modern comic version of the character. So it's sorta like what if Killer Croc in the comics happened to be wearing the same attire as his game version, and that works pretty well for me. His eyes are pupil-less yellow shapes, his jawline and teeth have been reined in for a slightly slimmer cut, his torso and bicep scales aren't a smooth surface here, and his claws are much more pronounced. To me this figure strikes a balance of being able to work with the other McFarlane Arkham game figures or with the comic roster. His articulation scheme is mostly the same as Bane's except he does sport a mid-torso joint and his waist isn't restricted, no stuck joints on mine but by design his pants do inhibit his ankles motion. Croc stands shy of 9.5" tall, he's like a third of a head taller than Bane. For anybody who might've been wondering, his shock collar piece is not removable. I'm not sure if it's glued in place, sculpted into a locked position, or maybe a bit of both but you would have to work to remove it and then probably work some more to cover up where it was.