Catwoman Purrrsday :: Battle for Gotham City

When I saw the Target exclusive 'Battle for Gotham City' set of five The Dark Knight Rises action figures at The Batcave Toyroom, I knew I HAD to have it for Catwoman alone.

Although I scoured the local Targets and even put out an APB to my sister, a regular Targetaholic, I couldn't find the set anywhere near me. Thankfully The Batcave Toyroom's John (haha that sounds dirty) is awesome and offered to go back to his Target, where he found a set and even gifted it to me free of charge! Whatta guy!

See, dolly lovers aren't so bad after all ;)

The standout figure of the set is of course Catwoman. Anne Hathaway's Selina Kyle is well represented here in appx. 4" of plastic. I am surprised however that they went with her 'ears down' look, as she looks less like a Catwoman in this version.

It also remains to be seen if this is set is the only way one can get their hands on this scale's Catwoman, but she has yet to appear in any other wave, so I bet it is. Especially since all the day-glo Batmen and dullsville Banes are likely to prevent this series from seeing a second wave.

That said, for the $21.99 asking price, this is a good set and worth the money. Read on:

In addition to Catwoman, you get four other figures in this set, so each figure comes to about $4.40 pre tax. That's a steal in today's market, although if you are an articulationazi (of which I am not,) you probably still feel slighted by the lack of articulation in these figures regardless of price.

Stealth Vision Batman is a neat figure for a Bat variant. His costume is acceptable as a comic variant and not gaudy or ridiculous. He also comes with two bladed weapons that actually look like they'd be more at home with Catwoman.

Ninja Bruce Wayne is also included. This figure saw release around Batman Begins I believe (at least in the 5" scale anyways,) so you may already have it. I don't, and it's a good representation of Bale as Bruce, so it's ok with me. Also, I suppose you could do a head swap with the Batman in this set and have a maskless version, which would be fun to have in this scale.

We've seen this Batman before as well, but I have a silvery variant so this all black version is also new to me. Not a spectacular figure, but for $4.40 I would not have a problem grabbing this set. Batman has a phaser type accessory that I believe showed up in a trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, but I won't know what it 'does' until I see the film.

Bane should be a great figure - he's definitely new and unique and movie accurate, but he's just bland.  I know his color palette and costume design are partially responsible for that fact, but he's also limited in his paint apps and details and therefore does little for me except excite me because I have a Tom Hardy Bane, probably the only one I will own until all the TDKR toys hit clearance (or the flea market.)

Here's the back of the set. Even in the professional shots, Bane looks uber-dull.

'They call me Bruce.'

'Boogie fever!'

The set comes with a nice diorama background showing the Gotham sewers, skyline and alleyways. Nice illustration, and if I was still a kid who played with my toys, or if I displayed in this sort of manner, I would certainly have kept it.

Of course when you have a Bane and a Batman you have to do the 'I will BREAK YOU!' pose.

Back to Catwoman. The costume's 'fabric' variations are well represented - her body suit is textured and her belt compartments look metallic whilst her boots and gloves are shiny.

The goggles are cool and the limited paint apps work for Catwoman; with red lips and blue lights on her night vision specs.

I would have still preferred the goggles up for the 'cat ears' look, but I won't complain. I never expected a Catwoman in this scale at all, and I am fine that it came to us in a Target exclusive set. Had it been a Walmart exclusive, I probably would have been pissed, because I can never find those.

Is it July 20th yet?

HUGE thanks again to John of Batcave Toyroom fame for this set!