In December of 2010, Hot Toys celebrated their longevity in the collectibles market by hosting their 10th Anniversary Exhibition in Tokyo. While the event itself looked to be a lot of fun, with product announcements and the showcasing of their works to date, the event was enhanced with the offering of a handful of very limited exclusives at the show. One of these offerings was a two-pack of figures from Batman Begins and part of the 12″ Movie Masterpiece series. The set included Batman Demon and Scarecrow, and given that Batman Begins was released five years before, I think the announcement took us all by complete surprise, Anyone that’s picked up one of Hot Toys figures – whether from The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Alien or any number of other movie properties – will know that Hot Toys is the undisputed master of the 1:6 scale figure.

One of the things about Hot Toys that I love is that you can tell you’re getting a high-class piece before you even open the box. Hot Toys uses roomy, sturdy boxes, often with amazing original artwork. The figures are stored in custom-fit foam pieces, with areas for accessories, stands and extra whatnot. The Batman Begins two-pack goes a step beyond and places the two figures’ boxes in a larger black box, complete with the Batman Begins logo and a small Hot Toys emblem noting the exclusivity of the piece (it was limited to a production run of 2,000 pieces. The figural boxes are done in contrasting colors – orange for Scarecrow and purple for Demon Batman. A very faint image of the figure is imprinted behind the Batman Begins logo, which helps make even the box itself a nice display piece. The boxes are made large enough that the figures are given plenty of padding, but they’re not so bulky that storage would become a problem. One word of caution – the black outer box is a 4-sided box rather than 6-sided, so when the inner boxes are removed it becomes very easy for the corners to bend in ways they probably shouldn’t, which could result in them splitting.

Batman Demon

The demon Batman was a real surprise to me. My guess on this one is that it’s such an obscure character, there wouldn’t have been enough demand to see a full-scale release to the general public, so in that regard it’s the perfect exclusive figure. Those of you that have seen Batman Begins will know that this version of Batman was nothing more than a hallucination by Dr. Crane during the raid on his lab and had only seconds of screen time. Batman is done up in the sculpt used for previous Batman releases. He’s outfitted in a full-body rubber suit, which is wonderful to look at but has its flaws. This type of rubber material is very susceptible to dust, so it would be highly advisable to keep him encased in one way or another. The rubber also limits articulation somewhat, and action poses are limited without ripping the suit. Movement issues aside, the suit is a thing of beauty, with a great amount of detail including the burned appearance. His forearm armor are separate pieces and can be removed. Batman comes with a nice array of accessories – his cape, a pair of batarangs, two extra sets of hands (open and grabbing), an extra right hand that can hold the batarang and a display stand. He initially comes without his cape attached, but a simple removal of the head and placement of two “hooks” into holes in the rubber suit allow the cape to attach to his body. The cape is enormous and is given the burnt and tattered appearance as envisioned by Crane. Batman’s headsculpt, sculpted by the talented Joseph Tsang, is also given the burnt appearance and equipped with a demonic snarl and vacant black eyes, rounding out the character’s nightmarish appearance.

Scarecrow

Next to Bats himself, Jonathan Crane, aka The Scarecrow, was the figure I most wanted to see from Batman Begins. We never got him in the main run of BB figures, so it was a pure bliss when I found out that he would be released in this exclusive set. Cillian Murphy portrayed a sly version of Dr. Crane, and his Scarecrow had an ominous presence that captured his fear angle well. Unfortunately, while it’s a great rendition of Scarecrow, this figure does not give us the Cillian Murphy headsculpt. I could speculate all day long that it had to do with licensing/likeness issues, and whatever the case may be it’s unfortunate that we didn’t get that added feature. All that aside, Hot Toys really delivered with this Scarecrow figure. The headsculpt was again done by Joseph Tsang, and he did a spot-on job of capturing the burlap appearance of Scarecrow’s mask. The detail here is fantastic, with the stitched together pieces captured nicely. The eyes peer through the sack in ominous fashion, and along with the ripped-through mouth this figure is every bit as creepy as the appearance in the movie. The Arkham straight jacket is really well done, tattered and worn with various rips, burns and damage. It is strung together in the back by several working belts as well as snap buttons to keep it in place. The restraining jacket can be removed to reveal Crane’s suit beneath, but I found the figure looks infinitely better with the jacket on. The suit is the type of quality you’d expect from Hot Toys, with jacket, shirt, tie and pants done in real fabric, but the suit is easily wrinkled underneath the straight jacket and hard to flatten out. Scarecrow is equipped with the standard Hot Toys True Type body, with 30+ points of articulation. The suit does little to hinder articulation in the upper body, but I found average stretches in his lower body to be somewhat difficult. Part of this has to do with the way his boots – which are sculpted and not part of the outfit – limit ankle movement. Scarecrow comes with a display stand, which by now I’m sure you know is standard with Hot Toys 12″ figures, and in addition he comes with an extra set of hands – a pointing right hand and an outstretched left hand.

The announcement of these figures saw mixed reactions from the Hot Toys and Batman fan bases. Obviously not everyone can pack up and go to Tokyo to get a set of their own, leaving many Batman collections incomplete. But on the flip side – and this is my take – collections need to have exclusive figures that are only available in limited quantities. If everyone had access to everything at all times, no collection would be unique or individual and it would lead towards the stagnation of the hobby. So I say kudos to Hot Toys for not only creating an amazing set, but for also making them so coveted. My advice to those of you that weren’t able to make the trip to Tokyo….secure one NOW. As I mentioned, these were limited to only 2,000 pieces, and unless Hot Toys decides to produce them on a wider scale and eliminate the exclusivity of the set, they’re going to dry up incredibly fast. General release Hot Toys figures often appreciate quickly, and the exclusives tend to do so even more. Right now you can expect to pay $350-500 for the set via eBay or other outlets, but I could easily see that doubling over the course of the year. And trust me, at $400 this set is well worth the money and a must-have for Batman collectors