Batman Animated Two-Face Action Figures - Vintage Figure from Kenner, Modern Figure from DC Collectibles

It's a Two-Face Two-fer!

When DC Collectibles first introduced their new 6 inch scale Animated Batman action figures last year, there were a lot of complaints from the toy collecting community about their quality.  Apparently, DCC used a brittle form of plastic in their joints, causing the articulated pieces to break. So even though the figures LOOKED really cool, I stayed away from them, because I like to take my action figures out of the package and pose them and play with them, and that didn't seem like a viable option with these figures.  But after the first batch of figures was released, DCC took stock of the toy collector's complaints, so all the subsequent releases now have decent plastic in them and won't break.  As I saw all the awesome looking figures that were coming out, as well as the super cool animated series Batmobile they are releasing, I decided I had to start collecting these, even if the first four figures were more fragile than the rest.  So I went ahead and picked the first four figures up, and I plan on buying the rest of them in the next few months until I'm all caught up.

Packaged DC Collectibles The New Batman Adventures Two-Face Action Figure

I also have a random assortment of vintage Animated Batman Kenner figures in my collection already, and I keep meaning to buy more to fill in the gaps.  So I thought it would be fun to take a look at the vintage figures side by side with the new ones.  For the first four Kenner figures, I picked up unopened packages, and for the subsequent figures it will probably be a combination of loose ones for the figures I already have in my collection, and packaged or loose ones for the ones I don't.

Packaged Kenner Arkham Asylum Escape Batman Vs. Two-Face

 I'm starting off with DC Collectibles' Two-Face action figure.  Since I was worried about it breaking, I opened the package and removed him as gently as possible.  Then I submerged him in boiling water for a minute to soften up the joints.  Then I gently worked all the joints to loosen them up.  Despite all this, I was unable to move the joint in his right knee.  It's possible that I could have moved it if I used more force, but I didn't want to risk breaking it.  Aside from that, though, everything moved very well.  The figure has 17 points of articulation, so I guess 16 out of 17 isn't bad for a figure that was supposed to have so many quality control issues.

Two Guns Blazing

The figure looks great.  It's very true to the design from the cartoons.  Almost TOO true, really, because with his wide torso and tiny legs, he's very imbalanced and not really capable of standing on his own.  And that's probably going to be true of most of the figures from this line, not just this one.  That's why all of the figures come with an action figure stand.  The stands are printed with model sheets that the animators used on the shows, which is a fun touch.  I didn't find it to be the best stand for this figure, though.  His feet tend to extend past the edge of the base, and he doesn't feel balanced very well even in the stand.  I'd suggest replacing it with something like a Kaiser doll stand, which has a larger base, and holds the figure in a firmer grip.  That's what I used for most of my photos for this figure, and it worked much better than the base it came with.

DC Collectibles Two-Face Accessories

In addition the action figure stands, these figures come with a lot of neat accessories that are based on a specific episode that the character appeared in.  This one comes with two guns, a pocket watch, a tool bag, two poison gas canisters, and a gas mask, as well as two pairs of alternate hands.  The gas mask pops on and off of his face easily, as do the different hands.  He does not come with his trademark coin, however, which is kind of odd.  Instead, the coin is sculpted in to the palm of one of his hands, with the unscarred side up.  I understand that the coin is probably too small to make a good accessory, but I would have preferred if it was sculpted being held in his fingers so you could at least see both sides of the coin.

Portrait of Evil (DC Collectibles Animated Two-Face)

Overall, I was pretty happy with this figure, and I'm looking forward to checking out the rest of the figures in this series.

Gas Mask and Guns

For the vintage Kenner figure, I went with Two-Face from the "Arkham Asylum Escape: Batman Vs. Two-Face Battle Pack."  This is a fun action figure pack that includes Batman, Two-Face, and some great accessories, including the arched entrance to Arkham Asylum, a pair of guns for Two-Face, strait-jacket style insane asylum restraints, and Batman's grapple gun.

Kenner Batman and Two-Face

Both the Kenner figures and the DC Collectibles figure a labeled as being from The New Batman Adventures, but I'm pretty sure the Kenner figure is actually the same figure they made for Batman the Animated Series.  Two-Face's design was pretty similar on both shows, though, so that's not much of a problem.  The Kenner Two-Face has the standard retro 5 points of articulation at the legs, arms, and head.  The Batman figure is unusual, in that he is sculpted in a dynamic pose, with one leg straight and one bent at the knee, and his cape is sculpted as if it was being blown in the wind.  He also has a 6th point of articulation at the waist.

Kenner Two-Face and His Guns

This pack was released in 1998, and I THINK it was the last official "Kenner" animated series release.  Kenner was actually owned by Hasbro at this point, and all of the subsequent figures were released under the Hasbro name instead of Kenner.

Profile of Evil (Kenner Arkham Escape Two-Face)

For my next Animated Batman feature, I think I'll be focusing on Batman himself, with DC Collectibles' Animated Batman figure, and Kenner's Crime Stopper Batman from 1997.  Then I've got Catwoman and Mr. Freeze on tap after that.  I also just got the new set of Garbage Pail Kids vinyl figures from Funko, as well as their new Jaws ReAction figures, so look for those coming up, as well.

Kenner Arkham Escape Batman

Batman and His Grapple Gun

Batman

Dynamic Pose

Kenner Two-Face Full Body Profile

Capturing Two-Face

Hung Out To Dry

DC Collectibles Two-Face on His Action Figure Stand

Gas Mask Portrait

Two-Face and His Two-ol Bag