Check it out: Hot Toys, Toy Fairs 2014 Exclusive Bank Robber Joker 2.0
Hot Toys has released images from one of their three Toy Fairs 2014 Exclusives: the 1/6 scale Bank Robber Joker 2.0 based on the late Heath Ledger's iconic portrayal of the character in Christopher Nolan's 2008 film The Dark Knight. Find more images, a potential price, where to pre-order, and our thoughts after the break.....
It's hard for me to say what I am about to say because Hot Toys' Heath Ledger Joker got me into the hobby of collecting, but COME ON HOT TOYS! This is your exclusive, a repaint of the last DX Ledger Joker? All they did here was repaint that sculpt and re-use the clothing from the original Hot Toys Bank Robber Joker, which I already own. While I am happy for collectors who want to pick up this piece at a somewhat reasonable price, as I said in the Predator article: Aren't exclusives supposed to be something different, rather than re-do's? Even worse is this is a figure that didn't need to be redone as the original is one of the best Hot Toys of all time! Expect this one to cost around $250 and if you can play the click game right you can most likely get any of these exclusives through BBTS or Sideshow Collectibles.
Are any other collectors bored by Hot Toys continuous re-hashes? Did they jeopardize the integrity of the original piece? Let us know in the comments!
Personally, 99% of the time I prefer an exclusive like this to an exclusive that is a totally new or requested character. Unless a company goes out of their way to make an exclusive fairly easy to get (Mattel has actually done a fairly decent job of this over the past few years, oddly enough) it really sucks for collectors to have a much wanted character only available to a select few individuals. Otherwise, the only way to get it is simply to pay more to someone selling the figure for a lofty mark-up.
ReplyDeleteHot Toys is giving fans another chance to own an extremely popular figure while still differentiating it from the original release. That seems like a win-win situation for everyone. Think about it: At this point, there are folks who weren't even old enough to purchase Hot Toys when The Dark Knight came out and now they finally have a chance.