Play Arts Kai Batman - Arkham City Review

The joys of not having a working deadline...anyway, coming on the heels of that excellent Play Arts Kai Catwoman figure from Arkham City i'd like to present a late review of the Play Arts Kai Batman. I already established the fact that the first Batman from Arkham Asylum is better than this figure but i would like to justify that he's just as solid as the AA Batman and a worthy piece on your collection especially if you're not really interested to shell out extra bucks for the Arkham Asylum version or to try the "Ultimate" PAK Batman modification. 

Play Arts Kai Batman (THE Ultimate version)- Arkham Asylum & Arkham City

Years ago (approx. a couple of decades or so) i would pick up a really, really cool action figure, say a G.I. Joe (particularly Mercer) and he would become an instant favorite. Together, eventually, we'll clock in a phenomenal play time log. Later on, however, i would realize that the orange vest and blue pants of his are getting old to my 7 year-old eyes and not really to my liking in the first place. What i would do is tear him limb from limb, get a couple of Joes wearing combat fatigues (say, Hit & Run or Falcon), get all the cool body-parts, then reassemble the figure using Mercer's head and Voila! instant new Joe. It's pretty d@#ned impressive for a kid back then and less complicated. Honestly, i never really grew out of that "idea" and was always looking into it from time to time as you may have noticed while reading my Play Arts Kai Solid Snake review where i mentioned a Snake Eyes custom using Solid and Kaz Miller's alternate head.

Sadly, I never got to develop that skill though i met someone who did. Check out his latest piece.

Photo courtesy of Touya

You're seeing that right, and no that's not factory defect. Blaze a.k.a. Touya, one of the decorated moderators of Final Fantasy Merchandise forums actually concoct a new and better Batman figure using a combination of the Arkham Asylum and Arkham City figures. I refer to it personally as "THE Ultimate" Play Arts Kai Batman though Touya find the reference not really to his liking. Well, i'll take the windfall for you bro so no worries.

Play Arts Kai Batman and Catwoman from Arkham City

If you haven't read about the 1st Play Arts Kai Batman figure from the Arkham Asylum game you can see it HERE, sure, i'll wait for you... ... ... ... ... ... Ok, done? Let's move along.
With the recent release of Play Arts Kai Arkham Asylum Volume 2 featuring Harley and the Armored Batman figures Square-Enix announced a hard-hitting follow-up to the popular Play Arts Kai line: Batman and Catwoman from the Arkham City game.

Photo courtesy of FinalFantasyMerchandise.com

The third Play Arts Kai Batman figure looks a lot closer to the classic Batman design and it's a good thing they decided to pep up the accessories, well, a little bit, with an alternate head and the Batclaw attachment.