Ninja Bruce To Batman
Batman Begins Series 1: Mattel, 2005 #H1297
Ninja Bruce To Batman is the Bruce Wayne figure that turns in Batman. Nearly every Batman figure line (Legends and Knight Force Ninja are a couple that did not) has a Bruce Wayne figure. Some good, some bad.
The figure has a good look. To me it looked like Christian Bale and it reminded me of the Bruce Wayne figure from The Dark Knight Collection and Batman Returns series.
SPECS:
The figure stands just short of 5 1/2 inches tall as a Ninja and just over as Batman and has 10 points of articulation (head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, and knees). He comes with soft rubber Ninja Hood, arm mounted Blade and snap on shoulder Armor as well as a Batman soft rubber Cowl and Chest piece with a Cloth Cape.
PROS:
There is a fair amount of detail on the body and it is an OK figure. It?s well balanced an displays well.
CONS:
It?s hard to make a figure that looks convincing as both Bruce Wayne and Batman. Unlike most other Bruce Wayne figures this one has no arm/glove or leg/boot pieces to snap on.
Articulation is poor. The elbows do not bend to a 90 degree angle, nor do the knees like they do on Battle Gear Batman.
The soft rubber Ninja head covering and Batman cowl bothers me. It seems too thin to withstand rigorous play sessions coming on and off the figure. I think it might tear or at least stretch out of shape. Also the Batman chest piece sticks out away from the figure at the Utility Belt. This is in part because of the design and even though the Utility Belt connects in the rear it still sticks out. Not to mention that the cowl looks huge on the figure.
OVERALL:
The figure is just OK. It has decent playability, but the snap on Ninja parts kept coming off during the photo shoot, so I doubt they will hold during play. Because this is the Bruce Wayne figure it will probably be good to get. I always get two, so I can display them both ways. You could always use the head for a custom Batman Begins figure later. (although a head swap with Battle Gear Batman does not look easy or even possible).
Batman figure collectors will naturally get one, so will the customizers, but I doubt the average figure collector will much care about this one.
Here is Battle Gear Batman (left) and Ninja Bruce To Batman in Batman gear to compare the two figures.
RE: Figure Review: Ninja Bruce To Batman, Batman Begins -
Posted on 06-10-2006 01:00
Here's a link to OAFE site review of the repaint of Ninja Bruce call Duel Blade Bruce To Batman. For those who don't konw, OAFE site is probably best known for the infamous April Fools 2006 review of the so call "Chase Bizarro" figure for Mattel's DC Supeheroes Wave 2. I thought I should add in this review since it's really the only 1 I've every found of Duel Blade Bruce, mostly because most collectors brought the Ninja Bruce and didn't brother getting Duel Blade Bruce since they were the same figure with almost the same accessories(With Duel Blade Bruce coming with a Duel Blade Staff). Plus, I'm pretty sure many felt that Ninja Bruce was closer to what we saw on screen than Duel Blade Bruce in terms of colour(Well, to a degree of course), and didn't brother with Duel Blade Bruce because of this:
I remember reading this review sometime after I was done reading the "Chase Bizarro" figure review(At the time, I thought the chase Bizarro figure was real, only to find out days later that it was an April Fools joke). I have the Ninja Bruce figure and my brother has the Duel Blade Bruce figure. When I read the reveiw, I was suprised to find out that for the duel blade weapon that Bruce came with, that both the blades are actually removable. and that they can be placed in Bruce's hands. So I went to check it out, and indeed was able to verify this. This was something that the packaging of Duel Blade Bruce should of mentioned in the back. I mean there was a picture of him with only 1 blade in his staff, however I just thought it was maybe a prototype picture before they decided to go with 2 blades.
I personally think Mattel should of mentioned this in the package of Duel Blade Bruce because I'm sure not that many knew about this, let along if someone were to remove the blades, they may think that they had broken the toy at 1st before finding out that it's meant to be removiable.
Edited by A_Spidey_Fan on 06-10-2006 01:02
RE: Figure Review: Ninja Bruce To Batman, Batman Begins -
Posted on 06-10-2006 20:13
I did not bother with a review of the Dual Blade Bruce To Batman because it was the same figure only repainted in gray with a new weapon. Nice tip about the Dual Blade weapon, I think mine is still MOC so I did not bother to check it out.
RE: Figure Review: Ninja Bruce To Batman, Batman Begins -
Posted on 11-10-2006 00:51
Hey FlaBat, no problem on not reviewing your Duel Blade Bruce To Batman Figure. Like you said, it's just a repaint of Ninja Bruce To Batman with an added weapon. When compared to the 2, Ninja Bruce usually gets the review in most sites while Duel Blade Bruce doesn't mainly because he's just a repaint. Luckly, I found out that OAFE did a review of Duel Blade Bruce or else I wouldn't have known about the fact that both the blades on the Duel Blade Staff are removiable. With this, Duel Blade Bruce can either have 2 daggers, 1 dagger and a blade staff, a duel blade staff, or a very small bo/club/some sort of stick.
Like I said, this should of been mentioned at the back of Duel Blade Bruce's packaging but it wasn't which is why I mentioned it and used the OAFE review to help prove it, especially since I don't have a digital camera.
You know, for all the characters this mold was used for(The various verisons of Bruce, Ducard/Ras Al Ghul, and Decoy Ras Al Ghul), I'm surprised that Mattel didn't give us some League Of Shadows Ninjas for Batman to fight against. They could of even release them in 2 waves, with 1 wave colour like Ninja Bruce, and the other like Duel Blade Bruce. Well, either that, or an all black ninja for 1 wave and then an all grey/blue for the 2nd. Another way of doing it could of been packaging 2 Ninja figures in 1 Basic Style Packaging with very minimum accessories(Probably only their Arm Blade), and/or even in the Power Tek style packaging with a couple of accessories for these 2 Ninjas(Arm Blades for the 2 of them, plus a sword, Duel Blade Staff, and 3 Section Staff). Mattel could of even done chase variant verisons of these guys too, if they wanted(Though I don't know how many collectors and kids would of liked this idea for the Ninjas). This way, people would of been getting 2 figures for the price of 1(Whatever the price was depending on the packaging), and still have a bit of an Army Building theme going on, espeically if they were offered in both waves and maybe even in both styles of packaging.
However, I suppose if someone where to have both Ninja Bruce and Duel Blade Bruce, they could just use 1 as Bruce, and the other as a League Of Shadows Ninja, provided they never unmask the 1 they are using as a League Of Shadows Ninja.
Edited by A_Spidey_Fan on 11-10-2006 00:56
RE: Figure Review: Ninja Bruce To Batman, Batman Begins -
Posted on 05-02-2007 10:03
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