Figure Review: Play Arts Kai Harley Quinn [ Arkham Knight ]

"Pucker up, Snookums!" - Harley Quinn, 'Injustice'

This hot cosplay chick made me love Harley even more!

In all honesty, Harley Quinn was one of those characters whom I couldn't care less about in the DC Universe, particularly when I saw her recurring appearances in 'Batman: The Animated Series' back in the day. Seeing her clowning around in her signature red and black jester costume as a sidekick to one of Batman's perennial baddies, I had considered her as a fairly forgettable character ever since - until today. And what made me change my mind about her? Well, it all boils down to two reasons: her 'Arkham Knight' version, and Daddy's Lil Monster (she's quite a looker, hands down!).

Damn it, Harley! Why couldn't you have just brought along with you that bad-ass stand?

The moment I had laid my eyes on her prototype from 2015's New York Toy Fair, she became an instant must-have for me! Along with the mock-ups of the titular hero Batman and the mysterious Arkham Knight, the figures were displayed standing on a pedestal in the form of an awesome bat stand seen in the image above, which unfortunately did not come with the final product package of the figures (jeez, was it really too much to ask, Play Arts?). Anyway, what matters is the figure, and I have to say their Harley Quinn is certifiably a job well done. With her being the rose among the thorns (or more appropriately, among the 'bat-horns'), I even regard her as the 'crown jewel' of the Arkham Knight line!

The Good, The Bad, and The Crazy

Presently, my Arkham Knight collection consists of Batman, Harley and the Arkham Knight himself. I'm glad that I have with me now all the figures that I had set my sights on back when the prototype images were released online. I am also eager to get my hands on the upcoming Batgirl figure which will hit the shelves later this year, and by then my Arkham Knight collection will have been completed, despite not having the Robin figure and not getting the other newcomer Nightwing figure which I'll have to pass on.

Never entrust a grinning psychopath with a smiling hammer

So, just who is this pale-faced chick sporting a couple of bizarre-looking ponytails? The character of Harleen Frances Quinzel first appeared in the 90's cartoon series 'Batman: The Animated Series', particularly in the episode titled 'Joker's Favor'. Primarily, Harley Quinn's character was only supposed to be an animated version of a walk-on role, however, she eventually became a female sidekick to the Joker. Prior to her career as one of Gotham City's most notorious criminals, she was a psychiatrist who became fascinated with the Clown Prince of Crime during her internship at the Arkham Asylum as she volunteered to analyze him, and during their sessions she fell hopelessly in love with her patient, which led her to help him escape the asylum. When her 'beloved' is returned to Arkham after a fight with the Caped Crusader, the sight of her badly-beaten patient triggered her insanity which made her quit her job and turn to a life of crime, donning a jester costume to become her enigmatic and high-spirited alter-ego Harley Quinn, and the rest is history. Several comic books, video games, and animated shows later, her character received a unique treatment for the Arkham Knight storyline.

Thank God her face ended up like this...

The appearance of the figure is based on one of the first promotional posters of the Arkham Knight game, where she becomes a playable character as a pre-order bonus. This version looks more mature face-wise, striking a pose with her favorite weapon which I'd call the 'anti-Bats' bat.

... and not like this!

Fortunately, Play Arts did not opt for her actual in-game looks, which I would personally consider a step down from her representation in the first poster. In the poster above, she looks younger and a little chubby on the face with a lean body, nearly turning her into a walking, talking lollipop! It would have been cool though if the figure actually came with that bad-ass gun she's hiding behind her back.

Nifty packaging for a mentally-strange babe

The figure comes in a standard PAK Arkham Knight packaging. The flap/front cover shows an image of Harley Quinn naughtily tipping off a stolen police hat as she's standing in the rain, with a shot of the moon obscured by clouds at night behind her. The back of the packaging shows the figure being placed on several action poses, with her designation as the 4th figure of this Play Arts line. Moreover, there's a picture of the Arkham Knight figure (he's 'No. 3') as part of the line's second wave.

All I can see are Bewbies...

Enemies from the past attack...
An epic story appropriate for the final chapter.

As the epic conclusion to the BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM and BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY game series, BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT features the return of prominent super-villains including THE PENGUIN, TWO-FACE and HARLEY QUINN. The SCARECROW secretly returns to GOTHAM CITY and unites these adversaries in a plot to defeat the BATMAN once and for all. Beautiful next-gen console graphics, intense action from utilizing BATMAN's unique arsenal of gadgets, and a thrilling storyline makes this title the ultimate culmination of the BATMAN narrative.

A Femme Fatale both bewitching and brutal.

One moment she's a charming coquette, the next she's a crazed and dangerous villain swinging a bat. Harley Quinn, a former psychiatrist, fell in love with THE JOKER over the course of their therapy sessions. Madly in love, she was compelled to a life of crime to protect her beloved. It is assumed that her hatred of BATMAN stems not from his person, but from the thought of him as the arch nemesis of her beloved Clown Prince of Crime.

In and out of a sticky situation!

Just like any other Play Arts Kai product, the core figure and the accessories are neatly stored within a clamshell package. As always, it would take some amount of effort to separate the translucent plastic from the dark plastic, which is a good thing. It only means that the figure has not been tampered with.

Ugh!

And there's that bulky yet useless stand again. Like I've mentioned in another post, I'm quite disappointed with the whole thing as I did expect that these Arkham Knight figures would come with the awesome bat stand shown in the New York Toy Fair, which would have been way better!

As for Miss Quinzel's accessories, she's got the following:

1) Four extra mitts (one left hand and three right hands):

She's just not fond of using her left hand

 2) A hand gun:

Bang!

3) A striped steel bat:

I guess we'll just have to wait till we see what she can do with it

4) A police hat:

Needless to say she stole it from one of Gotham's finest

5) A pair of extra ponytails:

Wet dog ears

6) An alternate head with ball-jointed ponytails, windswept fringe and a goofy smirk:

She's not related to this guy, is she?

Now, on to the main course:

She's strutting her stuff!

Right off the bat, Harley Quinn is my favorite figure in the Arkham Knight line. The paint job on this figure is excellent, coupled with a near-perfect sculpting. She's also the most versatile among the rest of the AK figures, and I'll get into that shortly. The figure stands a little over 9 inches tall, and boasts over 20 points of articulation, the standard PoA among all of the current PAK figures.

Too much facial powder

Despite her having a kind of creepy-looking visage, there's an undeniable beauty that lies beneath her pale skin. Her default head sports a face-framing fringe and twin tails, with her blonde hair tied side by side. Her dark and thick eyeliners, paired with an up-to-no-good smirk, give her a rather menacing demeanor. Looking at the back of her head, the twin ponytails are colored halfway toward the tips, one having a reddish hue and the other jet black.

Yep, she puts on a very busty display right there!

Moving on to the figure's chest area, I have to say Harley's one heck of a 'blessed' gal. She's another female figure whom Play Arts took the liberty of sculpting her knockers to perfection. Her chest area exposes a significant amount of El Cleaváge, another interesting aspect which I will discuss more later in this review. Basically, Harley's costume is made up of a complex design, and it is a combination of red, black, blue, and dirty white colors. She wears a double-collared blouse with balloon sleeves on the upper half of her body, and a dark blue riveted corset on the lower half. Her suspenders are connected to her choker by a grayish/metallic circular piece on the front, and the same type of material holds the suspenders at the back. The line works on her costume is pretty well done too.
   

Spell 'R-U-F-F-L-E-S'

Moving further down, Harley's hips flare out with her ruffled skirt, which is done beautifully. Overall it has five layers of ruffles, with the dirty white pieces bordering the black ones. The lower or the widest piece comes sculpted with thick wrinkles on it.  

Poker feet

Harley wears a pair of red and blue leggings, and each comes with a design that resembles a diamond card suit. The upper diamonds are sculpted in red and blue colors, while the lower ones are sculpted in silver studs. Another part that I like about this figure are her red and blue boots, which have some nice sculpting on them, particularly on the laces and the silver diamond studs at the back.

Zany gauntlets

Harley sports a gauntlet-like piece on each arm, which ends in a removable ruffled sleeve at the edge. The red one worn on the right is quite shorter than the blue/black one on the left. Moreover, the rivets and laces on the gauntlets are sculpted nicely.

Um, Shockwave??

Now let's talk about versatility. The one thing that makes this figure stand out above the rest of the Play Arts Kai figures out there (or at least, the ones I have) is its unique interchangeability. In addition to her having two alternate heads, the heads themselves have swappable pieces.

Harley Deconstructed!

The faces are removable and switchable, and they can be inserted into the lower slots of the head. The bangs or the fringes can also be inserted interchangeably into the upper slots. Moreover, the twin ponytails in the default head are removable, and they can be swapped with the two extra flat ponytails which accommodate the police hat accessory.

She's making faces

This interchangeable feature enables Harley to wear her hair and her face any way she wants to. Sweet!

¡Ay, caramba!

And now for the best part: Harley's boobs. She's undoubtedly one of the chestiest figures I have ever seen, just like Final Fantasy's Tifa, Marvel's Natasha, and MSG's Quiet (which I do not own unfortunately). She's got big boobs, and they're made of malleable plastic. In other words, they're very squishy - so squishy indeed that it nearly feels like the real thing. Top marks on that, Play Arts!

Now for some epic stances:

She knows nothing

She's licensed to kill

She wields her bat against the Bat

A gun-toting, 'bat'-shit crazy chick

"Nice ta meet ya', puddin'!"

She's in her full battle array

Poster girl for an M-rated game

Here she is posed with some of my other Play Arts figures:

The 'blessed' trinity

Marvel vs DC: Boob Wars

Savagery meets Insanity!

Just waiting for Jena Malone to come

And here's Harley goofing around with her New 52 'mini-me':

There's a little bit of devil in her...

... that, when unleashed...

... brandishes a giant wooden mallet...

... and wreaks havoc everywhere it goes! POW!

And here she is à la Margot:

She's feelin' it when she wields her bat.

Ch-CHAK!

Final thoughts: In conclusion, the Arkham Knight Harley Quinn turned out as I've expected right from the start - an outstanding figure! Though others may not see her the way I do, this version of Harley has got to be one of the best Play Arts Kai figures to date. The interchangeable head pieces, the awesome face and body sculpt overall, and her undeniable 'blessedness' are just some of the few things that make this action figure worth adding to my collection. And lastly...

She's about to mess up a resentful Cybertronian

... I do hope we get to see a Play Arts treatment for Miss Robbie!

Pretty please, Play Arts?

So, what's your favorite version/incarnation of Daddy's Lil Monster? Sound off in the comments below.

Figure Review: Play Arts Kai Black Widow

She's got red... on her hair!

Natasha... Ooh La La!

Truthfully, at first I wasn't really excited about the Black Widow prototype that Play Arts Kai/Square Enix unveiled during 2015's San Diego Comic Con, along with their version of Captain America. Considering there are a lot of Natasha Romanoff figures these days (and some of them I already own), I thought adding this version into my collection would be needless. However, I quickly changed my mind when I laid my eyes on the whole package itself. Now, I must admit that my ever-present impulsive urges helped me to ultimately buy the figure. Having said that, I do not regret such decision and I am actually happy about it, because this is simply among the best offerings of the Play Arts Kai line. In fact, I think this is one of the best "Nat" figures ever created!

"Ehem! My eyes are up here, okay?"

For the benefit of those who don't know who Natasha Romanoff is, here's a brief character background. Born Natalia "Natasha" Alianovna Romanova, this red-haired femme fatale hails from Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Russia. Nat (as she's been often called by her buddies in the movies) was recruited to become part of the Black Widow Program, which was a team of elite female sleeper agents. Apart from her training, she also studied as a ballerina in order to cover her true occupation (which explains the flashback/dream sequence seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron when she was bedazzled by another redhead). Her expertise and ruthlessness in the field earned her the moniker "Black Widow". Nat eventually left the program, and after some time, she became one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top agents under Nick Fury's command, which led to her becoming a member of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers. One thing to note is that even though she's currently doing some good stuff with the good guys, she is still being haunted by her past and she tries to make amends with it, one day at a time (as ScarJo herself puts it, "I've got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out").

Nat's bust and bum - totally the main highlight of the packaging

The figure comes in a standard Marvel Variant PAK packaging, which is usually presented in a red and black motif. The flap/front cover shows her jumping in mid-air while striking a sexy pose. The back of the packaging shows the figure being placed in several action poses, with the 'bum strut' being my favorite.

Nat's de-classified profile

Figure/package description:

Black Widow

"Don't let the name fool you, we won't be playing house. That said, I'll have no problem with sending you to your final resting place."

- Natasha Romanoff

Trained from an early age in the art of the covert, she has become a master of espionage paired with finely honed assassination techniques. "The Black Widow" is a name feared throughout intelligence circles, if you survive long enough to have heard it. But Natasha Romanoff was born to follow her own path, and she grew tired of always looking over her shoulder for the deadly ghosts of her past. The only solution was to try to tip her personal scales of sin and virtue. She sought out heroes that she could ally herself to, and ever since has been a fierce and loyal friend.

The iconic red hourglass motif of Lactrodectus Mactans, which spells doom for its unsuspecting prey, is highly visible all over her suit. Widow's suit responds to electrical impulses sent to her muscles via tension bands stretched across key muscle groups. Thanks to continual advancements made by STARK Industries technology, her reactions and movements are faster and deadlier than ever. Her artillery boasts a myriad of weapons: her belt contains miniature explosives, her two favorite handguns are holstered close at hand but just out of sight of her enemies, and her Widow's Bite gauntlets can electrify her target or deliver rapid fire projectiles. Select areas of her armor expand and contract, allowing her to absorb a superhuman amount of kinetic impact. This suit makes her the perfect blend of speed and strength. 

A woman you will never know entirely, the MARVEL Variant Play Arts Kai Black Widow is always a step ahead...

She smells quite nice!

Just like any other Play Arts Kai product which I have already reviewed, the core figure, along with its accessories, is neatly stored within a clamshell package. As always, it would take some amount of effort to separate the translucent plastic from the black plastic. Notably, every time I separate these two plastics, I would always take a nice triumphant sniff of that familiar PVC scent that follows thereafter. Sweet!

...

And there's that freaking stand. Again.

As for her accessories, Nat's got the following:

1) Two and a half extra pair of lady mitts:

Need a hand?

2) A pair of tiny handguns that forms the 'iconic hourglass motif' when placed side by side:

Small but terrible

3) A small knife:

Whenever she wants to get too close for comfort...

4) A 'rapid fire' effect that can be inserted in both wrists:

Nat's got something that belongs to Mr. Stark

5) A miniature explosive with a blue/white 'electrifying' effect:

Her bite is electrifyin'

6) A plain miniature explosive:

The most itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny PAK accessory yet

Now, let's take a closer look at the figure:
      

She's got a body to die for!

As I have stated earlier, at first I thought that I don't need (even want) this figure, but boy was I so wrong! I have to say that this is probably the best action figure version of Natasha Romanoff to date, considering the size, articulation, details and whatnot. Nat measures about 10 inches tall from the tip of her scarlet hair down to her heels, and features around 20 points of articulation. 

Sway!

One of the things that makes the PAK version stand out among the other Black Widow figures is the head sculpt. Nat's face in particular is done perfectly, sporting a beautiful Eurasian look (Russian-Japanese, in particular) with her gleaming emerald eyes and ginger locks that add to her charm and mystery. She also comes with her signature open collar design, which is also evident in her various appearances in the comic books. Perhaps a minor gripe of mine is that the sculptor didn't make the opening spring from her cleavage, which would have made this figure a whole lot sexier! 

They're really big...

Moving on to the chest area, I have to say that whenever I look at it, only one word comes into my mind - BOOBS! Yep, Nat's one hell of a busty figure, and I just love her for that! As far as the paint job goes, the figure boasts a neatly applied color scheme. Nat's costume sports a lot of black, red, and golden hues that are blended seamlessly all over. Furthermore, a brown color has been added to her suit, resulting in some refined leathery accents.

"Bye-bye bikinis"

Nat's waist section is also filled with some nice details, particularly when it comes to her belt. The strap is filled with some miniature circular bombs, with her trademark hourglass insignia etched on the buckle. Interestingly, her gun holsters are not placed on the side of her upper legs or hips, rather, these can be found on her back covering her sultry bum (two for the mini-handguns and one for the knife). 

"Spying in High Heels"

As for her lower limbs section, Nat sports the same combination of colors as her upper torso, however the color red is more dominant in these areas. She also wears a pair of high heels, which actually makes it difficult for her to stand up at times. Seriously, it took me a while before I made her stand straight and balanced during her photo shoot. That being said, the heels work pretty well for Nat, genuinely complementing her femme fatale look.

Be careful, she bites!

The Widow's Bite gauntlets are among the elements of the figure which piqued my interest. They are intricately designed, and this is by far the best execution I have ever seen in a Black Widow figure.

She's armed to the... ass?

Like the PAK Stormtrooper's case, the handgun holsters are open on one side, which allows for a smoother and easier placement of Nat's hardware. The knife holster, on the other hand, is a sealed piece which holds the accessory snug-tight.  

Even Optimus is distracted by the 'view'

Nat sports a couple of shoulder plates which also bear the hourglass insignia. Also, she dons a pair of semi-fingerless gloves, as if she can't decide whether or not to 'go fingerless' or 'go finger'.

So here's Nat doing some nifty poses:

Nat's flauntin' her sexy bod

She could be a Bond girl, you know?

Nat the Ripper

Megatron: "Yep, she's one helluva sturdy chick!"

Close enough...

And here she is doing some crossovers:

Marvel x DC: Bats got himself caught in the Widow's web

Marvel vs DC: Knife fight!

Lockhart vs Romanoff: They're measuring the size of each other's 'ego'

Final thoughts: To wrap things up, this version of Nat is another great addition to my growing collection of PAK action figures. An excellent rendition of a certified Marvel legend, this gal is one of those offerings that give the best bang for the buck. Putting it simply, she's one hot and beautiful figure, so what's not to love?

Oh yeah, she's feelin' 'em alright!

Okay, since I started this review with a ScarJo pic, so shall I end it with another ScarJo pic...

Well, that smile just drives me 'Nat's

Is this the finest version of Natasha Romanoff yet? Or is there any other worthy contender for the best BW figure? Let me know in the comments below.