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 Variant Bone Predator

He'll feast on your flesh and chew on your bones...

An ugly MoFo who's chock-full of calcium

Picture this: A wounded samurai, you walk down a dark and dank cave passageway, alone and desperately searching for a seemingly elusive exit. The stench of death and blood fills the air, penetrating your nostrils. As you pass through the nightmarish landscape, you step over the skeletons of the unfortunate souls who never found their way out. Suddenly, you hear a noise from behind you, and feel more than smell a foul breath on the back of your neck, instantly sending shivers down your spine. You stop dead in your tracks, reach for your katana with a weakened hand, and turn. Then you see it. It is huge. It is hideous. It is hungry. The demon - an otherworldly predator - wants your blood, and it is ready to feast on your flesh until you're nothing but a pile of bones laid on the ground...

...WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO??

Finally, the second half of Play Arts Kai's extraterrestrial duo has finally arrived, and I surely am glad to own another great rendition of a sci-fi icon. PAK's first offering was the classic/American Predator (a.k.a. Ahnuld's nemesis), which is, in my opinion, the best representation of the Yautjan behemoth's movie incarnation. The second one is what I'd call its 'Japanese counterpart', as it has repeatedly been referred to as the Oni Predator. The word 'oni' refers to a kind of humanoid yokai (supernatural monster) which has usually been portrayed in Japanese folklore as a hideous, gigantic ogre-like creature with wild hair, sharp claws, and two long horns sitting on top of its head. Moreover, it is also depicted as sporting a loincloth and wielding an enormous club known as the kanabo. Such imagery leads to the expression 'oni with an iron club', which means to be 'indomitable' or 'indestructible'. Indeed, these elements comprise the figure itself, which I will discuss in further detail.

Nope, this isn't the guy who had a few days to kill in L.A. back in '97 

When I first saw the figure's prototype in last year's San Diego Comic Con (SDCC), I honestly thought (and expected) that it was the one from Predator 2 (specifically the 'Warrior Predator'), mainly because of the figure's skin tone and that it was standing next to the prototype of the classic version. However, I eventually saw that it was lacking the signature weapons such as the combi-stick and the smart-disc, and that's when I realized that this was another variant. Despite an unmet expectation, I'm certainly in good spirits that the guys over at Play Arts came up with this figure, which is officially known as the 'Bone Predator'.

A gloomy and bloody packaging

Let's start with the packaging. The Bone Predator's box is much wider as compared to the other offerings of Play Arts Kai, which is both good and bad - 'good' because it is more of a unique type of packaging, and 'bad' considering that it could take up more space should it be displayed within a cabinet. The packaging has a red and black motif, which complements the figure inside. Furthermore, the style of the Predator's name on the packaging is much simpler as compared to that of the classic version.

"Why me?"

 Figure description:

"An Alien Race That Lives to Hunt

Lone alien hunters originating from a culture based entirely on aggressive tracking and combat, the Predators are equally feared and respected throughout the cosmos. Their existence is only rumor but their presence is intimidating. Merciless yet honorable, they have no code of good and evil -- just kill or be killed. Utilizing advanced weaponry and technology, they can adapt to any and all terrain or prey. The hunt is on...

Bone Predator
Even routine hunts can go wrong... The origins of the Japanese monster myth

While exploring a world in the beginning stages of civilization, an errant Predator is left stranded and nearly weaponless on a rocky deserted island in the archipelago of Japan. With survival as its primary goal, the alien hunter adapts, heading into direct combat and making itself even more fearsome to the natives. It covers itself in bones from fallen prey and wields makeshift weaponry. From this lone warrior springs the tale of an infamous ogre... Ancient Japanese folklore is full of legends of this creature. Believed to be demons from hell, they are said to hunt down sinners on earth, crushing their bones and peeling back their flesh to make them pay for their sins. It was said that they had an insatiable appetite for human flesh, an unquenchable thirst for human blood. Those who claim to have laid eyes on the monster all described a similar silhouette: horns atop its head, long sharp claws, skin red as blood, wild hair, carrying a massive gnarled, thorny club. The Predator survives by feasting on human flesh, hunting down anyone wretched enough to land on the rocky shores of its home, from samurai warriors to sea-bedraggled fisherman. Those unlucky enough to come in contact with this Bone Predator would have to make a deal with the devil himself to survive the encounter..."

Breathing in that new action figure smell...

The Bone Predator almost has the same dark plastic mold with the classic Predator, except that it has its own distinct accessories. It's also interesting to note that there are only three additional replaceable hands for the figure, whereas the classic one has four.

...

Then there's this one. 'Nuff said.

For the Bone Predator's accessories, he's got the following:

(1) A primitive-looking bio-mask:

It's horny

(2) A removable mandible/mouth piece:

Extraterrestrial pie-hole

(3) A pair of open hands and a semi-closed one:

He's probably a biker back at home

(4) A removable three-pointed claw:

Good ol' Jimmy ain't got nothin' on him

(5) A bone club:

Got soup?

Moving on to the core figure:

A calcified alien

Just like the classic version, the Bone Predator sports some neat sculpting. He stands around 11 inches tall, and has over 20 points of articulation. One thing that's notable is that the figure's aesthetic design looks more primitive than the other, which suggests that he could either be an ancestor, or simply someone who shared almost a similar fate with Tom Hanks who's been forced to go into 'survival mode'. He's quite 'bony' from the bottom to the top, which justifies the package description stating that he covers himself in bones from his unlucky victims.

They're getting prettier by the minute...

When it comes right down to it, the Bone Predator is another ugly MoFo. He has the same facial structure with his distant cousin, save for some horns on his noggin. Also, his mouth basically has the same style as the other one, with the exception that he's got bigger teeth and mandibles since he's the carnivorous-type based on his description - more of a monster than a hunter, so to speak.

"Mi gat big hair, mon!"

The Bone Predator also has the signature alien dreadlocks, which are long, hair-like appendages on its head set into its skull. As compared to the classic Predator's dreadlocks, he's got a thicker mane with a black/red hue and semi-translucent tips.

Bony dud

Looking at the torso area, the Bone Predator, as his name suggests, is composed of a red/yellow bony armor. He's got that primeval look, devoid of any weapon or armor plating, and I'd picture him as someone who prefers brute force over fancy weaponry. He's got a couple of hinged shoulder pads which can be moved upwards and downwards. Moreover, he wears a codpiece on the crotch area and a Tarzan-like loincloth covering his high-knee.

Jurassic tootsies

For the lower limbs section, the Bone Predator sports a hinged hip armor on both sides that can be slightly moved upwards and downwards. He also sports a black/yellow leg armor, which serves as shin guards. Furthermore, he has the same feet as his American counterpart, which resembles that of a dinosaur's, specifically a T-Rex.

All he needs is a sword... and a bottle of Sake.

The Bone Predator also has a couple of neatly sculpted bracers/gauntlets just like his counterpart. However, his bracers are more of the armor-type than technological, which works well for the figure. 

Now for some cool poses:

He's in the mood for boxing

Snikt!

BP's ready to go clubbin'

And here he is posed with the classic version:

Hats off to these bad-ass Predators!

Final thoughts: Now, you might be wondering why there's no picture of the Bone Predator wearing his bio-mask. The reason for this is that his removable forehead has been inserted snug tight, which is really a tough nut to crack when it comes to taking it off. I'm still figuring out how to remove it without chipping the paint or surface, and perhaps I'll just update this blog post once I've successfully set the helmet in place. That nitpick aside, I consider myself lucky to own this excellent figure from Play Arts Kai, especially since I'm a big Predator fan. The Bone Predator has got a superb sculpt, a cool body armor, some nifty weapons, as well as an archaic yet flamboyant ogre-like design. Despite the undeniable steep price tag, it's absolutely worth every penny considering the overall package!

He's happy with his new souvenir    

Would you like to see more Predator figures from Play Arts Kai? Sound off in the comments below.