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DC Collectables- DC Icons: Supergirl
Continuing my quest to re-watch all the DC Animated features to date and give some thoughts regarding 3 key touchpoints: Animation Style, Voice Acting & Story. These are really just rough notes as I watched the movie and might not make a whole lot of sense unless you have recently watched it. See 290-2, 303-2, 318-2, 331-2, 344-2, 358-2, 369-2, 371-2, 385-2, 399-2, 414-2, 426-2, 441-2, 453-2, 462-2, 468-2, 481-2, 490-2, 496-2 510-2, 519-2 & 525-2 for my previous instalments.
Batman: Batman vs. Robin - 2015
Animation Style: As with the other New 52 films that came before, Batman Vs Robin has a really great animation style and features really nice animated models that match the comic look at the time. New addition is the Court of Owls enforcer Talon that looks pretty cool.
Voice Acting: Overall same cast as the Son of Batman crew and does a really solid job throughout. I want to take a minute to again praise the young Stuart Allan as Damien as he does such a fantastic job. Newcomers include Jeremy Sisto (Jubal Valentine from FBI) is a one and done DC film Alumni as Talon and casting director royalty Andrea Romano as the Batcomputer. In fun credits we have a very familiar Kevin Conroy in the fitting role of Thomas Wayne and THE Weird Al Yankovic playing the hella creepy Dollmaker.
Story- While I realize that this Batman Vs Robin file may be coming on the heels of a too many bat films that came before, it is really one of the better ones as it features a really great arch between Bruce and Damian while simultaneously intertwining, with ok success, the fantastic court of Owls story arc from the comics. It’s interesting to see the struggle between Bruce and Damian and the subsequent growth and bond that eventually follows. I realize that fans of the Court of Owls arc may have felt a little letdown given that this is really an abridged version of the multi-part story line, but honestly it worlds fine. My only wish, and DC is very careful with this, would be that more of the bat family, including Red Hood and Red Robin would have been included in the Damian story as they are both under represented (especially Tim Drake Robin) in the films. Some key scenes include the creepy initial scene with Dollmaker and the final 20 minute climax with some of the best Batman Nightwing fighting I've seen. I really love how intune they are with each other. Also, it was fun to see Alfread get into the fight with his shotgun.
Pros: Supergirl has an exceptional sculpt that I have come to expect on these Icon figures. Articulation wise she's decent with the standard Icons scheme and has some nice accessories including spare hands (some fight hands!), an odd stand to emulate flying in place and 2 head sculpts with one that has laser eye attachments!
Cons: Unfortunately the Cape and Plastic skirt limit the possibility of both her arms and legs which is always a bummer. To top it off, my version has a loose knee joint so it makes posing extra difficult. Also the laser eye effects look amazing, but are a colossal pain to get into place without fear of them snapping. Lastly, can we talk about DC Collectables and their stands? Don’t get me wrong, I love that they include them, but it should not be that difficult to design a stand that works well: just look to Bandi for inspiration as they seem to have got it down.
