Crosscheck's The Batman v2 (Patreon)

Alright it’s the new year, no muckin around, let’s just dive right into it!

My first thoughts for this fig right out of the clamshell were related to the matte black of the cowl and cape. It immediately clashes with the shiny black Lego plastic base. After that I couldn’t unsee it. It’s a shame too because they’re well shaped parts, but that contrast in material bugged me continually throughout this review.

Then of course there were the custom molded arms. Crosscheck was out here charging collectors an extra $20 for a “deluxe version” (and here I was thinking they were a neat departure from custom printing tradition)

But damn are they loose inside the torso. Posing them are out of the question sadly, and if you were to put anything in the hands, the weight would be too much for them to hold up. You can sorta get them to stay in place in an upper position, but a gentle tap sends them back down to waist-level. I had to put a bar in the hand just to get them to stay up.

So… within three paragraphs I’m disappointed with all the custom parts… but what about the print? Spoilers, I'm disappointed with that too! Gee, ain't I a stickler for quality control?

Crosscheck printed black on black. While there have been designers out there that've committed the cardinal sin and have made it work… Crosscheck again misses the mark for me. Other than the printed scuff’n’scrapes and yellow highlights, most of the detail gets lost on this fig in standard lighting.

I can tell you right now that this design is really sharp though! It’s just a shame that certain aspects of the fig can’t always be seen with the naked eye.

I quite like the shaping of the cheekbones to frame the face. Though maybe the eyes are a bit small(?) But despite that, both the neutral head and the secondary head are both shockingly well designed for a Crosscheck fig (especially looking back in that scary Wolverine from earlier in the year)

Lastly, this fig has hand printing! The final frontier of minifig customs and Crosscheck pushed their envelope to the max with this fig! It’s a shame it gets lost in the black of the plastic and doesn't add all that much to the final look of the fig.

Of course comparisons are in order as well! It's can't be all that bad, can it?

Next to the only other “The Batman” Batman’s I have reviewed so far, again the silhouette is great on Crosscheck’s fig. However Abnormal’s fig still takes it for me as the better of the two. The print contrast is much higher, and the shiny finish on the custom parts (while they’re not perfect themselves), still have that “Lego feel” to them. 

Also as a weird side-note, Crosscheck’s cowl wouldn’t fit on Abnormal’s head… a bit frustrating if you bought both of these and wanted to swap parts around…

*sigh*

All in all, it’s less than ideal quality for a custom fig. Again I want to remind you all that it cost an extra $20 for the version of this fig with the custom arms, leaving you with a $120ish bill and a fig that didn’t impress me at all. Dare I say I feel a bit of buyer's remorse.

Sure, if it was the only Battinson fig you were able to snag, it’s fine, but my final review comes down to two words…

“Eh… mediocre”