I first saw this chess set when it was briefly released in 2011 and just as quickly withdrawn. At the time I assumed it was down to lack of interest and profits but now I know better....... thanks to the reboot and the upcoming Nolan movie I think timing was the real explanation.
So having been re-released this week I thought I'd test run the first piece !
for my £2.99 I got the 5" tall batman piece, an information magazine and and introduction leaflet .
The piece itself is pretty good quality and looks good for display as it is. Not sure it is worth the £7.99 normal issue price but the piece itself is nice enough.
The first real dissapointment comes with the introductory leaflet. In the original set the white pieces included Barbara as Oracle and Stephanie as Batgirl. Unfortunatly the set has been changed to tie with with the reboot ( thanks again DC ... grrrr.). It now includes Barbara as Batgirl , no Oracle, no Stephanie and Cassandra (Black Bat) is there instead ! This has majorly put me off the set, as I know the characters I know and love have been erased. Otherwise the line up is fine.
The magazine does not appear to have changed from the initial run, all of the art work depicts pre-reboot characters and just rubs salt in the wounds of the new line up. The information is interesting but a little out of date when you consider they have tried to tie it in with the new 52. But as none of us really know the new or altered back stories of the characters I guess they didn't have much choice.
Overall I'm not sure I would subscribe but this is mostly due to the alterations and removal of some of my favourite charaters. Otherwise this appears to be a quality set for the overall money. I would reccommend just buying batman purely as a figure though !
I do have one other bug bear.... why is Batman the 'white king' , we all know he should be the 'dark knight' !
The fools.....
The Geek Girl x
