Secret Six was a great comic. This was owed in no small part to writer Gail Simone and her ability to make a ragtag group of 2nd and 3rd rate villains into a compelling band of mercs-for-hire that you actually care about and root for. While we dig all of the cast, tied for our favorite (with Deadshot) is Thomas Blake, a.k.a. Catman-- the world's greatest tracker... and torturer as it turns out. Therefore, we were fairly stoked when we first saw bootleg images of his figure for Mattel's Batman: Legacy line. Now that he's torn loose from his plastic prison and in our grasp, is he as great of a toy as his comic book counterpart? Read on, you toy maniacs. Read on.
When the thrill of big game hunting becomes too boring, one-time millionaire and spendthrift Thomas Blake takes to a life of crime. He uses his skills as a hunter and tracker to become a notorious burglar, known early on for lifting valuable art and jewels. Wearing a cat-costume made from an ancient cloth believed to grant its wearer nine lives, Catman carries an array of weapons on a utility belt-- similar to his heroic foil and inspiration, Batman. Later, Catman becomes a member of the amoral villainous unit known as Secret Six, taking part in a variety of dastardly crimes.
Could it be? Is Catman the first DCUC-style figure with sculpted facial stubble?! Fantastic! His signature look of laziness (of which I usually share) is intact. Surprisingly, more of Catman is newly sculpted than we first thought. His head, belt, and feet are all new, along with his cape. The cape even has the two leather straps attached that run around Catman's shoulders. This not only looks good, but also manages to keep the overly thick cape from looking too odd. We would have liked to have seen a couple of knives sheathed on the back of his belt, but that's our only real gripe.
The paintwork on Catman is very well done. As usual, most of the figure has been molded in the appropriate colors with darker shading then added to bring out the details in the sculpt. His chest emblem has been tampographed cleanly and really stands out from the orange of his chest. The eyes are painted cleanly, as is the skin of his face. The figure could have used some more paint on the sculpted facial hair, though.
Catman shares the same articulation model as most of the DCUC-style figures. A ball-joint neck, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows, swivel wrists, hinged torso, swivel waist, swivel/hinge hips, swivel thighs, hinged knees, and hinged ankles round out his movement capabilities. All of the joints on the figure we had were nice and workable, with no trouble out of any of them.
Catman is packaged with his two claw blades, a mini-poster, and a figure stand. The two claw weapons have some nice detailing and are painted silver with black grips. They look extremely good in his hands, although on our figure, the right claw tends to stay a little loose in his grasp. The figure stand is the same as the other figures in the Batman: Legacy line and has a sculpted bat-symbol as the base with a sticker that sports he name of the figure. The poster art is from the cover of Secret six issue #2 in which Blake throws down with Batman as a distraction for the Six to bust someone out of prison.
While we know the point of the Batman: Legacy line is to release more versions of core Bat-family characters, we're happy to see guys like Catman finally get their due. Now if only Ragdoll and Scandal Savage would get made, we could have our very own Secret Six to get hyped up on Venom and go out in a blaze of glory just like they did in the book! For Batman: Legacy figures, be sure to check your local and online retailers, and for info on the line there's always the Matty Collector website.
Stay tuned to MTV Geek! for all your Batman: Legacy and Mattel coverage!
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