Arkham City - CATWOMAN!

DC Multiverse - Arkham City (Solomon Grundy) - Catwoman - McFarlane 2022

The Arkham Series of video games injected a new life to the Batman franchise.  The Dark Knight was released in theatres in 2008 with great success and paved the way for Batman: Arkham Asylum in 2009, the first game in the Batman: Arkham series. While movies are extremely popular and arguably the best way to expose a character family to a wider audience, when it comes to merchandise, video games have much more staying power. Movie toys get a mere six months on the shelves, and maybe a nostalgic resurgence in the future, but video games (especially a successful series of games) can give us years of product and are constantly finding new audiences. I have a love/hate relationship with the Arkham City Catwoman design. I love it because it has given us so many great toys and exposed a lot of kids to a great character. This was at a time when there was a bit of a Catwoman drought as well. Plus my most-viewed post on this blog is her 2012 DC Direct figure with over 39K hits.

(And it's not even a specifically good post, I was a newbie at this toy review stuff). But overall, I can admit I'm not crazy about the design. Her high collar and chin-strapped headgear seems restrictive, while conversely her top is constantly threating to open (in typical video game titillation fashion). It's very similar to her comic look at the time, but with a few odd tweaks that I personally feel are not improvements. Still, until McFarlane makes a Hush or Darwyn Cooke Catwoman, this is easily the best substitute for a modern comic Catwoman in the last few years. Let's check her out below!

This figure has a flexible rubber piece covering her pelvis. I've read online reviewers referring to this as her "diaper", and I can see their point. If you stare at it, it looks bulky and out of place. But when you observe the figure as a whole, it's not as distracting as I expected. Plus a leather catsuit would look really odd if you would see the exposed hip joints.

Catwoman comes with a whip, a figure stand, and a collector card.

She also comes with the torso for the Collect-to-Build Solomon Grundy figure.

Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!

Here is a collection of my Arkham series Catwomen. From Left to Right: 2012 DC Direct Arkham City, 2012 Mattel Arkham City, 2022 McFarlane Toys Arkham City, 2013 Play Arts Kai Arkham City, and 2015 DC Collectibles Arkham Knight.

Cheers!