Just when I thought this line was dying out, we've seen some new Batman Imaginext product... no doubt timed ahead of "The Dark Knight Rises." We found the Gotham City Jail set at Target. Comes with yet another damn Batman BUT also with Bane.
The Jail does not come with Two-Face and his tiny airplane. That's a Toys R Us find, part of their exclusive Gotham City collection. The plane is, of course, a repaint of a toy from some other Imaginext line. A lot of retail exclusives are just repaints, but we picked this one up since they bothered to have the plane done in a cutesy two-tone. There's another TRU exclusive in the Gotham City line that's Green Lantern with a green motorcycle... and it's the same motorcycle sculpt that has already been painted in either Batman or Robin color schemes. We did not buy that one.
Now, Bane does not have a sculpted head - just the usual Imaginext oval - but I'll let it slide since Bane's mask sort of fits the slight cheap-out. Seems obvious that this Bane is more like the comics, and not the weird beartrap mouth guy seen in the new movie.
But here's what's cool about him:
The Jail has a special light over an interrogation chair that makes Bane's Venom-veins light up! Nice.
The Jail is about the same size as the Joker Fun House set or the Green Lantern Oa set. The activation point on top turns on the light, and the one on the second level opens all four jail doors simultaneously for a prison breakout. Makes me wonder if this wasn't originally conceived as an Arkham Asylum playset, but Fisher-Price opted for the less creepy "Jail" moniker.
Then we found this, also part of the Toys R Us Gotham City line:
Gotham City itself! And I don't think it's a repaint of some generic city set, because there's a Wayne "W" sculpted into the second story floor, plus a very Batcave-esque garage in lower right. You get a Joker with this set (nice job letting Joker set up a crime base directly underneath the bank) and a Bruce Wayne figure.
Bruce is, unfortunately, another round-head. However, the set comes with a cool cowl-and-cape you can use to turn him into Batman. So I guess I have to let that non-sculpt slide as well. The elevator lets Bruce pop out of the top of Wayne Tower, which is really cool. The other activation point opens the bank door and then blows the wall off the left side.
Gotham City is bigger than the Jail, so it would have been nice to have more action points, but whatever. Still a nice playset.
Also: Toys R Us has a Catwoman/Batman two-pack with the pair and their custom motorcycles. So if you're having trouble locating the still-rare Catwoman single, there's another option.
Here's our villain group shot:
Weird: both the Jail and the Gotham City set were only on the endcaps of both Toys R Us and Target. Not with the rest of the Imaginext toys.
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