The Inmate Toys Are Running the Asylum HYUK HYUK HYUK

?Besides Catwoman’s ass, DC Direct also revealed a great many Batman: Arkham Asylum and City figures at the UK Toy Fair; it looks like they’re going to to get to most if not all of the characters, so that’s cool. Above are the figures of the Penguin and a Clown Thug, as well as the game’s CG models of Ra’s Al Ghul, Batman and Azrael (sorry, DC Direct is pretty good, but they’re not even close to that good).

?Then there’s also some deluxe figures: Titan-filled Joker, Mr. Freeze and Killer Croc, all of whom happily are action figures in the above pic. The regular figures are all due out in September, while Freeze and Croc are due in July and Titan Joker in November for some reason.

Can I just take a minute to say how much I love the character designs in the Arkham games? They just strike me as really spot-on — easily identifiable, taking clear cues from the original comics incarnations, but still updated in really solid, excellent ways. Hell, I’m tempted to buy an Azrael figure, even though I’ve never read or even liked the character, simply because his design is so badass. I’m even more in love with the Penguin — less his design, which is fine, but more his reinterpretation as a Cockney, Guy Ritchie-esque gangster. It just seems to suit his character so well — a tough-as-shit leader of thugs more than a supervillain, one with delusions of class, but one not afraid to get his hands (fins) dirty. I much prefer the Arkham City Penguin to, hell, any other Penguin, actually — I’d much rather read about this guy than the Gotham-born mutant. I kind of hope he makes it to the new-52, although I’m not really expecting it. Anyone else with me on this? (Via ToyNewsI)