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For the last year, I have stared in envy at the creations flowing out of Robert Tonner’s self titled company, Tonner Dolls. Ever since seeing them in person at the 2007 Wizard World Chicago Con, I have wanted one. And now I have been blessed with one to take a look at for review.
Tonner has created some of the most amazing, licensed dolls in recent memory. And since they are dolls they sometimes fly right over most toy fan’s heads. But no more. Today I take a look at Tonner's amazing recent release in their DC Stars line: the number one Batman villain, The Joker.
Right out of the gate, I’m impressed. Now, the box for this guy is all black, with a simple DC Stars logo down at the bottom. The logo is very nice and imaginitive with a flowing blanket of stars behind it.
Pulling the lid off of the box we are greeted by…well, tissue paper. The paper actually is there to be a protective element ao nothing inside the box gets smudged in any way from the box top. Pulling back the flaps we are greeted by the grinning face of The Joker himself!
The Joker is packaged in some really great material. It’s tied into the box with fabric, but it also has some plastic covering its hands and feet, and a protective net over its head to protect the hair of the doll. The accessories for the Joker aren’t many, a cane and some shoes, but they too are in protective bags and stapled in the box so as not to move around during shipment. Pulling the accessories from the box, as well as the stand base and arm, we find ourselves with the Joker's goodies.
The stand base and arm is really cool. The arm plugs into the base snugly and has a little movement to it.
The shoes, once out of the bag, are very cool. Now, the best thing about Tonner Dolls is EVERYTHING is hand crafted, the shoes being no exception, The shoes for Joker are an old style, so they are black shoes with white covers on them. And they are nice! There is a zipper on the back of the shoe that zips and unzips rather nicely.
The cane is very cool as well. Number one, it’s all green, and two, it has a little Joker face on the top of it. Kind of creepy, but very cool. There is a small loop of rubber on the cane that allows you to connect the cane to the figure’s hands via its thumbs. The loop goes over the thumb and presto, he can hold the cane.
Pulling all of the shipping materials off of the doll, we find ourselves staring at an amazing piece of work. Let’s look first at the clothing. Joker is dressed in one of his most iconic suits with his purple pin striped pants and jacket, his orange vest and green shirt.
The tails of the purple jacket, it’s like he stepped right out of the comics. The clothes are amazingly detailed and crafted. Heck, the pants even have working pockets. How cool is that?
These clothes are one of the things that set Tonner apart from everyone else. My words do these no justice as it truly is something you need to see in person. But my gosh, they are spectacular.
Moving onto the body, he has quite a bit of articulation for his size. Especially since he stands at a whopping 16 inches tall! He has 14 points of articulation, allowing him quite a bit of room for pose ability.
The body and head are cast in a fine white vinyl/hard plastic and it is exquisite. His hands and feet are very nicely detailed. They are all white, so it’s hard to tell just at first glance but he has sculpted toe and finger nails! They are also expertly sculpted and cast as there is no flashing or residue left.
Now, the doll uses an amazing head and body sculpt by Robert Tonner himself. The head is very unnerving and scary as he stares at you with an everlasting grin. The amazing paint job on this head is very cool and very flawless. Did I mention the sculpt already? Let’s look at it a little closer. The Joker’s face is so amazingly rich in details that I can see him in my sleep!
The Joker's everlasting grin is painted in smooth detail, a wash on his teeth really bringing out the expression. The eyebrows are a nice touch as well. Flawless on every level. Add to that the painted lines under his eyes and you really get a great picture of a very disturbed character. This is the quality of work you receive when EVERY head is hand painted.
His hair is rather nice. Made of rooted saran, the Joker's hair appears almost sculpted into position. It has some bounce to it, so it’s not stiff to the touch, but it’s done just enough to hold its shape and still have some movement.
Putting his boots on was rather easy. His feet slide into the un-zippered portion and you zip the zipper up. Very cut and dry. They fit snuggly into the shoe and once the zipper has been pulled up and the pants pulled back down around the shoe, it looks perfect.
The tails on his coat have posable wires in them that allow you to maneuver them into a variety of positions; a very small but nice touch.
The open part of the Display arm goes around his waist, and holds him in place rather nicely. Placing the cane into one or both of his hands and you complete a very amazing piece that NO comic book fan, Batman fan, or in general doll and toy fan, should pass up!
The Joker is a Limited Edition of 3000 and can be purchased directly from the Tonner Store at www.tonnerdirect.com, or from one of our fine advertisers listed above.
Review and Photos by Jason Devall
Review Sample Courtesy of Tonner Dolls