"Fixed" Medicom Batman Begins Figure

[tinister]

I finally had time to customize or "fix" my Medicom Batman Begins figure. I think it turned out pretty good.

I forgot to take a pic of the before, so here's a borrowed pic. The Medicom is the short one on the left:



This is the Medicom after I made some enhancements:






The fixes were:
1) I removed the upper body rubber armor part and adding padding to make the chest broader and added padding for a "six pack" to fill out the waste area to match the broader chest.
2) I added padding to make the shoulders broader.
3) I added padding to fill out the crotch - or Bat Unit- area.
4) I removed the rubber mask that was the head and adding padding so that the mask fit more snuggly onto the head attachment inside and to change the forward profile of the head to be more narrow than the original.
5) I removed and reversed the two wrist armor thingings (blanking on what they're called). These were assembled reversed from the manufacturer. Looks much better when corrected to look like in the movie.
6) I added padding to the thighs to give the legs more thickness.
7) I padded out the neck area of the cowl to give it the more familear pillar shaped neck. This made the overall body more stature.

The changes - especially the changes to fill out the chest and shoulders gives the whole figure a more proportionate body.

And I think it actually looks better than the Hot Toys and Takara (IMO).

Here's one of the three together.


Tin

[Cobblepot]

Looks great!

[lujho]

It does look better - got any front-on pics?

But still, the face/cowl sculpt is miles behind the Takara.

How hard was swapping the gauntlets? I noticed the other day that they were the wrong way around, but I don't want to yank them off if they're glued on or something.

[tinister]

Originally Posted by lujho

It does look better - got any front-on pics?

But still, the face/cowl sculpt is miles behind the Takara.

How hard was swapping the gauntlets? I noticed the other day that they were the wrong way around, but I don't want to yank them off if they're glued on or something.

Hey. The gauntlets (That's what the are!) are super easy to swap. Just remove the hands by pulling them out of the wrist housings. The gauntlets can then be pulled directly off. On my figure - there was no glue that I could notice that was holding the gauntlets in place.

The only slightly tricky part is putting the gauntlets back on. There's a full body vinyl suit underneath all of the armor. The sleeves of the vinyl suit will try to ride up all the arms when you start to push the gauntlets back in to place - and bunch up around the elbows.

What I did was to pull the sleeves down to the wrist area. Slide the gauntlet on, then use some needle-nose pliers to hold the hem of the sleeves in place (through the wrist hole of the guantlet) as I pushed the gauntlet into place.

It sounds complicated, but you'll see what I mean - it's not a big deal.

I think the chin area of the Takara head sculpt is definitely more detailed and more life-like than the Medicom. But I don't like the shape of the cowl itself on the Takara - especially the forhead and ears. It looks weird at certain angles.

And I looked at some images of Bale in the movie and the Medicom and Hot toys ones actually come pretty dang close - in a subtle way.

My next project - MAYBE - is to repaint the chin area and eyes (on all three figures), and make a better cape for the Takara. The cape for the Medicom is perfect already.

I'll post some more pics of him from other angles this weekend.

Tin

[Bathead]

The proper terminology is bracers, not gauntlets.

[tinister]

Originally Posted by Bathead

The proper terminology is bracers, not gauntlets.

Awesome! That's good to know. Gauntlets cover the hands as well as the forearms, right?

Tin

[tinister]

Originally Posted by lujho

It does look better - got any front-on pics?

Here are some straight on shots and a side shot. I went ahead and added padding to widen the thighs a bit. And I padded the neck area of the cowl to create more of the pillar neck.

Tin

[batmaluco]

All your modifications really improved it a lot.

[tinister]

Originally Posted by batmaluco

All your modifications really improved it a lot.

Thanks! I'm really happy with how it came out. Especially the cowl. The cowl was basically just a rubber mask. And the head peg that it went over was ill defined. It made the head look like a kid in a Batman Halloween suit.

I've updated some of the images of the fixed figure - with natural lighting instead of the camera flash. If you refresh - you'll see how the new cowl - with a better frame underneath - looks much much better now.

Thanks again. Tin

[BatScot]

Originally Posted by Bathead

The proper terminology is bracers, not gauntlets.

Actually, they are gauntlets.

The originals...



... were protective gloves, which Wayne modifies so that the forearm section can be worn over the memory fabric activating gloves he acquired from Fox.

And it seems that everyone else refers to them by that convention:


Batman Begins: The Screenplay
Christopher Nolan and David Goyer
faber and faber 2005

SCENE 34
Ducard nods. Then strikes at Wayne, who deflects the blow using a silver gauntlet with three scallops (thick, hooklike projections).

SCENE 90
Wayne places two bronze gauntlets on a trestle table. Fires up a paint sprayer. Coats them matte black.

SCENE 94
Moving in on a rooftop balustrade to discover Wayne, in black body-suit and gauntlets…


The Art of Batman Begins
Chronicle Books 2005

INSIDE ARKHAM

“BATSUIT: Scalloped brass forearm gauntlets…”


Batman Begins: The Visual Guide
DK 2005

“the Batsuit combines the modified bronze gauntlets with the Nomex survival suit and climbing harness,”

“THE BATSUIT: Bruce kept these bronze gauntlets from his time with the League of Shadows, spray painting the metal matte black for camouflage.”


BATMAN BEGINS
Novelization by Dennis O’Neil

“Bruce deflected the blow with his gauntlet-sheathed arm.”

“Ducard caught Bruce’s blade in the scallops of his gauntlet…”

“Bruce was back at work in the cave… He fashioned a rough worktable… and laid on it two bronze gauntlets, the ones he had salvaged from Rā's al Ghūl’s monastery.”

[BatScot]

Nice work Tin... you definitely have the 'best' Medicom figure.

[tinister]

Thanks, BatScot! I really like how he came out.

My next project is a cape for Takara. I found a site that sells really good pleather material.

Tin

[BatScot]

I'm curious... why are you thinking of going with pleather for the Takara?

[Bathead]

Sorry BatScot, they are bracers, look it up in a dictionary. Gauntlets are (more or less) one-piece gloves that reach to the elbow. Bracers are, like in Begins, forearm armor that reaches from wrist to elbow, minus the glove. Batman in the comics wears gauntlets, Batman in Batman Begins wears bracers which are separate from and are slipped over the gloves. All those people using the word gauntlets as meaning that forearm armor separate from the gloves were incorrect. It's not clear in the movie, but from the picture you posted of the gloves as worn by the ninjas, those would be called gauntlets as the gloves are a part of the whole. However, when Wayne removed those gloves, they became bracers.

[tinister]

Hey, BatScot -

I saw a pleather cape on this custom Keaton Batman 1/6 figure and it looks so cool. I saw the figure at a hobby shop here.

Pleather outer with a fabric liner inside. The pleather material was super thin and draped really well.

It won't technically be accurate to the movie, but I just like the leather looking cape.

[deathfromabove]

Originally Posted by tinister

Here are some straight on shots and a side shot. I went ahead and added padding to widen the thighs a bit. And I padded the neck area of the cowl to create more of the pillar neck.

Tin

infinately better. i still like the articulation and head sculpt of the takara but the new proportions make the medicom suit look the best imo.

[tinister]

Originally Posted by deathfromabove

infinately better. i still like the articulation and head sculpt of the takara but the new proportions make the medicom suit look the best imo.

Thanks! I like how it came out

wow... simple amazing!!!

how do u open up his suit to place the padding in?

[tinister]

Originally Posted by timomos

wow... simple amazing!!!

how do u open up his suit to place the padding in?

Thanks!

The costume is composed of two components:
1) A one-piece black vinyl/spandex body suit. This suit looks to have been sewn in place. I really don't recommend trying to remove this tight suit - you would have to cut it and probably won't be able to get it back on again.

2) Glued to the black vinyl/spandex body suit are the rubber armor pieces. There are three pieces. One piece covers the chest, stomach, crotch, shoulders, upper arms, and back. Two separate rubber pieces each cover the front of the thighs. These rubber armor pieces can be carefully removed by simply pealing them off of the vinyl/spandex body suit.

The padding foam is placed/hidden in between the vinyl/spandex body suit and the rubber armor pieces.

When you remove the rubber armor pieces - pieces of the vinyl coating on the body suit will be torn off. Don't worry - when you place the rubber armor pieces back in place - these patches will help mark where the edge of the armor pieces need to go - and the patches will be completely hidden.

You also don't need to remove the rubber armor pieces completely - just enough for you to place the foam padding underneath.

Once you have the foam padding in place - just stretch the rubber armor back in to position and use a strong glue to seat it in place.

I used a gel based superglue. It bonds the rubber and the vinyl pretty good. Use the glue sparingly.

It sounds like a lot of work - but it really isn't that hard. And the results are pretty dramatic.

Tin