Wave 1 - The Penguin
The Penguin is one of Batman’s earliest and oldest foes. Armed with his various trademark deadly umbrellas, this diminutive supervillain first appeared in 1941 and has been hassling the caped crusader ever since.
Born Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, The Penguin endured a difficult childhood. He was relentlessly mocked and teased by other children due to his short stature, obesity, and bird-like nose. These deformities made The Penguin an outcast in his wealthy, high-society family, and this rejection drove him to become a violent criminal. He adopted “The Penguin” as his alter-ego’s namesake as some sort of grim reminder of the taunts he had suffered as a child.
Unlike many of Batman’s other villains, The Penguin’s crimes don’t prescribe to any particular theme or psychotic obsession. He is a genuine mobster, using night clubs and casinos as fronts for his other less legitimate businesses. The Penguin is always seen dressed in fine suits and formal wear, and carries himself with a pretentious and aristocratic air, evidence of the painful desire he still feels to prove himself worthy of the wealthy society that rejected him. He also often surrounds himself with beautiful women, presumably as an attempt to overcompensate for his rather unattractive disposition.
The Penguin’s power as a villain comes from his clever intellect and charismatic leadership of the organized underworld. He arms himself with an arsenal of deadly trick umbrellas and uses his vast underworld connections to employ a whole host of hired goons.
Every wave of action figures these days has to have a runt, and The Penguin fits that bill. But just because he’s small doesn’t mean he lacks character! What we get in this version of The Penguin is exactly what you’d expect from any figure in this line. Sculpt detail, nice paint apps and good articulation. His articulation’s not great, though. The Penguin lacks lateral thigh movement. He just has a standard t-crotch. But, since this is a character that’s really known for doing splits, I guess that doesn’t matter much. He does get a cool accessory in his trademark umbrella, and he looks darn nice up on the shelf with the rest of Batman’s rogues.
