Well, it looks like Warner Bros. and DC are really going with that Hot Topic-inspired design for the new incarnation of the Joker. Sure, director David Ayer has long since wrapped both principal photography and several weeks of reshoots of Suicide Squad, and the finished project is set to premiere in less than a month. But we were kind of hoping the studio would come to its senses and use CGI or something to make Jared Leto’s inked-up version of the iconic villain just a little less silly. Apparently not: Hot Toys has just released the first images of its official 1/6th scale collectible figure of the Joker, and now there’s no going back.
The hand-painted 11.6-inch figure is designed to look exactly like Leto does in the anti-hero action movie, right down to the piercing psychopathic stare and “Deranged” forehead tattoo. The body is equipped with more than 30 points of articulation, so that you can position it in all sorts of angsty poses. And, yes, it does come with a miniature corporate-break-room-style chair.
“The movie-accurate collectible figure is specially crafted based on Jared Leto’s image as The Joker in his Arkham Asylum outfit in the movie,” according to the description on the Hong Kong-based collectibles production house’s website. “It features a newly sculpted head sculpt, special paint applications to capture The Joker’s unique appearance, finely tailored straitjacket with weathering effects, and a specially designed backdrop of the Arkham Asylum.”
There are two disclaimers included on the figure’s webpage, though: “Prototype shown is not final, pending licensor approval” and ”Product details could be subjected to change without further notice.” So there’s a sliver of hope that the studio could still decide to digitally remove at least a few of those facial tattoos. (Probably not, though.)