The Dark Knight Rises New Hot Toys 1/6 Scale Collectible The Joker 2.0 Figure And Interview With Hot Toys Designer Kato On The Joker 2.0's Costume

Hot Toys have released some pretty cool photos showing their brand new upcoming 1/6 scale collectible The Joker 2.0 figure. We have been teased with the latest teaser that Hot Toys did for this figure later and it was amazing. The latest teaser showed The Joker 2.0 1/6 scale collectible figure sitting down in a chair while in the interrogation room when he was interrogated by Batman at the Gotham City Police Department. Of course The Joker was beaten up really badly by Batman because he did not know where Harvey Dent and Racheal Dawes were while he was still giving him information.

Someone had an interview later with the Hot Toys Designer Kato about The Joker's 2.0 Costume and he had a few questions to answer. Here's what he said about The Joker 2.0's Costume.

Question: Let’s start with the origin. Being a 1/6th scale figure costume designer is not common, what made you get interested in it?

Kato: Honestly, I don’t think that I would become an 1/6th scale costume artist before. However, because of an occasional opportunity, I got my first 12″ figure of Medicom Masked Rider. I was very impressed by its actual likeness, so I started to purchase 12″ collectible figures. However, I could not find any toy stores which offer satisfactory 1/6th scale figure costume at that time, so I started to custom-make some costumes for the 1/6th scale figures, with knowledge learnt from the Fashion & Clothing Technology in the Hong Kong Polytechnic Institute.

Question: What is the most difficult step for the development of The Joker 2.0 costume? And why?

Kato: Throughout the process of the development of The Joker 2.0’s costume, I think researching and sourcing are the most difficult parts. For the research, it is hard to find some high resolution and accurate references from the movie company as The Joker’s costume in the movie was specially tailored. Also, there is less detailed information of the interior parts of the movie costume, so I need some imaginations for designing. For sourcing, I tried my best to source many different kinds of fabric materials which are as movie-accurate as possible, no matter the details, color, thickness and pattern, but some fabric cannot be found in the existing markets, such as The Joker’s printed dress shirt which is very detailed with patterns, so I needed to redesign the artwork with the help of my friend who is the specialist in graphic design and have them printed by factory.

Question: As we know that you have put much efforts on the craftsmanship on pleated details in order to keep the aesthetics of The Joker as a whole, would you please tell us more about that?

Kato: Yes. We have put much efforts on the pleated details by applying the delicate pleated craftsmanship, so the costume can present The Joker’s aesthetics with our advanced tailored skill, but sorry that I cannot talk much about the details here.

Question: How do you make it different from DX01?

Kato: Comparing with the DX01 figure, the most difference will be the silhouette of the suit. We have applied the softer and finer material to tailor The Joker’s outfit, so it won’t be bulky after putting on all the clothes on the body as if it looks like the real costume. Also many people are not aware of some details such as The Joker’s tie. Unlike other products which are mostly using the fake one, in The Joker 2.0, it is a real tie using “Four in One Knot” to knot it, which is based on the same styling in the movie to make it as accurate as possible.

Question: Any highlights of this costume that you would like to let our fans know more?

Kato: I guess it would be the best costume which fits his advanced body, with well tailored movie-accurate cutting and materials. We will make this costume like making real clothing for humans. Focusing on details such as the peaked lapel of the overcoat, the making of real shirt cuff opening, sleeve head tailoring and tiny edge stitching along the vest and shirt is very important.

Question: How do you ensure the quality control of stocks to meet with customers’ high expectations?

Kato: I provide the technical support to the factory to maintain the high quality. Also, I have prepared a lot of production reference to workers so that they can follow the guidelines steps by steps.

Question: Do you have any other projects that would like to collaborate with Hot Toys in the future?

Kato: I love to make 1/6th scale suit so much, so for every character that has a suit, I would like to make it such as those in Iron Man 2 – Tony Stark wearing Tuxedo, Black Widow in secretary look and Christopher Reeves Superman – Clark Kent in reporter look.

The interview was pretty long because it involved the Hot Toys artist and designer Kato talking about some of the most important features that he will add and design later for the brand new upcoming 1/6 scale collectible The Joker 2.0 figure. And while he did mention that this would be in the brand new 1/6 scale The Dark Knight line. He also discussed some quick brief changes to the suit so that this time it would look more real and would look like real clothing.

He also said something when he was being interviewed that this 1/6 scale figure will be a DX-11 and that it will be very detailed from the movie. The same goes for the brand new stand with the nameplate on it and we also get to see how The Joker's headsculpt is going to turn out. So far it's looking good and he really looks awesome in this. We will get to see the final version later but for now you are only seeing a prototype that is still being made and is not official yet. But as soon as more information and more prototype photos appear and hit then i will be letting you know all about it. So please stay tuned!