My love of Mattel’s DC products is
definitely on the wane.
Heck, my love of anything DC is
on the wane (except maybe Man of Steel).
Mattel’s retail line isn’t
producing very much that’s exciting or new. And I think I regret
subscribing to Clun Infinite Earths this year. Most of the releases
so far have been so bland that I haven’t even wanted to review
them. As a matter of fact, I just shipped Wally West off to an eBay
buyer that I hope will like him more than I did. Well, technically I
don’t care. I’ve got the money. It’s too late for him.
Bwahahahaha!
I was fairly close to just divvying the
rest of my DC figures up into lots and selling them off, as well. A
couple of things stopped that. First, it would have been a pain in
the ass. Second, Lil’ Troublemaker really didn’t want me
to. He got bummed out when I told him I was thinking about it. Third,
I know there would come a time when I would regret it. Yeah, it would
have been a ton of money; but I know that someday DC will recover
from the current creative disaster and I will love their universe
again.
For right now I am just not that
enthusiastic about DC. But – like any toy line I am considering
dropping – there are still releases here and there that I just
can’t resist. This Batman is one of them.
The Silver Age/Brave and the Bold
version of this Batman presents him as a crime fighter who literally
lives on another planet. I haven’t read the original comic, but in
the B&TB episode he was essentially Kal-El as Batman
because on his planet he has no powers. Earth’s Batman showed up on
the planet and had Superman’s powers. It’s a great episode and a
perfect example of how much fun that show is at its best.
In Grant Morrison’s story,
Zur-En-Arrh Batman is actually an alternate personality that Bruce
Wayne has created and submerged deep within his consciousness just in
case he ever gets brainwashed to forget who he is. It was done as
another example of Morrison’s favorite of Batman’s traits –
that he is prepared for anything. Once Wayne’s memory was
wiped, the Zur-En-Arrh personality emerged – accompanied by
Bat-Mite, of all things – and created the wacky costume out of
trash. This was also part of Morrison’s effort to incorporate the
madness of the Silver Age into continuity.
Mattel – with this figure – has
tried to incorporate both versions of this Batman into one figure.
It totally didn’t work. That’s not
to say it’s a bad figure, it just is not a successful
representation of both characters.
First Glance: This is
obviously a striking figure. And in all honesty I bought it because I
am a sucker for Batman figures. If one is an actual, different
version of Batman I have to have it.
There’s no doubting this is the
version from Morrison’s story – the stitching and torn cape
indicate that.
Articulation: Batman has
the standard DCUC articulation. I think it was a good call for Mattel
to stick with this through the line’s name change. While I do have
some minor issues with it, I think a lot of folks might have stopped
collecting if the line had changed too drastically. Also, Mattel
wouldn’t have been able to continue using the same parts over and
over and over and over… you get the idea.
Head – ball joint
Shoulders – swivel/pivot
Biceps - swivel
Elbows –pivot
Wrists – swivel
Abdomen – pivot
Waist - swivel
Hips – swivel/hinge
Thighs - swivel
Knees – pivot
Ankles - pivot
You have to play with the head a bit to
get it to do anything.
Let me rephrase that.
You have to wiggle the cranium to get the
full range of motion. Mine came somewhat stuck in place and it took
some moving to loosen it up. I initially thought that it only moved
from side-to-side, almost like a swivel joint. But it does move up
and down a bit.
The rest of the joints function as well
as any other DCUC figure. I have to say I am disappointed that Mattel
has never attempted to deepen the pivots of the elbows, ankles, and
knees of these figures. I understand that a double pivot doesn’t
work for every character, but having a Batman – or twenty - that
can’t squat is pretty annoying.
Sculpt: As with many
figures that Mattel produces, this one could and should
have consisted of entirely new parts. But there are a few new parts
that work well and give the figure just enough newness to work. Kind
of. The funny thing is that if they had just gone ahead and made this
the Silver Age version they could have made it with less new parts
and it would have actually been accurate.
This Batman has a new head, cape,
torso, shoulder thingies, and belt.
The head is quite a bit different from
typical Batman heads, as it has a very angry expression and
some stitching to indicate that Bruce Wayne made this costume by
hand. The stitching goes from the back of the head across the
forehead and looks good, better than paint alone would have. His
angry face is great! There's even some stubble sculpted into the jaw.
My only issue with the head sculpt is that the left side of my
figure’s cowl has some kind of abrasion:
The upper torso is new, with some
stitching and new shoulder pieces. The torso is pretty much the
standard buck. It would have been nice if the Bat Symbol had been
sculpted. I'm not sure why it isn't since this is a new piece. The
shoulder pieces are a soft plastic and look pretty good, particularly
the stitching. The seam between the shoulders and the chest is pretty
ugly and noticeable.
The new cape is awesome. There is a big
hole around the neck rather than the tightly fitted cape we are used
to. The shape is very different from other Batman figures and there
is plenty of damage and tearing. It’s a really good sculpt and I am
impressed that it’s an all-new piece rather than a retooled
existing cape.
The utility belt has some sculpting on
it, but is pretty much just a belt with a cell phone stuck to it.
This is not a complaint. That’s what this Batman’s belt should
be.
Coloring: The fact that
the stitching is not painted is totally lame and makes this look like
an old-school Ninja Turtles figure. Actually, even the new Ninja
Turtles figures are suffering from lame paint jobs. It bothers me to
no end that Mattel would put so much effort into certain parts of
this figure and scrimp on others. A good paint job would have made
all the difference.
The paint on Batman’s face isn’t
great, as the flesh tone is a bit thin and while his teeth are
painted, what is behind them isn’t. It’s flesh tone rather than
black. A bit of a wash over his stubble would have made a big
difference, as well.
The rest of the color on the figure
works fairly well. I’m impressed that Mattel managed to match all
of the yellows on this figure to one another despite the varying
plastics used. The Bat Symbol looks good and tight. The utility belt
has some metallic gold detailing and the attached cell phone does as
well, though I think I would have preferred it if that had an
entirely different paint job.
Accessories: This Batman
comes with two accessories! Excuse me while I celebrate.
Okay, this guy comes with a bat (of the
variety you hit baseballs with, not the ones that fly and turn into
Draculas) and Bat-Mite.
Bat-Mite looks great. He is a repaint
of the one that came with the K-Mart Exclusive Silver Age Batman from
a couple of years ago, but with a different head. This one has a
different facial expression that is best described as “petulant”.
I can understand reusing this sculpt, though it doesn’t match
Bat-Mite’s appearance in Morrison’s story. It’s a good sculpt
and is obviously the Dark Mite.
The bat is stupid. Going back to my
comparison with original TMNT figures, it’s all bent up. How? What
would do that to a bat? It’s dumb. The paint job looks nice,
though.
Packaging: The same
overwrought blister card we’ve been getting since the Batman Legacy
figures came out. It looks good, but is it really necessary? There’s
a bio and some stats on the back:
This is simply not the correct
biography for this figure. At all.
Value: $15.99 is actually
okay for a 6” figure, particularly one from Mattel that includes
two accessories.
Overall: How do I rate
this thing? If I actually look at it as a figure of Batman from
Planet X – as it is labeled - it is a dismal failure. But looking
at it as Bruce Wayne’s submerged Zur-En-Arrh personality from
Morrison changes things significantly. It still isn’t outstanding
due to a deficiency in paint apps and a couple of other small issues,
but it works.
3
out of 5
In the end it’s just really
frustrating that this figure is half good decisions and half bad
ones. If Mattel wasn’t willing to invest enough to get this figure
right, I would rather they have just released an actual Planet X
Batman. Actually, I think I might have preferred that anyway.
-Phantom
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