I
couldn’t even count the number of action figure lines I have been
excited about over the years. I love toys and there’s just
something in my nature that gets me excited to see how new toys are
going to look and play; even if they’re a license, franchise, or
concept that I have only a passing interest in.
I can,
however, count the number of toy lines that I have been anticipating
in a way that was borderline obsessive – the Star Wars relaunch of
1995, Sideshow’s Universal Monsters, the GI Joe 25th
Anniversary line, and the 4 Horsemen’s Outer Space Men.
And then
there’s the toy line that has filled me with a singular excitement
that has left me almost literally on the edge of my seat every time
I’ve read about it. The line that is based on my favorite – and
arguably the greatest – animated franchise of all time. The line
that is being produced by a toy manufacturer that over the last three
years has stepped up their game to the point where they went from
near the bottom of my list of great companies to the very top. The
line that has the potential to top Masters of the Universe Classics
as one of the most integrated and amazing toy lines ever produced.
Haha!
Kidding!
That toy
line is DC Collectibles’ vaguely named Batman Animated line.
The
first exciting thing about this line is that the creators of Batman:
The Animated Series, Paul
Dini and Bruce Timm – are consulting. They are the ones determining
which versions of the characters – Animated
Series or New
Adventures – are getting
made. Or getting made first, anyway. Presumably if the line is
successful and continues on for long enough we will see multiple
versions of the characters. I, for one, would love to have both
Batman designs, as well as many of the other characters that were
redesigned for New
Adventures. So far Timm and
Dini are choosing exactly the looks I prefer – Catwoman and Joker
from TAS
and Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze from NA,
for example.
The
first twelve figures from this new line have been shown and they all
look fantastic. As excited as I am to collect every single character
from the Batman cartoons, the ultimate potential of this line is to
delve into the massive cast of the successor to the animated Batman
and Superman
cartoons – Justice League
and Justice League
Unlimited. If – no, when
– this happens it won’t be long before I sell my DC Universe
Classics collection. A huge portion of those figures were bought
simply because I knew them from Justice
League Unlimited and if I
can have proper animated style versions I would much rather have
those. As uniform as the 4 Horsemen’s DCUC style was, nothing will
ever beat Bruce Timm’s slick designs.
The
first figure released from DC Collectibles’ new line is, of course,
Batman. I was a little surprised that they went with the New
Adventures look first, but
once I saw the other eleven figures in these first waves I realized
that aesthetically this design fits in better. And again – I have
no doubt we’ll see an Animated
Series version in the near
future.
FIRST
GLANCE
Unfortunately,
my first glance of this figure revealed a dismaying quality control
issue – the joint on the right elbow was clear, unpainted plastic:
I
try not to get too emotional about toys. I love ‘em, but they are
just
toys.
But I was pretty upset about this. It’s not like I could just go to
Toys R Us and get another one. And my Local Comic Book Shop isn’t
the best with ordering, so I thought there was a good chance they
wouldn’t have any more.
Oh,
and the reason I even ended up with this one was that my wife brought
it home for me. Obviously a figure with that kind of fail wouldn’t
have made it past the cash register if I had been able to inspect it.
Despite her years of dealing with nerd stuff, Mrs. Troublemaker just
isn’t wired to look for such things.
The
next day we stopped by the shop and, sure enough, they didn’t have
any more. I cursed a lot. Then I started calling other comic shops.
Fortunately, the second one I called – Galactic Quest – had one
in stock and put it on hold for me. After having Thanksgiving lunch
at my son’s school, we went and picked up what would hopefully be
an error-free figure.
And it was.
Well,
mostly. But I’ll get to that.
In
the box, this is a beautiful figure. It has a certain visual weight
to it that identifies it as something a bit more than the old Kenner
figures or Mattel’s more recent JLU line (nothing against those –
they’re good toys). Batman fills up the package. Or, at least, he
seems
to fill up the package until you realize that there are tons
of accessories behind him.
In
short, there’s no way any Batman fan could pass up this figure if
they just saw it out in the wild. Unfortunately, this is a Direct
Market line and you won’t be seeing them at Target and Toys R Us.
Your best bet is to preorder them from your Local Comic Book Shop
when they’re offered in Previews.
Or,
of course, click the below link and help out Needless Things.
PACKAGING
As
excited as I was to see this new, ultimate (in my opinion) Batman
figure, I was just as excited to see that it was on a simple blister
card. I am not a fan of DCC’s usual clamshells, so I was delighted
when I saw the cardboard backing on this guy.
This
is overall a very
simplistic design. The graphics are simple and appealing, letting the
beautiful figure sell itself. There isn’t even a blurb on the back,
let alone any kind of character bio. While I always like to see bios,
I have to admit that the silhouette graphic on the back is striking.
And how many times do we need Batman explained to us, anyway?
I’m
happy to see the sculptor credit prominently displayed on the side of
the blister:
As
well as the numbering system being used:
I’m
not quite sure why, but I like the numbering that recent lines like
Star
Wars Black
and Funko’s Legacy figures have been using. It’s not like I don’t
know which figures are coming out, but there’s something about that
extra level of quantity definition that I find reassuring – there
are exactly this many figures out, you know?
LOOKS
This
head is such a simple design, and it would have been hard to mess up,
but I am so impressed with how perfect it looks. The jaw, the ears,
the shape of the eyes – it’s all perfect. The mouth is nothing
more than a line, but it’s sized and placed to perfectly capture
that determined expression that is animated Batman’s default look.
It’s just a line, but it’s incredible. The seam between the head
and neck is a little wide, but there’s good – nay, excellent
– reason for that.
Batman’s
cape is made of rubber and is a separate piece that sits on the top
of the neck and the shoulders. It hangs exactly how it should and is
one piece rather than being a shoulder/neck piece with the draping
part tucked in. It’s flat black and matches the rest of the black
on the figure quite well. It hangs over the back of the figure’s
shoulders so as not to interfere with posing of the arms. The lower
portion is sculpted off-center to suggest movement.
The
base figure perfectly captures the loom of New
Adventures
Batman. The massive chest and shoulders sit on top of the narrower
but still thick waist. The arms and legs feature exaggerated muscle
definition that makes the joints less invasive than they would have
been on the Animated
Series
Batman. I think that might be part of the reason they chose to
release this version first. The TAS
Batman is a little sleeker and the joints will be a little more
apparent.
The
Bat symbol is sculpted and not just painted on. It looks really good
except that the paint on mine doesn’t quite cover it. There’s
some unpainted grey on the bottom of the middle curves. It isn’t a
huge deal, but when combined with the rest of the paint errors it
becomes more of an issue.
Batman’s
trunks are just painted on, which surprised me a bit. But I suppose
they need to be able to re-use as many parts as they can and the
lower portion of this figure will prove valuable in future releases.
Tons
of DC Animated figures will be able to use this same design, and not
all of them have trunks.
The
utility belt is a separate piece molded out of softer plastic. It’s
thick and wide and looks great. It can also be moved independently of
the torso, so if yours is a bit off-center you can turn it.
Batman’s
gloves look great.
There’s a wonderful definition where they meet the sleeves of the
costume. The thickness of that seam is really nice.
The
boots are actually separate pieces, so that seam looks great. The
design is similar to how the Masters of the Universe Classics boots
are articulated. The top portions and the feet match perfectly as far
as color goes.
All
of the colors on the figure are close to perfect. Despite the various
pieces and the different materials used, the greys and blacks all
match. That’s the good thing about the paint. The bad is that there
are some definite, noticeable issues with the applications. I
mentioned the Bat symbol above. There’s a similar – but much less
noticeable – issue with the cowl. It doesn’t really show when
you’re looking at the figure straight on, but from below the black
doesn’t extend all the way under the cowl sculpt. There’s also a
bit of black slop on the right front of the trunks. It isn’t
terrible, but it’s noticeable.
Compared
to other action figure lines that have eyes that are off center or
entire paint apps that are misaligned, these issues aren’t major.
But I want this Batman to be perfect. The design is so simple that
the errors that are here stand out quite a bit.
Overall,
though, this is a striking figure. The design is flawless. It’s the
execution that falls shy of perfection.
ACCESSORIES
This
figure comes with a huge number of accessories – an extra cape,
seven extra hands, a Batarang, a grapnel gun, and a stand.
I’m
going to start with the stand since I usually hate stands as
accessories. The first thing this stand has going for it is that
there are tons of other accessories, so it doesn’t feel like it was
just an obligation so the figure wasn’t in the package alone. The
other thing it has going for it is that it’s awesome. It consists
of three pieces and is designed like a doll stand. The base has a
nice graphic depicting what look like animation reference shots. The
upper portion is adjustable for height and for width. This is a
classy stand that I won’t mind seeing with a whole line of these
figures.
The
last thing the stand has going for it is that the figure can stand
perfectly well without it. This would seem to defy the laws of
physics given the top-heavy design. Now, I’m not going to put this
Batman on the shelf without the stand. He does fine when posing for
pictures, but I don’t think I trust this guy to stay put for years
of shelf life.
The
extra cape hangs straight and drapes down over Batman’s shoulders
to achieve a standing pose. It looks great. The trick is switching
the capes out. Batman’s head is a pain to get off. Those pointy
ears are sharp and I actually managed to poke a hole in my finger
while trying to put it back on.
Fortunately, the peg that the head is
mounted on is sturdy plastic and the not the clear plastic garbage
that many figures – including this one – are using for joint
pieces nowadays.
The
extra hands are mounted on very delicate hinged pegs. I cannot
emphasize enough how careful you ned to be with these. Gently test
the hinges before
you put these on the figure. Loosen them up. Even then be very
careful with them. The hinge on my grapnel gun hand broke off with
barely any stress at all:
It’s
disappointing and shouldn’t have happened, but I’m also not
planning to display the figure with that hand. It did, unfortunately,
mean that I couldn’t get the classic “Batman getting ready to
fire his grapnel gun” shot quite right.
The
hands are relatively easy to switch out, but be sure to grasp them
firmly by the hinge when you remove them from the figure. Pull the
figure away from the hand rather than vice versa. Don’t put any
more stress on those hands than you absolutely have to.
The
grapnel gun and Batarang are very simple and are made of sturdy
plastic, as opposed to the rubber a lot of people like to use for
accessories now. The Batarang fits into one of the posed extra hands.
The grapnel gun sort of fits into a different hand. It’s a little
superfluous given that one of the extra hands is holding it properly
and there isn’t much more you can do with it, but I’m glad it’s
here.
FUN
Obviously
a figure with this much meaningful articulation and this many
accessories is a ton of fun.
All
of the articulation works quite well, but I caution you to carefully
loosen everything up and use freezer or heat methods on stubborn
joints. DO NOT FORCE ANYTHING. The only problem spot I had was the
right hip and it came loose with some persistent wiggling and no
freezer time.
Head
– ball joint
Shoulders
– ball joint
Elbows
– swivel/pivot
Wrists
– swivel/pivot
Waist
– swivel
Hips
– Hinged t-joint
Knees
–pivot
Boot
Top - swivel
Ankles
– pivot
Foot
– pivot
The
peg that the head is mounted on has a ball at the end, so this joint
provides 360° of rotation and a little bit of angling; as much as
you need, really.
I
was surprised at the range of movement the arms have. I didn’t
expect much due to the thickness, but they’re really versatile.
The
feet work well and are much sturdier than they look. They still
warrant caution, but they don’t snap right off like I thought they
might. The swivel at the top of the boot is great and helps with more
dynamic poses.
As
good as the articulation on this figure is, it could have used a ball
joint on the waist rather than a swivel and some kind of swivel above
the knees. I think the different waist joint would have been easy
enough, but I’m not sure if the thigh swivels could have been done
without being ugly. I’m not a fan of the kinds of seams those
usually create. I’d rather the posing be slightly more limited than
have those breaks in the figure’s profile.
OVERALL
This
is the best Batman figure I have ever owned. It’s not perfect. The
paint errors are a problem and obviously those fragile wrists are no
good. But even with those things this is a beautiful figure that
perfectly represents New
Adventures
Batman and
is still a lot of fun to play with. It’s not often you get an
action figure that is both aesthetically pleasing and a fun toy, but
this one accomplishes those dual goals quite nicely.
I
can’t give it a perfect score, but I highly recommend this figure
to any toy collector. It’s a great example of what smart toy design
can accomplish. Just be sure you’re able to physically examine it
in person before you buy.
4
out of 5
Unless,
of course, you just can’t find one in your area. Then you should
buy one from Amazon and help the site out:
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