Home News
Reviews The List
NYTS Links
Ramblin' Man Gallery
Ah, Hasbro has lost the Batman license! No more re-paints of the same old freaking Batman- TAS figures! The company that breathed new life into He-Man gets to resuscitate the Dark Knight... right?
Well, at least, that's the plan DC had when they passed the reins of their flag-ship characters to Mattel. What does Mattel have in store? At this point, the big news, besides Justice League figures finally being released, are the first shots of the new Batman line, which at this point hasn't received any hyphenated title yet.(i.e. - Finally some Cool Toys, or - The License Reborn, or whatever.)
So far, from what I've seen... well... the stuff doesn't look horrible by any means; the early press-photos all feature figures that look about 6" tall, with interesting character designs, detailed, sculpts, the usual stuff.
But it's not exactly eye-popping, either. Now, don't get me wrong, they don't SUCK... they just don't jump out and you go 'ooooooohhhhh' either. The He-Man figures were a HUGE departure from their brethren in the '80s; more detailed, realistic sculpts, cooler action features, basically an improved product.
The Batman pieces look like they're inspired by Batman- Legends of the Dark Knight line from Hasbro. Power Armor Batman reminds me of Spline-Cape Batman, the whole Batman-in-deep-sea-gear is being done again... you get the point. The sculpts look ok, blah, blah, blah but what's the point?
How about more VILLAINS; the Joker figure looks SWEET, so hopefully that's a good sign. And for heaven's sake DO NOT SHORT-PACK THE VILLAINS. We wants LOTS OF THEM; Catwoman, Two-Face, Ras Al Ghul, Killer Moth... ok, drop Killer Moth.
The good news, besides getting a nice PLAIN Batman figure, is Robin and Nightwing get very nice treatments in the first wave. Yes, I said Nightwing! Unfortunately no sign of him brandishing escrima fighting-sticks as an accessory, but it's still very, very cool to see the character get the full-blown figure treatment.
So what's the final story on this line? Will it be over-hyped like Armada, or will it full-fill it's promises quickly like He-Man? The next few months will decide. Among the other offerings is a Batmobile and a two-pack of Bats and Superman, so there is hope the line will gather momentum and blow us away.
Unfortunately, with a flagging economy and Toy-Biz and Marvel kicking some serious butt, there is a miniscule margin for error. Hopefully the rather 'eh' start means the folks at Mattel have the reeeeeeeeally good-stuff waiting for us. If not, the line could die the same ugly death the movie franchise did... and that's pretty dang ugly.