The latest DC Comics property on TV is a new animation on the Cartoon Network: Batman: the Brave and the Bold. It hearkens back to days of yore when comics were a little more kid friendly and off the wall. The show follows this template, and that of its namesake: Brave and the Bold, by featuring wacky teamups with Batman. This Batman figure is one of the first figures in the newly launched Batman: the Brave and the Bold toy line by Mattel. While it may match the show perfectly, some big holes (literally and figuratively) leave this figure lacking in key areas.
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There isn't a whole lot to say about the sculpt of this figure. Most importantly, he matches up with the look of the show, so fans will instantly recognize him and be pulled to pick him up. This is accomplished by using very hard lines and geometric shapes with the sculpt, much like the animation. There aren't many rounded edges on this figure, everything taking a very blocky appearance. It doesn't win any awards for detail, but it does have a generally stylish profile. There are nice details on his belt, and his gloves are sculpted in, though his boots are not. The face is great with a nice smirk, short points bat ears, and a big ol' square chin. His cloth cape hangs nicely, and the pointed edges are a great idea, but mine were raveling right out of the package. The one overwhleming issue with this guy is that there are huge (I mean really big) holes in various locations on his body where you can insert accessories from this figure or other figures in the line (keep your mind clean here please).These make the toy look terrible from just about any angle, and it's made even worse by the fact that the idea isn't great in practice. Batman's accessory is a pretty weak and generic sculpt, but matches the style of the show with its classic look.
Sculpt Score: 6 / 10 - Fits the show perfectly, some details are there, cloth cape is nice yet raveling, face is great, ugly giant holes everywhere!
I'm admittedly pretty disappointed with this guy's paint. For a figure that's based on a very clean and crisp animation style, you would think that delivering that same quality would be important, but it clearly wasn't. Batman'a painted on boots look terrible, with very soft, even fuzzy color switches from blue to gray. His shorts and gloves suffer from the same problem along with crooked delineations. His face is painted relatively well compared to the rest of the figure. His color scheme works except for his belt which looks too washed out and doesn't match his chest emblem. Said emblem is actually off center with his chest and tilted up to the left, with some gray showing through the yellow. There is a pretty detectable color match issue from his chest to his arms. Most of these issues are actually not "paint" problems, but involve the color and deco of the figure, so they fall within this category.
Paint Score: 5 / 10 - Colors are decent, but don't always match, some fuzzy lines, poorly applied emblem, good face paint.
I understand that Mattel probably couldn't offer GI Joe equivalent articulation to this figure and stay cost effective. All the same, a few more points would've been reasonable and even necessary. He features a neck swivel, shoulder swivels, elbow hinges, a waist swivel, and two swivel hips. That's not a lot of articulation anymore and I would've loved to see DCUC style hips implemented in this line. Ball hips would break up the appearance, but the DCUC hips could look perfect and add a whole new level of posing options and play viability to this figure. As it stands now, there's not much you can do with this limited leg articulation. For a toy based on a very animated and action packed show, it's going to be hard to match things up. The points Batman does have look fine with the sculpt, not detracting from the style in any way and everything worked well right out of the box. It's just hard to do much with this figure except stand him up.
Articulation Score: 4 / 10 - There are some points, just not a lot or enough, everything moved smoothly, no good ways to pose or play.
There are definitely some bonus points here just for being Batman. Adults or kids, everyone loves the Batman. This figure will attract people because he's Batman and for no other reason. There's just something about the character and his design that people love, even this more classic version. He's also a tie in to a new cartoon that I hope a number of people are watching, and finding a figure from your favorite show is always a nice surprise. Once you actually get this guy home is when he's probably going to disappoint, since he has so little articulation and play value. He comes with an accessory and it would be natural for some kind of action feature, but this power punch doesn't have any moving parts. It's also rather difficult to determine how you're supposed to use or attach the accessory. I couldn't really get it to fit in his hand, so clipping it into one of the big holes was my only option, but that just looked really weird (see below). It also didn't fit very well, wobbling out of the hole pretty easily. I think moving up to the slightly more expensive deluxe figures with action features and bigger accessories might be necessary to get the most fun out of this line, because Batman is just lacking.
Fun Score: 5 / 10 - He is Batman, design and character are much beloved, comes with an accessory, although the opportunity was missed, from a popular cartoon.
This toy was just under $8 at Wal-Mart, and I imagine you'll find similar pricing options at any mass-market retailer. You're getting an average sized 5" figure at a comparable price to other lines. You get a well made, solid, and durable figure with an accessory for a decent price. He may not be the most fun either on the shelf or on the carpet but he's not a terrible way to spend $8 either. A little more attention to detail and higher production values would've really helped here. Things like a raveling cape and poor paint applications certainly don't do justice to a toy's value. I think a true Batman fan or a kid who enjoys the show would get the most of this figure, though I can't honestly recommend him to many others.
Value Score: 6 / 10 - Decent sized and well made figure for the price, includes an accessory, some quality issues, sturdy and durable.
Summary
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Overall Score: 52 / 100 - This is a Fair Toy
Batman suffers from a weak articulation model that's coupled with average paint and limited fun, only redeemed by a marginally better sculpt and perceived value.
P.S. This could be the figure I'm giving away this month, just leave a comment for a chance to win (if he's the one).
-The Articulated One
