Tag Archives: Batman: The Animated Series

#0814: The Riddler

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

THE RIDDLER

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DCC)

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Well, we’re steadily making our way through the Post-Christmas gift reviews. Today marks day 13, which means we’re the majority of the way through the stuff I got this year. I’ll be going back the super hero pool again today, with another figure from the current Batman: Animated line by DC Collectibles. Last time, I looked at one of Batman’s allies; this time, I’ll be looking at one of his more recurrent foes, the Riddler!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RiddlerAn2Riddler is figure #14 in the Batman: Animated line. This places him with the Series 4 figures, though his actual release was during the onslaught of series 3, 4, and 5 figures, so the whole numbering thing is rather arbitrary. Riddler is based on his original series look (a totally sensible choice, given that The Riddler never got more than a cameo appearance in TNA, and the design wasn’t very well received), specifically from the episode “Riddler’s Reform,” which is probably his best appearance in the show. The figure is 6 ½ inches tall and has 20 points of articulation. He’s somewhat similar in construction to Two-Face, though the styling of the suit is obviously a bit different. The sculpt does a pretty reasonable job of translating his design from the show. It’s better from some angles than others, but there are a few things that are just off. The pelvis is a bit too low-set (a recurring problem with these figures), and the neck is just a touch on the long side. Other than that, the figure makes for a pretty great translation from 2D to 3D. The head in particular is a fantastic piece, and I love getting a figure with such a unique expression. Riddler’s paint is nice and clean, probably some of the cleanest the line has exhibited. There’s a little bit of bleed over on the pocket square, but that’s really the only notable issue, which is pretty fantastic for a figure in this day and age. Riddler includes his cane, a Wacko Toys display, three pairs of hands (fists, gripping, and relaxed), and a display stand with his control art. The toy display is the only piece that is really “Riddler’s Reform”-specific, but it also happens to be the coolest extra included (at least by my standards).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite getting most of the other figures in this line, my local comic book store never got Riddler in stock. Fortunately for me, my parents picked him up for me and gave him to me for Christmas, which made me quite happy. Riddler turned out very well, even surprisingly well for this line. He has no glaring issues, and he comes with some pretty awesome extras. I think he’s probably the second best figure I’ve gotten from the line, after the surprisingly impressive Bane.

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#0811: Batgirl

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

BATGIRL

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DCC)

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For day 10 of my Post-Christmas gift reviews, I’ll be moving away from the mostly sci-fi based reviews of the last nine days and going back to the subset of action figures I am most comfortable with: Superheroes!

Barbra Gordon as Batgirl didn’t appear till the tail end of the original run of Batman: The Animated Series, but all three of the episodes in which she appeared were pretty well-received with both the fan base and the creative team behind the series. When the series came back as The New Batman Adventures, Batgirl was given a much larger role, and in fact appeared in the majority of the show’s episodes. So, it’s not a huge surprise that DC Collectibles’ first figure of the animated incarnation of the character comes from her later appearances.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BatgirlAn2Batgirl was released as part of DC Collectibles’ Batman: Animated line. She’s figure 18 in the line, which places her in the fifth series of the line. The figure is about 5 ½ inches tall and has 25 points of articulation. As I noted in the intro, she’s based on her New Adventures design, which itself is a pretty straight adaptation of her original comics design. The costume has of course been tailored to fit the more stylized nature if Timm’s New Adventures character designs, which includes streamlining of the belt and boots. It’s definitely a solid piece of design work. Batgirl’s sculpt shares a number of stylistic similarities with Poison Ivy, due to their builds being quite similar in the show, but it doesn’t appear that the two figures share any actual sculpted pieces. The overall quality of the sculpt is quite good, and she definitely looks like her onscreen counterpart. She also doesn’t seem to have the same huge noggin issues that Ivy did, though that may be to do with her not having Ivy’s rather large chunk of hair. The proportions I general are pretty well-balanced, and the joints and such are all worked in rather nicely. Batgirl’s paint is pretty much on par with the paint BatgirlAn4we’ve seen on the rest of the figures. It’s a little rough around the edges of her mask, as well as the change from yellow to blue on the cape, but the overall appearance is pretty solid. Batgirl includes a batarang, 10 extra hands (2 fists, 2 gripping, 2 loose grip, 2 relaxed, and one for holding the batarang), a bat-grapple, a hand holding the grapple, and a display stand. They’re all pretty good, except for one thing: the grapple on the hand with it sculpted in place is completely unpainted. I don’t know if this is contained to just my figure or if it’s a wide spread problem, but it’s quite obvious and rather annoying.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Batgirl was given to me this Christmas by my parents. She was a figure I was quite looking forward to (she and Nightwing were my two favorite characters from New Adventures). Like just about every figure in the Batman: Animated line, she is not without her flaws. However, she’s a pretty well put together figure, and a lot of fun.

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#0792: Nightwing

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

NIGHTWING

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DC COLLECTIBLES)

NightwingTNA1

Okay, now I’m remembering why I don’t do long strings of reviews of figures from the same line: I always run out of things to say! It’s made even worse by the fact that I kind of covered the basics of today’s focus character, Nightwing, back when I looked at my very first figure of the character for my two year milestone. So, yeah…

Anyway, when The New Batman Adventures came along, all of the characters got redesigns. I already noted that the show’s Robin was a whole new character. So what happened to the former Robin Dick Grayson? He got to take on his comics identity of Nightwing, which meant he got one of the most drastic redesigns of any of the characters. It happens to be one of my favorites from TNBA, and it just recently got a figure from DC Collectibles’ Batman: Animated line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

NightwingTNA4Nightwing is number 19 in the Batman: Animated line and he’s part of the line’s fifth series, which he actually shipped alongside. He stands 5 ¾ inches tall and has 24 points of articulation. He is, thankfully, taller than his BTAS counterpart (though not by a whole lot), however, he ends up losing a couple of points of articulation, which have quite an impact on what you can do with the figure, posing-wise. The most glaring omission is that of any sort of lateral movement on the legs, which causes him to be quite pigeon-toed. This is the same issue that plagued the BTAS Batman, and it’s really frustrating to see it show up again. Fortunately, Nightwing’s ankles are pointed a bit more outward, so it’s less glaring of an issue. Nightwing is based on his appearance in the episode “You Scratch My Back,” which is one of Nightwing’s more prominent episodes in the series, so it makes sense. The figure’s sculpt is frustratingly mixed in terms of quality. The head is nothing short of amazing. It’s a pitch-perfect translation of his look from the show, horribly-dated mullet and all. It’s sharp and clean, and all the angles are just right. His body is overall well built, but marred by a couple of glaring issues. First off, there’s the feet; while his feet are certainly small in the show, they weren’t that small. There smaller than Tim Drake’s feet for Pete’s sake! The real standout issue for me, though, is the logo. On the show, it was a totally flat logo, with no NightwingTNA6silhouette , as if it were silk-screened onto his costume.  Here, it’s a separate raised piece, jutting out a good millimeter from the rest of his chest. Not only is this inaccurate to the show, but it looks pretty goofy too, and it detracts from the elegant simplicity of the design. Why they opted to do it that way is beyond me. Nightwing is pretty light on paint, but what’s there (which is pretty much entirely confined to the face) is pretty good. The figure is packed with a pair of binoculars, a “night-a-rang” (just go with it….), four pairs of hands (fists, night-a-rang holding, gripping, and relaxed), and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Nightwing is one of my favorite designs from the animated shows, and was one of my favorite characters too, so I was eagerly awaiting his induction into DCC’s current line. When the prototype was shown off, I was less than impressed, but hopeful that he would improve like a lot of the others in the line. When I saw him in person at Cosmic Comix, I liked him enough to pick him up. When I took him out of the box, I was a fair bit let down, especially by the articulation. In fact, I kind of thought this would end up being a rather negative review. Then, I left him on my desk for about a week, and occasionally played with the figure while doing other things, and by the time he came up for review, I’d actually found myself really liking him, a lot more than I initially had. Sure, he’s not the standout figure that Bane is, but he’s also not the disappointment that BTAS Bats was for me.

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#0791: Bane

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

BANE

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DC COLLECTIBLES)

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Bane was a relatively new addition to the Batman rogues gallery at the time of Batman: The Animated Series, but that didn’t prevent him from finding himself a spot on the show, even if he did only have a small handful of appearances. Though the character was always thoroughly intimidating in the comics, that didn’t really translate to his initial appearance on the show, which turned him into little more than a steroid-addicted masked wrestler, who ended up defeated in a rather laughable way. Fortunately, the creators were aware of their missteps, and when the show returned under the New Adventures of Batman monicker, Bane got an all-new, more imposing character design, and a much better debut appearance. So, it’s not much of a shock that DCC opted to go for the second version of the character for his figure in their Batman: Animated line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BaneTNA2Bane is part of the fifth series of the Batman: Animated line. He’s number 18 in the line. The figure stands roughly 7 ¼ tall and has 27 points of articulation. Bane’s quite a bit bigger than the other figures in the line, which gives him quite the presence on the shelf. In addition, he has some of the smoothest joint movement I’ve seen from this line, which makes posing the guy a lot of fun. The addition of a mid-torso joint really adds alot to this figure, and I kind of hope DCC uses that style of joint a bit more in the future. As noted in the intro, this figure is based on Bane’s TNBA design, and is specifically drawn from his appearance in “Over the Edge,” which was his primary appearance in the second iteration of the show. Bane’s sculpt does a pretty phenomenal job of translating his design into three dimensions. It’s one of those rare occasions where he looks right from almost every angle, which shows some serious dedication to the figure. The joints are also incredibly well worked into the sculpt, so he looks pretty good from an aesthetic standpoint. Bane’s paintwork is mostly pretty good overall. There’s some slop here and there, but BaneTNA3nothing too bad. The colors are muted, as they were in the original design. The reflections on the mask are handled via simple painted details, which add a nice bit of style to the figure without looking too specific to any one shot of the character. Bane is packed with four pairs of hands (fists, closed gesture, open gesture, and gripping) and a display stand. That’s a little less than some of the other figures, but more than acceptable given the size of the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Bane was another purchase from Cosmic Comix, though I actually got him at full price. I wasn’t sure about whether or not I’d be getting Bane, but I was really impressed by the look of him in person, and even more impressed by just how awesome the figure is out of the box. He’s easily the best figure that DCC has produced in this line, and I really hope that subsequent figures can live up to him.

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#0790: Penguin

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

PENGUIN

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DCC)

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While the majority of character designs from Batman: The Animated Series stuck pretty close to the classic designs for the characters, there’s no denying that the series in general took some lead from the live action Batman films of the late ‘80s/early ‘90s. While the characterization of the Penguin was definitely his classic stuck-up, high-society, aristocratic personality of his classic comic appearances, his design was a mid-way point between the classic look and the Danny Devito version of the character from Batman Returns.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PenguinAnimated2Penguin is the 15th figure in DCC’s Batman: Animated line, which technically makes him a part of Series 4 of the line, though the actual layout of releases doesn’t really seem to following any actual order or anything. The figure is a little over 4 inches tall and he has 15 points of articulation. While he’s only got 15 points of articulation, the range of movement on this figure is pretty impressive, given his build. According to the packaging materials, he’s based on the character’s appearance in “The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne.” That’s kind of an odd choice, seeing as Hugo Strange is that episodes primary antagonist and Penguin’s role is little more than a glorified cameo, but whatever. Penguin’s appearance in The Animated Series is rather fluid; the guy looks fairly different from various angles. That makes rendering him in three dimensions no easy feat. The figure’s sculpt does make an honest attempt at properly translating. The results aren’t half bad, but he still looks a bit odd from certain angles. And the hair is PenguinAnimated4pretty off, which I think is one of the things throwing the whole figure off. Still, the overall result is nice and clean, and sums up the character quite nicely. The figure’s paintwork is probably some of the best I’ve seen from this line, which definitely does a lot for the figure. The monocle being actually see-through is technically not accurate, since it was always opaque on the show, but it looks cool enough that I definitely won’t be complaining. Penguin’s accessory complement is actually pretty awesome. He gets his signature umbrella in both open and closed looks, a teacup, a spoon, three pairs of hands (fists, gripping, and open), and a display stand, which is amusing because he’s too wide at the waist to actually use it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the last two Batman: Animated figures I’ve reviewed, Penguin was purchased from Cosmic Comix during their Biggest Sale of the YearTM. I’m not the biggest fan of the Penguin, so I wasn’t really sure I’d be getting this figure, especially since the prototype shots weren’t the greatest. But, the reduced price, coupled with him looking a fair bit better in person, led me to pick him up. I’m glad I did, because I think he’s one of the nicer figures from the line. Let’s hope more figures in the line end up like him.

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#0789: Poison Ivy

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

POISON IVY

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DCC)

PoisonIvyAnimated1

When DC Collectibles launched their Batman: Animated line, they ran into a number of quality control issues, which left the first series of figures with a number of flaws. The most glaring issue was the exposed joints on the fronts of all the figures’ hip joints. However, a number of the figures also suffered from issues with brittle joints, especially on the ankles. This wasn’t a huge issue for the more robust designs of those characters. When it came time for the second series, DCC did their best to get all of the issues sorted out. However, they didn’t want to risk the more slight design of Poison Ivy being manufactured with brittle joints, so the choice was made to push her back a ways in the production schedule. Now she’s finally made it out! Let’s see how she turned out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PoisonIvyAnimated2Poison Ivy was originally part of the second series of the Batman: Animated line, but ended up being released around the same time as the Series 3 and 4 figures. She’s figure 08 in the line, as she kept her original number in spite of the delay in her release. The figure is just shy of 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation. Ivy is based on her New Batman Adventures design, specifically from the episode “Chemistry.” While Ivy had a few other appearances in the show, I do believe that was the only one where she was the lone antagonist, so it’s a fitting choice. Ivy’s one of the few characters where I don’t have a definitive preference of one design over the other, so I don’t mind the decision to go with the later look. The sculpt does a pretty good job of translating her design into three dimensions, which is quite impressive, since the female designs from the later show were pretty stylized. The proportions are a pretty good match overall for the show. It may just be me, but the head does seem just a tad too large. Also, my figure has a pretty obvious seam on the hair, and even has excess glue around it, which is really annoying. There was another figure that didn’t have the seam issue, but had much lower quality paint application, PoisonIvyAnimated3so I had to choose the lesser evil. Apart from that, I do quite like the sculpt on this figure; she really sums up Ivy’s look quite well. The paintwork on this figure is pretty much on par with the rest of the recent releases. The colors are good matches for the source material, and the application is mostly pretty good. There’s a bit of bleed over at the bottom of her leotard, but that’s really the only issue. Ivy is packed with three containers of chemicals (which are much better handled than the ones included with yesterday’s Two-Face), three pairs of hands (open, gripping, and fists), and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ivy hit at the same time as the BTAS version of Batman, but I only had the money for Batman at the time. I ended up getting Ivy from my local comic book store, Cosmic Comix, during their Biggest Sale of the YearTM. I’m definitely glad I got her, because issue with the hair aside, she’s a pretty great figure.

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#0788: Two-Face

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

TWO-FACE

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DCC)

TwoFaceAnimated1

When the characters on Batman: the Animated Series were redesigned for the New Batman Adventures revival, there was kind of a wide spectrum of just how far the changes went. Some characters received pretty radical departures from their previous looks, while others just had their old designs sharpened-up a bit. Two-Face more or less fell into the latter category of characters. He had a few changes, but mostly minor ones. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

TwoFaceAnimated2Two-Face was part of the first series of DC Collectibles’ Batman: Animated line, though he ended up only being released alongside Mr. Freeze, as Batman and Catwoman received solo releases in the preceding weeks. He is, appropriately, figure 02 in the line. This figure is based on the character’s appearance in the episode “Sins of the Father,” which is Two-Face’s first appearance in The New Batman Adventures, so it’s a good choice. The figure stands a little over 6 ½ inches tall and has 20 points of articulation. His sculpt is unique to him, though the suit is generic enough that it could possibly see some re-use down the road. The sculpt is okay overall, but it has a few small inaccuracies. The biggest is that he’s just a lot softer angled than he should be, especially on the shoulders. Presumably, this is in part about facilitating the movement of the joints, which is just one of the compromises of this style of figure. Also, as a first series figure, he has exposed joints at the front of his legs, which is a bit frustrating. His pelvis in general seems a tad low set as well. And, this is less an accuracy thing and more an aesthetic issue, the front tuft of the white side of his hair is a separate piece, and quite obviously so. There’s a pretty large seam, and it doesn’t really seat properly, which makes it prone to falling off (which mine has done a few times now). Aside from those issues, the sculpt is pretty well handled, and it does a fair job of translating his design into three dimensions. Two-Face’s paintwork is okay, but not without its drawbacks. There’s a little bit of bleed over at TwoFaceAnimated3the changeover from white to black on the suit, and the white paint gets kind of gloppy in a few places. But, the colors are pretty good matches, and he looks perfectly fine when viewed from a small ways back. Two-Face is packed with a handgun, a tommy gun, a pocket watch, a bag, two vials of chemicals in red and blue, a gas mask, three pairs of hands (trigger finger, fists, and open palm), and a display stand. Several of these (the mask, bag, chemicals, and watch) are specific to “Sins of the Father,” which is cool. I do wish the chemicals were more than solid colors, but oh well. Also, the relaxed right hand has a sculpted coin, since you can’t very well have Two-Face without it!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My local comic book store sold out of Two-Face when he was initially released, so I didn’t get him. I kept thinking about ordering him online, but I just never got around to it. Then, said comic book store got a few more in stock, just in time for their Biggest Sale of the Year TM. So, I not only got the figure, but I also got him at a reduced price. Which is probably for the best. He’s an alright figure, but he’s not as good as some of the other entries in the line.

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#0774: Robin

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

ROBIN

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DCC)

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When Batman: The Animated Series returned as The New Batman Adventures, virtually every character was given a snazzy new design. Some were very minor updates (such as Harley Quinn), but some were pretty drastic. Robin’s new design was definitely a pretty big change from his old design, but he had a good reason: he was actually a whole new character. Yes, he was now Tim Drake, the current Robin of the comics at the time. So, how about taking a look at one his many action figures?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

TimDrake2Robin is figure #10 in DC Collectibles’ Batman: Animated line, and is technically part of the third series of the line. He’s based on Robin’s appearance in TNBA, specifically the episode “Old Wounds,” which is a little amusing, since that’s actually a Dick Grayson focused episode. I mean, Tim’s got a decent role in that one, but you’d think they’d go for something like “Sins of the Father” especially since that’s the episode Two-Face was based on. But, he doesn’t have much in the way of episode specific stuff, so it doesn’t really matter anyway. The figure is roughly 4 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation. His sculpt is all new, and it’s a pretty great translation of his 2D show design. The sculpt is nice and cleanly handled, and the details are all pretty sharp. He does seem just a tad bit on the large side, at least compared to the Dick Grayson Robin from Series 2. He looks perfectly fine when placed next to the Series 1 Batman, which is the important thing. Also, there’s an odd, sculpt/paint combo issue. For some reason, the red from his torso continues onto his arms. It’s not noticeable TimDrake4in a straight standing pose, but when his shoulders are moved, it starts to look a bit odd. It feels like just leaving the shoulders straight black would have worked out a lot better. The rest of the paint is pretty decent. The colors are nice and bright, and the details are all nice and clean. Robin has a nice selection of accessories, including a pair of bat-cuffs, a batarang, a grappling hook, three pairs of hands (in batarang grip, loose grip, and…looser grip?), a hand with the grapple sculpted into it, and a display stand with his design sheet printed on it. Like the B:TAS Batman, he skips the extra cape, though it’s less of an issue with this guy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like pretty much the entirety of this line, Robin was purchased from my local comic store, Cosmic Comix. Truth be told, I’ve always been more of a Grayson fan, but I did like a lot of what they did with Drake in the show. Plus, I’ve got both Batmen, I sort of need to have both Robins. This guy’s definitely well done, and a solid entry to the line. Definitely a step up after being somewhat let down by the second Batman!

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#0751: Batman

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

BATMAN

BATMAN: ANIMATED (DC COLLECTIBLES)

BatmanTAS4

Hey, do you guys remember how last year DC Collectibles debuted their line of super awesome figures based on Batman: The Animated Series? And do you remember when I reviewed the first figure in the line, which was Batman? And how I noted that he was actually Batman from the second incarnation of the show? And then I pointed out that the original design was slated for release later on in the line? Are you getting tired of these questions? Me too. So, yeah, the original Batman: The Animated Series Batman figure is finally here. Let’s see how it turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BatmanTAS6Batman is figure #13 in DC Collectibles’ Batman: Animated line. Technically, this makes him the first figure in Series 4 of the line, but it seems DCC has completely given up on releasing these in actual assortments, so Batman shipped out on his own, though a few other figures arrived in the surrounding weeks. The figure is just shy of 6 ½ inches tall and has 24 points of articulation. The figure lacks the usual swivel joint on the lower leg, which is quite a pain when it comes to posing or even just trying to get him to stand, and also leaves him eternally pigeon-toed. The boots are even separate from the rest of the leg, so it looks like there should be movement, but there’s not. Batman’s sculpt has the task of translating a 2D character model into 3D, which is certainly not easy. From the neck down, the figure works pretty well. Everything seems proportioned right, and he’s more or less identical to the guy we saw on the screen. He seems a little on the small side compared to some of the other figures, but not terribly so. What about the head? Well, it’s hard to say. The prototype looked pretty dead on, but this doesn’t seem to have made it to the final figure. The shape of the eyes in particular seems off, and they feel way too small. It’s possible it’s a paint issue, so it’s hard to judge the accuracy of the sculpt. This figure only gets one cape, in contrast to the two included with the last Batman; all we get is the swept back look. To be fair, this is the preferred of the two looks, and the cape is accurate to the source material, but the option BatmanTAS7would have been nice. This figure makes out okay paint-wise. There’s the previously mentioned issue with the eyes, but other than that, the paint is pretty clean, and they seem to have done a pretty good job matching the colors from the show. Batman is packed with a B:TAS accurate batarang, a grappling hook, 7 hands (a pair of fists, a pair of basic grip, a pair for holding the batarang, and one with the grappling hook sculpted in place), and a display stand with his character design sheet printed on it. It’s not quite as much as was included with the last Batman, but it’s still a pretty impressive allotment.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Batman was purchased from my local comic store, Cosmic Comix. They had just gotten him and Poison Ivy in and I only had the money for one, so I went with him (I went back for Ivy later). I was pretty eager to get this figure when it was announced, what with it being my Batman and all, but I have to say, I was…disappointed with the final product. It really sucks to have to say that, to be totally honest, but it’s true. He’s not a bad figure, but the issues with the head and lack of movement in the legs hold him back. On any other figure, this might be forgivable, but on the definitive Batman, it’s a pretty big letdown. This figure is supposed to be repackaged with a new head in a two-pack with Phantasm early next year. It would be nice if DCC could fix the issues for that release. Until then, this guy’s certainly serviceable.

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#0730: Nightwing – Force Shield

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

NIGHTWING – FORCE SHIELD

THE NEW BATMAN ADVENTURES (KENNER)

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In case you missed it, The Figure in Question has officially made it through two years of reviews. In honor of that, today’s review will a little bit more special. I’ll get to that in a bit.

In the mid-80s, Dick Grayson gave up his Robin identity, going without a costumed identity for a little while before taking on the identity of Nightwing (previously the Kandorian alter-ego of Superman. It’s a long story). To the general populace, Dick remained Robin, mostly due to his presence in the role for Batman: The Animated Series. Nightwing made his way into the public eye in that show’s sequel series, which is how I became familiar with the character. That series’ toyline also provided the character with several of his earliest figures, one of which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

NightwingFS2Force Shield Nightwing was part of Kenner’s The New Batman Adventures line. He was the second version of the character in the line, released not long after the first. The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and has Kenner’s signature 5 points of articulation. It’s a pretty low articulation count, but it’s a standard for the time, and aside from the neck joint, which is limited by the hair, the movement is pretty decent. Nightwing is, obviously, based on his design from the show, sculpturally at least. As a “wacky variant” of Nightwing, a little parts re-use is to be expected. What’s actually a bit surprising is that this Nightwing is NOT a complete reuse. The head, arms, and legs are all the same as the regular Nightwing release, but the torso is a new piece, which removes the weird plug from the original’s back. So this one’s sculpt is actually more accurate than the normal one. Nifty! The sculpt does a pretty spot on job of translating Nightwing’s show design to three dimensions, which is nice to see. The etched in logo is a nice touch, especially since it could have easily just been painted on. The paintwork is what really sets this guy apart from the prior Nightwing. Rather than the usual blue logo, this one keeps the logo black, and paints the surrounding area gold. Certainly a different look, but it’s handled pretty well. The gold, like a lot of gold paint has faded over time, but it still stands out well enough. Nightwing was originally packed with a big grappling hook launcher (Kenner was a Hasbro subsidiary at that point…), as well as his titular force shield. I’ve lost it, but it was shaped like his logo, bright yellow, and the “wings” folded out to reveal pictures of the various Batman allies and rogues. It’s an odd gimmick, but there it is.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Hey, so, this is actually my first Nightwing figure! Cool!

Story time: When I was 5, my parents took me down to visit my Dad’s family home in North Carolina. My dad came and got me from school, and one of our stops was, I believe, a Kmart, where I found this guy. I had yet to see any of his appearances on the cartoon, so my dad had to explain to me who he was. I thought he looked super cool, so my dad was nice enough to buy him for me. This guy went on the trip with me, all the way down there and back again, so I formed a bit of a bond with the guy.

Over the years, my collection grew, and this guy fell by the side. Somewhere along the way, I decided to paint him up like Jace from Space Ghost. I have no idea why. Anyway, he just got thrown in a box for a while, until I rescued him just a few years ago, while deep in my whole indexing my collection project. He was still covered in paint, but it was acrylic, so I began the process of returning him back to his original state. I finally got him cleaned up just in time to take him with me on my fifth trip down to NC. Here he is on the mantle place. Doesn’t he look so happy?

NightwingFS3