Tag Archives: Nightwing

#3946: Nightwing – Teen Titans

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

NIGHTWING — TEEN TITANS

DC MULTIVERSE (McFARLANE)

“A youthful version of the Justice League, the Teen Titans featured Robin as leader from the outset. In the 1980s, when the title was relaunched with new characters, Robin grew more independent than ever, living in Titan’s Tower and later changing his codename to Nightwing.”

Remember the last time I reviewed a McFarlane Nightwing here on the site and I discussed George Lucas’s “It’s like poetry; it rhymes” quote?  Well, I feel like it might be appropriate again.  One of my earliest 7-inch McFarlane DC reviews was his first take on Nightwing.  As we wind down on his offerings (….maybe?  Apparently he’s still got some version of the license going into ’26?  It’s all gotten very confusing), I’m looking at another Nightwing, who, much like the Super Powers version before him, is based on the character’s disco-inspired original costume design.  Let’s check him out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing — Teen Titans is part of the fifth “Digital” assortment of DC Multiverse, meaning he’s pretty much just a standard figure, but there’s also an extra card that literally no one will ever make any use of.  He’s officially under the “DC Direct” banner, alongside wave-mates Batman and Monarch.  He’s the eighth version of Nightwing under the Multiverse line.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 37 points of articulation.  Nightwing is built on the Beetle/Booster body, which has been a favorite starting points for mid-sized characters.  Nightwing himself has used it once before, for his ‘90s costume.  This time around, it actually gets a few adjustments to make it more accurate.  He adds the collar to the torso, as well as finally re-tooling the shins so as to redo the boot-tops, so that he’s not yet another figure saddled with the weird boot tops.  Instead, he’s got the proper, slightly more unique design for this costume.  He’s also got a brand new head sculpt, clearly patterned on Perez’s illustrations of the character in the early years.  It’s a very nice sculpt, with a lot of really sharp and clean work, and, above all, it’s a happy Nightwing, which I always appreciate seeing, especially in this costume.  It’s certainly the nicest of the Nightwing head sculpts we’ve gotten from McFarlane.  The paint work is generally okay, though it does wind up with some slight oddities.  The mask gets a pattern suggesting shading, which I don’t mind, as it’s effective and doesn’t look weird.  That said, it’s the only instance of painted shading on the figure, which is strange.  The rest of the work is more basic stuff.  Application’s clean and sharp, so that’s good.  The only off spot is the shoulders, which are already kind of off due to the way the assembly works, but then also miss the lighter blue on the top section.  You can kind of hide it with posing around the shoulder “cups”, but it’s odd when you can see it.  Nightwing is packed with a batarang, a display stand, a collector’s card, and the card with the info for the “digital” collectible.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t certain I was going to get this one when it was announced.  It seems kind of strange, I suppose, but the Super Powers version was announced around the same time, and I already have the DC Direct one and….yeah, none of it was very solid reasoning, honestly, so when I saw this one in person, I folded pretty quickly.  I’m glad I did, because, apart from some slight oddities to do with the paint, he’s a really nice figure, and definitely McFarlane’s best take on Nightwing, which is actually a pretty noteworthy statement, given how many Nightwing figures he did.

#3942: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING

BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT (DC COLLECTIBLES)

Okay, what did I say in last week’s  intro?  Hang on….checking…ah, right, Arkham games were a big splash for DC in the ‘10s.  Very good.  Solid intro. Right, so we’re doing a bit more with that this week.  No need to get too far outside your comfort zones, though, because I’m sticking with Dick Grayson, aka Nightwing, as seen in 2015’s Arkham Knight.  Because that’s just how I roll.  Let’s check out Nightwing!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing was released as part of the second series of DC Collectibles’ Batman: Arkham Knight tie-in line.  He was figure 05, making him numerically the first figure in the series.  While there were a number of different options for Nightwing’s City look in figure form, this was his only figure from Knight.  The figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  By the time of this line’s release, DCC hadn’t gotten a bit more invested in trying out improved articulation schemes.  They were still using a lot more fragile plastic than they should have been, so he’s a bit tricky to pose without worry of breakage, but generally the design and implementation of the joints gives him a decent range.  This is honestly one of the better posing Arkham figures I’ve handled from the DCD/DCC run, so that’s actually quite nice.  Nightwing had an all-new sculpt, based on his updated game design.  City added a tactical flair to the comics designs, but Knight heavily re-worked everyone into far more teched-out and armored appearances.  Nightwing follows suit, and ends up with something that quite a departure from how he tends to look in the comics. The armor seems like it would bee pretty restricting to an acrobat, but I don’t hate the overall silhouette of the suit.  I’m not *crazy* about the mask, which goes from his usual domino-style piece to a whole cowl-style thing that connects to his suit.  Ultimately, though it did sort of grow on me.  I still don’t like it, but I can stand it.  The sculpt does a generally good job of capturing the model in plastic form.  The suit is very sharply defined, and the face feels a little less weird than the last one (though he still feels a little bit “dead”).  His paint work is generally not bad.  The colors match the game assets (still not crazy about how dark the blues are, but whatever), and none of the suit’s smaller details are missed.  My figure has a weird spot of pink on the hair, and I don’t know how well the attempt at stubble on his face works out.  Otherwise, though, he’s fine.  Nightwing is packed with his batons in both extended and collapsed form.  They’re a bit tricky to get into his hands, and it’s a shame there’s no storage for them on this release, but at least they’re present.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t play any of the Arkham games, but I did pretty closely follow a lot of goings on with Knight when it was released.  I was less than enthused with Nightwing’s design at the time, so I didn’t jump on the figure.  A decade removed, I’ve softened on it a bit.  I had the chance to get this one at the same time as the City version at the beginning of the year, and opted to snag him.  While I still have some issues with how the design works relative to the character it’s meant for, I do have to admit that this makes for a cool figure, and it’s definitely a superior offering to the City release.  I actually had a lot of fun messing with this guy.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3938: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING

BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY (DC COLLECTIBLES)

The Arkham line of games made quite a splash for DC in the ‘10s, which was good, because they found themselves struggling with most of their other media endeavors.  The first game was relatively focused on Batman and his rogues housed at the asylum, and the tie-in figures were likewise more focused.  The sequel expanded things out to a wider Gotham City, allowing for a wider swathe of the Bat-family, and a much larger line in general.  Two of the three Robins were present in City, with Dick Grayson occupying his “Nightwing” role in some of the game’s DLC.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing was released in Series 4 of the DC Collectibles Batman: Arkham City line.  This was the standard release, and he also figured into a multi-pack, which saw him get a slightly different deco.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 17 points of articulation.  DC Direct/Collectibles was still not really up to par on articulation at this point, but I suppose they were trying.  There are elements here that work (mainly the arms) and elements that really don’t (the neck is especially pointless), which feels very true of their general approach to a lot of things.  His sculpt was all-new to this release.  He’s based on the character’s primary design in game, which is essentially Jim Lee’s “Hush” design filtered through the game universe’s “tactical” aesthetic.  It’s an okay look, and I think one that stays a bit truer to the spirit of Nightwing than some of the other characters’ designs did.  The suit in particular feels like it’s got a good flow to it.  I’ve never been *crazy* about the hair, but I think that’s partly linked to how the model has to work within gameplay, so I can’t be too down on it.  The sculpt captures it all pretty well, following closely with the game models, and also putting a lot of really nice work into the figure’s texturing and suit layout.  Paint work is decent as well.  This is the main color scheme, so it’s a little on the darker side (I personally prefer a brighter blue for Nightwing’s logo), but it does what it’s supposed to, the application is all clean, and all of the elements are properly painted.  There’s a little bit of slop around his hairline, but it’s generally minor.  Nightwing is packed with his two batons, which can either be held or stored on his back.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I never played the Arkham games myself (though I did watch my brother play through City and Knight), but I’ve jumped in on the figures every now and again.  I’m always down for a Nightwing figure, and I’ve been sort of loosely looking for his figures from the game for a while.  Nearer the beginning of the year, I got the chance to help process an entire run of the Arkham figures, which also gave me the opportunity to snag this guy for myself.  I can’t say he’s a great figure or anything, but he’s certainly nifty, and I do like a nifty Nightwing figure.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3919: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE TOYS)

George Lucas once said of his telling of the Star Wars story that “it’s like poetry; it rhymes.”  I’m gonna be just as sanctimonious as he was for just a moment here and apply that to a set of my own reviews here at the site.  Back in 2023, I reviewed my first McFarlane Super Powers figure, which was the Series 3 Nightwing.  Last year, in the full swing of the line’s run, I reviewed the second Nightwing.  And now, in 2025, I’m kicking off my reviews of the final series of McFarlane’s Super Powers with a look at, you guessed it, Nightwing!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing is, as noted above, the first figure in the final series of Super Powers from McFarlane.  Interestingly, however, though they are the last set released, they are numerically Series 11, as billed by McFarlane themselves, putting them ahead of the Superman movie figures.  Whatever the case, they are indeed the last set, and they are all of them “Gold Label” figures, exclusive to McFarlane’s online shop.  This is Nightwing’s third go at a figure in this line, which is quite an accomplishment, especially given that Dick already had a figure in the vintage line, albeit as Robin.  We’ve been getting progressively further and further back on the costume designs, so this one finally puts him in his original Perez attire, which is the costume he actually had during the original line’s run.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  The last two Nightwings both used the same mold, but this one is all-new, and far more accurate to the aesthetic of the vintage line.  I do generally like it.  The head in particular feels pretty on the mark, in terms of looking like Dick as Nightwing, and also feeling at home with the original run.  The neck does end up with some odd flashing at the spot where it joints the toros, which I don’t love, and I also feel like the feel seem a little too small for the rest of the body.  That said, the stance is spot-on for Kenner styling, and I like the slightly sculpted elements of this costume.  His paint work is rather basic, but it works well enough for the most part.  The changeovers on the outfit in particular are pretty cleanly handled.  Nightwing is without accessories, but given the amount of new parts, and the lack of any real obvious extras to include, it’s not too big a deal.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I love Nigthwing.  I love Super Powers.  A Nightwing Super Powers figure is something that should bring me joy.  The last two weren’t *bad*, but the costume choices and general design aesthetic really bugged me, and made it difficult to really enjoy either of them.  I also felt like it was increasingly unlikely that we’d get a Nightwing that was actually supposed to go with the rest of the line.  Needless to say, I was very happy to be proven wrong when this figure popped up.  He’s not perfect, but he’s what I wanted from the start.  If the line’s going to end, I’m happy to have finally gotten this guy for the line-up.

#3791: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING

BATMAN ’66 (McFARLANE TOYS)

Perhaps the most recurring moment of “didn’t see that coming” for me as of late has been the successes of McFarlane Toys with their handle on the DC license.  I mean, yeah, they had a rocky start, and there are still plenty of very iffy choices abound, but there’s also been a surprising amount of success.  I mean, of all the companies working on the Batman ’66 license, who would have guessed McFarlane would be the ones that would actually get a decent run of it?  They even ran out of actual show-based figures and expanded into other media, which is how we wound up with the opportunity to get a Nightwing figure!  Oh yeah!  Nightwing!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing was released in Series 10 of McFarlane’s Batman ’66 line.  He’s one of the line’s comics-based figures, coming from the revival comic series launched when all the licensing opened up.  Specifically, he’s from the crossover with Wonder Woman ’77, which moved the Batman cast 11 years into the future, hence the aged up Dick Grayson, sporting a “live action” version of his original Nightwign get-up.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 18 points of articulation.  One of the neat things about the McFarlane Batman ’66 line is that, in contrast to the main McFarlane DC line, it’s 1/12 scale, meaning the figures can still fit in with the Mattel figures, if you’re so inclined.  That said, they’re stylistically a little different, which is to say they don’t suck.  Obviously, with this being adapted from a comics design, there’s a bit of adaptation here to make him fit in more with the actual live-action figures.  There’s a bit of a half-step there; it’s not 100% realism, so there’s something of a flair to it.  It’s honestly, pretty solid.  A little stiff, but the details are sharp, and the design looks good in figure form.  The likeness is also an okay match for Burt Ward circa the ’70s, so there’s a nice feeling of continuity.  The paint work on this guy isn’t bad.  There’s a little bit of slop on some of the changeovers, and the yellow’s a little thin in some spots, but generally things are good.  Nightwing is packed with two different punch effects, one that says “VRONK!” and another that says “CRUNCH!”  What’s “VRONK?” No idea, but I kinda dig it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I have thus far avoided the McFarlane Batman ’66 line in its entirety largely because Mattel just really burned me with their line, and I’ve not been able to really get back into it.  That said, I do really have a soft spot for Nightwing figures and I really like this particular design.  That said, I drag my feet on it a little bit.  I wound up swinging past a GameStop after lunch a couple weekends ago, and they had him, and I was feeling the need to buy a figure, so that worked out pretty well.  He’s honestly pretty fun, and I kinda want more of this line now, because it’s a lot better than the Mattel stuff.

#3717: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING

BATMAN: THE CAPED CRUSADER (SPIN MASTER)

It’s been a good long while since I’ve looked at anything from Spin Master’s run with the DC license. The last things I looked at were from Black Adam. Man, my decidedly checked optimism didn’t pay off, did it? There were a handful of other movie lines from Spin Master, which I largely wound up skipping, but they’ve also been keeping their Batman comic line running steady the whole time. My main focus there is and always has been the Nightwings, and there’s a new one!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing is part of Spin Master’s on-going Batman: The Caped Crusader line.  I’ve fallen behind on the exact assortment breakdowns at this point, but his copyright info says 2023.  There was an Amazon 4-pack which had him packed with a Batman, Joker, and Robin variant, and this appears to be a single carded release of that same figure, which I’ve only just recently seen popping up.  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has 17 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme is the same one we’ve been seeing since Spin Master took over the license, and it’s honestly not a bad set-up, so why fix what’s not broken?   While the first few Spin Master Nightwings were all built from the same parts, this one has an all-new sculpt, which is based on Dick’s look from the “Future State” event.  It’s actually a pretty fun tweak on his classic blue and black design, and certainly a very toyetic choice.  The sculpt itself is a lot more refined than the prior Nightwing piece, with sharper details and more balanced proportions than earlier figures, more like the movie figures I looked at.  Nightwing’s paint is rather basic.  His boots (and entire lower leg, for that matter) are just molded in blue, which isn’t right, and there are definitely some other sculpted elements that go unpainted, but he’s generally not a bad set-up, given the style and price point.  One noted change-up from earlier Nightwings is that Spin Master’s cut the basic accessory count down from three to two.  He gets one escrima stick and one night-a-rang.  Honestly, I’d have preferred to loose the night-a-rang for a second stick, since he’s oddly balanced with just the one.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve generally fallen out of the Spin Master stuff, especially with the trend more towards just Batman and movie stuff.  That said, I did see the four pack with this guy on Amazon, and passed because I just didn’t really want the other three.  I was pleasantly surprised to happen upon the single release while out running errands.  He’s a very cool little Nightwing figure.  He’s basic, but as with the other Spin Master figures, he’s very fun.

#3692: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING — KNIGHTFALL

SUPER POWERS (MCFARLANE)

“Dick Grayson began his crime-fighting career as the original Robin—Batman’s protégé and crime-fighting partner. An expert acrobat and skilled fighter, Dick eventually left the nest and ventured out on his own as a new hero called Nightwing. His childhood experiences as a circus acrobat and trapeze artist make him extremely agile. He is a superior fighter and a highly skilled martial artist who has been personally trained by Batman. Nightwing is a keen detective, a natural leader, and a strategist with advanced knowledge of a variety of technologies.”

My first McFarlane Super Powers figure, which I reviewed over a year ago now, was Nightwing.  He was a figure I remarked wasn’t terrible, but which missed the mark of “Super Powers” by, amongst other things, putting Dick into a modern costume, rather than something more era appropriate.  Well, it’s okay, because they did another Nightwing, and he’s in an older costume.  Surely there will be no problems with this one, right?  Riiiiiight?  Look, let’s just get into the review, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing (Knightfall) was released in Series 5 of the McFarlane Super Powers line under the DC Direct banner.  He was accompanied in the line-up by a similarly Knightfall-themed repaint of the Tim Drake Robin figure from just a series prior.  So, here’s where we encounter our first problem: costume choice.  The last figure was in his modern costume, which didn’t exactly fit with the vintage line.  This one goes earlier, but it’s only a little bit earlier, since this one made its first appearance in 1992.  That would place the vintage of this design not with Kenner’s run, but honestly closer to, say, the Toy Biz run, continuing to add to my theory that Todd’s actually trying to homage the TB line, not the Kenner one.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  We’re back again to the figure’s being too large, but that’s really because of the parts re-use, since he’s just a repaint of the Series 3 figure.  And here we are again with the problems.  See, if we’re throwing in the towel on an accurate costume choice for the line, can’t we at least get an accurate depiction of the costume we’re getting? Well, it would seem no.  The most glaring thing here is that there are two distinctive hairstyles associated with this costume: the mullet and the ponytail.  This sculpt is neither of those, and it robs the design of some of it’s punch.  I can forgive the body sculpt re-use, but couldn’t we at least get a new head?  His new paint is at least alright.  I dig the metallic color choices, which give him a rather nifty appearance.  Nightwing is packed with his eskrima sticks, now in black.  They’re also not really accurate to this costume, since he was pretty exclusively using the discs at the time, but this one I’ll let slide, because you could have just as well left him with no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure frustrates me immensely.  I got the first Nightwing, and I accepted him for what he was, but getting a second Nightwing who’s still in the wrong costume, and said wrong costume not even being done the right way seems downright insulting.  So, why’d I buy it?  It landed in front of me, it’s a Nightwing, and I’m week.  Honestly, I don’t hate him.  The choices are weird, but I still kinda find him fun.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3684: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING

WORLD’S GREATEST SUPER HEROES (MEGO)

If I had a nickel for every 2020s retro revival toyline that gave me Nightwing in a time period inaccurate modern costume…well, I’d only have two nickels, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice. The revived Mego has had a mix of old and new product since they first came back, and that thread continued once they got back to full DC license. That said, the more recent stuff has been centered on the 50th anniversary of the original figures, so it’s been generally more classic. That makes Nightwing sort of the odd man out, but you know what? I think we can make an exception for him.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing is part of Wave 18 of the relaunched Mego line-up, as part of the World’s Greatest Super Heroes line-up.  This is the third assortment to be under the 50th Anniversary banner, and he’s even got one of the fancy window-boxed set-ups to go along with it.  The figure stands 8 inches tall and he’s got 26 points of articulation.  Like all of the 50th Anniversary figures, he’s on the Type-S body, which is the most upgraded version of the body we’ve gotten thus far.  I’m still not crazy about the knee articulation, but beyond that, it’s really nice.  Nightwing’s also got a re-used head sculpt, courtesy of Wave 13’s updated Robin.  It actually works pretty well, since that was meant to be an older Robin anyway, and it keeps some continuity for the character.  I actually hadn’t gotten Robin, so it’s new for me, and I think it works surprisingly well.  The paint does do some of the heavy lifting on fully selling it as Nightwing; it ignores some of the sculpted lines on the domino mask to give him Nightwing’s more distinctly shaped version, which honestly doesn’t look too bad.  Now, admittedly, it’s a black mask, and I’m always gonna prefer the blue, but I think it ultimately works better this way, because the differences of the sculpt would be far too apparent with a lighter color.  Nightwing’s outfit is made up of a jump suit and a pair of boots.  The jump suit is silk screened, with his blue wing pattern, and even a bit of blue highlighting for the rest of the suit as well.   The boots are the standard ones, which was honestly surprising to me, because his comics design is practically begging for another re-use of the Will Scarlet boots.  I might honestly swap the boots between this guy and my Rocketeer, because I feel like they might both be more accurate that way.  Nightwing is packed with a pair of Eskrima sticks, which are pretty much his standard go-to for accessories, and which work out pretty well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this guy from the person responsible for my Mego collection: my father.  He doesn’t like to miss an opportunity to buy me a Dick Grayson figure if he can help it, and he was ordering himself the rest of the wave, so he got me this guy too.  Sure, his costume’s not exactly the right era, but it’s a classic design, and it honestly translates pretty well to the style.  And, he frustrates me less than the Super Powers Nightwing, which is certainly nice.

#3591: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING

DC: THE NEW 52 (DC COLLECTIBLES)

Fun FiQ Fact #0070: Though he had an early lead on the Fun FiQ Facts, Nightwing’s been stuck on two since January.  Now he’s up to three!

When the New 52 launched, everybody got a new costume design.  For his part, Nightwing, who has classically been very blue-skewed for coloring, was swapped to red accenting, calling more to mind his days as Robin, especially his Batman & Robin design from 1997.  His initial costume was one of the more short-lived ones, but his initial redesign still stuck to the red…for better or for worse.  I’m not big on the red for Nightwing myself, and I never really have been, but that doesn’t stop me from being on board for a good enough Nightwing figure.  So, here we are.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing was released as part of DC Collectibles’ The New 52 line.  He was initially slated to arrive in September of 2014, alongside Supergirl and Batgirl, but he was delayed until February of 2015 (and Supergirl and Batgirl got second runs to accompany him).  The figure stands about 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 19 points of articulation.  The articulation showcases DCC’s odd back and forth approach to movement on these figures.  When The New 52 line launched, they were using a very basic set-up for articulation, but they attempted to improve it pretty quickly.  That said, there’s an odd path of advancement for different lines.  So, while the Greg Capullo artist version of Nightwing was released first, he has a much better articulation scheme when compared to this one.  Ultimately, the biggest downfall is how restricted the torso is, since there’s no waist or mid-torso movement.  But, for a DC Direct/Collectibles figure, he’s not terrible overall.  The figure got a brand new sculpt.  He’s based on the character’s second New 52 era design, which wasn’t *drastically* different from the first.  That said, it feels more New 52-y than the first, since got more of the tech lines and ridges that were signature to the whole redesign.  Honestly, I don’t hate it for the most part.  I don’t like the red “belt” because I just think it breaks things up too much, but the extra smaller lines and ridges aren’t as offensive on a figure that’s predominantly darker colors.  The sculpts for the New 52 line weren’t designed to be as artist-specific as other lines, so Nightwing’s a bit more “house style” here.  He’s pretty skinny for Nightwing, though I don’t actually mind the build.  I like the head sculpt overall, but it does honestly give me more of a Tim Drake vibe than a Dick Grayson one.  I’m not entirely sure why.  The color work on this figure is accurate to the source, so I can’t knock it in that regard.  I still don’t really vibe on the red, but I’ve made my piece with it.  The application’s a little sloppier on my figure, especially on the belt piece.  Nightwing is packed with his eskrima sticks, which are very tiny for this release, and go more for the nightstick design.  They can also be stored in the holsters on his thighs.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I remember this figure’s release, but at the time I had just gotten the Capullo version, and I was still very much not a New 52 guy.  One red Nightwing was enough for me.  But was it really?  It turns out not so much.  This figure actually rattled around the back room at All Time for a good while before I finally snagged him, which I did mostly on the basis that he was cheap and he was a Nightwing I didn’t have.  He’s okay.  Nothing amazing, but certainly far from terrible.  He’d be better if he was blue, though.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3526: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING

DC MULTIVERSE (MCFARLANE TOYS)

Fun FiQ Fact #0005:  This is my second Nightwing of the week and my 21st Nightwing review in the history of the site!  They can drink now!

In case you haven’t noticed, I do like me some Nightwing figures.  I’m generally not super picky about them, at least as far as quality is concerned, which is why I tend to wind up going back to certain wells for more and more punishment.  One such well is the McFarlane well.  McFarlane has made five Nightwings thus far.  I got the first one, and I was honestly rather letdown.  So letdown that I didn’t even keep him.  I got rid of a Nightwing.  That’s gotta say something, right?  I’ve looked at all of the others as they’ve shown up in front of me, and I’ve just known I’d be disappointed again.  And now I’ve actually gone and gotten one.  Am I gonna be disappointed?  Let’s find out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing is part of the Titans series of DC Multiverse, which was a mass-release set of Build-A-Figure part-bearing figures, which hit mid-last year.  They’re kind of a mix of designs, mostly on the modern side.  For his part, Nightwing appears to based on his most current design from his solo book, which is actually a pretty solid look.  It’s very similar to his Hush look, but with a dash of animated thrown in.  The figure stands just over 7 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  It’s the standard McFarlane set-up, which is to say it has its plusses and minuses.  It generally doesn’t break up the sculpt too awkwardly, which is a plus.  The sculpt is generally not a bad one, especially given the source.  The proportions aren’t too odd, and the detailing is mostly just what’s supposed to be there, without a ton of extra detailing that’s not needed.  I like a streamlined Nightwing, so I like this a lot more than the prior sculpts.  The head’s not bad, but it’s definitely a bit more on the cartoony side.  There’s a heck of a chin on this guy, and he’s got wonky different sized eyes.  Also, I’m not entirely sure what’s supposed to be going on with his hair.  It looks fine from certain angles but awkward from others.  Nightwing’s paint is pretty clean.  The blue is bold and eye-catching, which I like.  I don’t like that the shoulder assembly once again breaks up the blue line-work, but Todd’s not letting that particular gimmick go.  Nightwing is packed with a display stand and a card.  It’s kind of crazy that he gets no eskrima sticks, nor hands to hold them, especially with them being on the art for the included card, but that’s McFarlane.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I saw this guy’s initial photos and thought “he doesn’t look so bad.”  It wasn’t enough for me to track him down, mind you, but when one got traded in at All Time, it certainly made me contemplate buying him.  I was gonna wait it out and see where I fell, but my co-worker Mike decided to make it easier on me, and just bought it for me as a Christmas gift.  That certainly took a lot of the thought out of it.  It’s honestly not a bad figure.  I mean, not great, but I didn’t expect that.  But, within the confines of the set-up, he’s okay.