Review of Batman - BTAS Action Figure

Introduction

As a long time major fan of Batman The Animated Series, I've collected a ton of action figures, statues and busts based on the property. When I heard that Medicom was producing a figure in their MAFEX line, I couldn't wait.

They've announced two figures so far - Batman and the Joker. Joker should be out early next year, but Batman is already shipping. While I said this was BTAS, it's technically based on the designs from The New Batman Adventures. Hey, good enough for me!

MAFEX figures aren't cheap though, and Batman will run you around $100, depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ***1/2
The packaging works well, and it shows off the figure and accessories nicely. It's all collector friendly too, and you can remove everything without any damage to the box or trays. I do think the cardboard is a tad thin, but it's a minor nit.

Sculpting - ***1/2
As I said, this design is based off the New Batman Adventures - TNBA. While you'll recognize this as the animated Batman, fans will also note the slightly different look from the original BTAS.

These are also in a larger scale, coming in around 6 1/2". He's a little smaller than the recent Mcfarlane release, but much bigger than the DCC or Kenner versions. He fits in best, scale-wise, with the One:12 Collective from Mezco. I've included a couple group shots at the end for comparison.

While there's not a ton of details here, they did match the look and style of the show extremely well. The internal scale - head to body to limbs - is excellent, and they've managed to combine the sculpt and articulation well.

This is a highly articulated figure however, and there's no way to get around the fact that all that articulation will break up the smooth look of the sculpt. If you're a fan of articulation, you'll love it - if not, probably not so much.

There's actually two heads included, and they swap pretty easily. One is the normal cowled look, while the second is a nice Bruce Wayne, complete with hair curl.

Paint - ****
The paint work is super clean, with sharp lines between each color, and no bleed or slop.

The faces are particularly well done, especially the Bruce Wayne, Clean eyes, eyebrows, hair line - it's all extremely well done, especially for this scale.

Even the colors are even and consistent, with almost no paint rubs or differences in finish.

Articulation - ****
The big deal with MAFEX is the articulation. There's always a ton of joints, and they work quite well. The range of movement is impressive, especially with an animated design like this.

The ball jointed neck allows for lots of tilt and lean, even with the capes in place. The shoulders have a ton of mobility, with the ability to lift up, shift down, and provide extra clearance or arm poses.

The elbows are double pin, and the cut biceps and rotating hinge wrists allow pretty much any arm pose you can come up with. The torso has a ab crunch or roller joint that will break up unnatural straight lines, and the ball hips, double pin knees, and rotating ball ankles (oh, and a half foot pin!) will give you natural shallow stances, and even extreme deep fighting stances. Perhaps the coolest feature is the cloth cape, with a very stiff wire running along the edge. You can do all sorts of great dynamic poses with it, and it is definitely the better of the two capes included.

Accessories - ***1/2
As I mentioned earlier, there's two capes and two heads. The two heads go a long way to boosting this score, especially with a character like Bruce Wayne/Batman.

The main cape is the cloth version with the wired edge. There's a second solid plastic version, sculpted in a straight hanging pose. Swapping is easy, and while I prefer the former, the latter is great for the stiff, upright pose.

There's also eight extra hands to go with the fists he comes wearing, designed for various poses and accessories. They come attached to clear plastic branches, which is a great way to keep them stored. They swap pretty easily, but stayed in place while I was working with him.

There's two items to put in those hands - a batarang, and a grappling gun. The gun has a fired grapple coming out of it in a very dynamic look.

His last extra is the display stand. It's all clear plastic, and has several different attachments for holding the figure in a standing or leaping pose. It's not necessary to use it to keep him standing, but it's a nice extra for more interesting poses.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
The figure is a ton of fun, but I did find the leg joints to be a little loose. Keeping him standing could be tricky, but with a little patience it was possible, and you can definitely come up with a million poses.

Value - *1/2
One area where this guy is a bit out of the ordinary is price. All that articulation and quality comes at a cost, and these are imported here in the US. The figure is around $100, depending on the retailer, so these aren't the sort of figures you can buy dozens of.

Things to Watch Out For -
Take a little time working with the joints at first, just to be careful. I didn't have any issues, but you don't want to push it right out of the box.

Overall - ***1/2
I'm really pleased with this release, so much so I'm planning on picking up the Joker now. I wasn't sure about these at first - the animated designs don't lend themselves to a ton of articulation the same way other comic book or reality based designs do. But after having this one in hand, I'm definitely going after the next release.

Another conundrum was where to display him. I was originally going to put him with the DCC stuff, but he's too big. In the end, I put him on the shelf with the One:12 DC figures, and he fits in pretty well, at least until they give us an animated version.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ****
Articulation - ****
Accessories - ***1/2
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - *1/2
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsor Entertainment Earth where he is $100.

Related Links -
I've covered lots of BTAS figures over the years, including the sixth scale version from Mondo, the terrific series from DC Collectibles, the McFarlane version, and lots of statues and busts.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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