Review of Batman The Animated Series Statue

Introduction

The animated Batman of the 90's is getting a lot of fresh play right now in the collectibles market. DC Collectibles is doing their fantastic line of action figures and vehicles, while Diamond Select is creating some great statues and busts.

Kotobukiya is not one to be left out. As part of their 1/10th scale ArtFX+ DC series, they've produced an animated style Batman, complete with additional parts to allow you to customize his look. The statue just started to ship, and will run you around $45-$50 depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ***
Pretty standard stuff, but no window to see the actual product.  The interior plastic tray protects the body, various parts, and base, and the exterior shows the basic statue. It's collector friendly of course, but fairly straight forward.

Sculpting - ***1/2
The statue is in 1/10th scale, which would usually put a character like Batman around 7 1/2" tall. He's done in a deep knee bend stance, and from foot to ear is 6 1/2" tall, which seems about right. He is not in scale with the larger Gallery series from DST, which are larger at 1/8th.

He's done in an aggressive pose, leaning forward with cape billowing behind. It's not particularly unique, but it does work well with the swapping parts, including the various heads and hands.

Those heads, faces, and hands look great, with sharp edges and clean lines. There's not a ton of detail with an animated design, but that's the nature of the beast. They've captured the on screen appearance beautifully here, and the thick PVC is sturdy and sure to last.

There are a few nits of course. First, there's a mold line or two, and some are in pretty obvious spots. Second, the fit is quite tight at the neck, making the head swapping harder than it should be, which means you may be less likely to take advantage of it over time. And third, there's some minor false advertising going on, since the statue is shown in marketing photos without the base, but he can't stand without it.  That's not completely true - he can stand without it, but he has to lean on the tips of the cape to do it, which is not a particularly good idea.

But those nits are certainly minor.  Overall, this is a great sculpt, and one that will stand out on the shelf.

Paint - ***1/2
Like the sculpt, the paint work is relatively clean, sharp, and neat, with only a nit or two holding it back from perfection.

The work on the face plates and cowls is excellent. No slop, no bleed, and colors are consistent and even. Most of the large expanses of color are clean and consistent, although the interior of the cape has some spotting here and there.

This cape interior is done in a dark blue, with some intentional variation. It looks great, although there are those aforementioned spots where it stops looking intentional and looks more like a mistake.

The gray body suit has a speckling of paint applied which is only noticeable on very, very close examination. This was a pretty smart move, making the large amount of gray look less plasticy and toy-like, and adding a little realism to the effect in hand.

Articulation - Bupkis
This is just for information, and not part of the actual grading.  Since there are pieces you can swap, you might think those same pieces could turn. They do not.

Accessories - ****
Here's where the wow factor comes into play.  You get a ton of extras with this statue, allowing you to truly personalize his look on your shelf.

There are three different right hands: one holding a batarang, one holding a grappling gun, and one with a thumbs up hand signal. These swap quite easily, and stay in place once there. I suspect the batarang wielding arm will get the most use, but they all look great.

There are also three different heads. Each has a different set to the eyes: one worried, one normal, one mad. The heads are tough to swap, and forcing the neck post into place can take some effort.  Thankfully, the head and body are sturdy and well made, making it unlikely that you'll damage anything, and after a few times of swapping them in and out it gets a bit easier.

Finally, there are four different lower face plates! There's a frown, a smile, a yelling open mouth, and a gritted teeth look with the mouth slightly cocked to one side.  These can go inside any of the three heads, and while some combinations work better than others, they are all valid. Add in the three different arms, and you have thirty six different ways you can set this statue up! That's some serious personalization, and really gives this statue a huge step up over most of the competition.

The base is a separate piece, and the top opens up to reveal a compartmentalized interior. With careful selection of each compartment, you can store all the extra pieces within the base. How cool is that!

Value - ***1/2
At $45, this guy is well above average in value.  Getting any statue in this scale - 1/10th - for that price is a good deal, but getting one with swappable heads, faces, and hands? That's almost a steal.

Things to Watch Out For -
When swapping heads, take care with the pointy ears and pointy edges on the cape. It's hard to find a place to press with all these points, but you can do it.

Overall - ***1/2
Kotobukiya have always made amazing PVC statues. I've been buying them for years, and had a bit of an addition to their larger Star Wars releases for awhile. These new, smaller, more affordable statues are great for collectors, and the work on the DC property has been solid so far.

I can never get enough of the Batman Animated stuff, so pre-ordering this guy at first glance was a no-brainer.  The addition of the extra heads, faces, and hands made it all the sweeter, and I really like the direction Kotobukiya is going with the series.  Let's hope we see some villains to go with him now! How cool would it be to have a Joker with swappable parts that make sense with various faces on this Batman?

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth is at $50.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other recent Animated Batman releases include the cool Joker statue from DST, and the amazing series of action figures from DC Collectibles.

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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