Packaging: ***
These come blind boxed, and like I said before, many re/E-tailers will sell them either opened or with a little sticker on the side next to the pic of the relevant figure so you know exactly what figure you’re getting. However this can also means the favourite characters tend to sell first, and sometime end up at a premium price.
The previous sets had 6 official designs to choose and a mystery chase figure, but this time we get 7 to choose from, they are-

- BATMAN (classic)


- BATMAN (modern)


- ROBIN


- BATGIRL


- CATWOMAN
 

- TWO-FACE

- JOKER


I’ve seen some eBay traders claiming there is a eighth chase figure and the HT website also backs this up but so far I haven’t seen one yet, I’d guess it might be Bruce Wayne, the Joker painted TDK style or Robin painted Nightwing style, but who knows?

These come polly-bagged inside identical oblong cardboard boxes, nice graphics, but essentially very simple little pocket money toys, very cute and increasingly collectable. And with these being Batman related I can’t imagine them lasting too long.

Sculpt: ***1/2
Cosbabies are small scale figures measuring about 3 inches and all share a similar look, these are not intended to look facially like any actors etc, they’re meant to represent cute stylised babies dressed in Cosplay outfits, so the human faces are pretty generic. However don’t let that make you think they look the same, these are all distinctly different showing individual details, like clothing, belts, gauntlets, muscle tone and most obviously the heads!

The two Batman figures are essentially the same sculpt, but have completely different paint apps and belt designs. Robin looks the simplest but is still a great representation with his dinky cape and domino mask. Batgirl is in the classic black, blue and yellow outfit and has some nice details where her hair flows out the back of her mask. Catwoman is very cute in her skin-tight black body-glove with her little backpack and clear plastic ‘stuck on’ goggles but my two faves are the bad boys! 

The Joker is really well done, nice details on his shirt, suit and the hair is wonderful, but saving the best for last Two-face is so visually interesting I just love him, they’ve gone to town on the Jekyll and Hyde appearance with an ultra-crisp division line straight down the middle. The shock of white Einstein hair and dark purple face set against the normal flesh tone and black hair works so very well

So in essence they are like a lot of ‘designer’ vinyl figures in that at first glance they are very simple, but there are actually a lot of very nicely observed details. The different belts on the two Batman figures were a cool touch!

Paint: ***1/2
These are very iconic characters, admittedly in the ‘Cosbaby’ style that leaves them open to a certain amount of interpretation, but there are a number of things that have to be adhered to. All have nice crisp applications for this scale and the palette used is nice and bright giving them the right ‘comic book’ feel. But again the bad guys win out. It’s a no-brainer that the Joker would be the most colourful with that mop of green hair, purple jacket and stripy purple pants but Harvey is pretty striking too, they’ve gone for the mono chrome suit, half white, half black, with a half flesh tone, half dark purple face and the dramatic hair being again half black and half white. His ‘bad side’ eye is pretty cool as well being picked out in a bright yellow. 

The bad gal in the bunch Catwoman is the simplest job, she’s all gloss black except for her flesh tone face, matte black belt and goggle straps and a few steel flourishes here and there. I already briefly went over Batgirl above, she’s in the classic black, blue and yellow colour-way but she also has a shock of bright red hair flowing out the back. Robin is again in the classic red, black green and yellow all painted nice ‘n’ crisp with his little ‘R’ logo picked out on his chest. 

The two Batman figures are in very different colour-ways, we have the classic comic/Adam West in blue, grey and yellow with the capsule utility belt, whilst the other is the more modern, but arguably just as ‘classic’ or at least equally ‘iconic’ grey and black with a flash of yellow for the pouch style belt. I was impressed there was no re-use of belts at all on either Bats, Batgirl or Robin all are distinctly sculpted and painted… nice!

Articualtion - ***
All the Cosbaby figures have basically the same articulation. The head can turn and tilt from side to side, the arms have pop in ball joint at the shoulder, a push in peg at the wrist and a simple tube shaped leg with a pop in ball joint at either end for the hip and foot. It’s pretty basic but allows for a little ‘personalisation’ when posing, but make sure you find a good standing position as those big’ol Rio carnival heads can cause the occasional topple, but as long as you’re careful the big’ol feet will make up for it.

Accessories: N/A
These come with absolutely nothing, they have never claimed that they would and all the early proto shots showed them just as you get them, but hey, couldn’t we have had a Batarang or grappling gun with Bats, a whip with Catwoman, a gun with Two-Face and an oversized ‘Joker’ card with the Joker…. No we couldn’t…sigh!

Outfit - N/A
All is sculpted, no actual garments.

Fun factor:  ****
I have a feeling these might prove to be the most popular Cosbaby range so far, lets face it the Batman franchise is a licence to print money, and at this particular time it’s even moreso, coupled with the fact these are the cutest Batman spin offs I’ve seen to date. 

Though articulated they aren’t really designed for ‘play’, they’re much more ‘fun’ display items, perfect for desks and cluttered shelves but they do have ‘fun’ written all over them!

Value:  ***
At the time of writing this DC Direct still hadn’t published their retail price, but other on line sellers are asking for between $79 to $99, very few are being sold individually and those that are, are in the $12 to $13 area making these the most expensive Cosbaby figures so far. 

This isn’t reflected as a new trend though, as the Ed Scissorhands and soon to be released Michael Jackson and Planet of the Apes sets are still nearer the $45 to $60 per set so it must be due to a hefty DC licence. 

But whatever the reason and even taking into account there is an extra figure in this set it means a slightly lower score.

Overall: ***1/2
I’ve said before that these are a Marmite product (for the record I love Marmite!), but there are a hellvalot more Bat-fans out there than you might think, who just have to have everything to do with the character (yes, I’m talking to you Michael!), so will there be enough to go round? I know a lot of Predator fans were frustrated at not being able to get all the AvP and AvP:R figures they wanted, I hope there won’t be a repeat with these. 

DC Direct will carry them but the web-site says they don’t go on sale till June and there is no indication of price yet.
It also says they will come blister carded so they’re either being re-packaged for the US market or the website has got it very wrong… again!

SCORE RECAP:
Packaging: **1/2
Sculpt: ***1/2
Paint: ***1/2
Articulation: ***
Accessories - N/A
Outfit - N/A
Fun factor: ****
Value: ***
Overall: ***1/2

Where to Buy -
Batman is obviously an expensive licence to get, well either that or retailers know they can get more them, just check the price of this set against the Edward Scissorhands figures. As I just mentioned, DC Direct will have these in June, but no indication of price yet, however you can check out availability at a few of the places below as well.

Urban Collector has the full set including the chase figure on pre-order for $79.99.

Corner-Store will have them for $84.99

Entertainment Earth is asking $99.20 for the same thing.

TFAW had them but sold out on pre-order.

If in the UK you’ll find them at Forbiddenplanet.co.uk £8.99 each but modern Bats and Joker are already sold out

Failing that eBay has sets for $69 to $89, with separate figures demanding in the region of $9.99 to $12.99.