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Write a Review link for that item. Batman - Animated Series (McFarlane) (McFarlane)Although I don't care much for most of what McFarlane is doing with DC, their rereleases of DC Direct's Batman Animated line have been pretty good. I haven't bothered with the TNBA figures after wave one because they haven't done too well with them, but the BTAS line is featuring new variants and build-a-figures, so it's been more worth getting. The original plan for wave three, which featured a Bruce Wayne BAF, got bumped back to wave four (which is coming out now), but the new wave three lineup is pretty darn good. Distribution hasn't been great, however, but my local store got in a casepack a while back and I was able to get all four figures at once. Batman once again leads the wave, and it's the same mold we've gotten in the previous two waves, with the same odd-looking head and legs, but the deco is new. His look here is based off the "Lightning Strike" Batman from Kenner's BTAS line, and it matches the old figure very well. The suit's black instead of gray, and is covered in a lightning bolt pattern. The paint is pretty clean, though there are a few black marks over the bolt shapes. The darker colors mean less shading, with only blue highlights on the gloves and boots, but they look nice. Batman stands 6 1/2" tall and has the same joints at the head, shoulders, elbows, forearms, wrists, chest, waist, hips, knees, shins, and ankles as before, and the hips move a lot better than before. Accessories are light here, but he does get a grapple launcher, recreated from the Kenner figure, and a pair of pointing hands… with the fingertips open? These are supposed to go with H.A.R.D.A.C., and I assume McFarlane wanted to include pointing hands, but were too lazy to make new molds. At least I have two other Batman figures to borrow hands from. There's another variant in this wave, and it's the Joker, in a more festive outfit. Unlike Batman, DCD already did this look, and it comes from the classic episode "Christmas With the Joker." The Christmassy Clown Prince of Crime stands a bit over 6 1/4" tall, and is decked out in red and green clothes, save for his purple slacks, and is donning a Santa cap. He has the usual mischievous grin on his face, and although it's not quite as good looking as the other Joker we got in this line, they at least made the eyes the correct color. Some of the tooling is the same as well, including the hands and pants, but the paint is a lot better. The pants shading on the wave two Joker was way too dark, but the contrast here is much better, and the shirt and overcoat have good shading as well, with clean paint all over. The articulation is the same, with barbell head, swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, and hips, hinged knees, and swivel waist and ankles. The hips still look weird when hinged out, but you can get some expressive poses with this guy, even with the lack of ankle rocker and/or hinges. Unusually for these rereleases, Christmas Joker retains all of his accessories. He has three pairs of hands, with a set of fists and two different pairs of grips, as well as a "Laughy" hand. The puppet hand is a bit tougher to pop in due to the slightly thicker (and painted) peg, but it can be done. He also comes with a candy cane, and a wimpy little Christmas tree with five ornaments to put on it. The ornaments can rest on the branches easily, but I wouldn't try forcing them in through the little twigs, because the branches are thin, and it carries the risk of breaking something. The only thing missing here is the stand, just like everyone else, but the Joker will stand just fine on his own, thanks to the big, flat feet. The other hero in this wave is Batgirl, and I'm glad they're putting her back out, since she was a later release in the DCD line and tends to go for high prices nowadays. Between this version and the TNBA figure, this one looks much nicer, mainly because the eyeholes in the mask are less obscured by shoddy paint (and not because of the debate between the two shows' designs). Barbara Gordon looks eager for her next mission, and the face is fine, it's just that the eyes could've been oriented better. She stands 5 1/4" tall, much shorter than the others, but these are meant to be 1/12 scale, so she fits. The sculpt, done by Irene Matar (but not credited with McFarlane), matches the usual female proportions of the show well, and the colors, while a little light, look much better than the original release. They handled the shading well with her, and while the cel shading's been an issue with previous figures, I think they finally nailed it with this wave. She doesn't have a cloth cape like Batman, as hers is rubber, but it still won't get in the way of anything. Batgirl moves much like the others, namely Batman, but not quite as well. She has a ball-jointed head, swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, and hips, hinged knees and ankles, and swivel forearms and shins. The lack of ankle rocker isn't much of an issue, since the shin joints allow you to keep the feet flat in deeper stances, but it bothers me that these DC animated women never have any torso movement. They could've easily implemented a chest joint, and it wouldn't throw off the sculpt too much. She's the figure here that could've really used a stand, since the thin feet make it trickier for her to stand in more dynamic poses. The Batarang from the original release isn't here either, but she does get plenty of hands: two closed, two relaxed, and three different sets of grips. The hands swap with no issue and work great in many different poses. Lastly, there's Two-Face, another later release by DCD. He too goes for high prices nowadays, and the McFarlane release of the TNBA version sucked, so I'm glad this one is out again for a good price. The portrait is great, with the right side of his face being a stern, serious expression, and the left side is more deranged looking. The scarred half looks great, with mostly clean paint and a matte finish, but the normal half is too glossy, giving it an off look that the other figures don't suffer from. Another 6 1/4" figure, Two-Face is dressed in his black and white suit, and he looks great. The figure feels solid, with thick proportions for the suit, and the paint lines between the black and white are fairly good, but the work on the back could've been better. The shading looks fine as well, but they chose too dark a shade for it, methinks. Since he was another near-end-of-line release, Harvey Dent showed how DCD managed to improve on movement in their final days. He gets a ball/hinged head (not as good as Batman or Scarecrow, though), swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, and ankles, ball-jointed hips, double-hinged knees, and swivel waist and thighs. He moves less like a DC Direct figure and more like a NECA figure, and you can get some great poses out of him. He lacks the machine gun from the original release, which isn't surprising given WB is less willing to include such items with toys nowadays, but how come he doesn't have his coin? That's like his main thing. He still has pairs of closed and gripping hands, as well as a dynamite bundle with a hand to hold it. The build-a-figure in this wave is yet another one-shot villain, Maxie Zeus, coming from "Fire from Olympus." He's a bit of an odd villain, being a former shipping company CEO who went nuts and started thinking he was Zeus himself, but he's quite memorable. The portrait is great on him, with a serious expression, but the eyes look very off. It looks like they're printed on rather than painted, resulting in a blurry look, but the lines on the hair are pretty good. Standing a little bit below 6 1/2", Zeus is dressed like how a Greek god would, with blue fabric draped over a bare torso, a skirt-like article over the waist, and presumably faux gold forearm cuffs and leg wear. Zeus is a pretty buff guy, with prominent pecs, and the proportions on the body are great. The upper body is solid plastic, but not too hefty, and the dress on the lower body is both soft and has slits in the sides, so it won't get in the way of leg movement. Oddly, Zeus doesn't have any cel shading like the others, and I guess they just didn't feel like it with him, but the paint is very clean aside from the eyes. Even with these new molds, McFarlane made sure the articulation isn't too much different from what DC Direct did. Maxie has a barbell head, swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, and ankles, ball-jointed hips, hinged knees, and swivel waist. The joints move great, but I wish he got thigh joints like Two-Face did, and he really needed pinless joints in the elbows, knees, and ankles, as to match the other figures. He's a little accessorized for a BAF, with his lightning bolt alongside a gripping right and grasping left to go with the pair of fists he has by default. The hands swap easily, but for some reason they all have vertical hinges when it should only be the gripping hand that gets one. Still, it's not often a BAF gets interchangeable parts, and they'll help in various poses. The first two waves of McFarlane's BTAS reissues were alright, but this wave is where they're really getting good. The line-up is varied but strong, especially with the opportunity to get two characters for a good price, and the shading and paint are a lot better. The accessories could've been handled better, save for Joker and Zeus, but everyone here is pretty fun to play with. Wave four seems to be out now, and a fifth wave, featuring fan favorites like the Grey Ghost and Jonah Hex, has been announced, and hopefully those are a bit easier to come by. - 4/15/25   by RMaster007 |
| Shredder |  | Submission Order |  | None |
| Alfred Pennyworth | | Batman - Animated Series (McFarlane) Series | | None |
| Shredder | | Written by RMaster007 | | None |
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