NECA Batman
25th Anniversary Blu-Ray Batman Review

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I’m not going to kill you. I want you to do me a favor. I want you to tell all your friends about me. – Batman, Batman (1989).

I’ve been staring at my pile of unopened toys thinking of doing another review week to get my butt in gear and I’ve hit upon a good one: Batman. I think there are nine or ten Batmen sitting in that pile. Which is really kinda dumb – what does a guy need with so many Batmen? That’s ten unopened Batmen. Who knows how many there are in the house total…

I surely won’t get to them all this week. I’ll shoot for three to five. And I figure I’ll start with a good one: NECA’s 7” 1989 version, sold exclusively with the 25th Anniversary Blu-Ray of the 1989 film. This figure pretty much broke the internet when it was revealed. NECA had already done a fantastic quarter scale figure and a lovably wacky 7” video game figure at that point and I think we all that was it. I remember a lot of collectors, myself included, snagged a second NES figure planning to customize this exact toy.

But, I think even those of us that bought the extra to customize all hoped this figure would happen. Would NECA really make an all-new figure to only sell it in NES colors? We couldn’t be sure, but those suspicions turned out to be correct. The licensing issue we thought were at play seem to have been worked around by the figure only being sold with the Blu-Ray and only in select locations at that. It’s still a limited run of just two figures for an all-new mold, but it was clearly worth doing.

And it was clearly worth it to do.

Long-time readers of IAT know that I’m a little obsessed with the Keaton Batman. I’ll gobble up just about any toy related to it. I’ve got Keaton Batmen from 1 to 18” tall. I’ve got a $600 Batmobile that I honestly have to leave in the box because I can’t figure out where to put it. I did pass on the Hot Toys Mime Joker (and regret it constantly). I’m not rose-colored about the film – I loved it when I was nine and I still enjoy it today, even if I’m better able to find a flaw or two.

And a 6” Keaton figure is one of my biggest wants in all of toydom. And, yeah, it’s still unfulfilled because NECA’s lines run 7”, but I’ll take it. This Batman can run with Dutch, fight Predators & Aliens, or spar with Mr. T (by way of Clubber Lang), so it’s still plenty cool and more in-line with why I want a 6” scale Batman in the first place.

One reason I haven’t reviewed this figure in all this time is because I love the packaging! NECA is killing it in so many ways of late and one way is the homage packaging. This figure is carded as if he were part of Toy Biz’s massive 1989 push. The gold background with purple trim on the front, the rooftop on the back with the clip-out newspaper subbing in as a file card. It’s genius and it was tough to open even if I did just zip the bubble off and kept the cardback!

Inside is a figure I mostly really like. The sculpt really is impressive throughout, but maybe because it’s Keaton Batman I’m just really prone to being able to nitpick it. The technical details are found throughout, but the figure could use to be a little bulkier in the arms and legs while the layering on the torso leave some strange undetailed areas visible. Continue to Page 2…

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8 thoughts on “NECA Batman
25th Anniversary Blu-Ray Batman Review”

  1. I still need to hunt this down. Unfortunately it’s difficult being outside the US to get this for a semi-decent price. 😛

  2. Great review. NECA are doing some amazing figures I am very tempted to get. What other Batman figures are you planning on reviewing?

  3. I love this figure – it’s one of the coolest things NECA’s done. The only negative is that he”s a one-off. I’d love to have a Catwoman, Penguin, and Joker to go with him. Also, the Keaton headsculpt featured beneath the cowl is, unfortunately, just a face. The top of his head and ears are missing.

  4. I was lucky enough to get this figure and the Diamond Luxe blu-ray for Christmas, and its definitely my favorite Batman figure. I’ve got him displayed next to his NES brother… they go great together. And I’m a big fan of Neca’s quarter scale figure, but I’m always afraid it’s going to take a leap off the shelf, so I really prefer this scale.

    I’d love it if they’d do a Nicholson Joker, but I’ve read that his price is way too high for Neca and most toy companies. If they’d scale down that quarter scale Penguin, that would be cool, too. Batman needs a villain over here!

  5. Best action figure* of Batman ever made. By far. I’m still looking forward to the One:12 Collective version, when/if that comes out. But still. This piece is incredible. And damn right, that package was killer!

    Though you are right about the cape. Might I suggest looking into Tony Mei’s custom one. It really does elevate the whole package quite a bit. He’s also done ones for the NECA Q-scale and several for the Hot Toys.

    *Hot Toys doesn’t count as an action figure

      1. I forget which show it was but shortly after they revealed the TDKR Bats they had a display with signs of some of the licenses they had for the line, one of them was B89.

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