“It’s obvious. Only a criminal would disguise himself as a licensed, bonded guard yet callously park in front of a fire hydrant.” – Batman, “Batman” True or False Face (1966).
NECA blows my mind. Not because they make cool toys or because they can bring seemingly impossible figures to market, though they do both of those. They amaze me because they keep quiet until they get to stuff to market. Yesterday, I found out that NECA was producing some more DVD-bundled 7” figures including Christopher Reeves Superman, Adam West Batman, & a Heath Ledger Joker.
Today, I bought Adam West Batman. How often do you find out about a new figure and then find it in a store the next day? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
I didn’t run across Superman (yet), but I happily picked up classic Adam West Batman. I was really excited by Mattel’s announcement of their line a couple years ago. Right up until I bought the first figure anyway. I grabbed the 2pk and the combination of the real-life proportions and Mattel’s ugly articulation cuts (& not to mention crappy paint) just sucked out any enthusiasm I had left. I keep the Riddler figure on display because I love Frank Gorshin, but I never bought the others and I had to dig the Batman & Robin out of a giant box of DC figures I need to sell. The execution just wasn’t there.
NECA’s got my back though. I suddenly find myself thinking that I need that Batcomputer & Accessories set Mattel just released. It includes a figure, but I’ll overlook that to equip this Batman. That’s how I know I love this figure, by the way, I want to buy him stuff!
The sculpt is great. It still messes with my head to see Batman so… human, but it’s right. If you look at some pics from the old show, the proportions are pretty spot on. The arms and legs strike the right balance of being slender without looking like toothpicks. The costume texturing really adds to the figure and I think makes the biggest difference between what NECA has done and what Mattel tried to do. NECA got theirs to look like a regular guy in a spandex suit. It works great.
Of course, that’s all topped off by a strong Adam West likeness. The layering of the cowl as a separate piece from the eyes & chin gives the figure the perfect depth a realistic likeness needs. It does a great job of looking like what you’d expect from a “movie master” type figure.
The paintwork is also on par and working in concert with the sculpt. The wash on the grey part of the costume is a little too heavy in places, but it doesn’t take away. The dark blue has a nice slight metallic look to it while the belt is appropriately bright along with the symbol. The face is also painted really well thanks to that aforementioned two layers for the cowl. The face is able to be painted in great detail before the cowl is glued over it. It makes for the most drastic difference from the Mattel figure. Continue to Page 2…
Quick turnaround. He looks and sounds good. I keep going back and forth on whether to get him.
Shame about the missing articulation, but doesn’t he have everything Keaton has except the torso joint? Still, now I wish he had double-jointed elbows. Him and everyone else who doesn’t. Can his shoulders still spread out to the sides?
Do you have any photos of bats with MOTUC figures? I’m thinking Chris reeve needs to join the masters team.
LMAO @ “vacuum tubes”! So great.
I preordered Reeves on the Ebay store, but I will be hunting down West & Ledger as soon as I get home from my trip. What a wonderful time to be a collector!
Cool review! Quick turnaround indeed! I was just reading about these being up for preorder the other day. Crazy! Even with the missing articulation points he still looks like an awesome figure. I haven’t picked up any of the recent quarter scale NECA figs so this might be my way to jump back in so I can have both versions! Lol
It won’t be too much of a hunt, our TrU put them right up front with the videos in front of the customer service counter.
They had a Superman and the Heath Joker, but that Superman sure didn’t look like Christopher Reeve. Also, there didn’t seem to be much if any actual promotion of whatever video was supposed to be inside. I actually thought the Batman was the Mattel Batman when I glanced at it!
Maaaaybe there’s competing product out there! I must investigate!
That Superman and Batman were the HeroClix versions.
Yes, I finally had the time to really look what was going on. Seem a tad large to play HeroClix with… 🙂
I was never able to find the Keaton Batman in stores and missed out on the eBay sales. That’s a burning hole in my collection that drives me nuts. I could still probably get that crappy video game Keaton Bats at my local TRU, but I never saw the normal color version there.
One thing that does bug me with these new releases is the included DVD. First off… DVD? Last year, Keaton Bats came with a Blu-Ray. This year we’re getting an older media type? Did someone somewhere find that step logical? I have almost all of these movies on DVD, but none of them on Blu-Ray yet, so at least if they’d come with the most recent media type that could somewhat justify the cost, to me at least.
Second, Keaton Batman came with the Batman movie that the figure was based on. These new figures seem to be available with Man of Steel, the Keaton/Kilmer/Clooney/Bale Batman movies, or the Lego Batman movie. So you could maybe get the Ledger Joker with the movie he was in, but he’d be the only one, and even then, not every Ledger Joker comes with the Dark Knight.
How much are these things in stores, by the way? On eBay, they’re $30 with $8 shipping. As nice as they look, they’re not worth almost $40 a figure to me.
OK! Retail dude to the rescue! 🙂
Adam West NECA Batman is $19.99 USD plus local taxes at Toys R Us.
There is currently a sale, poorly promoted, if you buy one of the selected DC superhero movies (mostly all the Batman but a few others) you get 50% off the new figures. All they had at my TrU was Batman and Heath Joker. I like you don’t HAVE to buy a movie, I didn’t need any of them.
The UPC for Adam West is 634482614662. Maybe try plugging that into TrU’s website and see if it’s in stock?
Hope that helps!
I found the Adam West Batman figure, today, at my local Toys R Us. I didn’t have it opened 5 minutes and his left arm broke at the elbow. I will be calling NECA tomorrow and/or returning the Batman figure to Toys R Us. Such a disappointment!!
My Batman broke at the leg right out of the package. Also, another thing advertised in the back of the package that he doesn’t come with are the ‘Batusi’ hands you see he has holding the cape. That was the set of hands I was most excited about and let down to see they didn’t make the cut.
The back of the package shows the 1/4 scale figure. The same thing goes for the others, and the Keaton Batman from last year, as well. It looks like they essentially shrunk down the packages for the 1/4 scale figures.
Also, for those interested, the WB Store listed three new bundles with the Christopher Reeve Superman figure. I grabbed one since I missed out the first time. Get ’em while you can!
http://www.ebay.com/sch/warnerbros_exclusives/m.html?item=252154169949&hash=item3ab58f4a5d%3Ag%3AzZ4AAOSwAYtWN-or&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562
I returned the first figure, with the broken left arm, and exchanged it for another one. When I got home, I opened the replacement one. The replacement one had a cape that was almost torn off of him, at the neck, and tear at the shoulder of the cape. Plus, when I tried to change out the right fist for the batarang holding hand, it broke where the wrist articulation is. BUMMER!! He will be going back for a THIRD one. Not having luck with these Batman figures. Hopefully, I’ll get a good one on the 3rd try!
Priced him up today, fist broke trying to get it out the the batarang holding hand broke while I was posing it. Going to toys r us tomorrow to try an exchange, but it looks like the old NECA QC strikes again!
After jumping through several hoops, I think I have a Chris Reeve Superman pre-ordered. I got 2 and will hook up another Aussie with one.
Looks like it could cost about $70-$90 for each figure all up (Aussie dollars). $40ish for the figure/DVD, $10ish for the shipping to a US address and then another $15-20 per fig to ship to Australia.
Massive pain in the butt, and Supes is the only one I’m making this effort for. Bucket list figure for me (I have the Hot Toys version, but I need me a 7inch Reeve).
Sucks that NECA and WB can’t make these available internationally (or back when our dollar was at parity).