Continuing our coverage of Mattel’s display at WonderCon, here’s a look at the line-up of Batman Legacy, due out this fall. Featuring a mix of repaints, kitbashes, some new tooling and some completely new figures, this looks to be a line extension that will transition into movie toys for The Dark Knight Rises next year. While there’s some figures here that I can’t wait to get, I hope that this will transition into something more like Green Lantern Classics at the start of 2012, with more new figures of Batman and especially his rogues gallery.
I’ll start off with the one pic I took of the Batman: Arkham City 2-pack. It’s not that I don’t like these figures – it’s just that I took a lot of pictures of the Arkham City 2-pack at Toy Fair. Missing from the display was the Gordon and prototype suit Batman from the Batman Begins movie – but we also saw that at Toy Fair.
Batgirl in her original comic book colors was the new reveal for WonderCon. This is a welcome repaint of the original Batgirl released as part of the DC Super Heroes line – that figure was released in blue and light gray, and featured a different belt. This one looks to have the belt kitbashed from Zip Line Batman, also from the DC Super Heroes line.
I ended up taking a lot of pictures of the Dick Sprang-inspired Golden Age Batman that was revealed at C2E2 in 2-up form. I think this figure will give me a reason to open the Sprang-inspired Robin variant from DC Universe Classics wave 16 that I have sitting in the pile of packages behind the door that my wife keeps threatening to eliminate. I couldn’t help but think something was off with this painted prototype, though.
Getting a better look at the 2-up on display helped narrow it down. I think there’s two problems with the head on the smaller figure. First, it looks like it lost a bit of the crispness when they shrunk it down to 6-inch scale. You can see that the ears aren’t as pointed and there’s less definition on the nose and mouth. Also, the painted blue eyebrows lost a bit of the Sprang quality when rendered as a simple arch. The paint job on the 2-up captures it a bit better.
They also had the Golden Age Joker on display in 2-up form. Normally I am not a fan of artist-inspired figures, as I do like some cohesiveness in my display – but for these guys I am starting to come around.
Stay tuned for more Mattel as the week progresses. Thanks for looking!
You’re absolutely right. The GA Bats has lost a lot of the facial features that made him so great in the 2-Up. I really hope they’re able to get some of that back in the production run. I’ve been really excited about this Batman.
The belt on the Batgirl they had on display is Cassandra Cain’s, but they’ve said the final figure will have the correct Barbara Gordon belt.
Artist-inspired figures really depend on how extreme they go(I didn’t have any interest in the Public Enemies figures, the Humberto Ramos figures ToyBiz made, or a lot of the DC Direct sublines), but I like figures that capture the “essence” of a depiction of the character, if that makes sense. The Sal Buscema-style Marvel Legends Hulk, for example, or some of the Kirby figures we’ve gotten(Steppenwolf, Mantis, Forager, etc.) really captured the essence of the art without making the figures look out of place with the rest of the line, and I think the Golden Age Batman and Joker do the same.
I really like my batgirl figure (which I got in a two-pack with Batman in ’06), and would like to have this version too. I’m glad to hear they’ll put her other belt on, this one just doesn’t look right. I already have the Joker from wave 12, but I want the golden age figure too. I hope Mattel packs in some accessories too, not just the figures.
I hope they re-release some of the superheroes select figures through this line! Spied (through some footage on gamespot)some of the old batman themed superheroes select line next to the movie masters gordon and stealth suit bruce wayne(who are also released through this line) and so ive got my fingers, toes and everything else firmly crossed! Would very much like to get my hands on some red JPV azrael and cassandra cain batgirl action.