Batman (from Batman Series 4)

[jeffbearco]

The new costume did fix Aquaman. My only other issue was that the belt was too thin for my tastes. So I made a wider belt out of yellow electrical tape and put that behind the belt it came with. I now have it on display at work.

JeffBearCO

[MIB41]

Just received my Series 4 Batman yesterday and while I definitely did not like the "capri" leggings, I ended up liking the overall look and feel of the figure better than I thought I would. But first I do have to say there was allot more tweaking to do on this one than anything I've gotten in the past, so it definitely gets graded down for those matters. His right gloved hand stays inserted nicely but his left one continued to fall off, so I got out something I use for allot of "fixes" when clothes or their accessories are being difficult - repositionable glue dots. The best invention I've ever come across for quick fixes that holds great but is also removable so there is no residual damage. Placed two swabs (one on either side) of the forearm and slid the glove back on... holds great. Then where the shorts were bunching up a bit, I pulled them back from behind until I found a positioning and look that I liked. Then I took a small rubber band and wrapped that around his waist to hold the slightly pinched material in the back. Put the belt back on (which covers the rubber band and what little material is pinched in back) and his shorts issue is fixed for me. Lastly I had to do something about his leggings. I can't stand that gap between the leggings and the boots, especially when you go to bend his knees. That's ridiculous. I tried glue dots to hold the fabric down from underneath, but that didn't work because the leggings are simply too short. I also tried a traditional Batman suit with the black shorts, but the fit was too baggy. He looked like he was on a hunger strike. So I considered traditional boots to cover the gap on the stock suit but wondered what kind of change I would have to make at the foot portion since this body has the male plugs for feet. Turns out I don't have to make any changes. The plug pivots like a foot would on that joint, so all you have to do is turn the plug up to mimic a foot and slide a traditional boot on. It holds it perfectly. It fits exactly like he has a regular foot there. So I've ordered some light blue boots and that will fix the gap and the boot fit will not be impacted.

So yeah... Getting a brand new figure and having to add glue, a rubber-band, and order a different accessory because the stock version is an epic fail is not something I can (or would) spin to be a minor thing. The QC on this was poor. I have to believe something got lost in translation on the leggings at the factory because I like the overall idea they have working here. The Blue color selected is gorgeous to my eye in person. Like other figures, some of these are not camera friendly because you don't have the advantage of turning the head and body to get different lighting views that show aspects that a static shot can't offer. Originally I was going to paint a forehead shadow to flush out the sculpt better. Now that I have him in person, I've changed my mind. The sculpted features are strong enough, that as the lighting changes, you get allot of that shadow effect around his brows and bridge of his nose.

In terms of head scale, I'm okay with it. I get what some are saying, so there's no debate to be had there. I understand. Personally I think the head size is fine, because a cowl with ears should never read as the same size as a normal head. Where it gets dicey is the mouth and chin. I think the chin is too pronounced which made the sculptor have to broaden the mouth to compensate. So it kind of looks like this big face in a cowl that shouldn't fit him. Mix that with the slightly smaller hands on the gloved inserts and I completely see the bad optics people are getting. For myself I can get around that because standing back I clearly see the Neal Adams treatment in play and I love that cape. You can really position that to make some incredibly cool poses like Adams did with his Batman illustrations. Plus you can manipulate the collar portion too so it lays down on his shoulders properly. So I completely get what they were going for. And I think the reason why I'm more forgiving than I truly should be is because I think, for my purposes, I can get him the rest of the way.

This Batman is a striking figure in that color and cape. For me, he does look like he's coming out of the comic book. With regard to design, I like the gloves, but they need to figure out how to make those fit better. The boots literally snap into position, so I have to think the gloves can be upgraded to do the same. The silk shorts idea is okay if you can get the fit right. But from a factory perspective, that seems to be impossible, so I think future productions need to nix that idea altogether. Every single figure I have gotten with silk shorts, I've had to modify to get the fit corrected. I love the colors. And I love the general treatment they are going for with these new approaches. What I like best is they are tweaking while still keeping the Mego era fully ingrained within those ideas. They're not going too far outside the box to achieve some differences and I think that's crucial to it's appeal. So I give them an A for the obvious ideas in play here. I think they are definitely upgrading and making changes that are worthwhile and relevant to the Mego legacy. I think where they get themselves in a bind with consumers is the actual execution to get these to market as original conceived. As much as they were stylizing here, I think they probably should have gone with the First Appearance Batman suit (with light blue boots to match the new cape), added the emblem they used here, and just plugged in the gloves for an added feature. The new suit they invested time and manufacturing to accommodate this body doesn't remotely work as intended. Plus they can't really re-purpose it on other figures since the manufacturing is so fowled.

[jeffbearco]

From what you have said, I'm leaning more towards getting this figure eventually, but I'm still going to hold back until they do a black/grey version of it. Where I had pretty much talked myself out of the figure completely. I hope when they do that variation, they do the long pants like they did for Nightwing. But I have seen your posts enough to respect your opinion on the head sculpt. Maybe this line isn't dead to me after all. But unless they re-issue it with long pants, I probably still won't get it. It would also be great if they re-did the symbol so it was truly symmetrical. I heard that complaint several times.

JeffBearCO

[TRDouble]

MIB41, the fix that I use for the plug-in gloves (and is in the sticky "fixes" post) and to heat up the area and pull the peg out a little more. On the figures I have where the gloves will not stay plugged in, every time it has been that the peg is too far into the wrist. The know of the peg will go into the glove socket, but just barely and not far in enough to hold.

When you are done with your fixes on this figure, I would love to see the results!

[MIB41]

MIB41, the fix that I use for the plug-in gloves (and is in the sticky "fixes" post) and to heat up the area and pull the peg out a little more. On the figures I have where the gloves will not stay plugged in, every time it has been that the peg is too far into the wrist. The know of the peg will go into the glove socket, but just barely and not far in enough to hold.

When you are done with your fixes on this figure, I would love to see the results!

Ah! Great idea! I'll definitely look at that. When I get the boots in, I'll take some pics and share the changes.

[DC_Guy]

From what you have said, I'm leaning more towards getting this figure eventually, but I'm still going to hold back until they do a black/grey version of it. Where I had pretty much talked myself out of the figure completely. I hope when they do that variation, they do the long pants like they did for Nightwing. But I have seen your posts enough to respect your opinion on the head sculpt. Maybe this line isn't dead to me after all. But unless they re-issue it with long pants, I probably still won't get it. It would also be great if they re-did the symbol so it was truly symmetrical. I heard that complaint several times.

JeffBearCO

I'd like the symbol bigger (as well as symmetrical) and the pants longer. And maybe instead of grey and black, they do a grey and dark navy blue, similar to the Batman '66 color.

[MIB41]

Well I got my spare pieces in to originally perform a work around on the stock costume and it fell apart early. First the light blue boots I received split open not only in the back but the front too! So there went my boot idea. BY this point I looked at it and felt I had done everything I could do and there was no saving this costume. So I went back to my initial idea which was to put a standard Batman outfit on him. Originally when I tried that, it read too baggy, so I put it back on him and snipped just a little extra cloth on both the leggings and the sleeves. I wrapped the ends with tiny rubber bands to hold the fabric in place so when I pressed the gloves and boots on, they wouldn't gather up. BTW, I took TRDouble's advice and heated up that left arm peg and pulled it out further which allowed it to perfectly snap into the glove. Thanks TRDouble!!! Crisis with the gloves resolved. I got pretty happy with the end result. I felt I captured more of the Neal Adams Batman with a simple costume change. That and I now have perfectly fine leggings with no bunching and snugly secured in the stock boots.

[thunderbolt]

looks so much better with that costume. Still amazed at how bad FTC dropped the ball on this. I bet the West costume would work better, too.

[PNGwynne]

Good swap. And I think that head, shrunk a bit with a thicker neck and in a darker blue, would be a pretty nice Batman.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Looks much better Tom!

Chris

[sprytel]

Good swap. And I think that head, shrunk a bit with a thicker neck and in a darker blue, would be a pretty nice Batman.

I agree. That head... if you change almost everything about it... would make an excellent Batman.

Tom's costume change helps a lot, though.

[PNGwynne]

I agree. That head... if you change almost everything about it... would make an excellent Batman.

Tom's costume change helps a lot, though.

Lol my post does read that way I guess, I was just mulling how to make lemons into lemonade--as if one nabbed a slightly smaller resin copy and tinkered.

[Teemu]

Needs to be on a S-type

[TRDouble]

Nice job, MIB41! I really liked the blue shorts idea of the original costume, much like Hasbro's 9" version, but since no shorts exist of the same blue color as his cape, cowl, gloves and boots, the black works just as well as it did for Mego and Mattel.

I may toy around with the parts again after seeing yours, but with a smaller Bat chest emblem.

[The Bat]

Looks Awesome Dude! FANTASTIC job!