Fist Fighters

[HardyGirl]

I bought a headless fist-fighting Batman. One arm doesn't work at all, and the other is loose. My question is this: I notice there are gears on the arms and I was wondering if they need the friction of a neck plug to make the fist-fighting action work. If not, how can it be fixed?

[Remco Monster]

I don't think a head is needed.

You do know that the left shoulder has to be pushed in for both arms to work right? And when it is pulled out, only the right arm will punch. Crazy cool action feature!

[kryptosmaster]

I'm just learning about these myself and have one that does almost exactly what yours does. I think maybe the shaft that the gear is attached to on one arm is snapped? I have one that you can pull the arm off with the shaft still attached and that's the arm that doesn't punch. It will stay on fine but appears to be detached/broken from the internal mechanism. I've never had one to take apart and experiment with or inspect so I'm not 100% sure how they are constructed. I don't think it can be repaired (glued) easily.
Rich

[English Paul]

I have one exactly as Rich describes.
If you look down the neck hole you can see the internal gears. Like TCM says the left arm needs to be pushed in - If both gear gogs are in the same place then it's likely the shaft is broken.
One other thing to note is how the arms are fixed at the shoulder. The arm sits over a domed plastic end which then runs into the body. This fixing allows for a degree of movement without putting stress on the intenal gearing. Sometimes this joint becomes very loose and can only be remedied by carefully pulling the arm off, warming the end in boiling water, squeezing the joint tighter, letting it cool and refitting.

[HardyGirl]

I don't think a head is needed.

You do know that the left shoulder has to be pushed in for both arms to work right? And when it is pulled out, only the right arm will punch. Crazy cool action feature!

Oh! Ok, so I just did that, and the right arm is going higher, but it looks like it's working now. Thanks!

[Remco Monster]

No problem, glad to hear he is working! Non-functional Fist Fighters make me sad.

One other thing I have noticed on some of my fist fighters is that you really need to get that lever ALL the way to the right and left for them to punch real good. For instance, when I first got my FF Lizard, I didn't think he was working all that well, but it was really just his costume restricting the lever slightly. Now he kicks Spidey's bum left and right.