McFarlane has been dishing out some great stuff with their 3 3/4-inch Super Powers line up. The retro-style figures are pretty cool, but I’ll admit it’s the addition of vehicles that really sold me on this line and made me commit. So far, I’ve checked out The Batwing, The Batmobile, and Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jet. Today I’m having a look at the latest addition to the Batcave’s garage… The Whirlybat!

Like the previous vehicles, The Whirlybat comes in a fully enclosed box with that oh-so-beautiful retro-style deco and the Super Powers logo coming at you in a burst of stars. The front of the box shows some simple artwork while the back shows the toy and some features. This one requires a fair bit of assembly as the skids, stabilizer tail, and rotor blades all have to be put together, but I was happy to see that the toy can easily come apart again if you want to store it in the box.

And here it is all assembled and looking pretty damn cool. I’m fairly certain that this is an original design by McFarlane. It’s sort of a What If the old Kenner line had a batcopter, and I think the end result is pretty convincing. It’s a single seater and a serviceable design that manages to be fun, but not as outlandish as some of the old Super Powers vehicles tended to be. Oh, I’ll get to that Supermobile eventually! The deco shares the same beautiful glossy blue plastic McFarlane used for the other Bat vehicles in the line and with the black trim and yellow-tinted windscreen, it looks right at home parked in the batcave between the Batwing and Batmobile. I love this deco so much and I’m glad they have been sticking with it! And while McFarlane showcases the Whirlybat with their 89-style Batman figure released in the most recent wave, I think the deco fits much better with the previous blue and gray style Batman.

The sculpting here is pretty basic, maintaining the simplistic retro feel. You get a little bit of detail in the engine and in the seat cushions. Otherwise, it’s just smooth and pretty plastic. On the other hand, there are some very nicely done stickers for the dashboard controls.

Batman fits in the pilot seat with or without his cape, but I prefer to take it off, because having a flapping cape nearby a helicopter rotor seems like a really bad life choice. There are wedges to represent foot pedals where his feet can rest and while his fists can’t actually grip the control yoke, it looks close enough. Pumping the black piece of the engine in the back will make the main rotor over batman’s head spin so you can whoosh it around the room on the hunt for The Joker.

My gosh, these are some pretty toys! It would have been cool to see the Batcopter from the Adam West Batman movie released in McFarlane’s 66 Retro line, but this Super Powers release makes for a decent consolation prize. With an MSRP of $20, it’s a very simple and yet surprisingly fun toy that fits perfectly in this reimagined line and I have to say I would have played with this like crazy if I had it back in 1984. And here we are 40 years later and I’ll still probably play with it like crazy! Now we really need a vehicle for the Joker to try to escape in!