A few memorable actors have walked in The Joker’s clown shoes since the 1966 Batman TV Series and they’ve all left their mark on the character. But while the younger fans of Ledger and Nicholson and Hammill all argue for their individual champions, they tend to overlook the pioneer work of Cesar Romero. For the first half of my life, Romero was The Joker. By the time Nicholson donned the white grease paint in 1989, I was already nearly 20 years old. Toss in the fact that Romero played The Joker in something like 20 episodes and a movie, the truth is he will always be the most familiar portrayal of the character that I fall back on. And it doesn’t hurt that Romero did a f’cking fantastic job with the role. This figure is long overdue.

The Joker comes on the same style of card that we saw earlier this week when looking at Batman. There’s a new Robin quote on the front and the back of the card is character specific. The artwork is based on the animated opening credits. I think it works better for Batman and Robin than it does for The Joker here. Apart from that, there’s nothing new to talk about here, so let’s just bust him open.

I’m not going to mince words… I love this figure, but that does not mean it does not have its share of issues. The outfit matches his regular purple suit rather well and it’s layered on with soft plastic to give the figure some convincing depth and allow his coat tails to hang down the back of his legs. The downside of that is that he looks too bulky to me in his top half. Also, so much of his black tie is showing through his coat that it’s hard to tell he’s not just wearing a black top under that, when in fact he has a green shirt peeking out as well. These are not crippling issues, just things I think worth mentioning. If I wasn’t as starved as I am for this figure, I might be less forgiving.

The head sculpt is great, although it’s worth noting that Mattel didn’t follow through on Romero’s sculpted mustache. A little detail like that was a big selling point for this line with collectors and the fact that it was cut in the end is a tad disappointing. Mattel still makes the nod with a little paint app under his nose. It works OK, but it’s not quite the same. Still, everything else about The Joker’s mug works so well for me that I’m willing to accept the change. His expression is just priceless!

Lastly, I do think the one pointing finger is a strange choice. I’ll grant you, it’s amazing how many poses you can make it work in. I think a swap-out hand would have been a great idea here. I do like the idea of the pointing finger, but not so much if it’s my only option.

Joker retains most of the articulation we saw with the Batman figures. He has ball joints in his shoulders, swivels in his biceps and wrists, and hinges in his elbows. His legs have the DCUC style hip joint, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. He can swivel at the waist and his neck is ball jointed. He may have an ab-crunch buried under that suit, but if he does it’s rendered useless.

Joker comes with his own collectible card and I absolutely love it. It’s a great illustration and it reminds me of the kind of collectible Lobby Cards they used to have at the cinema ages and ages ago. It can also be flipped around to form the third panel of the Batmobile display for the figure stand.

Yes, Joker also has the same style figure stand as the two Batman figures. His says, “ZAP!!” I’m not sure if I’ll be using these in my display, but I do really dig that Mattel included them with the figures.

I could be a lot more critical of this figure, but the truth is nostalgia is blinding me here. Sure, there’s always room for improvement and I’ve pointed out all those particular areas that I thought could have been tweaked. That having been said, this is still, more or less, The Joker figure that I was hoping for. He definitely looks the part and he displays wonderfully next to his nemesis, Batman. I can’t wait to get him set up with some of his partners in crime. Next week, I’ll try to get to both Penguin and Riddler.

WHAT’S THIS??? A NEW WEEK OF FIGUREFAN’S FIENDISHLY FRESH FEATURES OF FIGURES?

Sorry, I couldn’t resist… Happy Monday. As a kid, the old Adam West Batman series was a big deal to me. I used to watch it in re-runs every single day when I got home from school. Every episode served up a weird mix of comic book style, camp, sexual ambiguity, latex fetish, and predicament bondage that both confused and delighted my impressionable little brain. It was also one of the few times my brother and I could sit down to watch TV and not have it come to blows over what we were going to watch. My brother is about as far from a geek as you could get, but even he couldn’t get enough of 1960’s Batman and Star Trek. Anyway, as a kid I had the Mego Batman figures and the Batmobile and whatever else I could get my parents to shell out for. It’s sad that there’s been such a long void of toys based on this classic series, but I suppose it makes it all the sweeter now that they’re actually here.

Obviously, I picked up the entire wave in one fell swoop. It consists of Batman, Joker, Penguin, Riddler, and Robin. Oh… no. It doesn’t have Robin. It has Surf’s Up Batman. Why? Because Mattel wanted to make sure that if you bought this as a set, you got stuck with a remold of a figure you probably don’t want. And if you do want Robin you have to buy a two-pack with another Batman. Well, screw you Mattel, I’m not biting. I’ll do just fine without a Robin. I’m not buying that two-pack… Yeah, I’ll probably buy the two pack. Anyway, Surf’s Up Batman doesn’t deserve his own feature, so I’m going to look at both of them today. Let’s start off with the man himself…

I love the packaging here. It’s obvious that the guys at Mattel had fun with this design and it really captures the spirit of the show. The front of the card is generic with only Robin’s speech bubble changed for each figure. There is, however, an insert in the bubble with the individual figure’s name. The bubble is also embossed with ‘BAM!” “POW!!” and “WHAMM!!” Maybe it’s a little too forced, but I definitely like it. Either way, I’m still just tearing it open and throwing the package away. If you are a mint-on-card collector, the die cut edges of the card are likely going to drive you crazy. Batman’s head juts out the side and will likely be very prone to bending and creasing either in shipment or on the pegs.

The back of the card is a little more character specific. The artwork is patterned after the opening animation, which was probably good thinking for the look they were going for. There’s a blurb about the character as well. The bottom of the card shows the rest of the wave, plus Catwoman who should be following later on in a revision wave. Ok, let’s tear open Bats and see what he’s all about.

The sculpt is simple, but effective. The head is the best thing about it, as I really think Mattel nailed Adam West in the cowl as best as we could expect in this scale and price range. The paint apps for the eyebrows and nose are also clean and well executed. The rest of the costume fits the part, and by that I mean it conforms to my memory after not having seen the show in about two decades. The utlity belt seems off, but again, I’m working on vague memories here and that having been said, I’m very happy with how the figure turned out.

And then there’s the cloth cape. I’m still not sure about this. It looks OK on the figure, and I imagine it was done to let him sit in the Batmobile. I’m pretty sure I would have liked it better in soft plastic, but I don’t hate what we got. I suppose I’ll like it a lot more if I ever do buy the Batmobile.

Despite featuring a brand new buck, Batman sports articulation very similar to what we saw in the DCUC line. The arms feature ball jointed shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinges in the elbows. The legs have the usual DCUC style hip joints, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. Batman can swivel at the waist, he has an ab-crunch hinge in the torso, and his neck is ball jointed. Oh yeah, my Batman has a stuck thigh swivel in his right leg. I’ll likely try freezing it to see if I can get it to give. The last time I had this problem was with my DCUC Raven figure and her leg twisted right off. I suppose if that happens, it’s more incentive to buy the Batman & Robin two-pack. UPDATE: Yup, freezing worked!

Batman comes with a colorful figure stand with “POW!” printed on it. I’m not sure if I’ll use it for display, but it’s a very nice thing to have. You also get a Collector Card. I honestly thought it was the shitty little card showing through on the side of the bubble, but nope, there’s actually a very large card printed on heavy cardboard stock with artwork on both sides. I’m not going to say it’s any kind of major added value, but it beats the hell out of Hasbro’s Marvel Universe “Comic Shots.” It’s also designed to fit into the stand and make a backdrop, although you can’t really see it with the figure on the stand.

Ok, let’s run through Surf’s Up Batman super-fast. Here’s the packaging, front and back.

Again, not much new on the front. Just a different dopey Robin quote. The back of the card, however, is specific to this figure.

It’s the same goddamn figure only wearing yellow swim trunks! Apart from the newly sculpted trunks, there are no other changes. He does retain all his hip and leg articulation despite his new swimwear.

And, yes, he also has a big surfboard. The surfboard looks good, but it’s kind of flimsy and made of softer plastic. It has two pegs on it so you can stand the figure on it pretty well, but with the fin in the bottom, it’s kind of heard to display him riding it, unless you balance the board on something else.  I joke about Mattel sticking us with this tweaked repack, but truth is you’re getting a lot more for your money with this figure than you are with regular Batman, so long as you don’t mind your Batman wearing swim trunks and carrying a skateboard.

You also still get a new collector car and a new figure stand. This time the card has Batman and the Joker surfing and the stand says “BIFF!!!” It also reveals that the backs of the cards are meant to form a single backdrop when the stands are put side by side. In this case, it’s the Batmobile parked in the Batcave. It’s a cool idea, but there’s a huge gap between the backdrops, and again, with the cape, you really can’t see the backdrops behind the figure when they’re plugged into the stands.

No doubt, Batman is a solid figure. Hell, I even have to admit to digging Surf’s Up Batman just because he’s so ridiculous that he captures the spirit of the show. Part of me still wishes NECA could have procured the master license, rather than for just the quarter-scale figures, but even still Batman and Mattel have always been a pretty good fit. Despite the Adult Collectible moniker on the packages, these definitely feel more like toys than collectibles, but I’m OK with that. I’m ultimately happy with what we got so far, although I still think it’s inexcuseable to not have a single-carded Robin.

Anyway, give me a few days to cover some other stuff, and I’ll swing back at the end of the week with The Joker.