ToyFarce: MAFEX Batman (The New Adventures) review and images

It's Wednesday and you know what that means... ToyFarce review!

This week, we're looking at the brand new Batman figure from the New Adventures of Batman animated series, by MAFEX. Batman the Animated Series holds a special place in my heart, and I have loved all the Kenner figures that we got in the 90's, all the DC Collectibles/Direct figures that we had in the last decade, so when MAFEX announced that they would be tacking the Animated Series, I was overjoyed. Well, that is until I saw that they decided to kickstart the line with the New Adventures design, which are not as iconic than the original Animated Series, but still very Bruce Timm-esque. The DC Collectibles line did start with that one too, and we saw how far they went, so there is hope!

The box is the usual MAFEX box type, with a window at the front showing the figure and all the accessories, and using a blue color, which is often used with promo art for the New Adventures series. I've read many comments about collectors being disappointed they didn't use the iconic red color, but that is for the Animated Series, and not the New Adventures. Even Kenner and DC Collectibles had blue cards for those.

The figure is another very decent, brilliantly articulated offering like only MAFEX and other 'imports' brands can offer, but without being too much in order not to ruin the general aesthetic of the figure. A thigh swivel for example, would have kinda ruined the legs with a straight line right in the middle, even if it seems to be everything a collector asks for in a figure these days. Batman comes with 2 capes (one in rigid rubbery plastic that covers his shoulders, for those nice static poses, and a soft goods cape which allows for more posing), an unmasked Bruce Wayne headsculpt (wait... Bruce Wayne is Batman??), 4 extra pairs of hands, a batarang and a grapnel launcher, in action, with a metal rod to keep it always straight. Unfortunately, the rod cannot be removed to have the grapnel launcher 'not in action', but we'll get over that.

Overall, this figure is far superior to the DC Collectibles one. Better articulations, more possibilities... The legs might be a bit too thin and I've seen some collectors have already broken a foot, but that is (unfortunately?) how Bruce Timm designed those characters, so we can expect more figures looking like that. We'll just have to be gentle with them! Not looking forward to the female characters, which were already very tiny and brittle on the DC Collectibles line...

The New Adventures Joker is expected to join the Bat in July next year (or later, as delays are a tradition at MAFEX), and we're hoping for more announcement in between.
More news at 11:00... I am vengance, I am the night... I am Batman!