Hot Toys, you guys need to stop making me spend money. I have a pretty firm dividing line that separates “can appreciate but not tempted by” and “oh crap I know I’ll be buying that,” and the Adam West Batman immediately jumped into the latter category. The lattergory, as they say. Nobody says that.
I think I’m having a backlash against the excessively grim and dark Batman that has permeated comic culture ever since Frank Miller grit his teeth and scratched his aged Batman into life. Not that I don’t have a fondness for that version, but at a certain point all that grimacing becomes a bit stale. We get it, parents killed, incessant torment. There may be a reason that the most fun I’ve had with a Batman comic in recent times is the ’66 Batman comic written by Jeff Parker (highly recommended), which was just one volley in the huge onslaught of Adam West-inspired Bat-merchandise lately, to be capped by the release of the Series on DVD and Blu-ray this November.
Not to be outdone, Hot Toys has released what is probably the definitive Adam West figure, something so scary accurate to the source I’m a little afraid to go to sleep because it’s a horror movie waiting to happen. I’m expecting to awaken one night at 3 am with him squatting on my chest. “Hello chum,” he’ll say and my heart will pop like a runaway grape in a bowling alley.
Hot Toys builds their figures on top of an extremely well-articulated body, and when you’re dealing with somebody with a skin-tight bodysuit, there’s very little hampering of that articulation. His double-jointed elbows and knees have a full range, and his bicep joint allows for maximum flexing and posing. His neck has a full range so he can look up and down and all around. The only area where he’s held back is in his torso articulation due to the apparent bodysuit underneath his outer layer, which emulates Adam West’s less-than-superheroic physique. But even hampered, there is plenty of play in that area, so while he’s not able to get a full abdominal crunch going, he does have the ability to crouch or bend slightly — enough for personality and a wide range of poses, but not enough for extreme athletics.
The fabric work is impeccable, made of a fine enough weave that it really looks like spandex at this scale. His cape has just the right hang and flow, and it’s made of a silky material that seems as if it were cut from the prop cape itself.
Batman comes loaded with accessories. He comes with a gigantic seven right hands and six left hands, each of which serving a specific purpose. He has a pair of neutral open hands, a pair of fists, two grippy hands for rope-climbing, two wide open hands, two “Batusi” hands (he would not have been complete without them), one hand for holding his Bat-radio and another special hand just for holding his special can of Bat-spray repellant. Because Batman is truly prepared for everything.
He comes with three lower-faces complete with trademarked “West”ern expressions: neutral, slightly open- mouthed, and full-on teeth-baring grimace.
In addition to his Bat-spray and Bat-radio, he also comes with a Batarang (of course) and a rope for climbing, which can be attached to his Batarang.
And finally he comes with a big bomb. For those days when you just can’t get rid of a bomb. You absolutely get your money’s worth in accessories. Each of the hands pop in and out with no issues, and the lower halves of his face are held in place with strong magnets so there’s no chance of them randomly falling out. I think the swappable lower half was an ingenious way to handle his different expressions. I could spend all day swapping different hands for various expressions, so you can have your batman posing any way you want. Couple that with the different expressions, and you can probably go nuts finding the perfect pose.
Since this is the first Hot Toys figure I’ve had with genuine skin tone, I was pretty blown away at the face. Even with only half a face to look at, there’s a stunning (yes, stunning) realism to the skin details. There are wrinkles and tiny creases and crevices and all the defining characteristics of human skin evident when you look at him as close as possible. My camera doesn’t do him justice, unfortunately. There are even what looks to be the hint of pores if you look close enough. His skin is painted with an absurd level of heightened realism, even with the smallest touch of freckling that makes him look crazily realistic.
His teeth and eyes have a slightly wet look to them, which only adds to the realism. I’d swear he was about to lick his lips.
Hot Toys are expensive toys, and every time they put out something I want I cringe a little. I only have two, but, despite being a cheap bastard, they have both been well worth the money. I’m going to have to get the Burt Ward Robin to accompany Batman now. Oh dear.