Bert and Ernie, Abbot and Costello, Hardcastle and McCormick, Tango and Cash — some things are better in pairs. The same has to be said about Batman and Robin. Sure, they are each their own autonomous entity, but put them together and you have a completely different “dynamic.” You might say you have a Dynamic Duo. Oh yeah.
Hot Toys was pretty much guaranteed a dual purchase when I bought the ’66 Batman figure. If you’re going to get one, you have to get the other, by law. Now the wait is on for the Batmobile. That’s going to hurt.
Robin comes decked-out in all his colorful caped glory, complete with totally manly stockings and even more manly shoes. There has never been anything subtle or understated about this version of Robin’s costume, and there’s no way to ignore this red, green, and yellow dude when he’s on the shelf. The Hot Toys quality standard carries forth yet again with this figure, bringing impeccable fabric work that doesn’t look “off” in scale when on a 1/6th scale figure. The cape has a silky quality, the leggings feel right, and the rest of his costume looks more like they came from the wardrobe department of a Hollywood studio than anything else.
He has sculpted gloves and shoes to complement the fabric. One thing jumped out at me immediately: he has some long feet. I’m pretty sure they’re not supposed to be quite that long. They could stand to be a little bit shorter because the length jumped out at me right away. Of course, he is well-balanced with those things.
Robin’s articulation is very unhindered in most places, and he has a bit more range in his torso than his counterpart had. His ankles are less inhibited as well. The only area he suffers is in his neck due to the tight collar wrapped around his neck. While he has plenty of play, he can’t quite look down without his chin butting up against the collar, but it’s a minor issue. Otherwise, he’s got plenty of range everywhere else, including his elbows and knees. Due to his costume, there is an unavoidable obviousness to the fact that he is an action figure. I know that sounds especially stupid given the fact that he is, in fact, an action figure, but one strong point of Hot toys is a slight obfuscation of reality when you’re looking at pictures, and the visible elbow joints and very obvious knee joints break that illusion some. As I said, it is almost too stupid to point out, and it’s by no means a criticism, but I thought it was an interesting phenomenon to point out. If anything, it points to the strengths of the toys that it even sticks out as something different from other toys. It’s not Robin’s fault anyway.
One of the biggest strength of Hot Toys stuff is the likenesses, and I think they captured Burt Ward even better than they did Adam West, and Adam was no slouch. Having more of his face visible means even less margin for error, and this is a dead ringer for Burt Ward, from his slightly jug-ears to his slightly constipated determination. What, he didn’t look constipated and determined to you? Well, regardless, they nailed it. His hair sculpt is insane, with so much detail it’s like they sculpted each individual hair. Actually I’m not so sure that they didn’t.
As we’ve seen in countless toys, a good sculpt can end up being meaningless without a good paint job to bring it to life, and this is another area where they excel. The realistic skin with freckling is, again, beautiful to look at, and the eyes are practically real. Dig those bloodshot eyes. The hair has a subtle shading to give it depth and highlights. Sometimes I think these are worth it just to study the sculpt and paint on the heads in hand.
Like Batman, Robin comes with a number of alternate hands and a few accessories to sweeten the pot. He comes with a set of Bat-cuffs that actually work, his own Batarang, and his own Bat-radio. He comes with a length of rope that can be attached to his Batarang for climbing.
For extra hands, he has one set of neutral hands, one set of fists, a set of grippy hands, a set of Batusi hands, a right hand that can hold the Batarang, and a slightly curled left hand. All of these give him a ton of expressive options just like Batman.
Robin is a fun figure on his own, but with the addition of Batman you get the finest interpretations of the ’66 Batman and Robin that are currently available. Now the wait is on for the Batmobile. And I don’t think I’d be able to turn down a Joker to go with them.
