Random Toys Batman Beyond Animated Two Pack

DC Collectibles added a little bit of the future to their Batman Animated line with a Batman Beyond two pack. Today I’m taking a look at this two pack and everything it has to offer.

The set comes boxed with a large window that shows off pretty much everything in a few layers of bubble inserts. There’s a stylized bit of art on the side of the box based on the main promotional artwork that was used for the cartoon.

 

Looking at Batman Beyond first, you can see that the figure has the same stylized appearance as he had on the cartoon. This whole line has been pretty good at translating the animated appearance to toy form and this is no exception.

The figure has a lot of articulation for various poses, but there are some hindrances. The biggest offender is the hips. While I love the hinge that allows the legs to open up for a wider stance, the legs are stopped from raising up by the waist before they can even achieve a sitting position. This keeps Batman Beyond from being put into the more extreme poses that he is known for.

 

Batman comes with a total of four sets of hands in various poses. You have fists, gripper hands, relaxed open hands and slightly more open hands. The slightly more open hands are odd. They appear as if they’re missing the ends of the fingers especially if you compare them to the other set of open hands. Just like the previous multi-hand Batman Beyond figure I reviewed (DC Total Heroes Ultra Batman Beyond) This figure falls flat with the hands. Just once, I’d like to see a Batman Beyond figure that can hold a batarang in a believable pose (Especially if it’s a figure like this one, aimed at collectors and with multiple, differently posed hands)

The gripper hands are the only ones that can even remotely hold the included Batarang and that is just by letting it balance between the fingers and thumb. If the hand falls down, the Batarang just tumbles out.

 

Also included in this set is Batman’s wings. These plug into the hole on his back and have a multi swivel joint for various wing poses.

The wing joints work pretty well in recreating that original promotional artwork pose. Too bad the hips and torso ruin it (The figure could really use a mid torso joint)

 

The only drawback to the wings is that some poses wind up creating a giant gap in the wings. If there was two extra pieces that could slide out from the back to fill this gap you might be able to recreate the scene from the end of the cartoon’s intro (The wide shoulders hinder this pose dramatically though)

 

Like all of the figures in the DC Collectibles Batman Animated line, Batman Beyond has a stand that looks like a cel page with the character’s turnarounds.

There’s three clear pieces that make up the rest of the stand to hold the figure in place. Unfortunately, these don’t work so well. The movable clips at the end are so movable that the weight of the figure is enough to open them which results in the stands kinda working under the figure’s armpits, but that’s about it.

 

The next figure in the set is Old Bruce Wayne. This figure is a dead on representation of the animated version.

 

Bruce also comes with multiple hands. He has a single fist and a single gripper hand that seems as if it’s made for the cane because of how well it works. There are also the two sets of open hands. Just like Batman, Bruce has a pair that look like they’re missing the ends of the fingers and have less details than the other hands.

 

Bruce has almost the same amount of articulation as Batman does (The ankles don’t have hinges like Batman does) Bruce has a rubber shirt to keep the animated aesthetic but still allow articulation. While Bruce can’t pull off a 90 degree angle sitting down, he can get closer than Batman can.

 

Bruce’s gripper hand can hold the Batarang and, in some angles, it almost looks like a natural hand position. The cane makes Bruce the most stable of the two human figures in this set.

 

Bruce has the same useless stand that Batman has. As previously mentioned, Bruce’s cane already makes him very stable and he’s not going to be in many (if any) action poses so I don’t know why he has a stand.

 

The last item in this set is the best……Ace! While this isn’t the first Ace figure we’ve gotten, it is the most screen accurate one ever!

Ace has a ball jointed head that allows for a lot of poseability to give a bit of emotion to the figure.

Ace’s four legs have swivel joints and even the tail can be rotated upwards to add to the different poses Ace can perform.

 

Old man Bruce and Ace are the best figures in this set. Both are the first screen accurate figures we’ve gotten of these two characters from the Batman Beyond cartoon and both figures perform well.

 

For me, the Batman Beyond figure was the low point of this set. It’s an acceptable figure and the first one to look lithe and thin like the cartoon instead of a muscular character like most figures. I was just majorly let down with the articulation ranges (or lack of when it comes to the torso) and my ongoing gripe about multiple hands that are not quite unique enough for the character. Get this set for Bruce and Ace, you won’t be let down with them (though I do fear the possible degradation of that rubber shirt Bruce wears)