A couple of months ago, I had decided not to pick up the NECA 1966 Batman figure for various reasons, but the main reason was I was going to spend all my dough on the Hot Toys 1966 Batman figure. I have never owned a Hot Toys figure and was frothing at the mouth over owning the figure and making it the first of what was to be a few Hot Toys I would pick up.
But, a few things happened along the way to it's release. I lost my job and I am still currently out of work. I can't right now justify paying over $200.00 for the figure. It stinks, but such is life. If it's meant that I will own that figure, then I will. But it's not looking like I will anytime soon. So, I was to be out of both the NECA and Hot Toys 1966 Batman figures.
Thank God for Entertainment Earth. The toy company runs sales on a weekly basis and recently had the NECA 1966 Batman for half off the retail price. It was too good a deal to pass up, so I jumped on it and I am glad I did. When the package arrived and I opened it up I was pleasantly surprised at the figure.
Here's how the packaging looked when I opened up the box.
Love the packaging. Just screams 1966 Batman. Not only do you get some shots of the figure its self, but thanks to a clear cellophane window, you get to see the figure in all it's bad ass glory.
Once you pull Batman out of the box, you see that he is very, and may I add VERY, securely fastened to the backing board by what it seems like 20 plastic ties. As pleased that I am that the figure was well protected to inside the box, it was a real pain in the Bazooka Joe to untie him from the backing. I swear, us geeks are never happy with anything. Imagine my complaining had he not been tied down.
Anyway, not only do we have Batman tied down, but we also see the accessories that come with the figure secured in plastic that slid into the backing board securely.
So, out of the box, I can tell you he looks fantastic. I was initially concerned by the abs on this figure. It's not a solid piece like it is on the NECA 1989 Batman figure and I cannot understand why. But, you get used to it and it doesn't really bother your after awhile.
This picture doesn't do the figure justice. The likeness to Adam on this figure is pretty damn close, if not dead on to how he looks in the cowl on the TV show. I love the drawn on eyebrows, the blue cowl with black face plate and blue nose. Great facial sculpt as well. It looks like you could pull off the cowl and get another face under there. It doesn't look painted on like with other figures.
There you see the ab sculpt I was talking about. I'm guessing that there is an "ab crunch" to this figure that the 1989 Batman doesn't have. I have to try it out.
The Bat emblem is painted onto the figure and looks great. The paint job here is fantastic as well. The grey of the bat suit to the blue on his trunks and gloves. No messed up paint job on this figure. I also love the sculpting of the gauntlets on the gloves.
The first problem I encountered with the figure was the joints. They were extremely stiff out of the package. the legs on my Batman was pushed back so far that Adam looked like he was thrusting himself out. Not exactly something I wanted to see. To be honest, at times when I was scared to screw around with the figure too much for fear I might break it. That hinders the ability to pose this figure. Maybe the joints loosen up a bit after a while. Frankly, I hope it does. I would like to maybe put this figure in some sort of pose other than just having it stand on my shelf with his arms at his sides.
I love the cape. The fabric just looks so cool on this figure. You can have it hanging off his shoulders or in the Batman "Bat" pose I have him posed in the above picture. It's a pose he dose in a few episodes in the TV series. Once I have the shoulder joints working better, I will try to lift those arms up a bit higher.
Not only can you make Batman's head go side to side, it can go up and down too. As for the rest of his body, he can bend at the elbows, knees, wrists and toes. He can swivel his hips like Elvis as well as his shoulders, wrists, thighs, forearms and ankles. This can make for great posing, but I do have a fear of rubbing off some of the paint at those spots with too much swiveling.
Here's something that I thought was really cool. The belt buckle opens to reveal the communicator behind it. Very cool. The rest of the belt is made of molded plastic. I'm not sure if the belt is removable.
Those toys, where does he get those wonderful toys? Yes, Batman comes with some accessories. He comes with 2 pairs of hands, 2 Batarangs; one folds and can be put into a pouch which hooks onto the utility belt, some string that goes through the Batarangs and can be used as the bat rope, a bat communicator and a piece of plastic that has something to do with the utility belt. To be honest, I haven't bothered to find out what it is.
You have to be very careful with the accessories. I can see that these can get lost really easily. They are small and unless your going to use them when you display the figure, I would put them someplace where you will not lose them. I think Batman would be pissed if he didn't have his Batarang when he really needed it. 2 accessories I really would have loved to have had with this figure would have been the Bat Shield and the bomb from the movie, but I understand that the bomb will come with the Hot Toys figure.
The back of the figure is painted just as well as the front is. The painters did not take any shortcuts with this figure which shows me that they take their work seriously. The belt, as I suspected is one piece that is not removable. I guess if you really wanted to take the belt off, I suppose there is a way, but why would you want to?
NECA did an awesome job with this Batman figure. They nailed everything right with it and it's going to make a great addition to my Batman collection. Just a bit of advice, if you pick up this figure, make sure you get a stand for it. This figure is made of hard plastic and is a bit too heavy to stand on it's own. It will fall over it there isn't a stand holding it up. That's something else NECA should have included. Maybe a '66 Batman inspired stand will be something that they release in the future or maybe a customizer can come up with one. Regardless, if you, like me, can't afford the Hot Toys '66 Batman, this is an excellent option for those who really want an Adam West Batman figure in their collection. If you can get him on sale, even better.
