Saturday Afternoon Toy Haul: Batman and Robin! They look pretty good, old chum!

This week, we were able to add two new McFarlane Toys action figures to our collection and yes, old chum, it's Batman and Robin! These were two that I really didn't expect I'd find without paying an inflated price online. But I found the blue and grey Batman from DC's 90's Knightfall event at Walmart! I'm a fan of the Nolan movie Batman suits, especially the black molded rubber. My second favorite is this one, which harkens back to the 70's comics.

So that's Batman and...

...this is Robin.

I'm of two minds on this figure. It's a great figure in concept. I'm always happy that McFarlane Toys mines the Batverse for different versions of my favorite Gotham denizens. I love the young Dick Grayson from the comics. When he grew up and became Nightwing, I think the Robin concept lost something. Subsequent Robins, even though we are huge Tim Drake fans, always seemed like junior Batman instead of his ward who was there to keep him grounded, while bringing a bit of lightheartedness to Bruce Wayne's grim world. This figure appears to take it's inspiration from All Star Batman and Robin, which was not great storywise. The excellent art was done by Jim Lee, so that leaves one question: what the hell happened to this figure's face? That's not the boyish look that Robin has had since the 1940's. The attempt at bare legs on these type of figures never quite works because the joints draw attention to themselves. I'd give up a few points of articulation if it made the figure look more realistic. After all, most of these are being bought to pose on shelves not played with a toys. Beyond that minor quibble, the figure is very limited in availability and was never sold in retail stores. I found it on Big Bad Toy Store for just a little more than a regular figure, but not the $70 plus I was seeing elsewhere. As a huge Robin fan, I'd written this one off, but I'm happy I was able to find it--weird-looking face and all.

Rarely do we get a Batman and Robin toy haul with just the classic characters. But hey, if the bat signal is flashing, the Dynamic Duo has to be there, right?