Past Batman lines that let you down...

[BullocK]

Let's discuss past Batman action figure lines that you were psyched for, but utlimately let down by.

I was really disapointed in the Batman Beyond line. First off, they were not in scale with the Animated figs. Second, too many variants, not enough villains. Would have loved to have gotten Inque, Shriek, & others in action figure form.

My other one is Kenner's Batman Returns line. I was really disapointed in the Penguin figure, which was just a repainted Super Powers Penguin. Also would have loved to have seen more henchmen in the line besides Penguin Commandos. Perhaps members of the Red Triangle Circus Gang? Skull bikers?
Throw in Penguin's Duckmobile...yes I would have loved to have seen that make it's way in the line as well.

[Eric]

I agree about the Beyond line, never understood the reasons for such limited selection of villains.

The current Mattel lines, to me, are big disappointments due to the fact that availablitlity is almost non existent.

[TonyAlmeida]

Batman Beyond

[DrGreenEvil]

For me it would probably be Batman Begins. Could have just had more.
The Return of the Joker line was pretty useless. Nothing but repaints. That was a big deal kindof a movie, so it should have gotten more.

In todays toy lines, the thing that upsets me most is how the smaller vehicles (boats, cycles, etc) have the figure molded on to them. It just takes so much of the play value out of them. IT just not right if you cant act out Batman jumping off his batcycle to save the day.

[Mr LOL]

1) Batman Returns - Easily the most disappointing line for me of all-time. I was 7, so I still got everything, but even then I knew something was a miss. The vehicles in the line? Oustanding. The figures? WTF !!! Not a single accurate Batman. He had a new costume and every figure was a re-release from the B89 suit mold. There was an accurate Catwoman, but her stitching wasn't painted white. That was probably the best figure in the line. A Penguin that was a re-hash and didn't resemble what we saw in the film AT ALL. And as I said, no accurate Batmans. Which was considering how faithful Kenner was for it's time to B89 when they got the rights. They made their product reflect the dark nature of the film, and set out to make things accurate. Batman Returns? Kenner straight fumbled the ball. So much potential. A deluxe glider Batman w/ accurate suit. An accurate Batman, period.

2) Batman Forever - Read the Returns line description. This line was alittle bit better. But still wasn't very accurate. The only on the ball figures to their movie counterparts was Two-Face, and the Guardians of Gotham pack which came out months after the movie released. I don't know what was Kenner's issue, but they refused to make the accurate movie suit on any of their figures, starting from Returns all the way to Batman and Robin. Mattel was actually the first Batman movie toy line to give us a completely accurate movie based costume for our movie figures. That's how bad Kenner got w/ this stuff. You'd see red / orange Batmans, etc. But no accurate suit. I for one happened to love the panther suit from Forever, and I was pissed we didn't get to see a movie accurate Batman. Ridiculous.

3) Batman Beyond - We didn't see a show accurate Batman till well into the series when they made a limited run w/ the "Return of the Joker" movie. Not to mention the sheer lack of villains. When on the show they were colorful as well, and I'm sure they would've sold like hot cakes.

[anthonywayne]

Nearly all of Kenner/Hasbro's movie lines were a huge let-down, precisely because there were no truly movie-accurate figures released; I've hoped that because Mattel now has access to all the DCU (including the past movies) that we may someday see this rectified.

[IamI]

For me it was the Knightforce Ninjas line. While it gave us a decent Robin, some nice villians and the very first Azrael, there were no normal Batman figures. The closest two were a baby blue parachute Batman with no cape and the other had red where there was supposed to be yellow! At least the other contemporary line - Legends of the Dark Knight - had Detective Batman among all the multitudes of Batman figures.

[Eric]

I guess, in a aence, all the Batman toy lines, aside from B:TAS, have been let downs due to the fact that there has never been a complete rogues/hero release for any of them.

[batfan93]

Well, here in Bulgaria we haven't seen much of the toy lines, but looking at reviews and photos I'd say that Batman Returns and BB ROTJ are disappointing. Returns because of the Penguin figure (which was not only a repaint, but they removed the movable joints on the knees) and that there wasn't a Batman with an accurate body armor. The ROTJ line was useless. No new Joker or Bruce Wayne sculpt. The Knight Force Ninjas line was with just plain ugly Batman figures.
And Batman Forever and Batman and Robin - for not having enough accurate figures. Atleast the quick-change figures were good.
And I can't hate the Batman Forever line, since my very first action figure is Manta Ray Batman.

[BatWulf]

My very first Batman action figure was the 8-inch Mego, and I think I measure pretty much all figures by that standard. Great articulation, though making them stand in a display was all but impossible without some sort of support. But that could be said of many current figures. And though I only had a few of them, there was a good hero-to-villain ratio. I had Batman and Robin on one side (never got my hands on Batgirl), and Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, and Riddler on the other (there were probably more, but that's all I had).

The Toy Biz figures for the '89 movie were when I started collecting Batman again, and looking back, it was a disappointment. The figures were pretty cruddy, though at least there was some variety of characters (I had Batman, Robin, Joker, Penguin, Two Face, Riddler, Mr Freeze). Kenner took over, and the figure quality improved greatly, in my opinion. There was even a current comic accurate Robin (though the Penguin figure for Returns was a huge let down). 257 repaints of Batman later, however, and I was bored. I didn't even bother getting figures from Forever until they were on ultra-clearance (they may even have been thrown in free with the purchase of a box of tissues, they were so many of them warming the pegs). Never had a desire to own any B&R figures.

The Animated Series, at first, was fantastic. Lots of figures, lots of villains, fairly accurate sculpts and whatnot. At the end, it was as bad, if not worse, than the end of Kenner's Returns-to-Forever years, just endless repaints in increasingly absurd colors. Neon purple and Day-Glo green Batman? Gigantic accessory that does nothing but look absurd?

All this leads up to the biggest disappointment of all, for me at least: Batman Beyond. I loved that show. I was in my thirties and working at a university when it aired, but made a point of being up every Saturday morning to watch it. By then, the Star Wars prequels were dominating my action figure budget, but I eagerly looked through the racks of BB figures, looking for the elusive black-and-red one. And you know what? To this day, I don't own one. I never saw one any of the many Targets in the Twin Cities (where you can't swing a live cat without hitting a Target, since the parent company is based there). Not once. Not even when Return of the Joker came out. Ugh! I didn't want Powder Blue Batman or Clear Plastic Pink Batman.

I never really got over that. Even the Justice League line disappointed me at first. Took me forever to get Hawkgirl, and by then, I already had too many repaints and accessory-variants of all the other figures. How many years was it before we started getting new characters? Villains? And now the problem is trying to find the figures they do make, which is actually more frustrating, since I know they're out there somewhere. Just not where I can get my hands on them. Ugh!

In the end though, the Batman Beyond line was the biggest let down for me. I'd trade a clear-fuscia Batman for my trusty Mego version any day (even if the elastic band holding all his limbs together snapped from the stress of beating up the Joker day after day).

[jef1963]

Well, I agree all they way with the big disapointments- Batman Beyond, (and the return of the joker line, Returns, Forever, well I need not go on . Every single issue with Kenner. The Firstmovie figures at least had knee articulation. It blows to have a Batcave playset (from the Animated series) and Batman sits at the computer with his legs sticking out. Don't even get me started on The Legends figures, although I loved the Jim Balent like Catwoman.