I do enjoy the look overall. The cowl and head sculpt – there’s a full, inaccessible Keaton sculpt under there, are fantastic. The gloves, boots, belt, etc. are all well done. It’s a great visual on the sculpt even if it’s not quite as beefy as it should be. The paint completes the visual – not much is needed, but what is there is sharp enough to get the job done.
The only thing I really don’t like about the figure? The cape. I hate cloth capes in general, so it’s a tough sell for me, but the material used is so cheap that it’s basically a veil. You can read this review through it with no problem. I’m gonna figure NECA couldn’t budget in the material they used on the quarter scale and I get that. But just even a heavier cloth would’ve gone a long way. The other downfall is how it connects to the figure, creating a gap between the cowl & the torso. We know from the movie that the cowl basically made Keaton’s head immobile; as such, I’m honestly okay with a figure being the same. If NECA or any future Keaton Batman maker could just plan for the cap to tuck into the sculpt and render the head immobile, I’m good with it. The one advantage to what NECA chose was that you move the cape around a bit to get different poses. What I’ve come to like is just folding the cape over the cowl edges as it appears to close the gap and makes the cape doubled over in some areas and appear darker.
Overall, this figure is nothing short of a godsend. In addition to NECA’s three figures, Mattel did just recently make a 4” figure so we’re not in the long drought we used to be. I spent a long time assuming the ship has sailed on getting a great figure of my favorite version of Batman, so I’m pretty ecstatic about this one. It’s not perfect, but I appreciate it. NECA put together a really good figure and found a clever workaround to get it to us. That’s win-win for this Batman. Now, if we can just get a 30th Anniversary Joker in a few years…
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I still need to hunt this down. Unfortunately it’s difficult being outside the US to get this for a semi-decent price. 😛
Great review. NECA are doing some amazing figures I am very tempted to get. What other Batman figures are you planning on reviewing?
I love this figure – it’s one of the coolest things NECA’s done. The only negative is that he”s a one-off. I’d love to have a Catwoman, Penguin, and Joker to go with him. Also, the Keaton headsculpt featured beneath the cowl is, unfortunately, just a face. The top of his head and ears are missing.
I was lucky enough to get this figure and the Diamond Luxe blu-ray for Christmas, and its definitely my favorite Batman figure. I’ve got him displayed next to his NES brother… they go great together. And I’m a big fan of Neca’s quarter scale figure, but I’m always afraid it’s going to take a leap off the shelf, so I really prefer this scale.
I’d love it if they’d do a Nicholson Joker, but I’ve read that his price is way too high for Neca and most toy companies. If they’d scale down that quarter scale Penguin, that would be cool, too. Batman needs a villain over here!
Best action figure* of Batman ever made. By far. I’m still looking forward to the One:12 Collective version, when/if that comes out. But still. This piece is incredible. And damn right, that package was killer!
Though you are right about the cape. Might I suggest looking into Tony Mei’s custom one. It really does elevate the whole package quite a bit. He’s also done ones for the NECA Q-scale and several for the Hot Toys.
*Hot Toys doesn’t count as an action figure
Is Mezco releasing a One:12 Michael Keaton Bats?
I forget which show it was but shortly after they revealed the TDKR Bats they had a display with signs of some of the licenses they had for the line, one of them was B89.
I would love one of these repainted like the Kenner Arctic Batman.