Wow! Its finally happened but DC has finally started to come out with good figures that may someday rival the Marvel Legends. Its the new DC Universe Line, and the first one we’re going to talk about is Batman.

Batman, born Bruce Wayne, to loving parents Martha and Thomas Wayne, has dedicated his life to seeing criminals face justice after watching his parents gun downed in an alley when he was a boy.

I think so far from the pics I have seen online these may be the best figures DC has ever made. While they may not be as detailed as some of the other DC figures, the proof here is the articulation. These new figures probably, if not almost certainly, have more articulation then any DC distributed figure before them and that is a good thing.

The Batman figure comes in at about the same height that most superhero figures are coming in on average. Paired next to Captain Marvel of the Marvel Legends line, the height difference is negligible and makes both look good standing next to one another on any shelf, desk, or play room. Captain Marvel does seem to be painted a bit more realistically, but then again this Batman is also meant to look like a more classic styled Batman. For years now we’ve seen the ultra modern, dark black cape and cowled Caped Crusader we are used to seeing. The paint job though remains clean and sharp and accurately depicts how Batman looked before when previously drawn during the earlier 80’s and before.

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The DC figures have had fair upper body articulation for the last few years, going back and forth between very articulated to old school rotating arms articulation. These new figures seem to come with the typical ball jointed shoulders that we are used to seeing in figures now allowing Batman full range of motion but no hand articulation other then what is found in the wrist which allows his hands to at least turn. His torso isn’t bad, it allows the figure to lean back or to bend forward while still leaving his legs in a standing position just like a normal person which is good.

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The leg joints are what really make these DC figures now. They can finally move and do more than rotate their legs at 90 degrees. As you can see from the pictures Batman is doing a split that might be impossible for even the most articulated Marvel Legends action figures, which is made easy due to the type of articulation that DC figures now seem like they may have. I’m not sure what its called, but I tend to refer to it as a split legged kind, where as the leg can rotate, but the joint to give it real flexibility is built into the side, making it possible as you see, for the leg to rotate straight out into the split as seen in the first picture over this paragraph. I don’t think its the most ideal solution to better articulation but it is much better than what they have been using before this, so I’m glad to see a change. Which is good, because it leads to nice dramatic poses such as these.

This Batman figure is not perfect. Its an older image of Batman which shows up now in classic DC stories when they are trying to refer to Batman’s “happier times” when he wasn’t so grim and gritty. I say give me modern Batman with a scowl on his face and thats all I need, but for a Series 1 figure coming out the door its excellent.I hope they continue to get better as the Legends did and try to experiment with some new forms of articulation till they find the perfect one that seems to work best for them.

So if you’ve been waiting to start becoming a collector of DC action figures like I have, mainly because you didn’t like buying little statues you couldn’t pose as well as the legends line, this set might be for you. They are offering an original and wide variety of DC characters it seems so far, and as long as they don’t fall into the Legend routine of ever other set throwing in a new Batman with a different look or Superman they should be able to properly flesh out their universe in attractive and entertaining toy form.

These toys can be found everywhere now, but best bet check you neighborhood Target first, as thats where I found this one.

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