Random Toy Review: ‘Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker’ Action Figures
Posted 8 years ago by Tommy Toys
What better way to celebrate the release of the final chapter in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy than by reviewing four 12 year old, completely unrelated action figures? I can’t think of one! Yup, it’s time for another Random Toy Review.
Today we’re looking at four action figures that were released as a tie-in to the direct-to-video animated movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, which is actually pretty damn awesome. I loved Batman Beyond as a kid, but I didn’t discover this movie until a few years ago. It has a huge cult following, partly because the violence nabbed the first PG-13 rating for a Batman animated film. There have been a lot of versions on home video since, some with the violence dumbed-down, but thankfully the uncut version is available on Blu-ray and looks great.
But I digress. Thinking about this movie has made me want to revisit it soon, and I’m sure I’ll write something up on the site about it. For now though, the toys. A friend game me some carded figures from this movie, and since I have no respect for mint-in-the-box-things I promptly ripped them open to get a closer look. How do these 12-year old toys hold up to the Batman action figures of today? Let’s find out.
Gotham Knight Batman
The return of Gotham City’s worst enemy ever – The Joker – has thrown the entire city into a whirlwind of chaos! It’s up to the youthful new Batman to put an end to his evil plans once and for all! The Joker may be back and more powerful than ever before, but Batman is ready with his jet-booster cape and awesome ion swords!
I was actually pretty excited to get these toys. I was a huge fan of Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond, but never had very many of the toys. The design of Batman in Beyond is very simplistic, but super cool at the same time, and I always wanted an action figure. In some ways, this is just what I wanted, but the whole line has some major flaws.
These figures are rubbery, and damn near impossible to get to stand up. Maybe it’s the twelve years they’ve been in the box, but I seem to remember action figures like these being a pain in the ass back in the day. I wanted to take better photos for this post, but I had to hold them up out of frame in just about every shot. It may be a first world problem, but when you’re talking about little plastic things that are supposed to stand up and look cool it kind of defeats the purpose if they won’t.
Rubbery legs aside, Gotham Knight Batman is a pretty cool action figure representation of the character from Batman Beyond. He comes with some silly accessories that I didn’t even bother taking pictures of, but hey, this is a Batman toy line, we’re lucky he’s not bright purple and wearing a snorkel.
Gotham Defender Batman
Gotham City’s worst enemy has returned: The Joker! Now, it’s up to Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis to put and end to his villainous plans once and for all! The Joker may be back, but Batman is ready for him with his fully equipped Bat-Pack flight cape!
The Bruce Timm designed, Kevin Conroy-voiced Batman will always be my favorite incarnation of the character. Well, at least until the movies have been rebooted for the thirtieth time and Batman is a dinosaur with an attitude that spouts retro slang from the 90s as he doles out justice.
Until Batosaurus vs. Joker-B0t comes out, that’s my favorite version of Batman. The animated series went through a few different styles, but I feel like it really hit its stride when Batman was simplified. The only downside to that is the action figure has rubbery chicken-legs and can’t stand on its own. When I was trying to pose Batman for this photo, it felt like I was balancing a potato on a couple toothpicks, but not as fun. If you can get him to stand, he’s a great Batman action figure though. I just wish they released an Elderly Batman action figure in this line, then he could come with a cane accessory and it would be easier to prop him up.
Arkham Assault Joker
Look out, Gotham City…The Joker is back! Once again, Batman must defend the city from one of the most notorious villains ever, and it won’t be easy. This time around, The Joker has decades of new technology to abuse – and he’ll be harder to stop than ever before!
I guess ‘decades of new technology’ means green guns. Actually, those guns are supposed to snap into some ridiculous-looking playing card-turret thing, but it works just fine to have him dual-wield instead. I don’t want to get into spoilers too much, but as a tie-in for the movie, it would have been nice if The Joker came with some electrical wires. You know, for torturin’.
Mark Hamill will always be my favorite Joker, with Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger tied for second. He was the perfect balance of crazy and clown-themed jokes, and has the best Joker laugh of all time. His action figure looks pretty spot-on, although a ‘Death Scene Joker’ would have been pretty cool too.
Rapid Switch Bruce Wayne
Bruce Wayne, the original Batman, has always defended the citizens of Gotham City from the ruthless plans of The Joker – the most notorious villain ever. But now, The Joker has somehow returned, and it’s up to Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis to defeat him for good!
The last figure in the bunch is kind of an interesting one. There have been plenty of Bruce Wayne/Batman action figures in the past, but I’ve never owned one. Rapid Switch Bruce Wayne goes from orange trenchcoat-wearing Bruce Wayne to orange-suited Batman with an awkwardly-fitted cowl. His coat has a faux suit jacket front that comes off in one piece leaving Bruce in his orange Bat-jammies. Then you put the cowl on and he kind of looks like Orange Batman. Oh, and he comes with a disk launcher.
I think I prefer just keeping him as Bruce Wayne all the time. Any kid who is going to have a Bruce Wayne action figure is going to have about fifty Batmans lying around, and doesn’t really need to rapidly switch anything to make believe they’re the same person.
The Verdict
These figures are cool, but the rubber-leg issues kind of suck. This line would have benefited from a Beat All to Hell Tim Drake figure though, that’s for sure. You know how much kids love torturing things and making them crazy.
Ultimately, as a fan of the show and movie, I’m glad I have them standing propped up on my shelf now.
