Batman Forever

Batman Forever

DC Multiverse - Mattel

So, DC Multiverse has a sub-line with random selections from DC's past live-action endeavors.  I assume the picking and choosing has to do with which actor's rights come the cheapest.  So you get a Linda Carter, but no Christopher Reeve.  Heath Ledger, but no Jack Nicholson.  Danny DeVito, but no Michael Keaton.  It's frustrating, and now even more pointless to jump into these with Mattel closing shop on DC.  I picked up this Val Kilmer Batman on clearance from Gamestop...why not?

You barely get enough Kilmer here in the mouth area, so I hope they didn't spend a bundle for him.  Or maybe they just bungled the execution...sculpt lines are very soft.  The real problem here is that the head articulation ruins the movie look.  It's more of a separate headpiece like the Christian Bale, Dark Knight suit than the movement-limiting cylinders from the Burton productions.  It also makes the head look a bit small to me.  At least the rest of the suit looks good...wait a minute...

WHERE ARE THE BAT-NIPPLES?!  Ugh, the one detail in this suit that was subject to controversy and ridicule so many years ago is missing?!  Everyone remembers the horribly gratuitous suiting up shots from the Schumacher films...how can you screw that up?  Why even do this figure?!  Mattel is notoriously inconsistent in the male nipple department.  Masters of the Universe Classics get nipples, but not superheroes...or even WWE wrestlers?  They're real people!  That's messed up!

And then you go and put the fine print all over the Bat-Butt?!  Where's the definition?!

Well, at least the belt and Bat-Codpiece looks to be accurate...

Silly nitpicks aside, this figure does have a lot of poseability.  The cloth cape helps, but still looks cheap to me, as most cloth accessories on action figures do.  He comes with a couple of interchangeable hands, a batarang, bat-grapnel, and a multi-functional stand.  There is a removable cardboard backdrop of what the figure is supposed to look like, a removable "flight" stand, removable foot peg options, and the bottom opens up for storage of his accessories.

It's an alright figure for nostalgia's sake, I guess.  But I would not have paid the $25 retail price for him.  If you can get him for under $15, go for it.  At the least, you've got another suit for the bat-vault that Bruce can look at and go, "what was I thinking?"