Welcome to Batman the Animated Toys blog!
This blog was the brainchild of Charles, best known for his pop culture and toy blog
Eclectorama. Charles approached me a long time ago about collaborating with him here, due to our similar interest in Batman and Batman the Animated Series. Apparently Charles and I also share a deep interest in procrastination, as it has taken many many months for a post to appear here.
Well, the wait is over true believers! For the first (and long overdue) official toy post on this blog, I'm reaching back to 1995 and that immortal villain, Ra's Al Ghul!
Long time readers of my personal toy blog
Toyriffic may know that I have a funny habit of shunning a character's action figure until I get a certain iconic look. I may love a character, but if the figures released don't do him justice, I'll pass and wait until one comes along that fits my world-view of how that character should be represented.
Which is why in 1995 I shunned this figure. In my mind, a Batman Animated inspired Ra's Al Ghul should be sporting his more conservative suit and cape (which was finally released in the
Shadows of Gotham box set many years later.)
But in 1995 all we got was this armor clad Ra's in the retitled "The Adventures of Batman and Robin" line. Now don't get me wrong, this is actually a really good figure. I just have that OCD about getting a "proper" figure first. By the time I did, this guy was long gone from store shelves.
But as luck and patience would have it, I finally came across an armored Ra's at the Swap Meet last weekend. So after fourteen years in limbo, let's bust this guy out of his packaging and have a look, shall we?
Ra's has his iconic green and yellow colors, and his armor is actually pretty cool. It's not over-done (especially considering how a lot of the Batman variants that Kenner was pumping out at the time looked!)
Ra's Al Ghul came with a few accessories as well. He has a cool sword...
...and a demon looking helmet (get it - Demon's Head!)
The helmet is easily slipped on and off and fits quite well. Ra's head sculpt is pretty cartoon accurate as well. His armored chest also sports a demon looking symbol. Cool.
He's a simple figure and time-period appropriately articulated. His sword fits in his hand nicely and Ra's looks quite regal and kingly holding it.
Finally, Ra's came with a silly projectile shooter (again, a sign of the times.) But this piece is easy to throw in a drawer and ignore (or keep by your desk to shoot at cats and others who may wander too closely while you are blogging about toys.)
All in all Ra's Al Ghul is a great figure and a good toy for any Batman Animated collection. I'm glad I have him in his suit so I could finally add this version to my collection.
Case in point; I found this Two-Face hanging on the pegs at a CVS Pharmacy (previously Longs) a couple months ago here in California. Only three figures comprise this new "line," (a Batman and a Joker in addition to Two Face) and the other two aren't the best repaints ever, but Two-Face here is a great addition to any Batman Animated collection.
I know this particular figure has been released a few times before, but I think this is one of the best detailed versions yet. Dent's suit is the perfect match between chaos...
...and sanity.
My only gripe is that his coin is a gold color, and we all know Harvey Dent's double-headed coin is a silver dollar. This is certainly an easy fix for anyone who is so inclined, so it isn't anything that should make one avoid the figure. I don't know if these guys are showing up anywhere besides the pharmacy/drug store circuit, but he was somewhere around $7.99 or so at CVS. Toys are always more at stores like that, so it's no surprise, but I didn't already have a Batman Animated Two-Face, so I snagged him. Should you try to track one down yourself? I don't know, why don't you flip a coin.
"Call it!"
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