Justice League Batman Action Figure :: Post 'Brave and the Bold' Batman

The Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon was incredible. One of my favorite iterations of Batman and his pals of all time. The action figure line had a lot of potential, and even the silly 'hex hole' action feature, in retrospect, isn't as bad as some action features throughout toy history. Like the current movement of appendage-swapping that Hasbro and Playmates both seem to have picked up on.

Regardless, the cartoon only lasted three seasons. Which meant the toyline also didn't run for very long. A few promised characters never made it to the toy aisles, and I'm still bitter about that.

But wait...the toyline still lives...of a sort. As a Target exclusive, and re-branded as simply 'Justice League', there have been a handful of figures released over the past couple years - mostly 'New 52' re-colored versions of Batman, Superman, Flash etc...but also original releases like Hawkman and Wonder Woman. And all of them have been re-sculpted to remove the hex-hole feature that so divided the toy collecting community.

Anyways, being bitter about the end of the Batman: the Brave and the Bold line proper and the loss of promised characters like Gentleman Ghost, I have pretty much ignored the re-branded line at retail. It helps that Wonder Woman was only available in a multi figure set that cost around fifty dollars, and that Hawkman is impossible to find on the shelves. Sometimes ridiculous toy company marketing decisions save me a lot of money.

But I found this New-52 version of Batman at the flea market and couldn't pass him up for under a buck. His belt is a little off center, and that appears to be a common problem with these guys, so...whatever. I'm no fan of the costume lines and lack of outer-underwear either, but I just see this as a Brave and the Bold costume variant with some sort of story relevant reasoning, so I can accept it.

I do love the Brave and the Bold aesthetic and the head-sculpt is just perfect fifties Dick Sprang Batman made real, so the figure is great even if I am still sad that the cartoon is no longer on the air.