MANBAT

After more than 25 years i stil feel fascinated by McFarlane Toys figures from the 90s and begining of the 2000s but at the same time i really dislike wath McFarlane has been doing in the last 15 years. He produced a lot of Witcher figures yet every single one of them was terrible except a single statue of Geralt i review last year and he also produced an ocean of Batmen and DC characters, again some with an extremelly poor quality and some really good ones but the quality is all over the place in the end.

He did one of the best Swamp Thing figures i ever seen if not the single best one tough soo theres some really good jewells on his stock but they are kind of rare. One of the figures  that pick my attention greatly was Mcfarlane version of Manbat. He is part of the "Mega Figure" line along side Swapm Thing and other big characters like Doomsday soo while he came in a huge box, i was kinda dissapointed by his wings but in the end, i toock the chance i got him before he gets super expensive in the secondary market once McFarlane lose the DC licence.

Like i said, this guy comes in a huge box and is really really heavy but thankfully, price was very good and thats the saving greace of MacFarlane Toys now day. He is on scale with everything else of the brand soo this make him in perfect scale with NECA or Storm figures but given how beastly he is, he is for sure much bigger than those characters. He is actually bigger than Goliath and all the other Gargoyles but he is endeed shorter than the Swamp Thing (just to have in perspective how epic gigantic and imposing is Alec Holland).

This bad boy is articulate don the head, shoulders, elbows, chest, waist, legs, knees, ankles and half feet. The head articulation is really fantastic because he have a long peg with two ball joints in each side, conecting with his shoulders and head soo the head can move at the sides with complete freedom, up and down too and the fur piece on his neck that covers the peg is made of soft plastic. The shoulders have giant ball joints as well as the elbows soo the only thing that blocks the movement are his wings.

Chest and waist ball joints have a huge range of movement and while the legs can rotate only a little bit, they cna split and move front and back pretty nicelly. Theres double joint on the knees soo they can bend pretty good and he have not one, but TWO articulations on the ankles: one that let his feet rotate and a ball joint that makes his feet pivot. 

Wath does this mean? I cant stand on his own at all. I mean, he can technically stand but once you find the perfect balance of weight in the front and the back and even then, its imposible to know for how long this is gonna last....i mean the torso is huge and really heave and the ankles joints are very very lose soo this is to be expected, is logic, is noting but BAD ENGINERING.......

He comes with a tiny mini stand with a peg that conects with any of his feet. The stand is soo crazy generic every single MacFarlane figues has it: a thin circular completelly black with the DC logo on it. Is completely useles. It dosnt help balance at all and it dosnt help make his falls lighter. Is a completelly waste of plastic...

Anyway, i only have another Manbat on my collection and that is the one from Batman The Animated Series that belongs to one of my favorite chapters, "On Leather Wings". This one tough is based on the design of the New 52 comics soo is very different and is more like a Hulk with wings. This version looks like a body builder werewolf with wings, very beastly, extremelly sexy as well and imposing while the animated one looks much more lean and athletic. This version have HUGE biceps and arms in general wich makes sense because you need wings of steel to keep such a beast in the air and makes wonder wath kind of wings he could have.

This is the thing, McFarlane Toys made his wings closed completelly. I knwo this figure is already big but this is such a huge wasted chance to make a trully amazing figure, give him a pair of extra open wings just like DC Direct did with this same character, wings made of rea fabric or even paper or something....having such an amazing design with the wings always closed is soo depressing....

Aside of the wings thing, the sculpt here is amazing. The texture of the muscles is very realistic and theres veings everywhere and little realistic details, like the nipples. The hair parts ofn the shoulders and neck are made with soft plastic and the hair sculpt is very sharp and well defined. The closed wings are also amde of soft plastic and they are divided with most of them coming from Manbat´s hands and a smaller section coming out from his biceps, this way the elbows can still bend and move and the gap between this two sections is very easy to hide.

The head sculot is really really good, with the tiny eyes and almost non-existant nose and the huge ears and mouth full of fangs, tough one of the fangs is thicker and bigger than the other. I tough this was a mistake on y figure but i seen photos and videos other people pointing the same soo i think this is intentional but i dont know waths the story behind it (maybe he broke one of his fangs???). The broken jeans have also a very good texture on them and while the legs seems small comapred to his torso, they are pretty well build too but kind of pre-posed soo he can stand up righ at all since the knees are sculpted bending (logic would tell us this was to make him stand him easyer but it dosnt help at all his balance).

Paint is less interesting tough. The hair in the shoulders, neck and forearms is painted in a dark brown with some black wash to make it stand and it works very well because it even looks a little shiny but pretty much everything else is painted in a softer brown and thats it. Theres no shades or shadows or a wash, nothing....just brown and that makes it looks almost like cell shading clean. I mean, the wings SHOULD be a different color on each side but they are just the same brown as the rest of the body. 

Even the jeans are just blue and nothing else...no stains, dirt or anything else, just plain blue. The inside of the mouth is purple and stands our pretty good with all that brown and the inside of the hear is purple too tough i wish the transition between purple and brown could be better. The fangs...i am not sure if they are brown as well but they looks suspiciouslly like the skin tone but the eyes looks terrific!! The black surrounding the red puplis makes them sttand out perfectly and looks really demonic.

And since this is McFarlane, theres no accesorys beyond the waste of plastic that is the base and a card featuring a very good looking art in the front and the basic info of the character in the back. The card is a nice detail, like always, but i wish they added a closed mouth extra head (or gives him ana rticulated jaw!!!) or some open hands....its soo tiring to have his hands always on a fist.

This figure is nothing but contrast....it looks amazing on the shelve with a horror collection or a DC display, y beastly, sexy and well articulated and have an impresive size and presence, but the paint could be better, the balance needs to be better, the extras dont exist at all....soo this Manbat feels soo perfect yet soo incomplete. Its such a werid feeling.

Even soo i am happy i got him, despitr the headache that represents make him stand, this is one of the best McFarlane Toys has done in many years and looks perfect along side Zood or the Great Wolves and the Furay Planet figures.

MANBAT

Another one of the collections of my childhood was the Batman the Animated Series action figures from Kenner (who else?). I got one single Batman since i didnt need more than one, but i loved the villians figures: Catwoman, the Scarecrow, Clayface and of course, Manbat. When DC Collectibles re-released the figures a few years ago, of course i wanted them all, but the price and lack of shelf space made me think it twice.

I finally decided to focus my collection and get just Batman to represent it, but i also needed to chose a villian, and Manbat was the only choice. On Leather Wings was the very first chapter of the series and the one i remember the most, how dark and beautifully animated it was, Shirley Walkers magical score and how the shole chapter felt more like a Universal horror movie from the 30s than a cartoon.

I have yet to get Batman, but i was able to get Manbat at an extremelly low price. He was sculpted by Irene Matar and i dont have anymore my Kenner Manbat, but i am sure this version is bigger since he is taller than a Figma but looks in scale with McFarlane toys.

The sculpt and the paint are cut clean and extremelly angular, as they should. There is actually very little paint in here since he is cast on his brown for color soo the paint is limited to his wings membranes, mouth and eyes and the figure dont have any texture, wich makes him looks very 2D, very cartoony wich is perfect for him.

I love his long ears and his malevolent expression and those big pecs and back muscles… i think is pretty evident i have a thing for in-human character since i find both Swamp Thing and this Manbat to be specially hunky and sexy.

He is articulated on his head, chest and abs, his legs, knees and shoulders. The big surprise are the chest and abs, his torso moves with total freedome and i always hated the weird looking articulations this toys have on theyr legs, but as unatural as they look, they works really good and are pretty strong. Tough he cant move his ankles to adjust his balance….wich i think is maaayyybbbeee a good idea since an articulation down there sould make him more inestable…maybe?

I also wish he had a neck articulation soo you can pose his think head looking up front on a fliying pose since he is perpetually hunched. Also, his wings are a big piece of plastic and dosnt have any kind of articulation neyong his shoulders, tough he comes with a pair of extra wings to pose them closed or open.

While this limit his poseability a lot, it helps to give him a more clean and refined look since the segmented wings never worked (rigth Figma?). The arms can be replaced easy and theres absolutelly no problem with them, quet the oppposite since they give him a pretty imposing and amasing looks.

This figure also cast a pretty good shadow…

His accesoryes are the tape that the laboratory security guard records without noticing and helps Batman find who is behind the chaos and also three tiny pills container with the medicine that turns Dr. Krik Langstrom into Manbat. Of course, this are items for Batman since Manbat cannot hold them and they are more like…proop replicas from the set.

He also comes with a small base with the character design illustration. This idea to add design art to the base is really classy since it gives it the personality of the character to each base. The arm to hold the Manbat is a little anoying to move around but it does the job perfectly.

Of course, if you want Manbat to be fliying you need a different base, a pretty strong once since even the Play Arts Kai base have problems keeping up with his heavy frame.

The downside of this figure? Hes a pain in the ass to stand. The base helps but not too much given his big toseo and the wonky shape of his legs, the real help to make him stand are his wings. They give him balance, open or closed, they keep him up but once you close one wing then the whole balance is lost and he keeps falling over and over.

I am afraid to hate this guy just for that (like the Mantis Alien) but is not that bad as long as he is posed straight.

Overall i am extremelly happy with him, he is one of my favorite characters from Batman and Irene Matar did a great job traslating Bruce Timm clean design into 3D form, now i just need Batman to see my BTAS collection complete.