Why don't the toys look anything like the real characters?

[Squall]

I don't understand why the Batman/Superman/Batman Beyond toys don't look anything like the characters do on the show. It's so obvious, yet they don't seem to grasp the idea.

Just look at the most popular toy lines from the early 1980's to today -- what do they all have in common? -- from Transformers to G.I. Joe to Pokemon to Digimon to Star Wars, etc. -- What they have in common is that they all look like they're SUPPOSED to! They look like they do on the TV shows and in the movies (or as close to them as possible as the manufacturers could get). They're not whacky "Mission Masters" with funky colors and weird, huge gadgets that had absolutely nothing to do with the TV show.

Why don't these manufacturers try this? Dump all those stupid models, and make a simple set of models that are EXACTLY what they're supposed to look like. For example, they could make and sale these figure packs:

B:TAS Set #1 -- Batman, Robin (Dick Grayson), Batgirl, and Alfred
B:TAS Set #2 -- Joker, Harley Quinn, Penguin, Two-Face, Riddler
......etc.
B:TAS Set #7 -- Ra's Al Guhl, Talia, Ubu
B:TAS Set #8 -- Bruce Wayne, Commissioner Gordon, Harvey Bullock
......etc.
TNBA Set #1 -- Batman, Robin (Tim Drake), Batgirl, Nightwing, Alfred
TNBA Set #2 -- Joker, Harley Quinn, Moe, Lar, Cur, & the two hyenas
TNBA Set #3 -- Mr. Freeze, and his three ladies
TNBA Set #4 -- Penguin, and his three ladies
......etc.
S:TAS Set #1 -- Superman, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Daily Planet owner (name?)
S:TAS Set #2 -- Lex Luthor, Mercy Graves, and the small & large versions of the robots from "World's Finest"
......etc.
S:TAS Set #6 -- Dr. Fate, Flash, Green Lantern (Kyle Rainer), Aquaman
S:TAS Set #7 -- Granny Goodness & the Female Furies
S:TAS Set #8 -- Darkseid (w/throne), Kalibak, Steppenwolf
......etc.
TNBA Special Set -- Batman (in flying gear), Batman (in his heat reistant suit from "Torch Song"), Batman (w/ battle damage)
......etc.
BB Set #1 -- Bruce Wayne, Batman (Terry McGinnis), Dana, Max
BB Set #2 -- Blight, Inque, Shriek
...etc.
BB Special Set -- Superman, Batman (Terry McGinnis), Warhawk, Aquagirl, Green Lantern (name unknown), Barda, Micron
......etc.
JL Set #1 -- the JL -- Superman, Batman (Bruce Wayne), Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (John Stewart), Flash, Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl
JL Set #2 -- the GL Core Members seen on "In Blackest Night", including John Stewart
JL Set #3 -- Aquaman (w/throne), Mera, Orm, and Aquaman's son in a manger
JL Set #4 -- the Injustice Gang -- Joker, Lex Luthor (w/armor), Solomon Grundy, Ultra-Humanite, Shade, Cheetah, Copperhead
......
JL Set #10 -- minor villians set -- Kanjar Ro, Deadshot, and two or three others that we haven't seen yet

...anyway, you get the idea. If the toy manufacutrers would do this -- and make each set come in a nice box with a background and everything (like the Star Wars toys do), so that you can display them very nicely without even having to take them out of the box. Then they'd make a TON of ca$h...

It makes SO much sense! Why they don't do this is beyond me. I have no explanation for how they can miss the obvious...

[Bird Boy]

because there is supposedly a higher market of "play value" with the endless batman variants. Hasbro isn't a company for the batman fans. If they ever drop the Batman license, be sure that DC Direct will pick it up right away..THEN we'll get some high quality figures..

-BB

[Trent Lane]

BB right on it there. Hasbro makes toys for the almighty $, not for fans. As long as the toys are flying off the shelf, what do they care as to what characters they put out?....

[Clayface]

While I agree that the numerous variants are silly and pointless, I believe that they have made a number of the figures looking just like their show counterparts.

I've seen perfect models of the original Batman (blue costume) as well as the later incarnation (black and grey costume).
Both Robins have been done in excellent sculpts, as well as Batgirl, Alfred, Joker (TNBA style), Harley Quinn, Two-Face (BTAS style), Riddler (both styles), Ra's (B:TAS style), Commisioner Gordon, Mr. Freeze (both styles), Blight, and many others not listed here. I agree that they need to lose the repaints and start re-releasing some of these other figures, but I think that there have been a lot of good, on-model releases.

[MatchesMalone]

Hasbro used to do such a fantastic job with the Batman figures long before they started the Beyond line. Sure there was always a couple of Batmans in any given assortment that Hasbro took some creative license with, but for the most part, the figures were good renditions of the characters from the show (In fact, if you compare the first Detective Batman and first Robin from TNBA, they look almost exactly like miniature versions of the animators' maquettes that are shown in the Batman Animated Book). Although characters like Gordon and Alfred were missing, Hasbro did a good job of releasing a nice assortment of villains and what-not.

Then something happened...not sure what. Hasbro seemed to get lazy and started releasing the Batman lines we see today. Old sculpts repainted in awful, bizarre color schemes.

With the Batman Beyond line, we couldn't even buy a black and red suit Terry until the SECOND wave of figures. To top it off, when that figure did show up...it was impossible to find! Also, villains started to become a thing of the past. Not producing a Beyond Bruce Wayne seems unforgivable to me (a petition to Hasbro requesting a Beyond 4-pack might be in order...Bruce, Black suit Terry, one of the Jokerz, and Blight. This would be only one original sculpt which seems to be what they are willing to do for the 4-packs. Plus, Bruce may be more marketable than either Gordon or Alfred were.)

At any rate, at this point, I wish Hasbro would start paying more attention to the Batman line or let a company with zeal for the series take it over and give the fans the figures they want to buy.

[The Guard]

Clayface...I hope you aren't saying that the BTAS Robin was an excellent sculpt. Kenner just repainted a Batman Returns Robin and gave him a new head...

[Clayface]

Its still looked like the BTAS Robin to me! ;)

[The Guard]

With all the pouches and that neck thing???

[Clayface]

Hmm, don't know if its the same one or not. I'd have to go dig through my boxes of figures to find him, but from what I remember, I was satisfied with it when it came out.

[kid_flash]

I love Hasbro's first toys. Not the repaints, the ones that were based directly from the show's designs. Those came out perfectly (let's ignore STAS right now). I mean, look at the BTAS Batman! Or the TNBA Batman! Or ANY BTAS villain! Batgirl took awhile to come out right, but she came out, huh? Hasbro's stuff isn't toal crap, guys. Alfred's one of my favorite toys in my collection.

And aside from animated figures, look at the Legends of the Dark Knight line. That's one of the best lines ever put out!

[dustin_baetz]

Hasbro has made excellent versions of the following characters:

Old-School
Batman (Combat Belt)
Joker (Laughing Gas and Trench Coat)
Riddler
Two-Face
Harley Quinn
Bane
Killer Croc (inaccurate eyes)
Man-Bat
Mr. Freeze (inaccurate gun and tank)
Scarecrow (inaccurate eyes)
Poison Ivy
Clayface
Mad Hatter (released in New Batman Adventures line)

New-School
Batman (pale)
Robin (pale)
Nightwing (pale)
Joker
Two-Face
Creeper
Mr. Freeze
Riddler
Brainiac
Darkseid

Batman Beyond
Happy

It was STAS and Batman Beyond that really went to hell. Now with the four-packs, they're releasing sculpts ranging anywhere from miraculous (Commissioner Gordon) to adequate (Lois Lane), albeit all with improper paint jobs.

Thus, the customizers must step up to the plate. Since the beginning of June I've made my own accurate incarnations of Gordon, Alfred, Batgirl, Superman, Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Lex Luthor, Bizarro, and the Jon Stewart Green Lantern from Justice League, with Metallo and Batman Beyond in the works as we speak. It's taken an incredible amount of time and effort, but it's the only way to make manifest any reasonable action figures based on the animated series.

[Heehaw]

The BTAS Robin figure was the Returns one with a cheeseball smiley head. While the head looks halfway decent, the body is pure comic book style, exaggerated muscles, pouches and all. The only good Robin is the TNBA one.

Others that are perfect in TNBA are Alfred, Detective Batman, Nightwing, Bruce, Gordon('cept for the giant hands), Mad Hatter, Freeze(out of scale), Riddler, Two-Face, Joker, Creeper. I also like the blue Batman with the jetpack and gauntlets. The paint is junk, but it has correct accessories.

BTAS: Combat Belt Batman, Man-Bat, Freeze(out of scale but nice), Riddler, Two-Face, Ivy, Killer Croc(again, out of scale but decent), Phantasm, Retro Batman, Harley, the Joker with the hat and overcoat, Clayface, Batgirl(except for color), Penguin, Bane

Basically, the whole thing is just about perfect except those blasted 150ish repaints.

BTAS Joker, Scarecrow, BTAS Bruce and Ras al Ghul were pretty disappointing for me, though I liked the Ras head and mask. Rumor has it that the next 4-pack has a correct Ras. I'll believe it when I see it.