OH, WOW! These Faux FILMATION ACTION FIGURES Have Fans in a Frenzy
TOYHEM! gives you what you really want for the holidays… — Welcome to TOYHEM! For the seventh straight holiday season, we’re bringing you a series of features and columns celebrating the toys of our youth, which often made for the best memories this time of year. Click here to check out the complete index of stories — and have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Chanukah and Happy Holidays! — Over the years, I’ve swooned every time a company dips into the Filmation DC Comics cartoons for inspiration. Figures Toys Company gave us a few Batman figures some years ago, and then, more recently, McFarlane Toys gave us a wave based on the 1977 New Adventures of Batman: Well, the other day, I was scrolling through Facebook and I saw that Super Friends expert Will Rodgers posted this lineup of imaginary McFarlane Filmation DC action figures, with the comment that he didn’t know who created it: The resolution wasn’t great and so I did some digging and found a treasure trove of higher-res images of each set, which were posted to the Toy News International forums in March 2024, by someone known only as “Ron”: “I recently purchased the complete line of McFarlane Toys figures based on the 1977 ‘New Adventures of Batman’ in the style of the Filmation animated series,” Ben wrote. “My only mild disappointment is that I preferred that they would have been based on the original 1968 version, that the hips would also have had sideway joints for better articulation and that the capes would have been plastic instead of cloth. “However, this retro line, based on the vintage DC Filmation cartoons that I grew up with, inspired me to create a set of ‘wish list’ renditions of more DC characters in the same style from the other series, such as the 1966 ‘New Adventures of Superman,’ the 1967 ‘Aquaman’ (with Justice League and Teen Titans), and the 1968 ‘Batman with Robin, the Boy Wonder’ series. I hope folks like them and who knows? If McFarlane Toys sees this, perhaps they’ll make them a reality!” Ron — and if you’re reading us, tell us who you are in the comments — is 100 percent on the money. While the 1977 Filmation Batman series is fine, it’s the 1968 The Adventures of Batman that’s far superior. And, while I know this...
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