Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s the jolly one – Santa Claus! Oh, wait, no, it’s the somber, moody, one: Batman Santa! Yes, it’s our first Christmas themed post of 2023 and it’s an action figure review – shocking, I know. McFarlane Toys has held the DC license for several years now, but this is my first experience with the line. I’ve never been a big DC guy, though I do enjoy the Batman. McFarlane’s DC Multiverse line is a 1:10 scale action figure line that seems fine, but it has its own aesthetic and it’s not one that I’m particularly drawn to. It’s not very comic-like, and more of a grittier, militaristic, interpretation. It’s like a toyline based on the aesthetic found in Rocksteady’s Arkham series of Batman video games. If you like it – great, and if you don’t that’s fine too. I thought that by now I would have bought at least something from the line, but even the animated characters didn’t do much for me so I never had reason to dip my toe into the McFarlane waters. That is, until Todd decided to pair Batman with Santa.
The Batman Santa figure is a case of what you see is what you get. It’s Batman, and he’s dressed as Santa. I’m not aware of any story to pair with this one and there’s some artwork that goes along with it which is fine, but I’m always down for Christmas variants of characters I love. This figure is part of the Gold Label series which, as far as I can tell, is more of an excuse to tack on five bucks to the usual price as I don’t see anything all that special in the box. It comes in a clamshell package and was sold exclusively on McFarlane’s webstore in two versions: red and blue. The red is undoubtedly a more traditional take on Santa, but I like blue and blue feels more appropriate for Batman. The figure was 30 bucks, though there was a bundle to get bother versions for $50. It sold out by the time I made my purchase (even though both versions were still available as singles) so I didn’t even get a chance to consider double-dipping here, but I don’t think I would have. I only need one Santa Batman, or Batman Santa, for my holiday decorating this year.
Batman comes in at right around 7.375″ to the top of his hat. If this Batman is reusing any parts from a past release in the main line I’m not aware, because I don’t regularly purchase figures in this line. The Bat suit he’s wearing seems pretty modern to me and very much in that style I described going in. It’s textured like Kevlar and is armor-plated on the chest and lower legs. It’s almost all done in blue plastic without any shading or much in the way of paint. He has a silver Bat logo on the chest as well as silver shoulder pads and gauntlets. The gauntlets are held on by “straps” which are sculpted into the forearms. The same is true of the kneepads, but McFarlane didn’t paint the straps. Some white might have looked nice, but oh well. There’s a lot of paneling on the boots, but it’s all black plastic. It makes me wonder why they didn’t go with a less-detailed sculpt. Come to think of it, this getup would have been pretty appropriate for a Batman ’66 release.
Where paint is used is on the trim of the hat, robe, beard, face, and the cuffs of the sleeves. In almost all cases, the paint is white. I can’t quite tell what’s going on with the hands. It almost looks like they painted white over blue, even if it would have made more sense to just cast them in white. Then again, maybe it wouldn’t if nothing else on the figure is molded in white. The paint is mostly fine though and is cleanly applied. I wish the white was a bit more white, but it has a dingy quality to it. I suppose that fits the line’s aesthetic better than a pure white would, though I also can’t tell if it’s intentional or just the result of painting white over a very bright blue. The masked portion of the face is painted black which I love. It looks like a classic, 70s, Batman. It helps sell this blue color scheme, which honestly makes Batman look more like a Hannukah character than a Santa one.
And that Santa element is captured in really just three features of the figure. The head features a Santa hat which is part of the sculpt as well as a beard. To go along with that is the long overcoat with a utility belt holding it in place. The belt is black with a series of pouches painted white that make up about 2/3rds of the belt itself. It’s not a lot, but it’s certainly enough to get the point across. I think just some more color would have helped, but otherwise this is a Batman Santa and it’s what I wanted. The bladed forearms and shoulder pads are the only things I’m not that sold on. While I like that they do provide for a splash of color, they also make Batman look more like the Shredder than Batman. Is this what the character looks like in the comics now? It’s bizarre to me, someone who hasn’t opened a Batman comic in 20 years.
And that’s mostly all you’re going to get, a Batman that’s dressed like Santa. For accessories, we get a sack of presents. It’s blue plastic with silver painted gifts oozing out of the top. Batman can’t hold it, it can just sit on a surface beside him. And that’s it as far as action figure accessories go. No extra hands, no extra heads, no additional weapons or toys. How about a Christmas-themed grapnel launcher? Or Batarang? Or little Charlie Brown tree with a bat for a star? The artwork features a sleigh that would have been pretty cool, but admittedly not practical at this price. If this figure is reusing a ton of assets, then I’m a little annoyed at the lack of accessories for the price. If it’s not, then I guess it’s more acceptable, but still not great. You do get a little disc stand with the figure which at least helps to stand it on cotton “snow” as seen in my pictures. There’s also a plastic piece that snaps together and the artwork insert can slot into that to create a backdrop of sorts. It’s not a bad idea and I like the artwork on it, but I wish it had something else on the reverse side. Something like a true backdrop such as the Batcave decorated like Santa’s workshop. Instead, it’s just the same image on both sides. Opportunity wasted.
This figure is basically designed to just stand there in front of that backdrop with the sack of presents beside it, but it is still an action figure so we should talk about the articulation. It’s not great. The head just swivels side-to-side as the hat and beard prevent any up and down movement. There’s also no tilt to be found. The shoulders are big ball-hinged pegs that can raise out to the side past a horizontal position. The shoulder pads are soft enough to move out of the way and the arms rotate just fine. There’s some slight up and down play, but no real butterfly joint. The biceps swivel is fine and the double-jointed elbows bend well past 90 degrees, but the joint is hideous and strangely he can’t straighten his arms out or place them at his side. They’re always bent slightly. The hands are on a ball hinge or something similar, but the cuffs of the sleeve render the joint pretty useless. There’s no forearm swivel either, which I always hate on figures with gauntlets like this one since you can’t position them and I don’t like the default placement of them either.
In the torso, the figure has a diaphragm joint, but the coat won’t let it do much of anything. The waist twist works fine though and the legs can kick forward all the way and kick back some as well. They go out to the side for full splits, but don’t appear to feature a thigh twist of any kind. The knees are double-jointed, but despite that I can’t get them to go past 90 degrees. There’s no boot cut, and the ankles are pretty restricted by the design of the boot. They bend back pretty far, but not forward. The ankle rocker doesn’t appear to work and there’s a fairly useless toe hinge as well.
Despite the coat being fairly flexible and featuring an open design on the front and back, it still makes it hard to do much with this figure when it’s combined with the articulation scheme. Batman Santa can stand there, he can do splits if you want, or assume a walking pose. He has gripping hands, but nothing to grip, which seems like a bad idea as the hands aren’t expressive. Even if he had a grapnel hook or a line to swing from, his arms are really short and he wouldn’t be able to grab something over his head. It’s not a figure you’re going to do a whole lot with, but it didn’t have to be this way.
Batman Santa is an action figure that doesn’t articulate well, has some weird proportions, and is a pretty terrible value considering the price tag and the lack of accessories. It’s an online only figure too so you have to pay a shipping charge as well. The cost of this guy was $39.28 for me before taxes and that’s pretty expensive for a McFarlane figure. You really need to be a Christmas weirdo to want this figure, which is what I am. And now that I have it, how do I feel about it? Well, I’m happy to have a Batman as Santa action figure, even if this actual figure barely scratches that itch. It’s a novelty, and one that probably doesn’t justify the price. If you like it, I guess go for it. If you want an action figure that behaves more like an action figure then it will probably let you down.
This Batman Santa isn’t the first Christmas themed action figure we’ve looked at on this blog, how does it stack up with these?
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