Review – Batman and Robin Buildable Figures
The DC Comics “Buildable Figure” capsule machine toys (set at Amazon.com*) have been tempting me for months now and yesterday, after pouring seven dollars in quarters into the machine, I managed to walk away with this pair of cute little toys. The Marvel figures in this line were released a few years ago, but it wasn’t until last year that I even saw the DC toys. How are they? Great!
Three Parts
The photo above shows how the toys come out of the capsule machine, while the shot below shows how the bodies are hiding inside the heads once you snap the balls open. Assembling them into little 2.5-inch tall toys is very simple, and the assembly design even allows the toys to have a neck swivel so you can make them look left or right.
It’s All in the Tampowork
Since all of the sculpts are identical, the figures get their personality from both the plastic color and the paint and tampo work. Batman is made of blue plastic while Robin is made of black plastic, and then both toys are decorated with simple paint — spray masks are a must for these guys — and then tampo-printed details over that. The expressions are a blast! But it is always fun to see cute toy designs try to look menacing.
Very Tough Plastic
The hard ABS plastic of the toys is quite durable, which is appropriate considering that these are meant to be given to kids. But at $1/each I can see a lot of comic fans tossing in their quarters and trying to grab their favorite character . . . or the entire set!
Closing Thoughts
The “Buildable Figure” capsule machine toys are cheap, simple, but they’re fun and make awesome little desktop display pieces for someone’s office. I don’t have a complete set of either the Marvel or the DC toys in this line, but I’ve got more of them than I probably should. And if I see a new series of DC toys from this line that includes another Batman I’ll probably throw more quarters into the machine. Wouldn’t you?
