Batman: The Brave & The Bold – in Oz!

A funny thing happened to me today – I actually found some Mattel DC toys at retail in Australia!

It’s been so long since I’ve had any success that I really don’t do the toy rounds anymore. All there ever is is movie stuff, wrestling figures and the occasional Marvel Legends stuff. This day, however, I just happened to be returning something and thought I’d have a forlorn look at the toy aisles at Kmart, and when I turned the corner and saw an Aquaman on the pegs my stomach literally did a flip-flop.

There in front of me were four pegs full of Batman: Brave & The Bold figures! Being an OCD Aquaman completist I had been trying to find the Aquaman and Black Manta from this line with cheap shipping on eBay somewhere, to no avail.

Today, I managed to get these two plus Batman and Red Tornado for a really reasonable price. I left Kanjar Ro for budget reasons and was sorry there was no Blue Beetle there, as I’d really like to have him. That may be an eBay job, I guess. I’ll keep an eye out now that I know they’re in town.

These figures are a fun, different take on the DC toy. They’re chunkier and well articulated for their size, and represent the cartoon depictions well. I can imagine them being a hit with the mum & dad market, and with the expanded range that’s coming (B’wana Beast!) they’re going to be a hit with me too.

Aquaman is my favourite here. I like the mix of his different looks in this interpretation! Bats is nice and solid, and Black Manta is suitably creepy and well done. This is an odd place to get the first early SA-ish Red Tornado, but he’s fun too!

One dislike – the weird circular indentations at all the joints. I guess it’s a stylistic thing, but me no like. It’s a small quibble though. Each one has a fun, snap on accessory or extra piece. Aquaman has his trident, and the other three have wings or tornado-y things that fit in their backs (those circular holes again). Aquaman’s trident is a bit loose in his grip but he can still hold it.

I bought more of these than I’d planned just out of the shock of actually finding them here, but no regrets – these are going to find a place on my shelf somewhere, and the ones I can’t find are going on the want list! I just hope that the cartoon does well and that Mattel makes a good commitment to fleshing out this line. I’ll be there!

As an added bonus, here’s a look at my “Aquaman shelf” with these figures added. This isn’t all my Aquaman stuff, but it’s most.

You can see more photos at Facebook or discuss this at the AFB Forum.