Having seemingly exhausted every licensable actor and variant from the 1966 Batman TV show, McFarlane Toys just expanded their line in an unexpected new way. The New Adventures of Batman, a 1977 Filmation animated series, effectively served as a continuation to the show, even featuring Adam West and Burt Ward as the voices of Batman and Robin. Now it will serve as a continuation of the figure line as well, utilizing basic body types from the 6-inch TV line to create new, cartoon-style characters and variants. As such, they’ll be compatible with the Batmobile and Batcave playset for the TV figures.
Holy Simultaneous Licensing!
The New Adventures of Batman came at an interesting time. Hanna Barbera simultaneously used Batman and Robin on the Super Friends cartoon, which is far more remembered. That show utilized Olan Soule and Casey Kasem as the voices of the dynamic duo who had previously played the parts on a prior Filmation cartoon. Versatile voice actor Lennie Weinrib played most of the New Adventures villains, with Filmation’s Lou Scheimer filling in the rest. Melendy Britt, later best known as She-Ra, voiced all the major female characters.
McFarlane’s wave of figures based on the series includes animated-style versions of Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Joker, Riddler, and Commissioner Gordon with Bat-Mite. If you’re wondering why the Riddler is pink, it’s because technically the show didn’t have the rights to use him as a character. Super Friends legally had those rights tied up. But they could mention him, so a version in “wrong” colors merely appeared in the opening credits.
Expect these figures to arrive in February with a price tag of $17.99 each. That’s a bargain for most 6-inch figures in the current market. Torn over whether to preorder any? Take a look through some official images of the figures below.
