Holy expansion of canon, Batman! Burt Ward as a retro Nightwing is exactly the kind of figure we never knew we wanted so much. Wave 10 of McFarlane Toys‘ 1966 Batman figures also proves there are still likeness rights to be had, as the line had branched out into animation and comic-styled figures rather than new characters. This wave includes two first-timers in the line: Alan Napier’s Alfred and Roddy McDowall as the Bookworm. Along with the Nightwing figure, an armored Batman rounds out the wave.
Old Chums and New-ish
Mattel previously made an Alfred in the 6-inch scale that included Alan Napier and Michael Gough heads, but this one is officially based on the TV show top-to-bottom, complete with feather duster.
Bookworm comes with his giant magnifying glass, which helps him to read, but could also fry some ants or set a deathtrap involving the rays of the sun.
Nightwing shows that Dick Grayson is a “boy” wonder no more, what with some of that manly chest hair showing. His costume looks a bit more leather-jacket based than those on the show itself, but is based on the Batman ’66 comics appearance.
As for Batman himself, he looks to be donning a version of the Kingdom Come armored flight suit. He’s not old and angry enough to actually be Kingdom Come Bats, even in this alternate reality, but all Batmen have basically the same design style — they just disagree on how dark the colors should be.
Wave 10 will go up for preorder May 8th at selected retailers, and if McFarlane sticks to their usual timeframe, they should arrive a couple months thereafter. The line had been getting stale with variants, so this really feels like a shot in the arm. Here’s hoping more classic villain actor likeness rights become available to keep the line going another ten waves.
