Review of Batman 1966 Television Show Statue
Premier Collection

Introduction

Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah...Batman! For those of us born in the 60's, the goofy Adam West Batman will forever be a nostalgic favorite.  Lucky for us, after decades of zero collectibles based on the show, we are finally getting a steady stream of goodies.  One of the companies doing a lion's share of the work is Diamond Select Toys, making busts and statues.

The latest 1966 television themed item is in their Premier Collection statue series. They're also doing characters from the animated Batman shows in this same series.  For the old tv show, they've already released Catwoman and Batgirl, with the Joker due any day.  The central character, the Batman himself, just started to ship.

You can pick up Batman for around $135, maybe a little less depending on the retailer.  This is also a limited edition, set at just 1966 pieces. Cute.

Packaging - ***
A pretty standard box utilizing the cheaper foam trays inside.  The statue is all one piece, making the box seem large.  It shows off the statue well, gives you some background info (like who the sculptor is, the famous Clayburn Moore), and includes the edition size and number on the bottom. More importantly, there's a large, well designed Certificate of Authenticity, which also includes the edition size and number.  And in case you weren't sure, the edition size and number are printed on the bottom of the statue itself.

Sculpting - ***
I think there's actually a pretty good Adam West likeness in there, particularly in the shape of the face, jawline, lips, and nose. The longer I looked at it, the more I compared it to stills, the happier I was.  The paint makes some of that difficult, but to properly judge any portrait, you have to try to see beyond the paint, both good and bad.

In fact, based solely on the portrait, I might have gone an extra half star in this category. But the pose just isn't working for me.  I like aspects of the body - the musculature and weight seem reasonable, the detailing is good, and the work on the belt, especially the buckle, is great. But the pose, which is supposed to be dynamic but doesn't seem realistic, throws it off. I get it, he just punched you in the face and this is the follow through, complete with a 'POW!' inscribed on the base.  I'm having an aesthetic issue with it though, and the overall look doesn't work for me.

He stands about 11" tall, including the base, which keeps him in scale with the other statues in the series.

Paint - **
And yes, the paint certainly does get in the way of appreciating the sculpt, at least from the neck up. From the neck down, things are pretty good. Most of the colors are consistent, finishes make sense, and the few smaller details - like the emblem on the buckle - look good. My only complaint on the suit is with the belt pouches, which are streaky and inconsistent in coverage, perhaps on purpose.

The face is pretty atrocious. The wide eyes suffer from being painted on resin, a situation that statue makers are going to have to get away from if they want to be considered 'high end' going forward.  Sixth scale makers are kicking their butt on realism and emotion, and it's due in large part to the materials being used and how that limits - or improves - the paint application.

I can cut them some slack on the sloppy white lines on the mask, since the real version wasn't all *that* perfect, but the weird shadow line on the mouth couldn't be much worse, and the gloss coat on the lower face is unnecessary and glaring, even in hand.

Value - **
These statues are supposed to be higher end than the normal Kotobukiya or other PVC versions, and therefore command a higher price point at $135.  That's above the similarly scaled Bombshells from DC Collectibles, for example.  If the quality were spot on, I could see it, but with the poor paint operations, these are currently over priced.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. Since there's nothing to assemble, the only issue is dropping the entire thing. Don't do that.

Overall - **1/2
Of the three 1966 Premier Collection statues I know own, this one falls solidly in the middle. My favorite remains their first, Batgirl, who had some minor paint issues, but was in the general ball park.  Then came Catwoman, who is on the bottom end of the scale. Batman improves slightly, but there still needs to be work done on the quality of the paint work if DST wants to get this overall series to succeed.  They'd be an excellent option to the larger and more expensive Tweeterhead line, but the quality needs to hit 'average' first.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***
Paint - **
Value - **
Overall - **1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth is at $135.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I've also covered their Batgirl and Catwoman releases, also based on the 1966 show.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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