In the Fall of 1992, Batman the Animated Series debuted on Fox Television. Since then, Gotham has never been the same. This fantastic show has made its mark on the saga of the Dark Knight like almost no other Batman property since. Everything about the show including it's characters, voices, art design, and music are now iconic parts of the Batman mythos. Even today, after several other animated incarnations of Batman have aired, most Batman fans would point to Batman the Animated Series as being the all-time definitive animated version of Batman and his world.
As a now iconic look for the character, Bruce Timm's Batman design has recently been turned into three dimensional DC Direct Batman Black and White Statue. As you can see, sculptor James Shoop has done a remarkable job bringing Timm's design to life in this statue. My only nitpick would be that Batman is supported by a visible rod to keep him airborne above his base. I would have preferred that DC Direct found another solution to support his pose. However, I'm not privy to all that goes into the planning and development of these statues. It's still a beautiful piece of work, as you can see.The sculpt may not be "spot-on" to how the character mostly looked in the series (and, subsequently, other 3D representations of the animated character like toys and what-not). However, it's a pretty close match for Bruce Timm's character studies and guide drawings for the overseas animators to use as reference. Bruce's drawings of the character tend to be a bit more "edgy" and have sharper angles than the way he was drawn for most the animation in the series. Most depictions of the character tend to be a bit "softer" looking than what is presented here.
Now, DC Direct, we just need a deluxe line of Batman the Animated Series action figures and all will be right with the world.... and some 1966 TV show figures. Those would work, too.
For more Batman Animated goodness, stop by the new blog, Batman the Animated Toys from veteran toy bloggers Chunky B and Bubbashelby.
The sculpt on this almost could pass as the transition between BTAS and TNBA. Great little statue, I often thought about finding one of these on the secondary market.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention in the post, now I REALLY need to get some posts going.
I have never seen this! Cool!
ReplyDeleteYou nailed it when you said Batman the Animated Series is "the all-time definitive animated version of Batman and his world".