Saturday, July 3, 2010

Mattel Firefly from The Batman

Enough of Batty (see previous posts), let's get back to Bats (that's Batman for the uninitiated ;>)

In season 1 of "The Batman" animated series, Firefly (Garfield Lynns) is a mercenary and arsonist for hire. A corporate saboteur, Firefly executed a few take-downs of rivals to Goth-Corp. Paid by the job, Firefly did each one with ease until The Batman intervened.


Mattel's Firefly marked the first time that Batman's pyromaniac foe was given a figure. Firefly is a villain that's actually been around since the 50's, and has gone through several incarnations.



Firefly comes with a removable helmet and a jetpack that produces real sparks!


Firefly has 9 points of articulation, quite a bit more than the other figures in this line although my favorite figure of all has to be Man-Bat. With movement in the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, waist, and knees, he has plenty of articulation for play, although not enough for extremely dynamic poses.


Surprisingly, even with his rather large 'jetpack' in place, he still stands fine on his own. There is a lever at the top which works like a standard lighter, making a spark in the lower chamber when you crank it - it's a pretty cool feature.



A closer view of the lever located on top of Firefly's jetpack, used for creating sparks


The sparks appear in the semi-clear chamber at the bottom of his jetpack, just like how an actual firefly lights up


And here's Firefly with mask/helmet removed


Backstory: Garfield Lynns was originally a pyrotechnic expert for motion pictures, but became a victim of Gotham City's severe poverty and turned to crime, displaying signs of pyromania. [source: batman wiki]


The head sculpt reminds me of Robert Lyle Knepper (born July 8, 1959), the American actor best known for starring as Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell in the Fox network's drama series, "Prison Break" and recently as Samuel Sullivan in "Heroes"


And here's the Mattel Batman standing next to Firefly to give a sense of scale and height difference. Batman looks a tad small next to him


What has been posted so far on Mattel's "The Batman" line of action figures:
1. The Batman, an all new interpretation / incarnation of the Dark Knight by Jeff Matsuda
2. Bruce Wayne to Batman (man becoming bat)
3. The Joker debuts in the first episode ""The Bat in the Belfry"
4. Man-Bat flys in in episode #4, "The Man Who Would Be Bat"
5. Batman & Man-Bat face-off (it's man vs BAT)
6. Bane muscles his way in "Traction (episode #2)"
7. Bane vs Batman in their first showdown
8. The Batbot, created for defeating Bane (it's machines vs BIG man)
9. Mr Freeze gives Batman the cold shoulder in "The Big Chill"
10. The Batman in anti-Freeze costume ("The Big Chill", episode #5)

6 comments:

LEon said...

WOw this figure is awesome. I like the style! Will look out for it!

alex teo said...

hi LEon, you can try China Square Central as this is quite an old figure. My kids watch this cartoon when they were much younger. Now they are in their teens LOL. I'd posted on these figures way back in 2007 when I first started my blog :) (link: http://toyhaven.blogspot.com/2007/07/batman-animated-part-5.html) I always have a soft spot for Batman.

LEon said...

Thanks for the info! :)

alex teo said...

U R welcome ;p

iruka said...

Awesome review! And I have to agree, that does look like Robert Kneeper. I just bought mine today for $10.75. Some people might think that's too high for a "kids toy" (originally price was $4 or $5) but I'm happy! :D

alex teo said...

thanks for the compliments iruka :) my personal view is if you have no regrets getting the figure, then don't let anyone tell you otherwise. ENJOY the toy CHEERS