Category: Superheroes

Quite a while back, Funko released what it promised would be just the first wave of an ongoing line of 3 3/4″ action figures from the 1966 Batman TV series starring Adam West – something I’d been wanting someone to make since I was a kid. There was some pushback from fans regarding the selection of villains, and the fact that Robin was only available as part of the Batmobile set; Funko assured concerned fans that Robin and the more obvious, “A-list” villains would make up the second wave. I snatched up that entire wave of figures like they were going to stop making them. (Spoiler: they were going to stop making them.)

That second wave never arrived. Not only that, but after issuing these figures, figures from Stranger Things, and box sets of figures from Twin Peaks and Married With Children (!), Funko seemed to back away slowly from the 3 3/4″ figure market altogether. It wasn’t just that more Batman wasn’t on the way, nothing was on the way except for oceans of Funko Pops. Which is fantastic if you like Funko Pops, but maybe not so much if you were hoping that the much-mooted second wave of Batman ’66 characters would arrive in that same decade. And that’s where we pick up the story in the 2020s: with years having passed since Funko’s Batman figures were released, there was absolutely no reason to expect that this collection would ever be complete – and that’s why Mezco Toyz’ 2020 announcement of a huge box set of new 3 3/4″ Batman figures and plentiful accessories was such a surprise. … Read more