Toy Review: DC Classic Batgirl Is A Pleasant Surprise

One of the last bits of collecting I have to complete before McFarlane Toys time with DC Comics’ license is the Bat-family. With the recent release of classic Barbara Gordon Batgirl, that goal isn’t just complete, it’s looking great.

In my aim to collect the core Bat-family, I’m down to just missing Damian Wayne, Jason Todd, and Kate Kane. Barbara Gordon was never a character I was worried about though, as there have been multiple versions of her. When the DC Classic version was announced though, I knew this was the one for me.

Barbara Gordon is one of the longest-lived members of the Bat-family, debuting in the comics Detective Comics #359 in 1967. She served as Batgirl more or less continuously (basically only taking a break to serve as a member of the US House of Representatives) until 1988’s Batman: The Killing Joke. In that seminal story, the Joker shot her and left the heroine paralyzed.

That didn’t end her heroic career though. Less than a year later, her new identity debuted, the mysterious information broker Oracle. Babs would serve as Oracle for over twenty years, until the 2011 New 52 reboot restored her to health, and the Batgirl mantle.

Now this figure is specifically based her appearance in the 1970s and 1980s. The box and card art (two features of the McFarlane DC Multiverse line I love) featuring a stunning piece by, I believe, DC Comics legend Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. He was the artist behind the style guide that acted as DC’s standard for character design for nearly two decades, and this figure doesn’t just feature his art — its one of his drawings come to life.

So the only thing I don’t like about this design is the shading on Babs’ cowl. It’s not that’s bad by any means — it’s actually accurate to the inspiration. The issue is that the cowl is the only part of the figure with the comic-style shading.

As far as posing, there’s only one small flaw. Her joints were smooth, and provided some great flexibility. She felt like an acrobat in hand, and that was perfect. Also, the wired cape is just so much fun to play with, and made the figure even more dynamic. The issue was with her hair. It was extremely rigid, making any posing with her head extremely limited. It did have some left and right movement, but not any better than “just okay.”

The figure only came with two accessories, a grapple gun and a batarang. It definitely could have used a few extra sets of hands. The grapple and batarang were both great, even though their colors were a few shades lighter than I liked.

It’s a truly great figure that’s just a few flaws away from being even better.