Mattel 12in. Batman Missions 1st Appearance & Batwing

The last two of the 12" Batman/DC figures I snagged on the secondary market recently were these Mattel Batman Missions 80th Anniversary figures. Full disclosure, the figures Mattel made, then later Spin Master, are really 11.5". I label them as 1:6 scale here on the blog, but only to clump my larger action figures into one group for ease of perusal. I remember admiring these in 2019 but passing because you can't buy everything you like. I'm a longtime fan of "big dumb action figures" though and think these are top shelf examples.
 

Below, Mattel 12" 1st Appearance Batman with Hasbro's 9" Masterpiece Edition Batman. I'm pretty sure this Hasbro Batman was produced in 2000 and came with a book. Hasbro produced several DC figures in this scale with soft goods outfits in the years around this era, while ToyBiz gave Marvel characters a similar treatment with their Famous Covers line, of which I own several. The 12" Mattel Batman doesn't have a wire cape like the Hasbro Batman but was cleverly cut and stitched to drape over the shoulders. Mattel's inclusion of a batarang seems deluxe as their 12" figures more often included no accessories.

Below, 1st Appearance Batman with an earlier Mattel Batman Unlimited figure, which had not yet adopted the knee joints Mattel would include on the 12" Batman Missions figures. 

It's hard for me to tell if there are subtly different tones of black/gray or merely surface texture variation on this Batwing figure, but he reads all black from afar. While that's a little unfortunate, it doesn't negate the fantastic futuristic sculpt of this figure. Great value for a $10-$12 "boy's toy" category.

Like Mattel's 6" Batwing, the 12" has removeable wings, only split into two separately pegged sections. They look very similar! I've held onto this 6" DC Multiverse Batwing for the last four years for his uniqueness among my 6" Mattel Batman figure collection. I loved Mattel's DCUC line when I started collecting figures as an adult, and have held onto many of them I bought, even circling back to pick some up years later.

Below, Batwing with Mattel Justice League Stealth Batman, and 12" Spin Master Bat-Tech Batman and The Batman figures. While Spin Master is making nice 12" figures of this class, I think Mattel was making some cool Batman figures.

There is a real comic book quality to the aesthetic of these Mattel Batman figures, the 1st Appearance Batman most notably, for which the head sculpt takes a lot of cues from the Justice League Action animated series (2016-2018). I didn't really see any of that show, but Mattel did produce 12" action figures of the characters in that style. Spin Master now has the licensing for this class of DC action figure, but Mattel did produce a few of note.

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