Here we have Batgirl in-hand. As mentioned in the past with Stephanie Brown Batgirl, this is a retool of both Cassandra Cain Batgirl and the Art of the Crime version of Barbara. I'm sure many don't need to know who she is, but I will say that this color has has always been my favorite one for Batgirl. The brighter colors always fit her better than they ever did for Batman, and the yellow for the belt, logo, gloves, and boots always help give her a lighter vibe to contrast the grim persona of the Dark Knight. Hell, she never experienced any tragedy before turning into a superhero, though she later would deep in her career! That being said, while I love the colors on this figure more than any other version of Batgirl McFarlane made, I have to point out that the panel lines throughout her don't belong on a proper classic Batgirl. In a way, it kind of works given the tech-reliant nature of the BatFamily, but it's like when McFarlane made Action Comics 1000 Superman have some of those added lines in the costume that weren't on there to begin with. On the plus side, her cape is not only dual-colored, but the metallic blue fits her better than on Batman, and I love how it doesn't feel as thin thanks to the materials being etched together. It's also wired, something that a handful of other McFarlane figures with capes aren't so lucky to get for some stupid reason.
Her head sculpt is easily the best part for the whole set, from the shading that works better than usual with these masks and the facial structure for Barbara looking like a living, breathing person wearing the mask unlike how dead a lot of mainline figures look with their eyes. I also love how properly aligned the red lipstick is, though her hair could use a paint wash to accentuate it. While her articulation being the same as with every McFarlane figure ever doesn't bother me, the accessories are starting to get on my nerves. The grapnel gun being the same with every use of this mold, I get it, even if I wish the string or design was tweaked to make her feel unique; the oversized, era-inaccurate Batarang, however, needs to be retired. Maybe give her alternate hands so she can punch, or have one hand sculpted with a permanent Batarang that scales better!
Here she is between her mentor, Batman, and her father, Commissioner Gordon. While most fans would likely stick with the Knightfall buck for a more era-accurate Batman (Silver Age comes to mind), I find the Hush/Three Jokers version scales better with characters associated with Batman. Cowardly Lot is a more modern version of the Caped Crusader, but I find he looks better when he is taller than both Gordons. For sure, this version of the Batgirl buck is my favorite, but I still think there is more room for improvement. The costume should have been retooled further to look proper classic, and the accessories need to be replaced with better versions.
Up next, we have the Batman/Superman Fusion, so named because a story arc once had the World's Finest, during a tussle with a messed up Hal Jordan, were fused into a single being that combined elements of their costumes with a bit of Lantern ring power. That explains why there is a bit of green near the hands for anyone wondering. While nerd culture sites would go "eerrrmm, Batman and Superman totally did the fusion dance, and than is...certainly the thing of the time!", the process towards this form and the usual rules of a Fusion Dance are not 1:1. This figure is a retool of the Speeding Bullets version of Batman, who was part of an Esleworlds story where Kal-El was raised by the Waynes and later grew up as a version of the Gotham hero before becoming Superman. While the arms, legs, and possible the head are reused, the torso and waist piece are new, with a tampo'd logo replacing the original version's emblem-shaped spot for it to align properly while the belt is replaced with various pouches, capsules, and a bit of rope that would make someone think Wonder Woman was involved in this. The color scheme feels a bit all over the place, with the red, black, and blue already making a good palette, and while the yellow works fine for the mash-up logo (which is always one of the best aspects of the design), the green looks out of place unless you're aware of the Green Lantern's powers bring used. The belt would have been fine if it weren't for it being brown, which looks out of place amongst all of the colors used in this costume.
His head sculpt looks great in red, making me think of the Heat Resistance suit Batman wore in the first Lego game (minus the goggles). The mouth less mask also helps with concealing their face so we can make the costumes feel more like the mashup while also having custom potential if you paint it black or blue. That being said, my copy's ears appear to look wonky somewhat. With articulation being the same as ever, SuperBat's accessories include just one alternate hand meant to hold 3 Batarangs. They scale better with him, but why give him just the one hand meant for them?
For a comparison with separate versions of the World's Finest, keep in mind that this is from an older pic I took when I had neither Godzilla Superman with a head swap or Cowardly Lot Batman. Instead, we have Silver Age and Black & Grey Knightfall. I don't think these versions of Superman and Batman specifically were the ones we saw in that same comic, so if you were to dig deep into your McFarlane collection after reading the comic, you may fine the right match to get some proper synergy. As for the figure itself, I think SuperBat manages to be more creative with his retooling, though the color palette could be less all over the place while an extra hand could make more use out of those Batarangs.
For anyone wondering, both have variants of themselves, with Batgirl being mostly purple and coming with a plastic cape for some reason while SuperBat has the Platinum chase release with translucent green legs and a yellow belt that somehow makes the deco more cohesive. While Babs is in the Digital line this time, SuperBat is harder to get yet I will always be concerned of those clear parts given the horror stories that happened to many Digital Flash figures.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (both for different reasons)
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