Fischer-Price’s Imaginext line was pretty impressive to begin with, and the DC Superfriends line has been a dream. My son has had a few of the smaller figures, but he’s never had a proper playset. He’s watched people play with them on YouTube, but, no, never had one.
Until now.
The Imaginext Batbot Extreme is an absolute delight. At $100, it’s not cheap ($90 on Amazon right now), but it offers a ton of playability. Personally, I’m tickled pink at their choice to style it after the “BatBunny” armor from a little while ago, when Commissioner Gordon took Batman’s place for a bit (sounds terrible, was actually good). Officially for ages 3-8, I promise you older kids are going to mess with it as well. Like say, 39.
Source: Imaginext.
The pop-up arms, which fire disks and “punch,” may be my son’s favorite part. That’s not to say that the elevator, slide, and motorcycle-launching foot bore him. Yes, it fires a motorcycle from the left foot. Sadly, the bundled Batman figure fell in a toilet (I think he was going after Killer Croc), so it’s Green Lantern John Stewart riding out when you hit the switch.
There are also sounds and lights and a voice changer, but my son had zero interest in those. No, he wanted to shoot shoulder missiles and use it with his Ninja Turtles. That it’s 2 feet tall just makes it cooler to him. In fact, the day it came he was willing to do any chore if we could just open it and get started on the review.
Source: My Phone.
Interestingly, Imaginext also made a limited edition version for New York Comic Con–this one painted to be “comic book accurate.”
With a run of only 300, I don’t recommend holding your breath on getting one. Thankfully, the “standard” edition is pretty dang great. So great, that I would humbly suggest it as the perfect holiday gift for a young comic geek. Keep an eye out on Amazon (link above), Target, and other retailers for deals.
Note: Imaginext sent us the Batbot Extreme to review. The boy thinks I have the absolute coolest job ever.
