-Review and photos by Scott Rubin

This year marks the 80^th anniversary of the Dark Knight, and lots of collectible companies and more are getting in on the celebratory action.  YuMe Toys, whom we had the pleasure of visiting back at New York Toy Fair, is bringing Batman fans a brand new figural plush of the Caped Crusader with some interesting innovations.  The DZNR (pronounced “Designer”) figure is 7 inches tall and chibi-inspired, with a great big head and a comparatively small body.  Of course, the Batman figure has all of his familiar costume elements, but the cool thing is that for this series of plushes YuMe has made a range of costumes and artwork celebrating different elements of Batman’s history.  Today we’ve got your first look at the YuMe Toys Batman DZNR Series Emblem Plush, available next week on Walmart.com. 

One of the big draws for the DZNR series is the packaging.  Each plush comes in a really sophisticated window box (billed as a “gift box”).  Now, I’m the guy who opens all of his toys, but I can appreciate a nice box that would look good on display too.  This is one of them, a tall black case decorated with white and gold details.  A great big window reveals the figure on the front, side, and top so you can check out Batman before you buy.  On the front panel you’ll also find the figure’s name, a Batman emblem logo, YuMe logo, and the Batman 80^th anniversary emblem.  On the side with the window is a stylized “DZNR” revealing different Batman emblems from over the years. 

The back panel is emblazoned with “Long Live The Bat” and a description explains the impetus for this plush, showing off the evolution of Batman’s symbols over the years.  If you want a clear image of exactly which emblems are included, check out the bottom of the box*.

Let’s take a closer look at the Batman DZNR Emblem!  It’s about 7 inches tall, and it stands up straight with a flat, slightly weighted bottom.  It’s definitely “chibi” in shape with a big, soft head and a cute little body, two pudgy arms, and of course a cape.  Because of the shape and size of the head the cowl itself is huge, giving lots of room for artwork on different Batman plushes or in this case, emblems. 

This Caped Crusader in general has a gray and black batsuit with a yellow utility belt, and over all of the black areas are the different Batman emblems in gold.  It’s a neat pattern that looks cool, especially on the cowl and, interestingly enough, the chest bat symbol.  As usual, the superhero’s eyes are pure white as they glare from within his cowl.

There are different textures on the figure too, with ridged material used on the suit and cowl and a soft fabric on Batman’s skin.  I appreciate the attention to detail with sturdy pointed ears, a nicely scalloped cape, and even the blades on his gauntlets. 

The emblems are bright and bold, standing out from the black background and easily recognizable even from a distance.  If there’s one small downside, it could be that while the figure stands really well on the flat bottom, it’s slightly less cuddly and squishable because of it.

YuMe has a really nice range of these Batman DZNR figures on the way, starting this week with the launch of the Dark Knight and Camo versions.  Next week they’ll be joined by the Modern Age and Emblem seen here, followed later by Logo, Detective Comics (Walmart exclusive), and Blackout.  There will also be further exclusives including a Jim Lee edition at GameStop, SDCC Golden Age, and Joker Ha Ha edition!  You can get a Batman DZNR Series Emblem Plush at Walmart.com starting on 07/11 for only $14.99.

*Can you identify all of the emblems and which Batman versions wore them?

-Review and photos by Scott Rubin

-Review sample courtesy of YuMe Toys

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