#62: Batman Classic TV Series - The Joker

Before Heath Ledger, before Mark Hamill, before Jack Nicholson, there was Cesar Romero. Now we're three quarters of the way through the Batman '66 villain lineup, in action figure form. The Joker is appropriately garish in his brightly colored suit. Cesar Romero famously would not shave his mustache for the role, so the makeup artists merely painted over it. On such a small scaled figure, it's hard to tell whether that's actually sculpted in, but it res represented in paint with a faint grey shading above the upper lip. Otherwise, the Joker's face is a flat white that really washes out his face unless the light catches it at an angle to bring out shadows. A light wash would have been helpful here, but perhaps would have looked out of place with the otherwise generally flat colors of this line. The Joker includes no accessories. Oddly, he has one in a fist and the other in a pointing position. Maybe he's asking Batman to pull his finger?

The Joker's collector card is fortunately oriented the proper way for display purposes when plugged into the base. The Batcave scene on the back of the card matches up with the one on the back of the Penguin's card, although by passing on the two single carded Batman figures, it probably won't be the most impressive effect when all put together. The Joker's base says "Zap!!!" on it, which I suppose is thematically appropriate, as it could be a reference to a joy buzzer.

"Joke's on you, Batman! Pull my finger or my boys go to town on your spine!"