Shown here is an amazing Vintage Batman Toy called BAT-MACHINE! It was a special vehicle made by the MEGO Toy Company in 1980 for their line of 3 1/4" Mego Pocket Superhero Action Figures. It was a fully computer-programmable vehicle a lot like the BIG TRAX toy made by Milton Bradley Electronics. OK, I can not even start to explain how extremely SUPER-RARE this baby is but in 20+ years of super-collecting I have never seen one in the box & the loose one I seen at a toy show many years ago was totally wasted, ha ha! This one is beautiful, with the original box, & is a total museum piece!
I don't know what my fascination is with "Foreign Batman items" but that sort of stuff is really cool! Plus it's very hard to find. Here's some great examples: The 1st photo shows a JAPANESE POTATO CHIP BAG with a 1989 BATMAN movie promotion. Now, how wacky is that! Speaking of "Japanese", right now my heart goes out to all the people of Japan. The recent events there are such a tragedy. Let's hope things get better soon. The next pic features a 1980's German-Language BATMAN Comic Book... from Germany ( Duh!, ha! ). The the last group of photos are vintage Batman items from Australia. These Australian comics are from the 1970's. So, what do you think? Is this stuff kinda cool!? Hey, I got a question, Do YOU have any foreign bat-items you would like to share? If so, then please send us some pics today. Remember, the Bat-Blog is all about sharing information about the joys of collecting.
OK, it keeps freaking me out a little bit that the 1989 Batman Movie was 20 years ago. I feel so old now! Here is some old Local TV News Footage from back then talking about the release of the Warner Bros BATMAN VHS Video Tape in Retail Stores. The moment was almost as hyped-up as the original movie premiere, ha ha! In fact, at the time, it did set a record for fastest time for a movie to become available in stores ( 4 months ).
Back in the late 1980's the Kenner Toy Company teamed up with Pepsi & Burger King to bring you these 4 SUPER POWERS collectible cups. The set included Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, & Darkseid. I always thought it was kinda weird that they chose "Darkseid", ha ha. Shown up above is the original store display for the cups & then be sure to watch the rare vintage TV commercial...because it's super-fun!
Back in 1985 a toy company called Kenner made a line of DC Comics action figures called SUPER POWERS. When you bought a figure you also got a free mini-comic book included in the package, located behind the figure ( see 1st photo ). Well, this post is a reprinting of that comic book that you can read ( Be sure to click on the above images for larger, more readable, pictures ). I hope it brings back good memories. In fact, they're kinda fun to read!!Plus, be sure to check out other Bat-Blog Posts from the past for more of these wonderful comics: Batman, Joker, & Penguin.
The other day I was trolling the NECA Website for some new Batman products. Later this year they will release 2 new Batman Items that are not "Dark Knight" movie related but will feature vintage retro-style graphics. The 1st piece of merchandise uses the most retro-thing you can have... it's a large BATMAN GOLDEN AGE 1939 COMIC BOOK COVER Hanging Fabric Wall Scroll. Of course, it's the cover to Detective Comics #27 which we all know was the very first appearance of the caped crusader! It measures about 22" X 32", which is actually kinda BIG! I'm really liking this item & think it will be a "must have"! They also have a vintage ACTION COMICS / SUPERMAN cover too. The next photo shows us some neat SUPERHERO TIN BANKS they're gonna release & one of them is Batman! The other two are Superman & Wonder Woman. These too have retro-graphics because they sort of look like they have 1980's artwork. If anyone knows who the artist is for these please let me know. I think they look kinda like Dick Giordano's artwork. Anyway, here's some new stuff to keep an eye out for & if ANY Bat-Blog Readers hear about ANY brand-new Batman Merchandise then please shoot us an e-mail so we can share. This blog is all about connecting collectors with great information!
Here are two very weird & extremely cool pieces of Bat-Nostalgia! The 1st photo is of some BATMAN PUNCH-O DRINK MIX Packages that were made by the IDEAL FOODS DIVISION in 1966. I can't begin to explain how super RARE these are but in 20+ years of serious collecting I have NEVER seen these!! They are sort of like Kool-Aid drink mix I guess. Here are Grape, Fruit Punch, & Lemonade. The next item is pretty RARE also! Here are some BATMAN-COLA products that were made for the Australian market. During the 1st Batman movie in 1989, in Australia, you could buy Batman-Cola in a can or soda pop bottle! Also shown is the original store display sign used to promote these babies in stores....sweet!
Arrrggghhh, Christmas is only a week away so I thought I would post a few gift ideas I found at a cool online store called 80sTees. They have a nice assortment of Vintage-Style Batman T-Shirts. Here's just a few. Ok, the 1st photo is actually a sexy Robin Costume they sell but hey! She's HOT!! Ha Ha! The 2nd picture is a close-up of one of the Junk Food T-Shirts they have & I love the design. The Batmobile looks exactly like the 80's Kenner Superpowers action figure vehicle! The last photo is pretty funny. Batman says, "Be Cool, Stay In School". Plus, the model is really pretty & I now you'll like seeing that, ha!
Welcome to CRISIS ON EARTH-BLOG!! I know that today a lot of Bat-Blog Readers are gonna kind of freak out a little bit because there are a lot of changes here, & a huge amount of posting going on, so please let me explain. Today, August 25th, 2009 the Bat-Blog has teamed-up with many other toy collector / comic book reader / superhero-type blogs to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Kenner's SUPER POWERS Action Figure line! Yes, oh man! I can't believe it's been 25 years...I now feel kinda old! So, all the posts today are gonna be total SUPER POWERS craziness!! But, to stay inside the Bat-Blog theme, everything here will be totally Batman-related, I promise. Of course we all know & love this special line of toys. They're Classic! In 1984 Kenner got the license from DC Comics to make a line of superhero action figures & it became an instant success! So much so that they even started to create other products bearing that name. They even did cartoons & had their own line of DC comic books...it was crazy! Just to jog your memory is a photo showing most, if not all, of the figures in the series. Also, down below is a list of all the websites participating in this HUGE event that everybody decided to call "CRISIS ON EARTH-BLOG!!". Now, all the other websites will each do a set of feature stories, like here, where they will each focus on certain SUPER POWER action figures or characters. So, please be sure to visit the other websites on the list. In the next few posts we'll take you down memory lane to re-visit some childhood favorites. If you had these as a kid you'll remember them fondly ( I hope ). If you are way younger, & are totally unfamiluar with them, then you're about to be educated in coolness! Why? Because Kenner made one of the very BEST toy lines...EVER!!
Oh Yea! I knew that I had to start this off with a showing of the 1980's Batman & Robin Action Figures, but that's not all!! In the Kenner's SUPER POWERS line of toys there were 5 that were what I'm calling "Batman-related". There was Batman, Robin, The Joker, The Penguin, & The Riddler! Wait! The Riddler? Some Americans might not remember the Riddler as one of the characters because he was only made as a SUPER AMIGOS figure for the South American market. In fact, he was made in Argentina! His name was "El Acertijo"...I love that! He's super-rare / very hard to find today & usually sells for quite a lot. OK, now, back to the US releases we all know & love! The figures were originally sold on large blister cards with a bubble, just like today's figures. But, they also sold these on very narrow cards later that toy collectors call "short cards". There's also some other buzz words but where I live that's what we always called them, ha ha! I've tried to show examples here & there, when I have pics of them. This 1st post will feature a few characters & then later posts will show others...so please follow along! Also, in this post, are some pictures of the 2 Batman-related vehicles they made. One, of course, is the now-classic Batmobile!! This car is a fan favorite & I have always loved it. It just has great style!! Now you're probably thinking, "Hey! I only see the original box here, where's the toy?". Well, that's gonna be shown later, I promise. The next vehicle is the Bat-Copter. This helicopter toy is a little harder to find then the Batmobile but just as cool ( I wish I had a better photo of the original box, sorry. But this pic does give you an ok example ). The funny thing is that Kenner had kept the mold for this product & re-issued it later in total black for one of the later Batman movies...funny! Now - I'm gonna be featuring more Kenner's SUPER POWERS 25th Anniversary goodness so just keep going!!
With the success of the SUPER POWERS Action Figure line there was a total frenzy in the 1980's to create many other products bearing the SUPER POWERS brand name & logo. Here are just a few other pieces of merchandise made ( Coloring Book, Paint Kits, Jewelry, Happy Meal Boxes, Videotape, etc... ) & a few comic book advertisements featuring the toys & VHS videos. Please remember that I'm trying to feature just items that were "Batman-related". Because, there were a ton more! In fact, these are not even ALL the Batman ones they made either...just a nice assortment, as an example. They are all pretty self-explanatory so I won't get into details. I just hope you enjoy drooling over them, ha ha! Well, I guess I do need to explain the weird "Joker Figure" because it's not an actual product but is a strange "Bootleg" made doll. But everything else is "real". Also, the last photo of the "Batman Super Powers Model Kit", I'm gonna feature the original art in the next post...whew!
