Here's a very well-made video featuring our friend Yuji Ueda. He's a big Batman Toy Collector & his main focus is the Japanese items from the 1960's. In fact, the video is sort of a tour of famous Vintage Toy Shops in Japan ( Yes, that would be my dream vacation, ha! ). But, as you'll see from this interview, he also likes the modern day stuff as well. OK, get ready to drool!
OK, This week's "Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday" is gonna get really really weird, ha! First off we have a very nice piece of art sent in to us by our friend Gary. It's an image of one of the strangest Super-Villains in Comic Book history, COMPOSITE SUPERMAN! This weird character has developed sort of a cult following over the years & keeps making appearances from time to time. Basically, his costume is half-Batman and half-Superman. I don't know, I've always thought it looks pretty cool! If ya wanna learn more about this guy then just click HERE, it's pretty interesting stuff. Also, a special "THANKS!" goes out to Gary for sharing his awesome artwork with us, good job!
Next up, the Bat-Blog is mostly known for being a place where Serious Batman Toy Collectors show-up. The history of merchandise for the Caped Crusader is vast & we love all the cool vintage stuff that's been made over the years. One area of collecting that I have always loved are the Mego Dolls from the 1970's. In this wallpaper I used a simple clean photo of THE RIDDLER Figure. Go ahead, try it as a background, you'll like it, ha!
Here's a wonderful photo sent in to us by our friend Yuji. He had a BATMAN Birthday Cake with a graphic of his favorite Vintage Toy, a 1970's Batman MEGO Doll... I mean, Action Figure! This cake looks goooood & it's making me hungry, ha! Plus, I totally love Mego Toys so this is great stuff! ( Thanks Yuji for sharing your pic ).
OK, The more I look at this image, the more I want to cry! The Bat-Blog has a cool friend over at facebook named Jean Baptiste. He lives in Belgium & is also a major Vintage Toy Collector. His main focus are old Japanese Tin Toys & Robots from Japan. He recently sent me this photo the other day of a beautiful 60's Batmobile Tin Toy Car from his collection. Now, I'm not sure if he was just sharing to be nice, or if he was trying to torture me ( ha ha! ). But either way, thank You Jean for the great pic. I love this old toy so much that I made two BATMAN WALLPAPERS out of it! Just choose the color you like, then POW! You got an awesome desktop background, ha!
Down below is an awesome Vintage 1960's Toy TV Commercial for the 1966 BATMAN AND SUPERMAN SPARKLE PAINTS Play Set made by Kenner Toys! It also includes an advertisement for another Kenner's Product, the See-A-Show! Now, up above I've included a reference photo of a different Kenner SPARKLE PAINT SET. This one featured just Batman. These babies are extremely RARE to find now a days because, back in the day, kids totally destroyed them, ha! I wish I had one of these because I totally love the vintage graphics on the original boxes.
If you have ever read the Bat-Blog for a few days or longer then you know I love the Batman Toys, ha! I like everything from the 60's all the way to today. But the stuff that's the most special to me is the merchandise made in the 1970's. You see, I was born in 1964 so I remember most of the bat-products on the shelves around that time. I guess you could say they were "the toys of my childhood". So, I'm sort of nostalgic for them. Now, in the 70's there was a "retail-marketing thing" called RACK TOYS. They were usually extremely cheesy plastic toys that were sold inside a clear bubble-pack on a thin-cardboard header card.
You would see them all the time at Grocery Stores, Drug Stores, & especially 7-Eleven! They were inexpensive & some modern-day Toy Collectors call them "Shut-Up Toys". You know, you would whine that you wanted it & Mom would say, "OK, here, get this one & be quiet!", ha ha! So, this post is dedicated to those wonderful collectibles from the past. Most of the photos are pretty self-explanatory so I'll just let you check them out. Also, if you have any special memories of this stuff then please share.
Here are some wonderful photos sent in by a Bat-Blog Fan named Neal who has some extremelty cool BATMAN items in his Toy Collection. Shown here are just 3 shelves of his stuff & it makes me wonder what other cool stuff he has, ha! But I really like this collection & love how it's all displayed, looks cool! ( Be sure to click on these small pics for larger, more detailed versions ).
There are some 13" Dolls, Misc Action Figures, Hot Wheels Batmobiles, & even some Vintage Toys like the 60's Vinyl Hand Puppet & Ideal Bat-Helmet Mask. Oh yeah, and the last photo should make you drool for days because it mainly features those beautiful MEGO 8" Dolls from the 1970's, plus a few more modern-day Custom Figures. ( Thank you for sharing this Neal, great stuff! ) If any other readers want to share their pics then please send us an email. That offer is always OPEN because the Bat-Blog is all about the joys of Bat-Collecting!!
I guess this post is sort of a "photo reference". These are some pics I collected awhile back where it's the Vintage 1966 BATMAN TV SHOW and MOVIE Paperback Books, but these are all "foreign-issued" copies. The 1st five are from England & were reprinted by Four Square Illustrated. These special UK editions have slightly different covers than the US versions. My favorite one is THE JOKER with all the weird "Pop Art" colors. I'm not sure about THE CATWOMAN Book & I'm wondering if it's from the UK too. It looks like it was reprinted by some other publisher. Now, the very last photo, is THE PENGUIN Book that was made in Argentina. It appears to be wayyyy more thin than an actual paperback. What's up on that? OK, I'm wondering if anybody has any other versions of these. If so, then please let us know. I think it would be cool if there were German, Spanish, or French editions, ha!
Don't blink your eyes or you might miss this extremely short video clip, ha! It's a very rare TV Commercial announcing that the 1997 BATMAN AND ROBIN Movie will be on Video & DVD. Yes, VHS Tape!
One of the main functions of the Bat-Blog is to celebrate the joy of collecting Batman toys and memorabilia, both old & new. So, it was really great to get an email from a reader named Robson who wanted to share a few pieces from his Vintage BATMAN Toy Collection. Shown here is the 1960's Aurora Batman Model Kit, a couple of 1966 Coloring Books, and a 1966 Twistable Batman made by Marx Toys. The Coloring Books are kinda common but I have always loved the graphics on them. The Marx Figure is so extremely RARE that it's almost what Vintage Toy Collectors call a "Museum Piece". ( One last thing, I made the photo of the Model Kit into a BATMAN Wallpaper Background you can use to brighten your desktop - Click on it to see it's full-beauty! ). Robson, Thank you for sharing these cool pics. If any other Bat-Fans out there who have any pieces they would like to share then please send us some photos too!
In the 1990's it was a great time to be a Batman Toy collector. I mean, you had all the movies going on, and then on TV, you also had the wonderful Animated Series Cartoon. Shown here are a few cool toys & 90's memorabilia pieces picked totally at random. The 1st item is a very RARE 1992 BATMAN RETURNS Ralston Cereal Store Display Sign. Kids would have seen this at the Grocery Store & then start begging Mom, ha! I really like the graphics on this thing. Speaking of the cereal, the next pic shows a few BATMAN RETURNS Cereal Box Premiums that were available FREE inside the boxes! These are 3-D Flicker Bookmarks, meaning, you tilt them & the pictures change from one image to the other. There were 3 of them in the complete set: Catwoman, Batman, and The Penguin. Now the next photo sort of gets away from the movies for a minute. This is a Plush Batman Doll from 1994 ( 16" Tall ) that was tied-into "The Adventures of Batman and Robin" Animated TV Series. I love the old cartoon logo & the packaging is interesting with the "open box" design. Last, but not least, is a RARE 1997 BATMAN AND ROBIN Movie Store Display Sign from Taco Bell. It advertised the contest they had going on their Pepsi Drink products. Well, does any of these items bring back any memories? I know back then I was totally about the cereal, ha ha!
I have been meaning to post these picture for awhile but here they are at last! Shown right here on the Bat-Blog is this totally amazing Vintage 60's Batman Toy. This is the BATMAN ACTIVITY BOX Play Set made by Whitman in 1966. Basically it's a very large paper place mat (you can color) that comes with cardboard punch-outs of Batman characters, building pieces, & vehicles. Oh man, this old toy is so beautiful!! The graphics are really great. Just look at all the photos and you will start to cry, ha! I love the stand-up people here, characters like: Batman, Robin, Alfred The Butler, Commissioner Gordon, Joker, The Penguin, a Policeman, & even Batman and Robin as their alter-egos, Bruce Wayne & Dick Grayson! There are some pieces for the Gotham City Police Station, the Bat-Cave, Wayne Manor, and also the Batmobile Car and Bat-Plane!! They just don't make toys today with this sort of imagination & quality. Especially since this thing was meant to be sort of inexpensive. So, I gotta know, what do you think about it? Please leave comments.
OK, are these called "buttons" or "pins"? ( In England they call them "badges" ). But what ever you call them these brand new Retro-Style BATMAN & JOKER Pinback Buttons are awesome! They look like they're vintage, like from the 1960's & I love the design. My favorite is the one with Joker's face, very cool. Also, the great thing, is that they sell for only $1.75 each so even I can afford to buy them all, ha ha! These are being sold over at the SUPERHERO STUFF website, here's a link to check them out.
Here is a cool vintage Corgi Action Toys TV commercial from 1981 from Australia. It features popular heroes like Batman, Buck Rodgers and James Bond. It shows the Batmobile on the verge of falling off a skyscraper ( How did that car get up there? ). But don't worry, it's saved by the Bat-Copter!
This is just a post to share some news I heard last night. The rumor goes that J.C. Penney stores have an extremely cool Batman T-Shirt that borrows graphics from the Vintage 1953 BATMAN 3-D Comic Book. I think it's only sold there as I have not seen it anywhere else. Plus, right now it's on clearance & you can get it for $9.99. I totally love the Retro-style graphics on this, it's great! Be sure to look at the actual comic book cover for reference, nice!
Here are some brand-new Batman Toys for Collectors to keep an eye out for. From the Takara Tomy EnterMedia company in Japan we get these two 12" BATMAN and The JOKER Action Figures, Vintage Version. I think what they mean by "Vintage Version" is that these figures look like they're from the 1980's ( or earlier ) because Batman is wearing his classic blue-gray-yellow outfit ( My favorite ).As a side note, before you totally fall in love with these new figures please keep in mind that they are going to be very very expensive.
I saw this incredibly beautiful Vintage Batman Toy on eBay the other night & knew it had to be shared. This is the BATMAN 2 Way Electromagnetic Battery Operated WRIST RADIO Play Set made by Remco in 1966. Even thought the actual toy is kinda cheesy, the BOX graphics are totally awesome! Check out the photos & get ready to start drooling.
