Random Toy Pic #29

Batman Bootlegs & Knockoffs Grand Finale!

To wrap up my impromptu Bootlegs and Knockoffs Week, with special thanks to Fabio for sending me such killer Bat toys from below the equator, I thought we'd wrap it all up nicely with a look at the slew of Batman toys that came along with our previously posted Removable Mask Iron Man and Not Darth Vader Space Defender.

Fabio knows how much I love Batman and really hooked me up this time, with a great collection of Bat-oddities.

The first one is a true marvel of Knockoff ingenuity and craftsmanship...

One of the odder aspects of this Bat-figure is the fact that he is barefoot, or rather, he's wearing boots with toes molded on them, not sure which. This is the first sign that the makers took the body of whatever mold they already had, cast it in black, swapped the head and added a cape. BAM! Instant Batman!

In fact, if you look closely at the chest, there appears to be what looks surprisingly similar to the Thundercats symbol, making me wonder, what with the exposed toes, that this figure mold was originally used for some knockoff Lion-O. Hmmmm...

Next up we have one of those small, spring-armed figures from the the marketing blitz surrounding the release of Batman Begins. This one is the Scarecrow. I already have a Batman one of these (which I cherish) but have no idea where they come from. Were they some sort of fast food premium outside of the US? And next to him we see a classic Animated Series Batman figure that definitely did not roll off the assembly line at Mattel.

You can see by the sloppy paint applications of the Bat-symbol and the oddly pouting bottom lip on his face that the bootleggers did their best to copy the original figure, but missed the mark by a mile, which is great for a bootleg lover like me!

And finally, we come to the most instantly beloved of this entire haul. Below are a series of Bat-figures, each about 2" tall, that Fabio explained were his as a kid, and he generously passed them on to me. It's rare when I come across a Batman figure I haven't seen at least a picture of before, so imagine my surprise when I pulled these diminutive treasures out of the box.

There's a certain old-school fly-by-night vibe about them that I just adore, with Robins red trunks and Batman's flesh-colored eye-holes and utter lack of Bat-symbol, earning them an instant place of honor on the Bat-shelf.

But the figures of the Dynamic Duo weren't enough! Fabio also sent along a dastardly trio of Gotham's nastiest ne'er-do-wells; the Riddler, the Penguin and the Joker!

Please Fabio, tell us more about these awesome little figures! Were they premiums? Were they in a set? I must know more!

So, that wraps up Bootlegs and Knockoffs Week are on the blog and we'll get back to our regularly schedules blogging on Monday. Once again, thanks to Fabio for sending such great toys! You all are far too kind to me. :)

Bonus Shout Out!

Another fellow toy blogger hooked me up with a killer toy care package, so I just want to give a shout out to Jboypacman from The Revenge from the Cosmic Ark! There's a few things you can tell about this pic:

1) That's one more Batman for the shelf, Chunky B!
2) You can never have too many Green Arrows in one care package.
3) HELL YEAH MONSTER FORCE!
4) Slimer's gonna get it.

Again, thanks to Jboypacman! (click thy magical white arrow upon yon picture to fully embiggen)

Video Blog #20

Home Made Birthday Bats!

Hi gang! First off, sorry for the lack of posts. The holidays are always busy and between shopping, baking, hanging out with friends and of course, the fact that I work three jobs, I haven't had a lot of time to blog. And I definitely haven't had time to record another video.

However, I do have tons of new loot to blog about, and I imagine that some more will be coming on Christmas morning, so rest assured that I'll be back to our regularly scheduled blogging in no time, and we're in no danger of running out of stuff to gawk at. :)

That having been said, I wanted to take a quick second to show off a birthday present that my good friend and fellow D&D gamer made for me. You see, he's taken up making these adorable little hand-stitched felt dolls, and I had seen one he was making for one of his co-workers, a Joker doll, and I immediately became ravenously covetous and had to have one of my own. Little did I know, he had already made one for me and gave it to me on my birthday this past Saturday.

Needless to say, I was stunned, and grateful and so happy that I squealed like a little girl.

So, without further ado, here's my very own hand made Batman doll, by my good buddy, Ryan...

How frickin' adorable is that!? I love it beyond words and thank the gods that I have such great and generous friends.

And just to prove how far Ryan went to make this for me; He hates Batman with a passion! So imagine the will power it took to get through sewing every stitch on his most hated superhero.

Thank you Ryan. You efforts are immensely appreciated.

Thanks for reading, everyone! More posts coming soon!

Batmans # 81-86!

Welcome to the final post of "Derf Week"! As mentioned earlier, my cyber-homie Freddy P (aka Derf) of Derf's Domain, sent me a killer box of toys, and it was so big that I had to devote an entire week to show it all off (and even then I'm holding a few things back for later). So, here's the final post, in which I add six Batmans to the mighty Batman shrine!

Check 'em out...

First up, we see a couple of classic Justice League style Batmans! I love these long-eared bastards! What I really liked about these two figures, is that they are both almost identical except that the one on the right has a more bluish-gray outfit and elbow and knee joints. Mmmmm... tasty articulation....

Next we have "I Love Straps & Buckles" Batman from the Animated series line. Actually, I think he came with some sort of parachute apparatus originally, but now he just looks like he finished a Houdini-esque escape. Next to him is a mystery Batman figure in that he is exactly identical to a figure I already have, which came in a McDonald's Happy Meal back in the heyday of the animated series, only that this figure is completely static with no articulation at all. Anyone know what this figure is from?

Here we have "Goth Metal" Batman! The '90s were an odd time for action figures, weren't they? Everything came pre-posed and overly muscles and all angry looking and pointy like a Ministry song played on a chainsaw. Look how grimdark Bats is here! He's got Trent Reznor wings and actually making a "scratch your face off" hand gesture! Angry, angry bats...

And finally, a beautiful figure from the Batman Returns line! I don't remember the exact name of this figure, but I remember having it at one point. This was kind of the beginning of the gazillion repaints of Bats, usually with some odd contraption clipped to him. I mean, did this happen in the movie? No! But it didn't matter to they toy companies, they just wanted to sell more toys. And I didn't mind back then, either. It just meant more Batman figures to collect. And then I realized that they were going to keep doing this a thousand times over forever and I went, "Ah, screw it." Still, this one is a beauty and really brings back memories.

Well, that's officially numbers 81 through 86! And 87 and 88 are already on the shelf, since I added the hanging Batman that you all saw in the last Random Toy Pic and the tiny little Batman that was on the pen (I carefully took him off so he could be with his brethren).

So, big crazy super duper thanks again to Derf for sending me such awesome toys! I'm currently building up a toy package to send back to you, just gotta hunt down a couple of things. ;)

Thanks for reading, gang and we'll be back to our normally scheduled blogging next week! OH MY GOD! CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE!!!!

Random Toy Pic #8

 

(Again, special thanks to Derf for the awesome Bat-loot!)

A Cartoon Bats for Chunky B!

Some of you may have heard about the "Battle for the Cowl", a contest in which I was soundly beaten by my most worthy opponent, Chunky B of Eclectorama. Part of the deal was that the loser had to fork over a Batman figure and to draw the winner an original piece of Batman art, declaring the winner the king of all Batman figure collectors.

And since I lost, here's what I made for Chunky B...

This is a newer style for me. A mix of basic shapes in Adobe Illustrator and then refined a bit in Photoshop. I had so much fun with this piece that I may just have to put the whole CARZ! thing on hold for a bit and maybe do a series of character portraits in this style. We'll see.

Until then, I have an "assignment" to draw a pirate/ninja/zombie fight. Stay tuned!

Well, I have been defeated...

Well, folks, the Bat Off dropped this morning at 8 AM and the clear winner is the mighty Chunky B with his impressive 105 Batman figures to my measly 77 Batman figures.

Congrats, Chunky B!

I just want to say that this was so much fun and I tip my hat to my most worthy opponent, and sincerely want to thank everyone for following our epic challenge and leaving such great comments. I love my fellow toy geeks!

So, now I owe Chunky B an original Batman-themed drawing and a rare 1977 Mego Pocket Heroes Batman.

To see his killer collection, head on over to Eclectorama.

Again, well played, Chunky B!

And just for giggles, I thought I'd show my third Bat-shelf, which includes several other Bat-collectibles like PEZ dispensers, various Batmobiles, a 1966 trading card and the like. Enjoy...

(click to view full size)

Well, I better get to work on Chunky B's drawing and then I'm heading out to the store to get some more Batman figures, because clearly my collection could use a boost. ;)

The Bat Off is HERE!

Well, the big event is finally here! This is my official entry in the mighty "Bat Off" against my toy-blogging comrade, Chunky B from Eclectorama!

As many of you may already know, me and the B decided to go head to head in an all out, no holds barred, challenge to see who has the most Batman figures.

The rules were as follows:

1) They had to be 3 dimensional, head to toe representations of Batman (eg. no busts, candy filled heads, PEZ dispensers, etc.)

2) No doubles, but paint variations, and mass-produced bootlegs were allowed.

3) The must be loose. Nothing in the package. (Which actually forced me to open a couple.)

4) We will both post pics of our collections, with all figures clearly numbered, at exactly 8 AM PST.

5) Whoever has the most Batman figures that qualify, wins!

And that's pretty much it. The loser of the challenge will have to fork over one of their very own Batman figures to the winner and a special Batman-themed drawing by the loser declaring the other the ultimate Batman collector! I am putting up a 1977 Mego Pocket Heroes Batman against Chunky B's Campbell's Soup Mail-Away Batman.

So... without further ado... my Batman figure collection stands at a mighty...

77

And here they are! (click images to view full sized)

Boo-YA! Beat that, Chunky B! I got 77 of those pointy eared crime fighters!

Does Chunky B have what it takes to stand up to my massive collection? Let's head on over to Eclectorama and see!

And for those of you who may be curious, here is a list of all of the Batmans (Batmen?) you see above. Some are a mystery to me, so I've tried my best to name them all.

1. First Appearance (Came with a cool book)
2. Mystery Hasbro Batman
3. Mexican bootleg
4. Mattel Retro Action
5. Mego Batman
6. Applause Batman Returns
7. Red Son Batman (aka "Sexy Hat Batman")
8. Dark Knight Returns
9. I forget this one. Got it in a comic shop.
10. Blue & black Batman Begins 
11. The Batman
12. Mattel Super Friends all-black Batman
13. Mexican bootleg (I got this from a street vendor in Ixtapa, Mexico)
14. Thrillkiller Batman
15. Chinese bootleg
16. 1989 Batman
17. 1964 parachute Batman
18. Justice Lord Batman
19. McDonald's Brave & Bold Batman
20. Blue & gray Batman Returns
21. Removable costume Bruce Wayne/Batman (from Batman Returns)
22. Infinate Heroes Batman (blue & gray)
23. Super Powers Batman
24. Infinite Heroes (black & gray)
25. '70s Batman PVC
26. Infinite Heroes Public Enemies Batman
27. Fuji Film exclusive Batman
28. Brave & Bold little guy. Whatever they're called.
29. Minimates Batman
30. Lego Batman
31. Trio Batman
32. Bootleg pencil topper (found in Chicago)
33. Dark Knight PVC
34. Batman & Robin cereal premium
35. Ertl die-cast Batman
36. Snack premium from Argntina (Thanks Tomas!)
37. JLA Subway Kid's Meal Batman
38. Funko plush Batman
39. New Frontier Batman
40. I forget which one this is. Scuba diving Batman?
41. Poo Batman (from the Batman/Clayface 2 Pack)
42. DCUC all-black Batman
43. DCUC blue & gray Batman
44. Some DC Direct Bats
45. I forget this one. 
46. This one too.
47. Some other DC Direct Bats.
48. DCUC Public Enemies Batman
49. DCUC black & gray Batman
50. Batman Animated silver & black Bats
51. Mego bendy Batman
52. Batman Animated ripped costume Bats
53. Dark Knight movie Batman
54. '70s parachute Batman
55. All-red Batman (Animated Series, I think?)
56. Batman Begins movie Bats
57. Brave & Bold Bats
58. The Batman in bumble bee armor or whatever
59. Bootleg Argentina Batman (again, thanks Tomas!)
60. Another mystery Batman
61. Imaginext blue & gray Bats
62. Mego Pocket Heroes (bent knees) Batman
63. Mego Pocket Heroes (straight legs) Batman
64. Public Enemies DVD Exclusive
65. McDonald's Animated Series Batman
66. Hanging Zipline Batman (some fast food premium, but I forget which one)
67. Fisher Price Batman
68. Another hanging Batman (I think he may have been connected to something at one time)
69. Microman Bats
70. Imaginext black & gray Batman
71. McDonald's Lego Batman
72. Late '80s Batman PVC
73. Batman Heroclix
74. Ertl Batman Returns die-cast
75. Imaginext Bat-cycle Batman
76. Blammoid Batman
77. Mego Die-cast Batman

And that's all of them! Whew!

Reminder! The "Bat Off" is Tomorrow!

Just in case you all forgot, or didn't watch my video blog (shame on you), I just wanted to give everyone a quick reminder that the "Bat Off" between myself and the mighty Chunky B from Eclectorama goes down at 8 AM PST!

Swing by here in the morning and see my official post, counting up all of my Batman figures. Then head on over to Eclectorama and see if Chunky B has got what it takes to beat my Bat-collection!

And for the record, here's just a sneak peak of but a few of my Batman figures, including the actual 1977 Mego Pocket Heroes Batman that Chunky B could win. (Which he won't.)

See you tomorrow! Chunky B is GOING DOWN!

CARZ! - 1989 Batmobile!

Well, I did the 1966 version, so I had to do the 1989 version. But I may skip all the others. I don't know. Maybe. We'll see.

(Click to view Vicky Vale size.)

CARZ! - 1966 Batmobile!

How long did you all really think I'd wait to draw this car? Done in less than 10 minutes! Holy speedy drawing, Batman! (Click to see Penguin sized.)

Happy Little Batman!

Okay, my sad Batman from earlier was making me depressed, so I had to fix it. Here's happy Batman!

There. I feel better now. :)

Sad Little Batman :(

So while I was waiting for some files to download (our network here at my job is hella slow),  started doodling this little Batman guy. He was supposed to look all chubby and cute and badass, but he ended up looking sad. Not sure what he's so sad about. Maybe he threw his Batarang and it never came back.

Poor little Batman...