BTATs gets it's own Boy Wonder!

Bubbashelby and I are proud to announce Batman The Animated Toys newest member, Super Duper Toy Box's own Colin "The Boy Wonder"!

If you haven't read the Super Duper Toy Box I highly recommend it. Colin has a fun, infectious way of looking at toys and I am sure he will carry that over to his posts here on BTATs. Colin has jumped head first into toy collecting a little over a year ago and has surpassed many who have been doing this a life time. He always has a positive attitude towards the hobby and others, that really comes through in his style of writing and photograph. Toy Collector, Comic Fanatic, Musician, and Artist. I think you will find him a welcome member to our little community.

So join Eric and I in welcoming the Boy Wonder to Gotham's Greatest Little Animated Blog!

Pen-goo-ins is prac-tic-ally chickens!

This is my favorite Penguin action figure:

Oswald Cobblepot, aka Penguin, from Batman the animated series. This is the later redesign, after the Penguin that was modeled after Batman Returns.

So much more in line with his classic comic book look and original appearance, this is Oswald at his finest.

Regal and refined, this Penguin ain't no chicken!


If you're blue and you don't know where to go to
why don't you go where fashion sits...


"Puttin' on the Ritz!"

(Re-posted from Toyriffic, but that post was originally made a long time ago so maybe you forgot.)

Fuga Dalla Prigione Di Arkham

What? Oh I'm sorry Arkham Asylum Escape, two pack from Kenner. I have been on the prowl for this two pack or for that matter the four pack that included the Arkham Asylum entrance gates for a long, long time. How long you ask? Lets see the two pack was released in 1997. So about that long.

Notice Batman is "Batman" in all languages represented here? He's the Batman that's why!

Now, I remember seeing both the two packs and the four packs in stores back then and I always thought "those will always be around" Boy was I wrong. The four packs disappeared over night, the two pack hung out for a while longer, but in the back of my head I kept thinking "get it next time, you need these other toys now!" I hate budgets.



All that being said I have been relentlessly searching for these gates at every toy show, flee market and ebay listing ever since... well relentlessly searching for an inexpensive set ever since. Finally the gates broke wide open and out rushed a super inexpensive two pack. I guess no one wanted this one, the package was rough, but I wanted to open it anyway so I didn't care. I could have went the rout of buying the gates loose, but where is the fun in that? I wanted the whole experience, plus I needed a loose version of Two-Face for the shelf and I could always use a different Batman.



I will admit that I did feel a little weird opening up this 14 year old package, plus to make matters a little worse it was a trilingual version and by the looks not the usual English, Canadian English, French I am so used to seeing in toy shops and on Star Wars figures, no this looks like the Queen's English, Spanish (guessing here) and Italian. But I decided to open it up anyway, if not for the gates (personal reasons) than for the good readers of Batman the Animated Toy.

First up is the Gates. Not much going on here but man are these going to look awesome on the shelf with all the baddies busting out of them.



Oh no it's Dos Caras! Due-Facce! Two Face! This would be the Batman Adventures version of the character, a more stylized version than what appeared on Batman the Animated Series in the first two seasons. he comes with some really nice guns, a pistol and what looks like a sub-machine gun.



Two -Face also comes with a straight jacket that wraps around the figure and fastens in the back to keep him behaving. the package calls this a "harness".



Batman, again from The New Adventures, comes with the molded flowing cape, a first for my collection. Oh I have a silver suit Batman from Mattel, but not this one from Kenner. I will admit I would have liked to have seen a more "natural" looking bat here, but he is a nice addition and I welcome new Batman with open arms. He comes with a grappling hook type device, described on the package as "weapon", that is of course over sized.



Here's a pretty fun item, you can fasten the projectile end of the "weapon" to the "harness" and string Two-Face up on the Asylum Gates for the staff or Police to find later. Hey it shows this on the package, I did't make this up.



I guess if anything this shows if you are patient enough and stick to it you will find the item you are looking for for the price you want to pay, or better, in a matter of time. Oh and this was less than 9 bucks with shipping included, if I am not mistaken these were retailing around 9.99 plus tax back in the day, possible a little more, so not bad in my opinion.



Hope you enjoyed the Gates of Arkham, I am certainly glad to get a hold of these. I had planned a totally different post (and it's still in the works) I was just pretty excited to finally get these in hand and wanted to bust them out for you to see... speaking of busting out, looks like Bats has some work to do! See you next time.

Alfred Pennyworth

I can't think of Salinas, California without thinking of Alfred Pennyworth. Why? Glad you asked.

Way back in 1999/2000, back before I, or most people for that matter, had discovered eBay, the only way to get a newly released toy was (gasp) from the stores that sold them. And then, like now, it was often hit or miss if a store was actually carrying something, even if it was a store exclusive.

Thus was the case with a Batman Animated four pack being sold exclusively at Toys R Us. I had found a picture in Toyfare or Wizard or some other nerd zine of a new set featuring the first ever Batman Animated Alfred Pennyworth action figure! I had to have it!

I cut the picture out and ran with it to my local Toys R Us, and of course they did not have it in stock nor did they have any intention of stocking it ever. Sadface.

Shortly thereafter I was traveling through Salinas and stopped in at their Toys R Us looking for the set. They did not have it on the shelves, but a friendly associate looked all over the store for it (their computer said one was in stock!) and was finally able to locate the set for me! I never got that woman's name, but she was obviously an angel sent from heaven.

Anyways, Alfred was later released with a Batcave/Wayne Manor set, but this version, as the box so excitedly puts it, includes a serving tray! Batman and Robin shall never go hungry again!

"What's for dinner tonight, Alfred? We're famished!"

In addition to Batman and Robin, the set also came with a recolored Clayface.

"Lobster? You know I'm allergic to shellfish!"

"Indeed, sir."

The set also included an accessory for each character. Alfred of course had his serving tray and lid, Robin had his Robin jet car thingamajig, Batman has a projectile firing gun doohickey, and Clayface has a load of dynamite and a 'breakable' safe.

"And guess who gets to clean it all up."

I believe this set was the first set Hasbro released with recolor/re-releases and one 'exclusive' figure. Later sets included such fan favorite characters as Commissioner Gordon, Talia Al-Ghul and Ventriloquist/Scarface. But I will always remember Alfred and my trip through Salinas as the high water mark of my Batman Animated collecting career.

Batman Related

Some more filler for you. Not sure if anyone was following the "Battle for the Cowl" on my other blog, to some this may be old news, but I just realized I left the audience over here at Batman the Animated Toys just hanging. Sorry about that. Anyway here is my current "just Batman" collection that I threw against my challenger.

click image to see larger

Hopefully durning the upcoming holiday break I will be able to dig out my BTAS collection and do some photo shoots for this blog. I am thinking about taking the above Batman shelf down and rotating out the army of Batman for some BTAS villains. If I do you will be the first to get the news. Oh and just in case you don't already now, I won the contest between myself and Reis at Hey, Look at my Toys!

Enjoy

Combat Belt Batman

As Bubbashelby would put it, this is a "cheat post" since it was ran on my other blog sometime ago here. Though I think it was time to migrate it since it was the inspiration for this blog. I had enjoyed photographing this toy so much that I took one of the images and made a header, then that lead to setting up a little blog for fun and then contacting my blog buddy and brother from another mother Bubbashelby to see if he was game to talk about some BTAS stuff. Here we are, so I hope you enjoy this post and I look forward to more.



Back when Hasbro held the Batman license a little cartoon made a debut called Batman the Animated Series. Hasbro not missing a beat released some of the best all around Batman figures ever. These things were spot on to the cartoon, well with the exception of all the multi colored bat suits with skis and jet packs and the like. Combat Belt Batman was the only way you were getting a "regular" looking Batman from the cartoon in the sea of goofy Suit Batmans.



This Batman not only combines the look of the show, but has a pretty cool play feature, that actually makes sense, the utility belt! If you didn't feel like wearing the Combat Belt, you could remove it and not ruin the look of the figure.

So what comes on a Combat Belt. You get the standard issue humongous grappling launcher with rope and hook, you also get a bat-a-rang that fits into the launcher and has a storage loop on the belt, plus you get a neat little set of Bat-Cuffs for apprehending Gotham City's Goons.



Combat Belt Batman is by far my most treasured Batman in my collection. You know that question people ask, what is the one item you would grab in an emergency? Well besides the Family and Pets, Vintage Boba Fett, and the family pictures. Combat Belt Batman is right there with them. Of coarse I might have to grab his Batmobile as well, especially if that's were he is at at the time, no time to stop and think about these things...

Battle for the Cowl

Not necessarily Batman the Animated Series, though I will have some of my BTAS collection in the upcoming photos, I thought I would post this here as well just in case anyone is interested in seeing to geeks go head to head in a battle royal of Batmans.

From the Eclectorama post:

So, some of you may have noticed that my buddy Reis made a comment on my last post that I was flaunting my Batman Collection and he pretty much challenged me to a face off, de hombre a hombre. Apparently Reis fancies himself a Batman collector, oh how cute. So let it be known that I accept your challenge Reis, and as soon as we agree on some terms to the competition we will be having a Batman face off, a Battle for the Cowl. Which will end with one of us giving up a Loose Batman from our collection and a custom illustration for the winner. Oh wait I should say I will be getting one of Reis' Batmans and he will be drawing me something when I win.

More later as the terms and the spoils are settled on. Plus I will post more on my efforts to thin out my collection soon.

Update: The Rules have been agreed upon and are as follows:

1) Toys/Statues/Etc. have to be open, not sealed on a card or in a box.

2) Batman has to be 3-D and head-to-toe, meaning PEZ dispensers and busts are out.

3) Variations count, meaning Reis's Pink Foo Foo Batman can be used, as well as all the countless color variations that Hasbro and Mattel have made.

4) No repeats, so Reis will not be able to use his fifteen bootleg Batmans he went and picked up at the dollar store an hour ago. Just one, buddy, sorry.

5) I guess that means Bootlegs are allowed... if you have to Reis.

The prizes, well the loser has to draw a picture for the winner declaring that they are indeed the champion and they also have to give up an agreed upon loose figure from their collection. Reis is putting up a 1978 Mego Pocket Heros Batman, I have a Campbell's Soup Mail Away Batman on the chopping block (Really? I can't believe you do not have that one.) We will both be posting a collection photo and close up photos of the collection along with our figure counts on the morning of Friday, October 29, 2010. So be there and witness my victory!

Wish me luck!