Mission Masters Mountain Pursuit Batman

I'm not exactly sure where this strange, green Batman came from. He was found loose in an old tote of toys I decided to sell awhile back, but whatever disdain I had for him before was replaced with curiosity and enthusiasm, now that I'm a toy enthusiast and official staff member of Batman the Animated Toys Blog  :D   It looked familiar to me upon rediscovering it because I had just bought Kenner & Hasbro Mission Masters Glider Strike & Knight Assault Batman toys from the same New Adventures series not long before! So I did some hunting and found it was a Mission Masters 3 Mountain Pursuit Batman.  All the multicolored Batman figures from the animated TV show that used to bore me now delight me for some odd reason. I love them!

Initially appearing to be some type of scuba dive wetsuit, it soon became apparent that it was in fact rappelling gear strapped to his left shoulder and chest. Mountain Pursuit Batman is equipped with a pick-axe and grapple gun, so that makes sense. The grapple gun on mine doesn't fire, but it sounds as though a spring might be encased within the barrel. Some of the other figures in this line share the hooked left hand sculpt.

I went stark raving mad for the Batman: The Brave & The Bold toys in 2011, which share a lot of similarities with these figures: simple articulation, a cloth cape in this instance, somewhat ridiculously oversized accessories, and fun, exaggerated  characters. Like the Brave & The Bold toys, there are several outrageous incarnations of Batman throughout the Animated line, in a delightfully absurd assortment of inappropriate colors. Again, what bored me before I now love   :D

Oddly enough, I happen to have a few other Batman figures with green paint, so I guess that makes this a collection of sorts. This probably has a lot to do with my fascination/obsession with Batman as Green Lantern, and to the ever-elusive, highly valued DC Direct figure of the said character (which I finally scored last Labor Day weekend for the unheard of price of $14.99!).  For your pleasure, I present my burgeoning collection of Green Batmen:

Batman: The Brave & The Bold Deluxe Skyshot Batman, Mission Masters Mountain Pursuit Batman, EXP Camo Tech Batman, &  Justice League Unlimited Batman (Tech Suit Variant w/gas mask).

This is a great toy I'd reccomend to any Batman the Animated fan! Like I've said before though, in this age of environmentalism, green is the new black!

(originally posted at The Super-DuperToyBox, Sept. 8th, 2011)

*Visit the database of Batman: The Animated Series toys at Legions of Gotham!

More Later- Make It FUN!

The Jokereteer!

I cannot believe we haven't talked about a little Batman movie from 1993, that goes by the name Batman: Mask of the Phantasm before now. 

If you are unfamiliar with it you really need to check it it. Through a series of flashbacks it tells a story of one of Bruce Wayne's past loves, the one he almost married, and her return to Gotham around the same time a new mysterious vigilante takes to the streets eliminating some of Gotham's crime bosses. The Gotham crime families turn to the Joker to help take out this new would be hero and at the same time he figures he can take out the Bat.

Joker has made his hide out in the art deco filled remains of the Gotham World's Fair pavilions and in one fight scene dons the flight pack to do battle with Batman and the Phantasm.

The figure is a representation of this scene, though if I am not mistaken the Joker does not have the boots and Rocketeer style pants in the movie. 

I think they made a nice touch on the figure, which is officially known as "Jet Pack Joker". His whole sculpt is actually a vintage style flight suit with his tie and flower topping it off.

The exhaust of the jet pack also makes a "Capture Nozzle" by taking a figures hand and jamming it in the end, the Joker can then take Batman (or whomever) on a wild ride.

Another nifty feature is the stylized flight helmet, that can be removed from the Joker's head  instead of it being sculpted on.

Of the small offering of figures from the movie this is one that you should probably look into if you are a fan of the Joker. The figure can still be picked up online for a pretty good price, this one was purchased years after the movie had come and gone from theaters at a local toy show.

I will have to dig out some more Mask of the Phantasm items to post, so keep an eye out, and keep an eye on the skies for the Jet Pack Joker.

Poison Ivy!

I finally own this garden fresh beauty!

I've owned the second Animated Ivy action figure for a while now, but only recently acquired the one, the only , the original Queen of Green herself!

I got her mint on card - the card was pretty beat up, but I knew I'd be opening her up right away, so it was irrelevant (but kept her price quite low!)

This, to me, is Pam's definitive look. Her skin color is normal, she's cherubic like a wood nymph, and she is deadly cute!

'Who are you calling 'cherubic,' meat puppet?!?!'

Pam came with a crossbow ala her Batman Animated appearance(s.)

It's pretty simple and can be held in either hand. At least it doesn't fire neon missiles the size of Batman himself! But for those of you who did want a gaudy accessory with your action figure back in the day...

Miss Ivy came with this giant Venus Flytrap maw with rows of razor sharp teeth!

'Feed me, Seymour!'

For more Poison Ivy fun, be sure to check out my blog Toyriffic every Sunday for 'Poisunday Ivy' and a Poison Ivy themed post every week!

Coolsville

One of the best character designs and re-imagined origins for the Batman: The Animated Series was Mr. Freeze. I love the old-school sci-fi/spacesuit look and the 'glass' dome helmet, not to mention the red-lensed goggles.

Mr. Freeze is a delight to the eyes!

The funny thing about his re-written and often lauded origin for the animated series: It was kind of a fluke. I mean, they re-wrote almost every character's origin story! No one sings the praises of the Harvey Dent explosion on the walkway or the Joker's gangster origins (although that one was inspired by the '89 movie for sure.) But oh my, what a brilliant re-imagining for Mr. Freeze!

I kid. It was a brilliant re-imagining. My point is just that with all those re-imaginings, they were bound for a base hit at least once!

Ahem, back to the toy. Mr. Freeze comes, as Mr. Freeze toys often do, with a water shooting weapon. This one is a little different in that the water pressure will toss out an' ice-missile,' which is neat in action and in display. And more relevant to Mr. Freeze than plain water.

However I prefer Freeze's gun to be deceptively unarmed, and the design allows for you to display it that way as well.

His 'backpack' serves as the water receptacle and is made of a soft plastic/rubber material. It was a bit sticky when I released Freeze from his plastic prison, but considering he sat in there for 19 years, it was not a surprise and a little soap washed the sticky right off. I have not tested it for leaks yet, but I'm not going to be squirting Batman with him much anyways.

It would be neat and probably pretty easy to customize a single blue cylinder to be more in keeping with his animated appearance, and I may attempt such a thing someday.

In the meantime, here's the cardback showing all the other cool Batman Animated toys you could get back in 1993.

Revenge is a dish best served...cold

And apparently so is acquiring the original Batman Animated Mr. Freeze action figure - it only took me nineteen years to finally get around to owning this one!

I'll crack him open and blog about him all proper like real soon, but I just couldn't wait to show him off!

Beware the Creeper!

I added this Creeper action figure to my collection a few months back and am just now finally posting about it! Yay procrastination!

I remember when this figure came out, he was pretty much a shelf warmer and an aberration in the Batman Animated mythos. His inclusion in the show and toyline just seemed odd to me.

I read somewhere at the time that the Creeper was going to be a regularly occurring character as the show evolved into The New Batman Adventures, but that idea was scrapped and Creeper was just given one episode (or maybe it was a two parter?)

Regardless, The New Batman Adventures made the character of The Creeper out to be a sort of 'good guy' version of the Joker, with a similar origin etc., and even a crush on Harley Quinn.

I was none too impressed by his appearance on the cartoon, so I never felt the need to buy the action figure. I specifically recall a lone Creeper action figure hanging on the K-Mart clearance aisle for what seemed like (and probably was) years.

Then a few months back I was watching the BBC documentary 'In search of Steve Ditko' about the the odd and elusive creator of The Creeper as well as The Question, Hawk and Dove and many others (most notably the co-creator of Spider-Man.) I became fascinated and read a bit more about Ditko and his creations and discovered that the real origin of The Creeper is far more interesting and fun than falling into a vat of acid and coming out with discolored skin and a perma-grin. I decided to add him to my collection in one form or another, and of the few Creeper action figures available the New Batman Adventures version just looked the most, well, fun!

So I tracked him down for a great price on eBay (what, there's not a huge secondary Creeper market? No way!) and he's now mine!

Creeper came with a pretty nicely designed accessory. It may be a bit odd and cumbersome, but it's both action oriented and relevant to the character. As Jack Ryder, the Creeper is actually a hard hitting no nonsense reporter, and so he comes with a TV camera and boom mic.

The camera has a slide that can be positioned to show Ryder...

...or Creeper. Silly but fun if you imagine playing out an interview with one or the other.

The camera shifts into a cumbersome 'gun' and the mic can be shot like a rocket. Again, silly, but at least the Creeper didn't come with a day-glo jet pack or street luge. The designers tried and succeeded in making the toy's accessories relevant and for that they deserve our applause.

Sadly, Creeper did not come with an 'Applause' sign.

Lame.

Happy Harleynukkah and Merry Quinnsmas

I tend to forget that even though a toy isn't an action figure, it's still 'Batman the Animated Toys' relevant, and therefore should be blogged about here.

Case in point: this Harley Quinn 'beanie' dolly.

I got this Harley Quinn for my daughter for Christmas. This beanie doll was originally sold at WB Stores in 1999, so sufficed to say I had to do some 'secondary market' (aka eBay) searching to get it. My daughter also has Poison Ivy and her sister has Batgirl...maybe I'll get those on the blog someday as well.

I've been patient and wise in my search for these BTAS beanies, so I have been able to procure all three that we currently own here for around what they retailed for when new. But I do see them appear for pretty high prices on eBay quite often. The fact that they were made so long ago for a now defunct specialty store does tend to give them the air of rarity, but be patient and you too could probably find most if not all of them for less than ten bucks each.

Here's another shot of Harley with some more of my daughter's Christmas loot!