My Batmania
This post is actually a post in two parts. This post deals with the story behind a particular figure and the second part can be found at Poe Ghostal’s blog and you must click over there in order to “collect them all.”
Okay, today I bring you this Batman figure:
I’m putting him for a very good reason. In the year 1989 the Tim Burton Batman movie came out that I became absolutely Bat shit insane for Batman. Everything had to be Batman, from my cereal to my clothing. One of the things that I got before the film even came out was a promotional magazine that was all about the film. I seriously spent hours pouring over every picture. One of the advertisements really intrigued me, because it was an ad for Batman action figures that would be coming out and in the picture it featured one kick ass Batman that I wanted with a want to end all wants:
When the line finally hit toys stores our (my parents and I) search began in earnest and it wasn’t easy. It took us forever to find a single Batman figure in stores. He wasn’t anywhere to be found, because he was so damned popular. This was the days before the internet too, so there wasn’t any going to be any turning to online retailers or eBay. What you found or didn’t find depended on what stores you went to and it was a little harder for me than most kids. And when I got the figure… well it was a little disappointing because it looked nothing like the picture I had seen in the magazine. But it was Batman, damn it and I was happy.
Now here’s where it gets (I hope) interesting. This figure is a carded ‘89 Batman:
He was purchased as a birthday gift for someone else and for whatever reason he wasn’t given to that person. I knew of it’s existence so I begged my Mom for it. Since I already had one out, I decided to keep him in the package. Now if this isn’t the first steps from leaving the sea of childhood and crawling onto the beach and breathing rich toy collecting air for the first time, I don’t know what is.
While I no longer like Batman as much as I did back then, I have a special fondness for the Toy Biz line mainly because of it’s influence on me as a collector. Still, they kind of sucked. In fact the Toybiz line sucked so bad that DC Comics took away the license and gave it back to Kenner who did a bang up job on it. But that’s another story, which you can see on Poe Ghostal’s blog.
Thanks to: Action Figure Insider
July 8th, 2009 at 8:16 am
That was the Batman figure I got stuck with, too. By the time the Kenner figures came out, my mom wouldn’t get me on of the (much better) Batman figures from that line because I already had one. I still have it to this day, too. I like it more now than I did then, though. My Batmania didn’t fade like yours did, though; the ‘89 crazxe only stoked the flames that already existed within me, and it remains strong to this day. I have so many Batman figures, it ain’t funny.
July 8th, 2009 at 10:34 am
‘89 was when it really hit for me. I have pretty much favored Batman ever since. My toy collecting bug really hit with that figure too. I have over the past few years managed to pick up all but the Batcave from the Toy Biz line. For me the Toy Biz line is important because it was the first all Batman toyline. There were several superior lines later, but they were the first. Also the artwork on them is a cool mix of a comic version of the movie suit.
July 8th, 2009 at 11:41 am
I also had that Batman, I was pretty angry when the knot on his “bat-rope” came undone and wound up inside his body.
July 9th, 2009 at 4:44 am
I had the magazine you refer to, Paul, and it was my bible that year. My friend Kit and I studied that thing obsessively.
And yeah, I hated the toy once it hit shelves, ’cause his belt’s action feature looked ridiculous and the repainted Super Powers figure in the ad looked ten times better.
I am over that movie, ’cause it really doesn’t hold up, but if Mattel or DC Direct were smart, they’d pad whatever fees necessary to secure the licensing rights and Keaton’s likeness rights and produce a proper Keaton Batman toy; it’d sell like mad.
July 9th, 2009 at 4:45 am
PAY whatever fees, that is.
July 9th, 2009 at 7:59 am
Who is this Batman?