Friday, October 29, 2010

9" "Masterpiece Edition" Batman by Hasbro

In commemoration of the recent "Battle For the Cowl" between ChunkyB from Eclectorama and Reis from Hey!Look at my toys!, I wanted to share a recent purchase I made. I knew nothing about this mysterious 9 inch "Bob Kane" Batman by Hasbro until I saw it among ChunkyB's troops lined up for the Battle, and there he was- my Batman! Reis also had this toy and said it originally came with a cool book, which I'd love to see, and when I found an entry about this figure on Action Figure Insider it said that he also came with a reprint of the first edition of Batman comics (though this was not Batman's first appearance- he first appeared in Detective Comics #27).



Designed after Bob Kane's Golden Age Batman, this retro-styled figure spoke to both my great affection for the Caped Crusader as well as my nostalgia for the Mego World's Greatest Heroes line from the 70's that featured cloth outfits. The toy is very authentic to the early illustrations of Batman, and features a bendable wire inside the outer edges of the thick cape, enabling one to display the hero with his cape spread out, like the wings of a bat- this was a great idea. The figure's hands hinge at the knuckles, allowing him to grip his Bat-a-rang, an articulation not present in the toys of my child... I'm so glad the folks at Hasbro gave Bats this accessory, my Mattel Retro Action Batman didn't come with a Bat-a-rang. What a FUN toy this is!


Congratulations ChunkyBalboa on your stunning show of power in the "Battle For the Cowl", and hats-off to Reis for your own formidable flex of might in the contest. You were both good sports, entertaining to watch, and educational in the pursuit of the origins of my mysterious new acquisition.


-Cover of Detective Comics #27 at Wikipedia, featuring the shadowy figure this toy was modeled after!
-Review of 6 1/2" DC Direct "First Appearance" Batman figure at OAFE- very cool! Another review of that Batman with great comparison pictures at MWCToys.com!
-Custom "Mego-styled" 1939 Batman at BatBlog! Nice job!

6 comments:

  1. One of my few dollies, I own this one too! http://toyriffic.blogspot.com/2008/05/holy-bat-doll-batman.html

    He came in a deluxe box set with the reprint of Batman #1 and a book on Batman's history. I have it all here somewhere. Very cool!

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  2. The book is actually a nice little history of the Dark Knight, with a bunch of cool pics and rare pieces of artwork.

    I found this figure and it's box set in a Barnes & Noble bargain section in 2002 for $9.99, believe it or not. It quickly became one of the most prized figures in my collection.

    Good find, Super D!

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  3. This is one cool Bats, I am going to have to agree with my fellow bloggers on thus one. Also of note while he is based on the Bob Kane first appearance, the toy was supposed to be designed by Alex Ross for this book set, produced by Hasbro.

    Great find!

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  4. This is one of those "I can't believe they made that" Batman figures. I really love this figure. I remember picking up an extra for a friend at a steep discount at Barnes back in the early 2000s, also.

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  5. I wish they made a catwoman in the style of the wonder woman doll 1940s....and black canary and Liberty Belle

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