Batman was my favorite superhero when I was a kid.
This was in the 70s, before Batman was black-clad, brooding, and cool.
The old-school TV Batman from 1966 was a dad-bod Adam West in blue and grey tights who talked and danced like a dweeb.
Despite the cheese factor, I loved the show. Everything about it. The Bat-gadgets. The Batcave.
But my favorite thing about it was the Batmobile. I mean, c’mon.
But when Star Wars came out in 1977 with its groundbreaking special effects, Batman didn’t look so cool to me anymore.
The costumes. The gadgets. The vehicles. The television Batman’s all sucked in comparison to stormtroopers, lightsabers, and landspeeders. My affections strayed from the Caped Crusader to Luke Skywalker, from the Dark Knight to Jedi knights.
I lost interest in Batman until the late 80s, when Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns burst upon the scene, presenting a gritty, muscular, anti-heroic Batman who could beat the stuffing out of Burt Ward’s shorts.
Then, in 1989, Tim Burton’s Batman hit the screens, and my toy collecting dollars once again flowed in the direction of Wayne Manor.
I bought every toy I could get my acne-grease-slicked hands on, including this Batmobile released by Toy Biz.
I probably bought this at the Puente Hills Target in 1989. I put it into storage when I moved overseas in 1991 and didn’t dig it out until 2019.
After 30 years, the toy remained in remarkably good condition.
When you pull a lever where the gear shifter is, two missile launchers pop open on the hood and fire yellow projectiles.
I always imagined that the rear of the Batmobile contained a jet engine, but nope. It’s a trunk with plenty of space for Alfred to load with luggage as The Dark Knight drives his bat-friends to the airport.
The axle is connected to one of those noise-making devices to give the Batmobile a revving sound when you roll it across the floor.
The Batmobile comes with this vacuformed cocoon to protect it from would-be carjackers. Mine got a little warped after thirty years squished in a box, but retook its original shape after I wrapped it around the Batmobile for a few weeks.
This toy had some decent features, but the body of the car had a waxy sheen that constantly reminded you that this was a plastic toy.
In any case, what good is a Batmobile without a Batman to drive it?
This is the first version of the Batman figure released. In this failed effort to capture Michael Keaton’s likeness, the toymakers gave the figure an overly round jawline.
A second version was released months later to correct Batman’s chin, but they overcompensated and made him look cartoonishly blocky.
The third, and last, version of Batman by Toy Biz had a more natural looking jaw, but his lips seem a little puffy for Michael Keaton.
They also released a pretty terrible Joker that looks nothing like Jack Nicholson and comes with a removable hat, walking stick, and pump to squirt water out of his lapel flower.
His henchman, the unnecessary Bob the Goon, came with a removable hat, a gun, a knife, and a spring-loaded kung-fu kick to give the Dark Knight a swift kick to the Bat-groin.
Many different versions of the Batmobile have come and gone since, but my favorites will always be these two.
In 1990, Toy Biz would eventually lose the Batman license to Kenner, who would continue to produce Batman toys under The Dark Knight Collection label.
But before that, Toy Biz would release two other toys from the Batman movie: a Batcave and a Batwing, which I’ll feature in a future post.
Same Bat-time. Same Bat-channel.
