Imaginext Batgirl and Batcycle

The Imaginext Batgirl with Batcycle is finally showing up at multiple retail establishments (I found mine at Target, and have read reports of her being found at bot Kohl's and Wal-Mart and a couple other places that sell Imaginext too.)

Batgirl is not perfect - the wall-eyed look leaves much to be desired. I am however quite pleased to see her in her current 'Batgirl of Burnside' costume. She has a lot of little details on her sculpt, which is great but also limits any likelihood of this figure being re-painted into any of Batgirl's other costume colors. Here's hoping this Batgirl figure is successful enough that we get fully re-sculpted Batgirl variants in the future!

Batgirl also has a double colored cape, black on the back and gold on the inside. Imaginext Robin is crying a single tear because he didn't get ANY cape, let alone a duo-toned cape!!!

The Batgirl figure's flaws are more than made up for by the near perfection her batcycle reaches.
This bike is solid and gorgeous, and includes a projectile bat missile up front. I can see this bike getting multiple re-paints and re-releases over the next few years, and being paired with Batman and Robin in different color schemes.

But most importantly, there is finally someone to match wits with the Imaginext Catwoman and Catcycle! Vroom vroom!

Imaginext Batgirl Coming Soon (FINALLY!)

An Imaginext Batgirl is FINALLY a reality! And it's the most recent (and very popular) Barbara Gordon 'Batgirl of Burnside' version! COOL!

Kmart.com currently has Batgirl listed on their website (but not in stock as of press time). The photo above shows Batgirl with an admittedly derpy looking expression (let's hope she looks a little less fetal-alcohol-syndrome in person but whoamIkidding I'm gonna get her anyways) as well as revealing that Batgirl sports a cloth cape. The CG prototype pics show her with what appears to be a plastic cape. A plastic cape might have been cooler, but at least she has a cape, seeing as it only took Fisher-Price almost a decade to get around to giving one to Robin!

The in package pics also reveal that the bat symbol on the front of Batgirl's Batcycle is a projectile! Awesome!

That's one good looking Imaginext Batcycle. I can see this thing getting a lot of re-colors and re-releases through the next few years, but I will have to have it in it's first release purple when it arrives in stores with Batgirl.

I'm not entirely surprised Imaginext went with the modern 'Batgirl of Burnside' costume, as it is the most up-to-date look for Batgirl. However Fisher-Price did add a lot of detail to the costume when they could have gone a more simple route, and for that I applaud them.

No idea when this will hit retail, but in the past when pics like this have surfaced online, it seems like it's been a good 6 months before they start hitting stores in sizable numbers. You can be sure the second she's available I will be getting her.

Stay tuned, true believers. Same Batgirl time, same Batgirl channel!

ShengYuan Batman and Batcycle BootLEGO

Another Batman BootLEGO set I picked up in my latest eBay batch is this basic Batman with Batcycle.

The Batcycle is a clone of the one that comes with the official LEGO Batcave set. It's a nice, solid build and although LEGO included a sticker, the batsymbol is printed on this bootleg version.

Batman again only has one face printed on his head. He also has a cheaper cape than the LEGO version. Otherwise ShengYuan is putting out some high quality bootlegs and you'd be hard pressed to find a reason not to own this guy, especially because they are so dang cheap!

A caveat: this Batcycle build did come missing a part. Fortunately I have enough LEGO to have a replacement, but it wasn't a 'basic' piece nor was it an inconsequential piece. Had I not been able to replace it I would not have been happy, and I am not sure how the Chinese bootleg sellers are when it comes to replacements. I'm also in no hurry to find out, because I can't imagine they really care when yo only spend a couple bucks to begin with. But I don't know so I can't make a definitive statement. Either way: buy at your own risk, but so far all my experiences have been worth the risk.

Holy Hell's Angel Dollies, Batman!

We went to a couple school rummage sales this morning, and at the second stop I found this Mego Batcycle and Mego Joker too!

My intern helped me with today's photo-shoot whilst sipping her smoothie. It's how we roll.

Neither of these are in pristine condition, but they are in surprisingly good condition. The Batcycle has broken handlebars (the right handle is completely missing) and Joker's right hand is barely hanging on, not to mention his missing jacket and shoes. The batcycle has plenty of scuff marks but surprisingly many (if not all) of it's original stickers too. And while Joker is missing his jacket and shoes (which can be replaced via the aftermarket) his bodysuit is in very clean shape.

And the piece-du-resistance...they were only fifty cents each!

Did I mention that my intern helped me with the photo shoot?

It's actually pretty funny having a muscle-shirted Joker driving the Batcycle! I can imagine Joker tearing off his sleeves as he speeds away on his stolen vehicle! "HAHAHAHAHA Seeya later, cheesy rider!"

The details of this find are all a blur to me, I was so excited! It is very rare nowadays to find Mego in the wild, and even more rare to find them so cheap. The last time it happened for me was when I found a Mego Robin for five bucks, and that was nearly four years ago.

As for today's find, there was a corner of the school gymnasium 'dedicated' to toys, which is to say there was a space on the floor with toys spread about (read: dumped) and kids meandering (read: wallowing) within the pile. I don't remember if I spotted Joker first, or the Batcycle, but when I did I nearly plotzed! It wasn't until a few minutes of perusing the rest of the mess that I discovered the side-car too!I'm so ignorant of Mego I wouldn't have known (but should have known intuitively) that it even came with a sidecar, so thank the maker I found it and reunited the two halves.

I looked and looked, but could find no sign of any other Mego goodness.

My intern, ladies and gentlemen!

"Booorn freeeeeeeee!"

"Sleeves? Where we're going, we don't need sleeves."

"Hey Batsy! I left you a little gift in your sidecar HAHAHAHAHHAHAAAAAAA!"

Justice League Batcycle and Steel Cycle Target Exclusives

More Justice League exclusive surprises from Target! Jboy of Revenge From the Cosmic Ark fame sent over this picture of the latest in the Target exclusive Brave and the Bold slash New 52 Justice League action figures. Batman with Batcycle and Superman with Steel Cycle!

It's actually pretty cool to see sets like this, especially when the figure is removable from the motorcycle (unlike past attempts from Batman Animated and Justice League toylines among many others.)

No word on price, but I imagine, with the single figures selling for $7.99, this set has to be around $15 to $20. Also, no word on if any other figure/cycle sets are available beyond Superman and Batman.

For more info on all the figures available in this new/old line, including Wonder Woman, see my previous post on the matter HERE.

Vicious (Bat)cycle

I went out today searching for the Hotwheels 'dollar' version of 'The Bat' hitting pegs all over the world except in my town now, and although I did not succeed this trip I did finally score the Hotwheels Batcycle that has already been out for a few months!

The packaging of mine is different than the one I originally posted about way back in March, but the batcycle is the same and since I tore this bad boy open right away, that's really all that matters!

Upon opening it I was surprised at how much metal is in this thing. The whole bike (sans front cowl) as well as almost all of Batman (sans head, cape and arms.) It feels very solid and rolls nicely, maintaining balance with a little help from that wedge that also serves as a decent kickstand to keep the bike from tipping while on display.

The other bikes in the set are pretty fun looking, especially that Tron 2.0 wanna-be 'Light Rider.'

The packaging designates these as 1:64 scale, but that's true only in that these were designed for use on standard Hotwheels 'orange track.' They are actually quite a bit larger than standard 'dollar' Hotwheels, falling roughly somewhere between 1:24 and 1:43 scale.

I only found one Batcycle in among a bunch of newly shelved bikes, so they may be one per shipment, or maybe they ran out of room, or someone left one behind. Who knows, but having never seen this in stores before now I think the Batcycle may be the hard-to-find one of the set.

At my Toys R Us they are going for $3.99. Worth it.

See ya' later...but before you go, check out some other sweet small scale Batcycles in my collection!

New Bat Cycle out now!

I've seen these Hot Wheels Speed Cycles motorcycles hanging around the toy stores for a while now and have found a few of them appealing - I even have one from 2004 (which I believe was from a predecessor to this specific line) but until now I had no idea they made a Bat Cycle!

This is available now and I MUST HAVE IT! I'm going to hit up all the local toy selling establishments until I have this Bat Cycle. Stay tuned!

Get on your bad motor-scooter and ride!

In my previous 'Batman and Robin' Poison Ivy post I mentioned the pursuit of a 'Batman and Robin' Batgirl action figure that led me to a cheap eBay lot I couldn't resist.

As mentioned, the lot did include the Batgirl I was after, as well as a few figures I wasn't after or even aware of, all for cheaper than most sellers were asking for Batgirl alone!

I will cover the sought after Batgirl in a later post; Today's post covers one of the figures (and vehicles) I didn't even know existed!

Batgirl and her Batcycle!

Or more accurately, and in keeping with the frozen theme of the movie that inspired it: her 'Ice-Strike Cycle' with 'snow assault mode and razor wheel launcher.' Groovy!

Remember when toys had awesome hand-rendered illustrations on the packaging? Those were good times.

This Batcycle is actually pretty cool. I've seen far worse, and if it were black it would be perfect. It's pretty accurate to what I recall Batgirl riding in the movie (and no, I am not going to review the movie to be sure.) It even has 'studs' molded on the tires for ice-gripping traction!

The batwings fold up and down which is pretty cool too, and the front wheel had a disc launching attachment that can be removed. What's nice about the launcher is that when it is attached it doesn't distract or take away from the bike's overall design.

Surprisingly, Batgirl is a decent figure too. I'd prefer darker colors of course, but at least she isn't sporting neon colors, right?

The helmet/cowl is pretty keen with that mean looking visor.

And her cloth cape flows nicely over her rear...I mean the rear of the motorcycle.

The figure is sculpted to sit well on the bike and grip the handlebars at the same time, without being bowlegged when standing off the bike. That's good toy design.

While certainly not the best Batgirl action figure around this one did surprise me, turning out to be a pretty fun little toy and a cool addition to Bubba's batcave.

'Eat your heart out, George Clooney!'

Finally, here's a look at the back of the packaging. I'm really glad to have rediscovered some of these toys lately.

While the movie was an atrocity and totally turned me off from seeking any of these out when it was released, thanks to Bane I have a new found appreciation for the toys after all these years. And since no one else cared about the movie either, with a little patience they can be found for pretty cheap!

That said, I am pretty sure I have all the figures I want from this series now, thanks to this awesome eBay win! Stay tuned to Toyriffic for the Batgirl that had me seeking it all out to begin with to find out if she was worth it!

I Love Dick

Grayson.
Chunky B over at Eclectorama posted the Toybiz Flash today, and *gasp* had the audacity to say "I usually ditch Robin and Bats teams up with Flash."

How could he?!?! The Toybiz Robin is clearly superior to The Toybiz Flash in every way! Let's take a look a the facts.

First off, Robin has a COOL action feature, which allows him to do a karate chop! The Flash has epileptic seizures. Point: Robin.

The button to activate Robin's chop is hidden under his cape. The Flash has a wind up knob (or cancerous tumor) growing out of his back. And no cape to hide it. Bonus Point: Robin.

When not activated, Robin's karate chop feature reveals his friendly nature, as he reaches his hand out in friendship to fellow superheroes and citizens alike. The Flash has two balled-up fists and some anger issues to work out. Point: Robin.

Robin also has access to all of Batman's spiffy vehicles, including the Toybiz Batcycle from 1989. The Flash runs. For fun.

In the immortal words of Pat Buttram "Run for fun? What the hell kind of fun is that?"
Point: Robin.
Let's see the Flash do THAT!

Robin was in the circus. The Flash, I dunno if he even has a job, or hobbies. He runs for fun after all. Point: Robin.

Final tally: Robin: like, a bazillion points. Flash: Zero. No need to go on. So let's take a closer look at the 1989 Toybiz Batcycle. It has a kick stand!

When you push a button on the gas tank, the side panels flip down to make little wings. Why? Who knows, I don't think it's supposed to fly or anything.

The bike was designed to compliment the '89 Batmobile and it does a pretty good job. Simple, fluid lines and lots of black. I'm sure it's pretty fast too.

But not as fast as The Flash!

Okay okay, the Flash can have one point, just so he doesn't try and outrun his tears.