I've got BootLEGO bats in my belfry!

Looking at BootLEGOs on eBay the other day, I stumbled on to a brand new Bat-lot of Batmen with the new style cowl (I had yet to own any LEGO or BootLEGO Batmen with the new cowl style) and not only that, but the set included some great Batman variants. So even though I was as yet unfamiliar with the bootleg company that produces this lot (Duo Le Pin) I figured the pennies-on-the-dollar cost was worth the potential risk, so I ordered them...and man am I glad I did!

First up is Batfleck. I am pretty sure I will end up with an official LEGO set or two for the upcoming Batman v Superman movie, but BootLEGOS are so damn inexpensive and WHO CAN WAIT?!?! Also, thankfully I now know that Duo Le Pin is pretty high quality. These BootLEGOS are even closer to LEGO quality than the Sheng Yuan and Decool I have previous experience with! This set is just incredible. Don't get me wrong, they are still bootlegs and there are a couple flaws (one Batman head had the same no-emotion expression printed twice...ironic for Batman who isn't one to emote...and this Batfleck inexplicably has a scuba mask on the other side of his head) but...damn they are great. And they cost me less than 75 cents each with free shipping from China! And it only took less than a week for them to arrive! GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Up next: at first I wasn't sure if this were an 'official' Batman or not, it actually took me a minute to realize that this is the Batman: Arkham Knight Batman! How cool is that?!?!

This Batman even has printing on his arms and the sides of his legs! QUALITY! Another fun detail is that Arkham Batman has a calm expression without stubble while his angry expression has stubble. Like in the game, Batman gets angrier and less fresh as he battles throughout the night!

Next: Batman Begins. Each Batman minifigure comes with a batarang, a base and a bunch of pieces to make some little Batmobile/Batdrone or something. I left those out of the shoot because they are really just filler.

Next: Batman from The Dark Knight (in grey.) Some of the Batman minifigures came with plastic extended wings, and some came with cloth capes. I actually did a little mixing/matching to suit my desires, this one may have come with the cloth cape that I gave to Batfleck. Whatever, the whole point of these buildable minifigures is mixing and matching!

Batman Beyond. HOLY MOLEY! This guy alone is worth the low low price of admission! Other BootLEGOers have made half-assed attempts at Batman Beyond, but this is the first correct and screen accurate one I've ever seen. He came with a red cloth cape (another irony, THIS is one that should have the solid wings...in red) but Batman Beyond does not have a red cape, he has red retractable wings, so I left it off the minifigure.

Batman of Zur En Arrh! This is now the third BootLEGO Batman of Zur En Arrh I own (each from a different BootLEGO company. Wow!) We do indeed live in incredible times. I will have to do a side by side by side shoot of this version of Batman soon.

All these Batmen have back printing too, BTW. MOAR QUALITY!

Green Lantern Batman! Another wonderful and surprising addition. Now that I think about it, this guy had a cloth cape, so I switched it out with Batfleck. He looks better with solid wings (although they would look better still in green. GL Batman also came with flesh colored hands...weird...so I switched them with some spare black hands (BootLEGOS always seem to come with additional hands.)

Last but...well...least...is Space Batman! I think this Batman appeared in the LEGO Batman 3 video game. He has a normal face and a space face but the 'normal' face is weird because it is printed on the white plastic head. No skin tone. He looks more like Batzarro with the other face. So I'm sticking with space face!

Man, what a set! The quality of Duo Le Pin is incredible, even the cloth capes are better than anything I've experienced from BootLEGOS to date (while still falling short of LEGO quality...but not by much.) The unique characters and the use of the new style cowl makes this set a must have for anyone who likes to dip their toes in the BootLEGO pool from time to time.

Decool Bootleg LEGO Superheroes and Heath Ledger Joker

I picked up this lot of Decool LEGO Bootleg minifigures for less than forty-five cents each shipped (CHEAP!) and they arrived today!

They are all very cool, but the reason I needed this grouping in particular was to get my paws on a Heath Ledger Joker minifigure!

Since LEGO themselves haven't made (and it's a safe bet to say 'never will make') a Dark Knight Joker minifigure, this guy is a great addition to the bootleg ranks and my minifigure ranks AND my Batman collection and proves that just because you're a bootlegger doesn't mean you can't have a good original idea once in a while.

Joker comes with a laser gun - not entirely movie accurate, but I'm sure I have some LEGO knives and lint that I can loan him.

"You wanna know how I got these scars? I stepped on a goddamned LEGO in the middle of the night and as I flailed in pain I fell face first through the living-room window!"

This set also came with an Avengers Black Widow based on one of her many movie appearances...

...Captain America...this looks to be a movie version of the good Captain as well...

...Phoenix...I believe this Phoenix is a copy of an limited edition SDCC Exclusive Phoenix minifigure from a year or two ago...

...Spider-Man...who looks to be based on the recent Amazing Spider-Man film...

...and Wolverine! Not sure which costume variant Wolverine this is, but it looks legit.

Quality is damn good for less than fifty cents each. The plastic is lower quality than LEGO and the paint apps aren't as crisp on their bodies (but the faces seem pretty good) and so far with all the bootleg minifigures I've grabbed, I can't complain. They all have accessories and bases (all of the accessories make sense beyond the Joker's silly laser gun) and Wolverine, Phoenix and Black Widow even have alternate expressions on the backs of their heads.

So far in my experience with bootleg LEGO minifigures, the companies Decool and ShegYuan appear to produce some decent quality toys. They aren't perfect, but they are cheap, and if you can get a minifigure that isn't even a part of any official line-up? Well that's 'win-win' in my book.

Until I contract lead-poisoning!

Batgirl in The Dark Knight Rises...?

There's a lot of speculation that Batman will fall/die in The Dark Knight Rises. Yet Nolan has said on record (somewhere) there he will not have a Robin in his trilogy.

The man can die (maybe) but not the idea. Not the legend.

Let's assume Batman does die; or at least gets too old for this sh...tuff.

Who then will replace Batman? Joseph Gordon Levitt?

Please.

How about Batgirl then? Barbara Gordon has already appeared in Nolan's trilogy in the finale of The Dark Knight. And the filmmakers (specifically Nolan as Director) really went out of their way to not show the actress' face. As if he had bigger plans for the future of this character, and knew he'd need a bigger actress for her later on. Watch the scene again with that in mind and you'll notice what I mean.

Babs is about 12 in The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight Rises will take place eight years later. Making Babs around twenty 'now.'

It's already pretty well established that Nolan's trilogy is about Jim Gordon and Bruce/Batman, not just Batman. What better way to culminate the trilogy than by combining the two?

It's as if Batman and James Gordon had a baby together, and she will be the future of Gotham City. That would be one hell of a way to wrap up a trilogy, wouldn't it?

Other than the obvious use of Bane (and with Nolan is it ever really about the obvious?) The Dark Knight Rises actually has a lot of elements of 'girl power:' Talia al Ghul, daughter of Ra's, has likely taken up her father's mantle. Catwoman (nuff said.) There's even talk that Selina's 'sidekick' Holly Robinson (another daughter figure) will appear in The Dark Knight Rises.

That's a lot of girls/daughters for a boy's action flick about a guy who dresses as a bat and a good cop working in a bad system.

Will it happen? Will Batgirl appear in Nolan's trilogy? I would love it, Nolan could pull it off, but even I doubt it will happen.

Although...Batgirl did appear in Batman and Robin, the only other live action appearance of Bane. Could Nolan be hinting at something with Bane's inclusion? Could the femininity of Batgirl be the polar opposite of the musclebound steroid infused He-Man Bane, and the only response to the brute male force that has hit Gotham City in this, the last chapter of Nolan's bat-trilogy?

Hmmmm....

With Nolan, expect the unexpected.

I'll buy that (Batman) for a dollar!

And I'll get a Joker Goon too!

The other day I was at Target and on one of their clearance shelves lay this two pack of 4" The Dark Knight action figures - a lone holdout from the marketing machine of the last Batman movie.

The package was torn halfway open, but the figures were intact and untouched. And because of the packaging damage the set had been clearance priced down to ninety six cents!

At less than fifty cents per figure, I could not pass it up! I'm surprised it sat there in the store for so long, but then again I passed on all these figures when they were new, so I shouldn't be surprised that folks could care less about them even at less than a buck.

The goon's face is pretty accurate to the movie and nice for this scale, but his body sculpt is atrocious. Stiff as a board, he looks like a six and a half foot tall mannequin next to the (presumably) computer-modeled Batman figure.

Batman is wearing the costume as it evolved in The Dark Knight, but this toy version has silver trim and is called 'Thermo-Suit' or something like that (I threw out the packaging right away and now I can't remember exactly.) A good looking figure at this scale and a tolerable variation on the costume. I would never have bought these at more than a buck a figure, but for .96 I can't complain.

On another note, and I am just guesstimating here, but I think this has got to be at least my 112th Batman figure! ;)

Batman Begins Again

If you want to read the "long story" on this figure, skip to the diatribe past the pictures. Otherwise, just enjoy the toy :)


This is Survival Suit Bruce Wayne. This figure is from the Movie Masters line and although it's labeled as "The Dark Knight," this figure recreates a scene in Batman Begins.

Remember before Bruce decided to be a Bat, when he put his gear together and held a stapler to Detective Gordon's head? Good times.

My favorite part about this scene in Batman Begins is how it's reminiscent of the similar pre-Bat costume scene in Mask of the Phantasm. Bruce is trying to thwart crime, but he just doesn't have the "edge" he'll need; that split second of fear, intimidation and surprise that the bat costume gives him.

He's learning.

Like most of the Movie Masters figures, Bruce comes with an inexplicably large accessory item, in this case a ski mask. If I had any Mego or Retro Action dollies, I'd put it on them. Otherwise it's pretty useless.

The back of the package shows a few more of the new releases in the Movie Masters line, as well as a close-up of Beanieman.

"Criminals are a superstitions, cowardly lot.

I know, I shall go to Vail, Colorado!"

The beanie is made of a soft stretchy rubber and is removable, revealing the excellent likeness of Christian Bale formerly only available on the variant unmasked Batman figure.

The costume has all sorts of details too, buckles and straps and stuff on his belt, and perfectly recreates the movie moment in it's design.

With Alfred on vacation, Bruce decides to do his own laundry.

3 hours later:
"Dammit!"

Good luck to all who are going to run to Toys R Us to find this figure. Be sure your Karma is clean before you go!

And now for my long toy rant. Read on if you need to get some sleep:

Two years is a lifetime where pop culture is concerned. So many toys, TV shows, movies and iPads have been released in the last 24 plus months it's hard to remember the golden days of Spring 2008. A new movie was about to be released called The Dark Knight, and dreams of awesome action figures based on the iconic characters in the film danced in our heads.

In addition to the kid based movie tie in toys, Mattel used The Dark Knight to launch a new action figure line: Movie Masters. Larger collector aimed figures with movie accurate sculpts, this toyline seemed to answer all our hopes and dreams and even gave rise to speculation on where the line could go after The Dark Knight (a movie accurate Keaton Batman, anyone?)

Then the Mattel curse hit. Lead infested toys, scalper speculation about the Joker action figure, QC issues, limited variants, schizophrenic distribution, etc etc etc. The line, although producing some excellent figures in it's short run, soon died of over saturation of a few figures (Joker, Goon) and extreme difficulty in finding some key movie moment figures (maskless Batman, Ghoul Batman etc.)

Mattel had a long list of figures it was planning to release as the line went on, but retailer interest waned when shelf upon shelf of Jokers and Goons couldn't be given away for years on end. Mattel then promised to release them on their website direct to consumers. But after raising the price five to ten dollars depending on the figure, fans of the line felt cheated and frankly robbed.

Then, almost exactly two years after The Dark Knight hit theaters, a strange thing started to happen. On top of the half full aisles of Joker and Goon action figures, clearanced to $4.98 at Toys R Us, new Movie Masters Dark Knight figures have started showing up, unannounced and unexpected - and in Two-Face's case, BEFORE he goes on sale at Mattycollector.com!

The figures people are finding are:

Survival Suit Bruce Wayne
Joker (as he appeared in the Jail Cell escape scene)
Scarecrow (in a suit)
Two-Face
"Night Vision" Batman
Harvey Dent

Some toy collectors are even getting these new figures for $4.98 because Toys R Us isn't paying attention to new or old product; they just see this release as the same stuff they've been unable to sell for years. Some collectors are getting them for $12.99, the retail price these new figures are supposed to sell for. Regardless, Mattycollector.com is still charging $15 plus shipping for the only one they list as "coming soon" (Two-Face is scheduled for a May 17th release,) so either is a good deal.

No one knows how many of these will hit retail or if all Toys R Us stores will get them. But with so many clearance figures hanging around, it's unlikely many stores will want them. I can't see this line being anything more than appealing to a niche market at this point anyways.

Frankly it could go either way; no one cares about the line, so it's plentiful, or the release is limited due to lack of demand, so it's as rare as an online comment praising Mattel's customer service. Only time will tell. And it's been two years already!

Toy collecting is a weird beast indeed.

So good luck to anyone out there wishing to get these figures.

First Whiplash...and now a Stroke!

Deathstroke, that is.

This is "Blade Attack Deathstroke" from the Dark Knight movie action figure line by Mattel.



Deathstroke, like Firefly, did not actually appear in the movie. But the toymakers decided he'd make a cool "realistic" villain for your Batman action figure to do battle with, and I must concur.

This guy is clearly an assassin. And a well armed one at that. There is little to connect this figure to Deathstroke's comic counterpart besides the the orange and blue hood, but for some reason it really works, and he actually comes across as much more mysterious and threatening than the comic book Slade Wilson.



You can see his "action feature" button on his back, which is rather large but darkly colored so as not to "stick out" too much. It becomes slightly less obtrusive when he has his sheath attached too.



Oh yeah, and there's the "one eye" thing going on too. Cool.



Slade here is, as always, well armed. However his pistol, bandoleer and knife are not removable. That's fine - less pieces to lose. They are well sculpted and nicely painted and stand out well on the figure, as do his shiny leather gloves and boots.



The sword (and sheath) are removable, and the button I mentioned earler makes Mr. Wilson's sword-holding arm flail in a hacking motion.



Ree! Ree! Ree! Ree! Cha! Cha! Cha! Cha!

Feel the Heat :: Firefly from The Dark Knight action figure collection

Here's another figure I received last Christmas: Firefly!



This Firefly figure is a brand new release and part of Mattel's Dark Knight movie line.




Although he didn't actually appear in the movie, I love the "inspired by" take on this guy and hope they do more "realistic" villains in the toyline. Part of the recent Bat-movie success is that they take a more real-world view on the characters, so it stands to reason that more realistic bat-universe figures like this one would be successful with fans and kids.

Also, it means less Bat-variants, and we've all had enough of those.

Really.



Of course Firefly comes with a rocket pack, so he can, umm, fly. Actually the full designation of this figure is "Rocket Pack Firefly." Kind of like when you put on pants, you're called "Pants McGee," because otherwise people would miss the obvious.

The wings pop out a small bit with a push of a button...

...pop...

...and a little lever produces an equally little plastic "flame" from the turbine.

Yawn.

The figure does have a great design and some fun details. The helmet/mask are really cool, and he also has some sort of unknown apparatus attached to each boot. I assume these are for fire-making and other assorted villainy.

I like his color scheme too, which is more in keeping with the Firefly I know from The Batman the Animated Series and eighties/nineties comic appearances, and not anything like his recent appearance on The Batman cartoon or his first comic book appearance in the fifties...

...although that would make a fun figure, wouldn't it?

The only downside to the figure is that he is sorely missing a blow torch. I mean, he's FIREFLY for chrissakes! At least give him two sticks to rub together! Sheesh!


Here he is after borrowing Azrael's fire-missile launcher.

FWOOOOOSH!

Thank goodness I have plenty of toy firetrucks nearby!

Hey General Mills: "Why So Serious?" :P

I previously wrote about the little Batman and Joker figures currently included in some General Mills cereals here in the US.

I later discovered an entry at the Bat-Blog about General Mills’ foreign counterpart Nestle, and learned that they too were releasing Bat figures in their cereals.

No surprise there, Batmania is a worldwide phenomenon and everyone should have a shot at a toy Batman or Joker in their breakfast cereal – step one on the long road to world peace and universal understanding.

What did surprise me was the fact that these foreign Nestle cereals were including a Scarecrow figure not released in the US!


"Call me "Mr. Potato Head" one more time and POW! Right in the kisser!"

This fact further reinforces my conjecture that prudish US consumers are going to flip-out about the Joker being too scary and not an appropriate character for a Lucky Charms freebie. I can see the US corporate meetings now when they decided to nix the Scarecrow figure: “We can’t put that in our cereal, his name is “Scarecrow” – he has “scare” right there in his name - and therefore he’s scary to children. But the Joker, he’s just a silly clown, right? He cracks jokes. Kids love knock-knock jokes. What could be scary about a Joker?”

Just you wait.

Anyways, when I discovered his existence, and realized we were being shafted in the US, I had to add a Scarecrow to my collection. I wasn’t too concerned about getting the other figures, as I didn’t look all that closely and assumed they were the same as the US figures. But I was able to track down a complete set and went for it, which arrived from Australia last Saturday.


Which led to a second surprise: they are all unique figures. The foreign Nestle Batman(s) and Joker are taller and thicker than the US General Mills figures, and they have different action features than their US counterparts too.

"You're way too scary for children. Where's Dr. Wertham when you need him?"

"Come on, seven!"

One Nestle Batman has a waist twisting feature similar to the old Masters of the Universe figures. Twist him back and he twists forward with a Bat Punch! The other has a double-upper-cut feature: both arms pull down and spring up together.



"YES!"




Do not adjust your screen: Nestle Batman on the left - General Mills Batman on the right.


General Mills Joker on the left, Nestle Joker on the right.






Joker and Scarecrow visit the Arsenio Hall show. "Woof woof woof!"


The Nestle Scarecrow (the only Scarecrow) has an upper-cut feature in his right arm.



"Batman is such a wanker."


The Nestle Joker has a kicking feature similar to the General Mills Joker, but the Nestle version’s foot locks in the back position so he can stand upright.

The Nestle figures also have no moving parts other than their action features, while the General Mills Batman I have does have movement in the arm not equipped with an action feature.


"It's fun to stay at the "U"- sideways "S" - "J" - DOH!"

One final thing I just noticed, the Nestle Batman with waist twist action appears to be sporting the Batman Begins Batsuit, while the double-upper-cut Nestle Batman is sporting the Dark Knight Batsuit. It's hard to tell from the pics, but it is very clear that these figures were intentionally sculpted to be different Batsuits.

I only have one General Mills Batman so far, and he’s wearing the Dark Knight Batsuit. But looking at the Lucky Charms box, it appears that the other US Batman is wearing the Batman Begins Batsuit. Nice touch! Kudos to the toy designers involved in these premiums!

If you are a Batfan and like the US versions of these toys you will love the foreign versions as well. I recommend you track some down if you have access to foreign friends or family, or if you can get them off of eBay for a decent price. They are well worth it, and the fact that none of these will be seen at retail in the US (especially the Scarecrow in any form) makes them quite the nice addition to your collection.