Saturday, May 31, 2008

Ghost of Bat Toys Past


I want your help figuring out/finding something that I haven't been able to, even with the magic of the internet.

And, when I say "you" I mean you, too.

When I was a little boy I had a Batman toy that I can barely remember, but that haunts me all the more for it. This would be contemporary with the Adam West television show. It was a set of cutboard or paper cut-out figures that stood up by means of a cross-piece in their bases. I think they would have been about 2 inches tall, perhaps.

I really don't remember exactly whether there were Batman and Robin figures, but I particularly remember that there was an Alfred, a grandfather clock, and the Hot Line on telephone stand.

Honestly, that's all I can remember, but I've never been able to confirm the existence of this pieces, let alone what they were and where they might have come from.

Can you?

6 comments:

  1. I didn't have a Batman set, but I did have a Marvel Universe circa 1966 or so version (I got it in 1978, but there was a Jane Foster character and all of the designs were Kirby/Ditko/Heck/Colan). There were 3-D cardboard assembled versions of the main Marvel buildings (Baxter Building, Daily Bugle, Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, Avenger's Mansion, and a few others) and every Marvel Character in a 2-D cardboard cutout with the secret identity on one side and the hero on the other. There was a Negative Zone in the Baxter Building and some other neat little features. I must have re-enacted every Marvel story I knew and I kept looking for a DC version...

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  2. I have a vague recollection of Batman and Robin figures matching that description, and in my mind's eye I see them on an even more vaguely remembered gameboard (I can't call up the other pieces you described in my memory, though...)

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  3. Would it be this:

    http://bp0.blogger.com/_2kjisMm3M9Y/RlY4vJmEMRI/AAAAAAAAAxk/sAU2ku7_ask/s1600-h/activity.jpg

    Sorry if that's not hyperlinked, but I can't figure out the tag format for blogspot.

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  4. OH MY GOD.

    THAT'S IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


    Where is that?

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  5. I found that image at a collectibles site:

    tomztoyz.blogspot.com

    A quick google search shows that Whitman made a few of these in the mid-60's (I've seen them in G.I. Joe and Zorro varieties, as well).

    It looks like a couple of the Batman sets sold on ebay recently for about $200. So, good luck with the hunt... and glad I could help you out.

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  6. Hey Scipio,
    I'm Ethan Kaye from Wizard Magazine. I dig the blog and I'm blogrolling it on the Wizard site, on my blog, Feed Me A Kitten (http://feedmeakitten.wizarduniverse.com/). If you'd like to add me to your blogroll, I'd appreciate it! And hopefully a few people will jump on the Absorbascon from the Wizard page!

    -Ethan

    ReplyDelete