OK, I know that this is really not "Batman -Related News" but I'm a HUGE FAN of the Christopher Reeve SUPERMAN Movies from the 1970's, so, here we go! HOT TOYS has just released a teaser photo of one of their next major figures they're going to release. It's the SUPERMAN THE MOVIE Figure, a Classic Christopher Reeve version! The pic doesn't show his face, but knowing this Toy Company, it's gonna be awesome! Now, let's just hope they do every single character in the film, "KNEEL DOWN TO ZOD!"
YES! I have some really great toy news to share & I am totally excited! HOT TOYS just announced the other day that they finally got the rights from Jack Nicholson to make the 1989 BATMAN Movie JOKER Figure so now they're going full steam on the project. Toy Collectors around the world already know the insane quality of these dolls, I mean Figures, and are drooling in anticipation! They're obviously going to make a BATMAN Figure ( Michael Keaton version ) but let's all hope they also produce a "BOB The Goon"!
Every now & then Bat-Blog Fans ( at least the ones that are smart & cool ) send us photos of their BATMAN TOY Collections & we always love to see them because it's always great to see other people's stuff. Here's some pics sent to us by our friend Jason & he's done a great job at displaying his toys & memorabilia. Now to be honest, he sent more pictures than this, but we have been having major issues with our email program so I grabbed all the pics I could get. But there's enough here to enjoy & there's plenty of eye candy too! Jason has a whole room dedicated to Batman with a lot of framed art & display cases. Basically, we're showing one wall with a cool BATMAN Comic Book Cover Puzzle that has been framed & a few shelves of Joker Toys, mostly from The Dark Knight movie but also a nice mix of other versions. The puzzle is a recent piece from none other than The Pottery Barn. Yes, a couple of years ago they created a few Batman Products ( mostly bedding ) & if you're a long time reader of the Bat-Blog you might remember our post about it. At the time I really wanted this puzzle, still do, ha! The other toys include a very cool Bat-Belt Replica, a Harley Quinn Barbie, a Joker PEZ Candy Dispenser, a few Action Figures, & some awesome HOT TOYS Figures! ( Thanks for sending these pics in Jason, you have got some extremely cool stuff here & I love the display action. )
Check out these photos of some extremely cool Batman merchandise. Here are 2 brand-new BATMAN BEGINS Exclusive Collectible Figures made by HOT TOYS. Yes, you read that right, "Batman Begins" the movie. These were made to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the HOT TOYS company. What we get are 2 amazing figures, BATMAN DEMON & The SCARECROW. Like all figures made by this company the details of the product are totally insane! Plus, I should mention that the Scarecrow figure comes with 2 different outfits, both shown here.
People who have been reading the Bat-Blog for awhile might remember a video we posted recently called "IRON MAN vs BATMAN - INTERACTIVE STOP MOTION". It's a very cool fan-made animated movie made with some high-end digital equipment & some wonderful HOT TOYS figures. The animation is really well done & the best thing is the story is pretty funny! Well, here's a "Making Of..." documentary explaining some of the techniques used.
Our good friend Jerry, who lives in Taiwan, sent us some amazing photos the other day. He recently went to a store at some shopping mall in Taipei City called "Taiwan Figure Union". He said he saw a lot of awesome stuff, such as these 12" Batman Movie Custom Figures that some Bat-Fans got to display in the front store windows. I have to say that they are all very impressive with really great head sculpts. I mean, some of them look just like the original actors! The main focus for most of the dolls appear to be the 2005 BATMAN BEGINS movie, but in photo #2 we get to see a version from an earlier Batman movie, maybe 1992 BATMAN RETURNS-inspired. They made one of the "R'as al Ghul" character & it looks exactly like Liam Neeson, ha! They also made a more Modern Day "Comic Book JOKER" but used the body from THE DARK KNIGHT Heath Ledger figure by HOT TOYS ( in fact, I think all these customs were made using HOT TOYS bodies and it was just the heads & clothing that were customized ). The one of Police Sergeant Jim Gordon is one of my personal favorites as they did an amazing job on Gary Oldman's face. They did a few variations on Bruce Wayne's character which are pretty interesting. Overall, I would have to say that I'm very very impressed with all of these. As a side-note: I'm not really sure if they were all done by one artist or many different ones, but either way, very great work! Also, I wanna thank Jerry for taking the time to shoot these pics & sharing his love of the Batman Character with us. It's really neat seeing what goes on in Taiwan & it's so cool that there are serious Bat-Fans there too!!
I have some friends over on MySpace called Wicket Toys. Their real names are Jon & Andrea and their hobby is to photograph & share their cool toy collection. They mainly seem to focus on the HOT TOYS Figures but they love a ton of other collectibles too. They recently sent me these pics of their Batman Toy Collection ( click on it for a larger version ). The top one features their HOT TOYS figures from THE DARK KNIGHT Batman Movie. I really want that TWO-FACE doll & the ones of the JOKER are really great too. OK, they're ALL super-awesome! The bottom pic shows some of their Action Figures & Vehicles. If you look, you can also see a few toys from the recent TERMINATOR movies, & Hey! Is that NEO from the Matrix?! ( Kinda hard to tell but it looks like him, ha ha! ) If you would like to see more of their toy collection then just check out their MySpace page sometime. Here's a link, click HERE!
Jerry, our friend who lives in Taiwan, sent us these photos of a Toy Collector Magazine there called TOY GARAGE. This issue came out around the time of THE DARK KNIGHT movie & featured some cool Bat-Collectibles. In fact, Batman was on the cover & the main story was about some of the statues & busts made by HOT TOYS & KOTOBUKIYA. It's so cool to me how Batman is extremely popular all over the world. Thanks Jerry for sending these wonderful pics!
I know the title for this post is kinda lame. I know I'm suppose to come up with something funny or extremely clever but I'm just not in the mood this morning, OK? ha ha! So, let's get right to it. Recently the Bat-Blog made a new friend in Taiwan named Jerry. Right off the bat he sent us some amazing pictures of Batman Fandom from the other side of the world. OK, I know the Internet has been around for almost 3 decades now but I'm still amazed ( like a Caveman ) about the quick & easy communication with people from anywhere on the globe, it's like magic...I love it! Anyway, Jerry's a nice guy & really into Batman, so that's cool. The 1st pic is a display of some of his favorite Large-Size Toy Batmobiles. You have the Batmobile from the later Animated Series, the Tumbler from The Dark Knight movie, the car from Batman: The Animated Series ( I've always totally loved that car ), the Tim Burton movie car, the Futuristic Flying Batmobile from Batman Beyond, & one of the Vehicles from a later Joel Schumacher Film, Batman Forever. AWESOME!! It's really cool to see them all together like this! Plus, it's a very nice collection. Now the next group of 3 photos is a Japanese Magazine owned by Jerry. It looks like the main cover story is all about the incredible Dolls, Toys, & Action Figures made by HOT TOYS for the DARK KNIGHT movie. I can't read any of this, ha ha, but visually it looks so great & I really love it too! They covered the Christian Bale & Heath Ledger Figures, the Bat-Pod Motorcycle, the Giant-Size Tumbler Vehicle, & some misc ( mainly the Joker Art Bust ). Thanks Jerry for sending all the wonderful pics!! Readers, I will be posting more later so stay tuned for that ( he sent some GREAT stuff ). If there are any other Bat-Fans out there who want to share some of their favorite pieces in their Bat-Toy Collections then please be sure to send us some pics today. Our email button is always on the top right-hand side of this page.
Here are some very cool videos showing some of the functions of the BATMAN DX 02 Figure by HOT TOYS. Of course it's the Christian Bale version from THE DARK KNIGHT movie. The doll has a lot of new technologies that are very clever. The 1st video is a demonstration of the Hot Toys-invented PERS ( Parallel Eyeball Rolling System ) function. Basically, the eyeballs move around in his head in a more realistic fashion. It's kinda creepy, but it also makes the figure look really awesome!
The next video shows off what I call the "Change-a-Face" feature. He has Interchangeable "Face Parts" that have different mouths. I guess you can make him happy or angry, ha ha!
Then, there's the "Sonar Eye Light-Up" feature...very cool! You replace an item inside his head that replicates the special "Sonar Cowl" he wore in one part of the movie. The eyes light-up & everything!
OK, whew! here's the final video & it shows how the "Transformable Gun" works. It's just like the movie where it was all compact & then it would transform into that weapon that shot "sticky bomb" charges on that building in Hong Kong. I think they went a little too far with this, ha ha, but it is great that HOT TOYS cares about ALL the small details. They make some really amazing collectible figures!!
OK, Some Readers are gonna ask, "What's the PERS System?". Well, in the newer Deluxe Versions of THE DARK KNIGHT Movie Figures made by HOT TOYS the heads now have a special system where you can make the eyes move very realistically. In fact, PERS is an abbreviation of "Parallel Eyeball Rolling System". It sort of reminds me a little of the "Eagle Eyes" that Hasbro put on their 12" GI Joe Dolls toward the end of that line ( Yes, I call them dolls & NOT action figures, ha ha ). But this new PERS invention is way more advanced. So far they have added this new technology to their 2 brand-new DX01 Batman & Joker figures. It's really cool!
Here's an interesting video of a Foreign TV News Story about the HOT TOYS Doll & Action Figure Company. It shows a lot of great shots of The Dark Knight Tumbler Batmobile Toy with the Batman Figure. Also included are the Joker Action Figure ( Heath Ledger, Version 2 with Rolling Eyes & Policeman Uniform ). Plus they cover some of their other movie properties very briefly. That list includes: Terminator Salvation, Watchmen, Ironman, The Godfather, & many more! But really the main part of the story seems to be Batman!
