I Was Doing The Batutsi Recently

I haven't been purchasing much for myself lately as money has been pretty tight. However, I did have a Amazon gift card I got for Christmas had been saving for a rainy day.  As of late, I haven't had a whole lot to smile about, so I decided to rectify that and placed an order with Amazon. My order came a couple days ago and I started to giggle like The Riddler as I opened the box.

I finally decided to pull the trigger and picked up the Diamond Select 1966 Batman Bust and I am so thrilled to finally own this piece. It's my first Batman statue of any sort and I'm happy it's of my favorite Batman of all time.

As you can see, the front of the box has a great image of the statue you are getting as well as the 1966 Batman logo in the upper right hand corner and a great picture of the Bat Signal signing above a silhouette of Gotham City. The box alone was enough to get strange stirrings in my utility belt.

Both side panels of the box had just about the same image as the front did, sans Bat Signal.

The back as the same imagery as the side did, except there is a brief write up about the Batman. If you don't know who the Batman is, please leave your address down in the comments below and I will have the geek police stop by and pick up your geek card.

The top of the box features a nice artist rendition of my favorite car, the George Barris Batmobile. I swear, if I ever win the lottery, I will be having the guys at Fiberglass Freaks build me a Batmobile.

And here is the Piece De Resistance. When I took this out of the box, I was blown away with how good this bust looks. This is 6 inches of pure Adam West Sexiness. This bust was designed by Barry Bradfield and sculpted by Jean St. Jean and limited to 3,000 pieces. I am just amazed at how much this bust looks like the Adam West Batman. The facial features and body type are dead on to how Adam looked on the TV series.

One of my favorite parts of this bust is the base. The base has been carved to depict the closing of the TV show. The shadows of Gotham City, the dark blue of the night sky as the Bat Signal cuts through it, alerting Batman and Robin that treachery is afoot and they are needed right away in Commissioner Gordon's office. The base is genius.

The back looks great. I love how the cape is scultped with folds and the paint is spot on. The colors are perfect to how they looked on the classic TV show. The base continues with more shadows of Gotham City in that dark blue sky. I'm glad they didn't stick another Bat Signal here.

The bottom of the base gives you the trademark info as well as who and where the bust was manufactured. This base also gives you the number it is. Mine is a high number, 2,676 out of 3,000. I know a lot of collectors would rather have a low number in their collection. I'm just happy I was able to get this bust in my 1966 Batman collection.

Plus, I get a Certificate Of Authenticity which tells you this is an authentic Diamond Select Toys Batman Bust. It shows off another picture of the bust as well as the numbering of the bust you have in your possession.

So, no doubt you practically read me drooling over this bust as I reviewed it. It's a fantastic piece and I'm so proud that I can own one. Do I recommend this? YES, YES, Oh HELL YEAH! OK, got my wrestling catch phrases in there as well. Not only do I recommend this piece to a fan of the TV show, but I would tell any Batman, pop culturist, comic book fan to race out and grab this piece before it is gone. Diamond Select has also released a Robin, Joker and Riddler and I plan to pick up all of them. I do hope we get a Batgirl and Catwoman soon as well.

This bust has bought me the same amount of joy I get whenever I get to watch the TV show. Yeah, I know it's campy and not the serious, emo Batman we are all used to, but this show celebrated how comics were at that point and I think we can be thankful Batman didn't go into outer space like he had in the comics earlier in the decade. I love the show and always will. This bust will become a featured piece in my collection for a long, long time.

And just because I feel generous, here is the greatest opening to a television show, ever!

Adam West Joins The House Of Swag

A couple of months ago, I had decided not to pick up the NECA 1966 Batman figure for various reasons, but the main reason was I was going to spend all my dough on the Hot Toys 1966 Batman figure. I have never owned a Hot Toys figure and was frothing at the mouth over owning the figure and making it the first of what was to be a few Hot Toys I would pick up.

But, a few things happened along the way to it's release. I lost my job and I am still currently out of work. I can't right now justify paying over $200.00 for the figure. It stinks, but such is life. If it's meant that I will own that figure, then I will. But it's not looking like I will anytime soon. So, I was to be out of both the NECA and Hot Toys 1966 Batman figures.

Thank God for Entertainment Earth. The toy company runs sales on a weekly basis and recently had the NECA 1966 Batman for half off the retail price. It was too good a deal to pass up, so I jumped on it and I am glad I did. When the package arrived and I opened it up I was pleasantly surprised at the figure.

Here's how the packaging looked when I opened up the box.

Love the packaging. Just screams 1966 Batman. Not only do you get some shots of the figure its self, but thanks to a clear cellophane window, you get to see the figure in all it's bad ass glory.

Once you pull Batman out of the box, you see that he is very, and may I add VERY, securely fastened to the backing board by what it seems like 20 plastic ties. As pleased that I am that the figure was well protected to inside the box, it was a real pain in the Bazooka Joe to untie him from the backing. I swear, us geeks are never happy with anything. Imagine my complaining had he not been tied down.

Anyway, not only do we have Batman tied down, but we also see the accessories that come with the figure secured in plastic that slid into the backing board securely.

So, out of the box, I can tell you he looks fantastic. I was initially concerned by the abs on this figure. It's not a solid piece like it is on the NECA 1989 Batman figure and I cannot understand why. But, you get used to it and it doesn't really bother your after awhile.

This picture doesn't do the figure justice. The likeness to Adam on this figure is pretty damn close, if not dead on to how he looks in the cowl on the TV show. I love the drawn on eyebrows, the blue cowl with black face plate and blue nose. Great facial sculpt as well. It looks like you could pull off the cowl and get another face under there. It doesn't look painted on like with other figures.

There you see the ab sculpt I was talking about. I'm guessing that there is an "ab crunch" to this figure that the 1989 Batman doesn't have. I have to try it out.

The Bat emblem is painted onto the figure and looks great. The paint job here is fantastic as well. The grey of the bat suit to the blue on his trunks and gloves. No messed up paint job on this figure. I also love the sculpting of the gauntlets on the gloves.

The first problem I encountered with the figure was the joints. They were extremely stiff out of the package. the legs on my Batman was pushed back so far that Adam looked like he was thrusting himself out. Not exactly something I wanted to see. To be honest, at times when I was scared to screw around with the figure too much for fear I might break it. That hinders the ability to pose this figure. Maybe the joints loosen up a bit after a while. Frankly, I hope it does. I would like to maybe put this figure in some sort of pose other than just having it stand on my shelf with his arms at his sides.

I love the cape. The fabric just looks so cool on this figure. You can have it hanging off his shoulders or in the Batman "Bat" pose I have him posed in the above picture. It's a pose he dose in a few episodes in the TV series. Once I have the shoulder joints working better, I will try to lift those arms up a bit higher.

Not only can you make Batman's head go side to side, it can go up and down too. As for the rest of his body, he can bend at the elbows, knees, wrists and toes. He can swivel his hips like Elvis as well as his shoulders, wrists, thighs, forearms and ankles. This can make for great posing, but I do have a fear of rubbing off some of the paint at those spots with too much swiveling.

Here's something that I thought was really cool. The belt buckle opens to reveal the communicator behind it. Very cool. The rest of the belt is made of molded plastic. I'm not sure if the belt is removable.

Those toys, where does he get those wonderful toys? Yes, Batman comes with some accessories. He comes with 2 pairs of hands, 2 Batarangs; one folds and can be put into a pouch which hooks onto the utility belt, some string that goes through the Batarangs and can be used as the bat rope, a bat communicator and a piece of plastic that has something to do with the utility belt. To be honest, I haven't bothered to find out what it is.

 Batman is bringing justice to Gotham City.... 4 Horseman style!

The hands are an easy swap. Just pull off the already existing hand until it literally pops out and just push in the one you want into the socket. The accessories will fit nice and snug into the hands.

You have to be very careful with the accessories. I can see that these can get lost really easily. They are small and unless your going to use them when you display the figure, I would put them someplace where you will not lose them. I think Batman would be pissed if he didn't have his Batarang when he really needed it. 2 accessories I really would have loved to have had with this figure would have been the Bat Shield and the bomb from the movie, but I understand that the bomb will come with the Hot Toys figure.

The back of the figure is painted just as well as the front is. The painters did not take any shortcuts with this figure which shows me that they take their work seriously. The belt, as I suspected is one piece that is not removable. I guess if you really wanted to take the belt off, I suppose there is a way, but why would you want to?

NECA did an awesome job with this Batman figure. They nailed everything right with it and it's going to make a great addition to my Batman collection. Just a bit of advice, if you pick up this figure, make sure you get a stand for it. This figure is made of hard plastic and is a bit too heavy to stand on it's own. It will fall over it there isn't a stand holding it up. That's something else NECA should have included. Maybe a '66 Batman inspired stand will be something that they release in the future or maybe a customizer can come up with one. Regardless, if you, like me, can't afford the Hot Toys '66 Batman, this is an excellent option for those who really want an Adam West Batman figure in their collection. If you can get him on sale, even better.

League Of Extraordinary Bloggers: I'm Blue For Batman

Brian over at Cool And Collected posted this assignment for us Leaguers: Post pictures of blue in your collection.

Blue is not a problem for me. My favorite color is blue. My favorite baseball, basketball and hockey team's team's color is blue. Some of my favorite Batman stuff is in his blue and grey outfit. Blue rules!

So, what I'm going to do is post a blog of my 5 favorite blue batman items in my collection, not in any order. Some of the pictures will not be the best as they were taken with my other camera. I need to retake those, but for now, I will post them I wish I could post 1 picture of the whole lot, but at least I'll get some miles out of this blog :P


1-DC Super Heroes Golden Age Batman And Robin

Here is one of those pictures. But this is a figure (or set as Robin is included) that I just love. I have been reading Batman comics for as long as I can remember and some of my favorite stories are from the 1940's and 50's. This set of figures captures that era to a t right down to Batman smiling. I have had this set since it was released, but I never took the figures out of the box, which I will do once the shelves are built. I cannot wait to display these figures. It's just that smile on Batman seems out of place since today's Batman rarely smiles. Either this Batman loved his work since he was grinning or he was even more twisted and demented than we realize.

4-Mego Batman Bank

Here is a vintage Mego item that I picked up earlier in the year. It was something I really wanted going back to my younger years when my mom and I would go to Alexander's on Fordham Rd in the Bronx and would eventually hit the toy section where I would turn on the Mikey charm and try to convince her to reach for her wallet and get me this bank. Well, much like later in life, the Mikey charm didn't work and I had to wait until I was an adult to be able to add this to my collection.

3-Ideal Batman Hand Puppet

Ignore the bags I have in the background and concentrate on the gem that is front and center. This little piece of awesomeness was the very first item from the 1966 Batman craze era I picked up. I truly believe that this is a piece that every Batman collector needs to have in their collection. I was trying to be able to win one of eBay or buy one at a convention forever, but never was able to get one at the price I wanted. Finally, I was able to pull the trigger on one that was affordable and in terrific condition too.

2-Custom 12 inch Adam West Batman Figure

With all the 1966 Batman stuff that's coming out, I still hold this custom near and dear to me. I was able to purchase this from a collector whom I met on 66batman.com and I'm so glad I did. The likeness to Adam West's Batman is fantastic. The costume and accessories are done very well. I will still look to get the Hot Toys Batman, but even if I do I will have this figure displayed right next to it.

1-Mego Batman

Here's the figure that started it all for me. The love of Batman and the passion for collecting this character that I fell in love with back in the early 70's as either a 4 or 5 year old. I'm actually guessing it could have been even earlier, but I didn't own a tier 1 figure. It was a tier two, with the plastic wrists. Either way, this figure has been in my collection for close to 40 years. Only the cape and gloves are repos, bought from that famed Mego reproducer, Dr. Mego. I bought these at the old Big Apple Convention from him and had a nice conversation about Mego figures with him. I would like to replace the Batsuit because of a stain it has because he was eating a chili dog and it fell on him. I don't because I would like to keep the original sticker for as long as I can. Other than the stain, the figure has held up pretty good, I'd say.

My favorite Batman has always been with him wearing the blue and grey. It's the Batman I grew up with on the Super Friends, The All New Adventures of Batman And Robin and from the Neil Adams drawn comic books. I love the blue and grey suit. That's not to say that it's the only suit I like because I do like the black and grey suit also. It's just when I see the blue, it brings me back to when I was a kid and the only things that mattered to me were food, the Yankees, Spider-Man and Batman. Come to think of it, that's still all that matters. Not much has changed there.

Ok, that's not all that matters to me, but Batman is as big a part of my life today as a 42 year old as he was when I was 5 years old, running around the playground with a blue towel wrapped around my neck (I did that again the other day, scarring many a child for life). Black or Blue outfits, The Batman will always be in my life and my infatuation with the Caped Crusader will never die.

You have to check out these fellow League Members and see what makes their collections blue:

http://monstercafesaltillo.blogspot.mx/2013/09/league-assignment-blue-things.html

http://goodwillhunting4geeks.blogspot.com/2013/09/league-of-extraordinary-bloggers-im.html

http://aeiouwhy.blogspot.com/2013/09/league-post-blue.html

http://fortuneandglorydays.blogspot.com/2013/09/so-this-week-league-is-feeling-blue-i.html

http://poppopitstrashculture.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-league-im-feeling-blue.html

It's Official. I Have Bats In My Bobblehead Collection

I have been looking all over for the new toys based on the 1966 Batman TV series and had been coming up short. Toys R Us, my local comic book stores, Walmart, Target, no store I went to had anything I wanted.

But, as you can guess from the title of this blog entry, I did find something to add to my Batman collection. So, what did I find?

I was on my way to a friend's pre bachelor party and I was a bit early. I hit Midtown Comics Grand Central location to look around. I was actually planning on grabbing the New 52 figure I saw a few weeks ago, but when I got there it was sold. So I was looking around and I found something just as good and bought it.

I came across the Funko Batman Wacky Wobbler bobblehead and snatched it without thinking twice. Midtown also had Robin, Catwoman and Joker. At some point, I will have to get those for the collection, but for now, I have Batman and I am quite happy with that.

It looks like most of the Batman stuff will have similar artwork. I dig the one on the box. It screams TV Series with the KaPow's and Biff's.

I love the back of this box. There are pictures from the TV Series of all the characters who were made into bobbleheads as well as a drawing of the Batmobile and the Bat signal.

Batman and Robin walking up the side of a building always makes me think of the TV Series.

The top has a picture of Batman drawn similar to the way he's drawn in the beginning of the show.

The box is very nice. Almost makes me want to keep it in the box....almost.

My first impressions are that this is a terrific bobblehead. It's going to look great on my bobblehead shelf.

Close up of Adam's face. Love the colors here. The blues and black look great and the sculpting on this bobble is done very well. Definitely has a great likeness to Adam West.

Love the sculpting on the utility belt as well as the muscle or lack there of one. The emblem is dead on to the one he wore on the show. Again, the color scheme is great. The grey and the blue is also spot on to what he wore in the show.

Here is a shot of the back of the bobble. Love the lines sculpted in the cape.

The base is gold with Batman painted on in black. I like that it's painted on as opposed to Funko placing a sticker here.

The bobblehead looks great. I do have complaints though. The paint job was not done very well. My bobble head has a lot of imperfections.

Right on the shoulder is a paint mark.

The back of the head has a bunch of little painting botches. Terrible job by the Funko company on this bobblehead.

Paint perfections aside, I do really like this bobblehead. The likeness to Adam West as well as the sculpting and color schemes are well done. I'm hoping that maybe I just picked a bad bobblehead. I have other Funko bobbleheads and they came out great. That won't stop me from getting the rest in this series. Having seen them up close, I know that they are also well done and I cannot wait to be able to add them to this Batman in my bobblehead collection. Because of the paint job, I would only give the bobblehead 4 out of 5 stars. Everything else is well done and would make a great addition to any bobblehead/Batman collection.