And The Bats Just Keep On Coming

I'm sure you are starting to realize that I may be a bit Bat crazy 

Most everything I am picking up these days are Batman related. I do not have a problem with that personally. I'm sure that my other collections are wondering why I am not adding more brethren to their cliques.I'm sure Spidey would like to see more Spidey's added to his group, but everytime I see a real cool Batman item, I just can't help myself. I have to have it. Especially if it's something I have wanted for a while.

  

I have been wanting this POP Vinyl for quite sometime. I had seen it before, but I had passed up for something better. I have a bad habit of doing that. Whenever I see something I really want, I always think I'll find it later. 

Well, this time, it almost cost me because I stopped seeing them pretty quick. No matter where I went  never could find it. I really thought I messed up bad. I wasn't able to find it anywhere. No Barnes N Noble, No Toys R Us, No conventions. No where. I was convinced I would be going the eBay route, but lo and behold, I finally found it at a Barnes N Noble in Manhattan. I gleefully bought it and now it's in my Batman collection. 

As with my other POP figures, I love the look of this little guy. The pupil-less eyes, the lack of mouth. Looks like he should be the prime candidate of a horror flick. Great paint job on this guy too. Btw, can we get this costume in the next Superman movie. Please?

On the back of the figure there are some minor paint flaws that can be seen in the ripples of the cape. Looks like they didn't get the paint brush in there all the way.

One of the surprising things about this figure (aside from the numbering on the bottom of his boot) was that this was not a bobblehead like most POP Vinyls are. As you can see from the picture, the head is glued to the neck piece. I was expecting this to be a bobble, so I was kind of shocked to find that it wasn't. 

The back of the box shows the other Funko POP releases. Thanks to Gina, I already have the Joker. If I find The Riddler, I will pick him up as well. That is one cool looking POP figure. I'd probably pick up Superman as well.

Funko did a great job with this figure. This Batman is a great addition to my Batman collection and I'm so glad to have him. The next Funko POP Vinyl I will be picking up is the '66 Batman in October. If the pictures are accurate, then it will be yet another great addition to my POP collection. 

I may have to build a shelf just for the growing POP collection.

Happy New Years! Resolutions For 2013

Even though Batman isn't too happy, I would like to take this time to wish everyone a happy and safe New Years and a great 2013. 2012 was a great year, collecting-wise. I rediscovered a passion for toys, comics and other pop culture awesomeness I thought was lost. Now, 2013 comes (take that Mayans) and I have plans for my collection. Everyone has New Years resolutions so here are mine, collecting-wise.

-Collect More Vintage

One thing I discovered this year was a passion for vintage toys. Let me be specific here, vintage superhero toys. The newer stuff that has been coming out hasn't thrilled me as much as the vintage stuff.

 I have always been a huge fan of Mego's World's Greatest Superhero line. I had some of the figures as a kid. A few years ago I was picking up the figures lose and now I want to finish the line as well as pick up a few of the accessories.

I also want to pick up more vintage Batman stuff for my Batman collection. As a kid, I loved Batman and always had a Batman figure or a Batmobile. With the Dark Knight movies and my rewatching the 1960's Batman show, my love of the character is at an all time high and I want to add more vintage Batman to my collection.

-Expand My Collection

As much as a Superhero fan as I am, specifically Batman and Spider-Man, there are other characters I would love to collect. Green Hornet, Luke Skywalker and James Bond are three that come to mind. I have seen some great pieces I would love to add to my collection. I would also love to add some vintage Superman, Hulk and Iron Man pieces too.

I would also love to pick up some vintage Star Wars toys like a Death Star Playset, X-Wing Fighter and some figures.

-Organize

One of the things I really want to do is to be able to display all the stuff I have managed to collect. I want to buy display cases from Ikea and put up some shelves. I have seen other collectors awesome collections and I would love to be able to do the same.

-Work On My Spider-Man and Batman Comics Collection
Over the past couple of years I started to collect Spider-Man and Batman comics. I would love to have an entire runs of Amazing Spider-Man, Batman and Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man. Now, Some of these books are way too expensive and I will probably never complete the sets, but I will have fun trying to grab as many of these vintage comics as I can.

I would also love to add some vintage comics to my collection. I just love the artwork from the 1960's and 70's. I could just read those stories for hours on end.


I hope everyone has a fantastic New Year. Please, don't drink and drive. Be safe and I will see you all in 2013.

Package from The Cool And Collected Universe

Before the Thanksgiving holiday, I made a deal with my buddy Brian over at coolandcollected.com. I love making deals with Brian as I always get some cool stuff from him and he is really easy to work with and the packages always come quick. After initally almost pulling the trigger on a vintage Millenium Falcon and a Star Wars lot, I saw he was selling a DC lot as well as a small Joker lot, so I quickly made a deal with him.

As I mentioned before, he does get the packages out quickly. No more than a few days after paying, I got this package at my postal box

 

Inside was a veritable stash of DC toys and other goodies. It was stuffed to the top, which I always like to see. It would be impossible to show off all the goods, so I will show off my favorites in groups.

The Bat Lot. The main reaison I picked up the DC Lot was to add to my Batman collection and I think I have with some of these figures. I got some Batman The Animated Series figures, The Dark Knight and some The Batman toys as well as a cowl. I want to see if I can get some stands for these figures so when I am able to display them they wont fall over.

A couple of cool Batman Pez Dispensers.

Batmobiles and a Batcycle to add to my fleet of Bat Vehicles.

Batman was not the only one I was going for when I snagged this lot. I don't have a Superman collection and I want to rectify that. This lot will get me on my way.

Some members of the Justice League to add to the swag.

And to end things, a lot of my favorite Bat Villian. There are some real cool Joker figures in this lot, but I really like the figure of him on the cards. That will look pretty sweet on a shelf in my future man cave.

Again, I want to thank Brian for the sale. If you have not read his Cool and Collected blog, I urge you to do so. He is a great pop culture blogger and an even better friend.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Holy Trading Cards Batman!

I don't really have any vintage Batman pieces from the 1960's, especially from that magic Bat-Year of 1966 when the T.V show debuted and everyone went Bat-GaGa, especially the merchandising. Seems like there was everything Bat related that year. If you could slap a Bat on the title, then chances were you were selling it. Bat Shirts? Done. Bat Bread? Sold. Bat Toliets? Um.... you get the idea.

However, I do own a few cards from the 1966 Topps Batman sets. I stumbled on them during visits to sports card shows. I usually find them sold as singles for 1-2 dollars a pop. Anytime I find them, I buy them. I know trying to buy a complete set of these cards would cost me a pretty Bat penny. Plus, I love the chase. The hunting of these cards and try to complete this set reminds me when I would buy packs of baseball cards and try to complete the sets. Call me old fashioned, but, to me, it's more satisfying and gratificating completing a set and being able to slam that binder cover closed when completed.

I don't know much about these cards other than there were multiple sets released. A black bat, a blue bat and a red bat set. Some sets had a red back, some had a blue back. Others had a puzzle back. I have even heard of there being multiple puzzle backs. iye, yi. yi. Trying to complete these sets may make me grey, but I'm willing to look like Old Man Winter to get this done.

Here are the cards I do own:

This one is in worse shape than any of the others I own. I will keep it for now until I can upgrade it.

Love how he has green eyebrows here. Looks like the Rock.

Too bad this mask wasn't on the show. Julie Newmar wearing this would have looked puuuuuuurrrrfect. I'm sorry.

Is it me or does Robin look sleepy?

 

Gulliver's Travels, staring the Caped Crusader.

 

The Penguin's so smooth. Fighting Batman with an umbrella AND smoking a cigarette. Smooth Criminal.

 

 

I've always wondred, does Robin wear chain mail shorts?

Ghost Rider's pissed.

See Batman, Liberace's got nothing on me. Ho, ho, ho. Ha, Ha, Ha.

I have yet to pick up the Laffs Batman cards and I see those at the card shows as well. I will grab some eventually. I just want to grab a few more of these cards before I start another set. By the way, if any one has any more info on these cards they can share, it would be greatly appreciated.

This is a set that will be a thrill for me to try and complete. I love vintage cards and I love Batman. 2 of my passions rolled into one. The Hobby Gods have smiled upon me. Hopefully, there will be more cards for me to add to my collection at the card show I'm hitting up tomorrow. I will post new additions, if any, tomorrow. Check back then.

Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel.

Batmobiles! Hey, Does Superman Have His License?

During this past summer, I stepped up in my quest to add more Batmobiles to my Batman collection. As long time readers know, the Batmobile is my very favorite pop culture vehicle. From the 1966 live action car to the movie incarnations, the Batmobile usually gets my heart racing and I'm not even a gear head. I just love the Batmobile.

With this summer's awesome Dark Knight Rises, there was a pleathora of Batmobiles released this summer. Hot Wheels continued its run by releasing different Batmobiles as well as the 1966 Batcopter from the live action movie and the Penguin Mobile from Batman Returns. Matchbox released some Batmobiles as well like the Batmobile from Batman: Arkham City video game. I haven't picked up any of the Matchbox Batmobiles, but here's what I did pick up.

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the Tumbler from the recent Batman films, which is why I never went gaga over buying any Tumber related merchandise. Still, any Batmobile collection worth it's salt has to have at least one Tumbler in it's collection and here's mine. I might pick up a larger scale Tumbler if I find one cheap in a thrift store or flea market. I'm hoping the next series of Bat films has a better Batmobile.

Now, here is a beauty. One of my all time favorite Batmobiles, this one is from the 1940's. I love the look of this car from the big bat face on the front of the car to the big ass bat fin on the back of the car. Ths souped up sedan is one of the nicer Batmobiles they ever made, I think. The Batmobile from the 1950's is similar, with the exception of the search light on top of the car and the bubble dome windows. I hope Hot Wheels has that Batmobile in it's next line.

This one is not one I'm too familiar with, I'm afraid. I never really watched The Batman. I meant to, but I could never fnd when it was on and the one episode that I caught wasn't the greatest. I wasn't thrilled with what they did with The Joker and The Riddler, so I never really went looking to watch it again. Still, the Batmobile is pretty cool and I'm glad I was able to add this to my collection, thanks to my friend and her son.

This is one of those head scratchers. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad to have it in my teeny tiny Superman collection, but Superman doesnt need a ride, does he? I mean, is this car pimped out with hydrolics, loud speakers and fuzzy dice? Does Supes drive around in this on his off days around Metropolis wearing a Kangol, a huge gold chain and enough bling to make Liberace blush? Does he dance to Black Sheep like those gerbils do in that Kia commercial? Not sure about that one. I mean, I got the car he used in the Superfriends, the one with the hands to handle Kryptonite with. This one doesn't even have a second seat for Superman to kick it to Lois.

The one good thing about collecting these are they are very inexpensive. In most cases, they are under 3 bucks a pop and can be found just about anywhere. I was never really a car collector before, but once I got my hands on these I couldn't stop looking for more. Now, if someone can make that cool Spidey Buggy from the 70's, I would have it made.

My Visit To Toy Tokyo

Today I decided to take a quick visit to Toy Tokyo, which is located in lower Manhattan. I had heard of this store and wanted to take a peek at all the toy goodness inside. With the name Toy Tokyo, I expected the store to be mainly toys imported from Japan. Although there were japanese toys, there was a lot of american toys being sold as well. Toys that made this sexy geek wish he had buku money to spend. Problem is, if your looking for bargins, Toy Tokyo is not the place for bargins. The owners know what they have. Most of the toys were being sold at retail or above, especially the vintage goodies.

As soon as you walk in, there is a display case of vintage toys.

 

Yes Virgina, that is a circle suit Mego Spider-Man in box.

 

 



Vintage Green Hornet anyone?

After fogging the glass on this case, I moved on to the bigger cases in the back that housed more stuff. From vintage toys to not so vintage. Japanese to American. All I know is I was staring way too long. So long that I noticed an employee eyeballing me to make sure I wasn't looking for a five finger discount. Not that the thought would come to mind. I'm a good boy.

You know I was peeping at that vintage Star Wars X Wing Fighter japanese import model kit. Would look great in the growing Luke Skywalker collection.

As would this

And this. These were kubricks made to look like Lego's.

80's toy's?

If Superheros is your thing

 

 

 

Oh No! Godzilla!

 

 

You will be mine Jack, oh yes. You will be mine.

 

 

I don't know whats worse to see, a mess of Smurfs

 

 

or a bunch of Monchhichi's. Monchhichi, Monchhichi. Oh so soft and cuddly. Don't judge me.

 

 

 

As you can see, Toy Tokyo has a little bit of anything for every collector out there. There was a bunch of other stuff I didn't post pics of, but I assure you that no matter what you collect, you will come away from this place drooling. So, if you wish to visit Toy Tokyo, it's at 91 Second Ave in New York City. They're website is toytokyo.com. If you go and have funny ideas about walking out with a bunch of stuff, let me know. I'll have the car running.