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!

Just Keep Giving Us The Bat Goodies, Please!

As we get ready to celebrate 75 years of the Batman, we have already been given an anniversary Detective Comics#27, we have a slew of Bat goodies coming out, which includes some statues, figures and a Hot Toys 1966 Batman and Robin, and we got official word that we are finally getting the 1966 Batman T.V. show on DVD later this year. All of this has made me a very happy geek.

Now comes word that Warner Brothers will be releasing another long over due Batman series to DVD.

Coming June 3rd, we are finally getting the 1968 Filmation The Adventures of Batman. This series debuted as part of the Superman/Batman hour, but later was repackaged as Batman With Robin The Boy Wonder and given their own 30 minute show on CBS. Olan Soule was the voice of Batman in this series and Casey Kasem was the voice of Robin. Both would reprise their roles a few years later, but this time on ABC in the Super Friends.

As a Batman fan, this is a series I have long wanted on DVD. Mind you, I have only seen a handful of these cartoons, but I enjoyed the ones I seen. They have been available for digital download on Amazon for a while now and I downloaded the first episodes with featured the Joker and Penguin as the villains. In my opinion, the show captures the spirit of the comics at that point in the '60's perfectly.

I have a few of the Filmation releases, including the 1977 New Adventures Of Batman And Robin in which Adam West and Burt Ward reprise their roles as Batman and Robin. I always felt the animation was good for it's time. I was never a fan of their re-using footage over and over again, as well as the placement or coloring of costume symbols from time to time, but that all just adds to the fun of these shows.

I cannot wait to pick this series up. I have always felt that The New Adventures Of Superman was the best series that Filmation had ever produced, but after seeing a couple episodes of Batman, I think this series will give Superman a run for it's money. This DVD will be a first day pick up for me and I cannot wait to spend the whole day watching this series.

Holy 1966 Batman News, Batman!

Of course my first post of 2014 would be something Batman related. I mean, did you really think I would post something about some new Smurf figures? Bwhahahahaha. That's a good one.

By now, you all must have heard the news that was broke Conan O'Brien on his Twitter page (how did Conan get the scoop anyway?) and was confirmed by Warner Brothers, we are FINALLY getting the classic 1966 Batman series on DVD and Blu-Ray, although Blu-Ray has yet to be officially confirmed. But you would think that it would be released on Blu-Ray along side it's DVD brethren.

Along side the episodes (which I pray are uncut), I hope we get a plethora of special features like a make of the series documentary, a look inside the Batmobile, a look inside the Bat Cave, a documentary on the villains and the guest stars who played them and maybe a documentary on the guest stars who appeared on the series just to look out the window and talk to the Caped Crusaders. I'm also hoping whatever we get has interviews with the actors who has passed like Cesar Romero, Frank Gorshin, Eartha Kitt, Alan Napier, Neil Hamilton, etc.

Right now, I am hearing it will be released as a set, which again, is not official. I'm sure it will also be available by season. Either way, I do not care. I am buying the set. I don't care what it costs me. This is probably the only series I would pay top dollar for. I've waited long enough for it's release. If there is a bonus by buying the set like a statue of Batman and Robin or exclusive figures, I would only run to my nearest Best Buy and throw my wallet at the cashier.

Now if we could only get the Green Hornet next.

We also got our first glimpse at Figures Inc's 1966 Batman figures. These are the figures that Mego should have released but never did.

As you can see, the first wave includes Batman, Robin, Joker and Riddler. Upon first glance, the figures almost look nothing like the actors who play them. The Joker figure seems to be the best looking of the bunch. That, however will not stop me from picking these up. I mean, they're not Hot Toys. They are supposed to look as close to how Mego might have released them although I doubt Mego would have gotten simple accessories like Batman's belt as close to how it really looks as Figures Inc did.

They are scheduled for release in April and are available for pre-order on bigbadtoystore.com for 26.99 each, 104.99 for the set. I am hoping for a Wave 2 with Catwoman, Penguin, Egg Head and maybe King Tut. I thought I seen a prototype for an Egg Head a few months back.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Batman and it seems like we will be celebrating it with a ton of cool stuff coming our way. I'm a bit behind on my Batman hauls, but I will be looking to catch up in 2014 and I know I will have a blast hunting it all down.

Lets just hope my credit card can stand the usage.