Another Bat Grail Obtained!

One of my favorite periods of the Batman's history is the 1960's. Probably because of the T.V. series, but that's not all. There was a new costume design for Batman, a legendary artist taking over in the comics and a new Saturday morning debuting from Filmation. But best of all, there was a ton of Batman goodies released during the decade.

I wanted to add more toys from this era to my Batman collection and one of those items I desperately wanted was a Batman hand puppet that was put out by Ideal. Ideal put out a some really nice puppets during the 1960's like Spider-Man, The Joker, Robin, The Green Hornet and The Munsters. These were all awesome puppets and would look great on my shelf, especially Spider-Man and the Green Hornet. But the one I wanted was Batman.

I came close to adding him to my collection a couple of times but always got out bid on eBay. I almost bought one last year at a flea market in NJ, but I wasn't crazy about the condition for the price the dealer was asking. I waited for he right time to jump on one and I finally was able to win one in great condition for a fraction of what I had been bidding.

Here is Batman. You can just tell that this puppet was well taken care of. There are barely any markings on him and the cloth is in terrific shape.

The only mark you see is on the back of Batman's head. The black mark was not nearly enough to make me lose my interest in owning this piece.

Not sure why, but I always dug that smirk on his face. It's like he's daring you to break the law because he will hit you with a can of Bat-Shark repellent. 

The cloth body is in near perfect condition for being 47 years old. I hope I look this good when I hit that age. 

I am overjoyed I can cross this off my Batman want list. The past 2 weeks, I have been able to lessen that list by 2. Hopefully, as the year goes on, I can find a way to cross even more items off that list, because I'm sure I'll add more stuff I want to it. My goal isn't to have the best Batman collection, just one I can be proud of. I'm on my way there.

Spider-Man Wish List

As the holidays are almost upon us, I always look back on toys I either owned as a kid or always wanted to. Now that I am an adult (will never say grown up, cause we all know otherwise), I can always rebuy or finally add the items to my growing collection.

Over the course of the next several days, I will reveal some of the items on my wish list, by character, sport or whatever else I collect. Today, I will start by showing of the top 5 items on the character I collect the most: Spider-Man. These will be in no particular order.

1-12 Inch Mego Spider-Man

I'm a huge fan of the Mego "World's Greatest Superheroes" line, having had them as a kid and re-collecting them to this day. I own an 8 inch Spidey as well as the mini, plastic Spidey. I have never owned the 12 inch, either as a kid or adult, and I want one. This piece would look great on the Spidey shelf. The figure came with either a solid arm, or one that squirted "webbing", which was just water, I believe.

2-1966 Ideal Spider-Man Hand Puppet

I have never seen one of these in person, yet I want one really, really bad. I have seen the Batman at a flea market earlier this year and came so close to buying it. It was real cool, but the head was held to the vinyl with a safety pin and that made me walk away. I will own it one day as well as this beauty. I'd probably rank it up their as a Holy Grail of mine. I do know it came either boxed or in a plastic bag. I have seen both in packaging on ebay for well over 100.00. If I saw a loose one, for a reasonable price, I'd be on it.

3-1970's Spider-Man Bank

One of my very favorite things I had as a kid was this humongoid plastic bank of Spidey's head and torso. This was one of those pieces, and still is, that looks great on any shelf. As far as I know, only Spidey and Hulk were made, but I could be wrong about that. I had placed a bid on one on ebay, only to lose. Then I check my messages on ebay a few days later, only to find that I had a second chance offer that expired already. Gahhh! I will own this piece again. Oh, and good luck finding one without a hole in the bottom. These banks never had a spot to remove the change you put into it. D'Oh!

4-1970's Spidey Webshooters

These babys are something I wanted sooooooo bad, but never got. I mean, what self respecting Spidey nut wouldnt want these to add to their collection.? But, alas, I never did get them. I even went as far as making my own out of construction paper. I was the only kid in Riverdale, NY running around with paper webshooters. Well, they went well with my homemade Spidey mask, so that's a good thing. The not so good thing? I never, ever see these on ebay.


5-Mego Stretch Action Spider-Man

I hated my cousin. He had EVERYTHING I wanted as a kid. All the megos, all the Kenner Star Wars stuff, Sho-Gun Warriors, Godzilla, etc. He was very smug about who he allowed to play with them and always put a time limit on the play time. I always wished I had his toy box because included in there was all three Mego Stretch Arena superhero dolls, which were a jump on the Stretch Armstrong fad of the 70's. But then again, Batman and Spider-Man are so much cooler than some blonde dude who was made of jelly. Again, I never see these on ebay either.

Of all the Spidey stuff I want, and there are others. Like the Spidey Mobile Crime Lab and the Helicopter and the Mego car and the Energizer Figure that I want. Then again, if it has Spider-Man on it and it's affordable, I want it anyway.

Excelcior!