BATMAN Spotted at Forbidden Planet in the UK!

Here's a fun photo sent in by a BAT-BLOG Fan named Lee who is from Manchester, England. He recently took a trip to London and visited a retail store called "Forbidden Planet". Well, while there guess who he bumped into? BAMM! BATMAN!! Yeah, I've seen this Life-Size Statue of the Dark Knight before and it's pretty AWESOME! Thanks Lee, cheers.

Batman's TUMBLER BATMOBILE CAR From the Dark Knight Movie Will Be in England Very Soon!

This post goes out to all the readers who live near the UK. Warner Bros and DC Comics are pleased to announce that they will be bringing the Tumbler Batmobile Car from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight movies to the London Film and Comic Con at Earls Court 2 in England on July 17th and 18th, 2010. Yes! The Batmobile is LIVE ON TOUR in Europe! For more information be sure to click HERE! ( Thanks Dan ) Oh yeah, if anybody goes to this event then please be sure to send the Bat-Blog some photos.

DC Comics Super Hero Collection Special: BATMAN AND THE BATCYCLE Lead Figurine From Eaglemoss in The UK

OK Now, This is pretty cool! You might have read here at the Bat-Blog before about a company in the UK called Eaglemoss who issue those special DC Super Hero Collection Lead Figures ( In England they call them "figurines", oh la la ). They make these very small, but very detailed, mini-figures of all the DC Comics comic book characters cast in lead. This company is going crazy! I mean, there are like almost 40 something of these figures now! Well, anyway, they have this new "Special Edition" one coming out soon called BATMAN AND THE BATCYCLE. Oh man! It looks pretty awesome! Now before you totally fall in love please keep in mind that this Bat-Cycle is probably NOT a large full-size statue. If ya wanna see how small these things are then be sure to click the "Figurines" Tab at their website. You'll see a photo of an artist employee painting one. Now this special one might be a little bigger but I'm not sure. For more details be sure to check out their UK website by clicking HERE!

Paul's Weird & Wacky Batman Toys / Collectibles

Every now & then Bat-Blog Readers send in photos of their toy collections. I always love that! But the funny thing about this post is that our friend Paul responded to a few pics shown here once that were of "Weird Batman Toys". So, he decided to send us photos of some of his strange bat-stuff... that's hilarious! OK, so the main focus here are 3 really unusual items: a Pair of Holographic Buttons with images of Batman & Joker ©1989, a Set of Ceramic Salt & Pepper Shakers of 2 British Comedy TV Show Characters Dressed-Up as Batman & Robin, & 2 Bizarre Troll Dolls that are sort-of dressed like Batman. Now the last photo is on a more personal level. The Corgi Diecast Penguin Car & 1966 Batmobile are not really weird but are more along the lines of "Bat-Toys that Paul owned as a little kid". Which, for him makes them special because they have sentimental value. And I totally understand & think it's wonderful. I have a few items that were given to me by my Grandmother when I was very little & they're actually the most valuable pieces in my collection...and I'm not talking about "money value" either. One last thing, in case you're kinda freaked out about the Salt & Pepper Set. I really love these guys. They look EXACTLY like the 2 actors from the British UK TV Show Sitcom called "Only Fools & Horses". One year they had a Special Christmas episode where the 2 main characters dressed-up as the Dynamic Duo for a costume party. It turned out to become a cult classic. Here's a clip! Oh yeah, and Thanks to Paul for sending the great pics of the neat stuff, Thank You Paul!!

RARE Batman Collectibles From The BATFAN Collection

OK, For people who have been reading the Bat-Blog for quite awhile ( thanks! ) you all know one special contributor nicknamed "The BATFAN". He has donated a lot of cool contest prizes & has sent us photos from his amazing Batman Art Collection. Well, here are a few pieces of Batman Memorabilia he has in his personal collection that he wanted to share because they're all so extremely unusual & very rare. The 1st two items are Batman-Shaped Ceramic Clocks that were made & produced in Japan. Plus, they were ONLY SOLD IN JAPAN too so they're kinda hard to find in the USA. They were issued in the 1980's, just a few years before the 1989 Batman Movie. They're both so extremely cool that I actually can't decide which one I like best, ha ha! The company who made them is named CREATE & they also made the 2 Glass Mugs you see below the clocks. OK, Now the last photo is a set of Ceramic Thimbles made in England ( UK ) by the Berkshire China company in 1996. The weird thing is Batman looks like he's the "movie version" while all the others seem like they're from the "Batman: The Animated Series" cartoon. Plus, the colors are sort of off a little bit. But, they're totally wonderful to look at & I love the artwork they have! All of these items are really great & I know a lot of collectors are gonna totally droll over these pics, thanks Batfan!

BATMAN Gets a Traffic Violation in The UK!

Ha Ha, This is sort of funny news because it's true! Recently, while Warner Bros was busy promoting the new DARK KNIGHT Batman movie in the UK, they got a ticket on the Tumbler Batmobile for illegal parking! Apparently they parked the car in a "No Parking" area while displaying the car in public. The British Police Officer had no choice but to give them the ticket. Now, that's gotta be some bad karma there, ha ha...giving the Batman a ticket!! This story was originally published at DEN OF GEEK you can go there to read all the actual details. Plus, they have some more photos.

Video: 1989 Batman Merchandise - Spitting Image UK TV Show

Here's a really funny video clip from the 1980's British Comedy TV Show SPITTING IMAGE. The show only aired for a short time in the USA but is now a cult classic. In this clip they did a parody of the "merchandising hype" of the 1989 Tim Burton Batman movie. They used special puppets that were extremely detailed & also perfect caricatures of the actors ( or politicians ) that they were making fun of. They used to do some skits with Ronald & Nancy Reagan that were pretty brutal! One last thing. This video was sent in by a friend to the Bat-Blog named Jeffery so I wanna thank him for that...This is hilarious, thanks!

Vintage Batman Merchandise: Some 1966 BATMAN Jigsaw Puzzles From The UK!

Here, for your viewing pleasure, are 3 Vintage 1966 BATMAN Jigsaw Puzzles from England! The photos show both the completed puzzle & the original boxes. Both have awesome vintage graphics! Th illustrations on the puzzle look as if they were painted with watercolor & look a lot like the "action shots" that were usually depicted on Topps Trading Cards where Batman is always in DANGER! Be sure to click on the above photos for larger, more detailed, pictures! I want to take this moment to invite ANY Bat-Blog Readers to send us photos of your favorite pieces or your collection. Sharing information about our collecting hobby is what this page is all about! You can e-mail us by clicking the "e-Mail Button" on the top right-hand side of the page, thanks.

Vintage UK Car Magazine with the 1966 Batman TV Show Batmobile!

Our friend Andrew, who lives in the UK, dug up this old Vintage Car Magazine with an amazing color photo of the original 1966 Batmobile on the cover! Thanks for sending the great pic Andrew! Oh yeah, this is what he wrote:

Hello Tommy,

I found the classic car magazine I mentioned. It's from Oct 1989 when the Michael Keaton film was released, because the 1966 Batmobile they tested was about to do a tour in UK & Europe. The magazine interviewed the owner Scott Chinery, who said he bought this car - the TV show's 5th 'stunt' car - for $180,000 in 1988 + $60,000 for the Batcycle. In 1989, he was offered $2m for the car overseas, but wouldn't sell it because he wanted the car to stay in US.

He says "I use the Batmobile for a lot of charitable things, to raise money for the Epilepsy and Make a Wish foundations. We take it to schools and use it in anti-drugs programs. It drives kids nuts. It's out all the time. On the TV show, the Batmobile was used to fight crime and the evils in our society, and I use it for the same purpose in real life. I really believe that we have to give something back. That's what it's all about".

Of actual car itself, they say that it's built off a 1958 Thunderbird chassis, and being all metal, weighs in at 5500lbs. It has a fresh Cleveland 351 engine with a race-prepared 3-speed automatic gearbox. It has no power steering nor power brakes. Acceleration is somewhat brisk but with rather small drum brakes on all four corners, one dare not test the Batmobile's stopping power.

The paragraph I find amusing is this: "Chinery is not afraid of something happening to his Batmobile on one of its road trips. In fact he's pretty blasé about the whole thing. It's only a car. The purpose that I use this car for is much more important than the car itself" which to me sounds like a line from Batman Begins...about being more than a car, a symbol. Haha.

I hope you find this interesting.

Best wishes,

Andrew

Reference Photos: Vintage 1960's UK Batman Dart Game Toy

I know the Bat-Blog is crazy for trying to cover EVERY single angle of the Dark Knight Pop Culture but our main focus is the love of collecting Vintage Batman Toys, really! This is an example: Here are a series of 3 photos sent in to us by a reader in response to me asking for picture submissions. He asked me to NOT print his name but I still wanna say, "Oh My God, Thank You, Thank You!" This is an amazing & super-RARE piece of Batman Memorabilia!! This is a Vintage 1960's Batman SPIN DART TARGET GAME. It was made by Mettoy ©1966. The graphics on both the original box & the toy itself are incredible. When I opened my e-mail the other day I almost cried, ha ha! It looks like a large round target that is on a tripod-stand & before the shooter tries to get a bullseye, another person will spin the target for more of a challenge. It's sorta like a wacky carnival game but I like to think of it as the most beautiful "Piece of Art" I have ever seen! Not to give away the location of our reader but he did have a UK address so I'm guessing this is a wonderful toy from Great Britain! I love that it has a few very obscure Batman Villains like Blockbuster, Mr Freeze, & Poison Ivy. You usually don't see them like you do the Riddler, Penguin, & Catwoman. OK, again, I want to invite ALL readers with RARE Batman Collectibles to send photos, hell yeah!

Wacky Batmobile Toys & Other Vintage Batman Vehicles!

While checking out my Bat-Photo database ( ha ha ) I noticed a nice set of photos that would make a good post so here we go! Here's a nice assortment of Vintage Batman Toys, all Batmobile-related. The 1st photo is one of my personal favorites. It's a Vintage 1960's Japan Batmobile made by The Japanese LEGO Toy Company. Not to be confused with the Lego Brick toys this car is actually a very cool Trinket Box you can use to store your pencils in. I think it's a beautiful piece of ART! The next item is pretty cool too. It's also a little weird. This is a Bat-Jeep "BATIJEEP" Batman Car from Argentina. Shown here with original magazine ad. It's really bizarre & the fact that Batman & Robin's heads are here, but no bodies, ha ha, is kinda strange! The last 2 photos are a really RARE Batman Diecast Car ( 1:43 Scale ) from Great Britain. Made by a UK Toy Company called Oxford Diecast. The name of it is the "Mini-Ice Cream Van, Batman Special". I love the vintage graphics on this baby, check it out!