Fabio knows how much I love Batman and really hooked me up this time, with a great collection of Bat-oddities.
The first one is a true marvel of Knockoff ingenuity and craftsmanship...
One of the odder aspects of this Bat-figure is the fact that he is barefoot, or rather, he's wearing boots with toes molded on them, not sure which. This is the first sign that the makers took the body of whatever mold they already had, cast it in black, swapped the head and added a cape. BAM! Instant Batman!
In fact, if you look closely at the chest, there appears to be what looks surprisingly similar to the Thundercats symbol, making me wonder, what with the exposed toes, that this figure mold was originally used for some knockoff Lion-O. Hmmmm...
Next up we have one of those small, spring-armed figures from the the marketing blitz surrounding the release of Batman Begins. This one is the Scarecrow. I already have a Batman one of these (which I cherish) but have no idea where they come from. Were they some sort of fast food premium outside of the US? And next to him we see a classic Animated Series Batman figure that definitely did not roll off the assembly line at Mattel.
You can see by the sloppy paint applications of the Bat-symbol and the oddly pouting bottom lip on his face that the bootleggers did their best to copy the original figure, but missed the mark by a mile, which is great for a bootleg lover like me!
And finally, we come to the most instantly beloved of this entire haul. Below are a series of Bat-figures, each about 2" tall, that Fabio explained were his as a kid, and he generously passed them on to me. It's rare when I come across a Batman figure I haven't seen at least a picture of before, so imagine my surprise when I pulled these diminutive treasures out of the box.
There's a certain old-school fly-by-night vibe about them that I just adore, with Robins red trunks and Batman's flesh-colored eye-holes and utter lack of Bat-symbol, earning them an instant place of honor on the Bat-shelf.
But the figures of the Dynamic Duo weren't enough! Fabio also sent along a dastardly trio of Gotham's nastiest ne'er-do-wells; the Riddler, the Penguin and the Joker!
Please Fabio, tell us more about these awesome little figures! Were they premiums? Were they in a set? I must know more!
So, that wraps up Bootlegs and Knockoffs Week are on the blog and we'll get back to our regularly schedules blogging on Monday. Once again, thanks to Fabio for sending such great toys! You all are far too kind to me. :)
