Hot Toys - Batman 1989 - Michael Keaton

[intothevoid]

Except for the "rare," chromium, diecut or gatefold covered or polybagged issue we all got duped into buying thinking they'd be rare variants.

Bought so many of those variants

 

[jye4ever]

Bought so many of those variants

Now we buy variant Hot Toys

 

[haytil]

ON another note, I still wonder why Nolan made joker normal. He could at least made Joker suffer from a severe skin pigmentation disease. The disease could've made his skin whiter than Michael Jackson, and maybe he could've gone crazy from feeling like an outcast and being rejected by society for his looks?

Yeah, but I think if he applies the make-up to be white (rather than suffering from a disease), it means he's all the more messed up as a person. He's all the more crazy because he chose to be a killer clown. If he suffered from a disease, it'd lend a bit of sympathy to him and make him, to some degree, a victim.

In other words, Batman was saying "Look Jason, I know he ____ed you up, but I'm not to kill him because It's...not...right? Anyway, he'll break out and kill alot more people, but I still can't do it. I know for a fact that he'll break out like he did the last 4000 times, but I can't kill him, and neither can the gotham police...please forgive my stupidity."

I think you really didn't understand what he was trying to say.

It's human nature to think that you, above everyone else, are incorruptible. It's also human nature to become corrupted by power (even though you think you're special and immune to that corruptibility).

Batman understands this, and he understands that the power to take a life (and still feel that it's right to take that life) is too much power for any man, including himself, to have. Ultimately, if he had that power, he would be corrupted by it.

It's easy to say "The Joker is an exception - it's OK to kill him." But why the Joker and not Black Mask? And if Black Mask is OK to be killed, why Black Mask and not Riddler? And if the Riddler is OK to be killed, why the Riddler and not that desperate mugger who shot his victim in the alleyway?

At what point do you draw the line?

Not only is that line impossible to quantify fairly - Batman also understands that his own corruptibility will inevitably lead him to continue to redraw that line, so more and more people are "OK" to be killed. So the only right thing to do is not draw the line in the first place.

Instead of being the witty character that fools around with Batman as he's trying to kill him (as we're so used to in the comics), Nolan turned him into this.... creepy guy, who never laughed, never smiled (but instead had a knife-carved smile on his face), and not to mention having the lamest tagline ever: "Why so serious?" Omg...

Maybe you should watch that movie again...

The Joker laughed and smiled aplenty in "The Dark Knight." Yes, there were moments where he was grim and deadly and serious, but there were those moments in Burton's film as well.

Ledger's Joker was filled with mischievous glee. He was a deadly prankster, but a prankster nonetheless.

To claim to know what the definitive Batman is without reading comics is ridiculous.

To claim that there is a definitive Batman is ridiculous.

 

[haytil]

Batman '89, Batman Returns and Batman the Animated Series, especially the latter WAS my childhood.

All I played with was Kenner Batman figures, vehicles and playsets growing up. A few years ago, around the 2007 pre-TDK days I went back and re-bought them new MOC/MIB. One of the greatest eras of collecting for me.

Sometimes I think about going back and getting some of those figures again - maybe a black-suited Batman, all his villains, Bruce Wayne, and the Batmobile and playset. Of course, I wouldn't leave them in the packaging!

I bet, as a kid, you were as frustrated as I was that the Kenner "Batman Returns" Penguin looked nothing like Devito's character.

 

[thenammagazine]

I bet, as a kid, you were as frustrated as I was that the Kenner "Batman Returns" Penguin looked nothing like Devito's character.

Joker didn't look like Jack either.

 

[DiFabio]

Sometimes I think about going back and getting some of those figures again - maybe a black-suited Batman, all his villains, Bruce Wayne, and the Batmobile and playset. Of course, I wouldn't leave them in the packaging!

I've got them mint/loose too!

My favorites are,

- Original Crime Attack Batman (regular black suit)
- Bruce Wayne/Batman (who didn't have this one?
- Iron Winch Batman (Detective blue and grey comic look)
- Shadow Wing Batman (regular with the cape feature)

- Sky Escape Joker (flesh change face)
- Knock Out

Also love some of those Batsuit variations too. Some of them really made sense. It wasn't until BTAS and Batman Forever where they got all wacky like "Neon Armor Batman".

I bet, as a kid, you were as frustrated as I was that the Kenner "Batman Returns" Penguin looked nothing like Devito's character.

Yep. I questioned it since the day I turned over the, then new, Batman Returns packaging and saw Super Powers Penguin in a black and red deco on the card back. I assumed it was a place holder or something, and the pic was small. But nope, they just never made an accurate one.

Whether it was because of likeness issues, production date problems (they did make the figures WELL before the film), or parents reacting to how dark and gruesome the character was still remains unknown.

There's a cool unique quality to that figure though, the line especially. That Penguin and the fact that there was a Robin figure despite Robin not actually being in the film at all is really interesting to me.

 

[vodoun]

Sometimes I think about going back and getting some of those figures again - maybe a black-suited Batman, all his villains, Bruce Wayne, and the Batmobile and playset. Of course, I wouldn't leave them in the packaging!

I bet, as a kid, you were as frustrated as I was that the Kenner "Batman Returns" Penguin looked nothing like Devito's character.

Bet you weren't an @n@l child either. Simple things pleases you when you were a child.

The only thing that really bugged me was the Batmobile had no roof but a silly windscreen.

Heh, funny how these things you just don't remember them the same. How they use to look spectacular. In another 10 years Hot Toys figures will look the same as well.

 

[DiFabio]

The only thing that really bugged me was the Batmobile had no roof but a silly windscreen.

That was the crappy Toy Biz one. The Kenner version was the one that all the cool kids had.

 

[vodoun]

I guess I just wasn't nerdy enough to know back then. I never knew there were several versions. That figure looks different as well. It use to have a huge bright yellow belt that was a grappling hook.

 

[intothevoid]

I was obsessed with that Robin hood... kept losing those arrows lol

 

[vodoun]

They were pretty well made. I remember the likeness was pretty good for cheaper toys. They were certainly expensive back in the early 90's.

In fact it's all I knew. The bigger toys seem to have a lot less detail back in those days.

 

[thenammagazine]

Bet you weren't an @n@l child either. Simple things pleases you when you were a child.

The only thing that really bugged me was the Batmobile had no roof but a silly windscreen.

Heh, funny how these things you just don't remember them the same. How they use to look spectacular. In another 10 years Hot Toys figures will look the same as well.

For me it was the Clash of the Titans toys. I remember those looking a lot better than they actually do.

That was the crappy Toy Biz one. The Kenner version was the one that all the cool kids had.

Was ToyBiz even around back then?

 

[DiFabio]

Many of those Robin Hood figures utilized Vintage Star Wars bucks. I think the forest playset was actually the Endor Ewok village at one time.

 

[thenammagazine]

Many of those Robin Hood figures utilized Vintage Star Wars bucks. I think the forest playset was actually the Endor Ewok village at one time.

Yup.

 

[The Mike]

Was ToyBiz even around back then?

Yup.

Kenner version:

 

[thenammagazine]

Yup.

Kenner version:

Damn, with the exception of the Batmobile, I guess I owned the ToyBiz crap.

 

[mmmmBrains]

In another 10 years Hot Toys figures will look the same as well.

I really don't see how figures could get much better than what they are today. There's room for improvement but not alot.

And I had that figure when I was young and I thought it was so awesome. Times do change.

 

[thenammagazine]

I really don't see how figures could get much better than what they are today. There's room for improvement but not alot.

And I had that figure when I was young and I thought it was so awesome. Times do change.

Disagree. Look at the Joes. While they certainly look nicer, they're considerably less durable than toys made in the 80's.

 

[Minimodel]

Best thing about the Toy Biz version was the coccoon.

 

[zidane]

Yup.

Kenner version:

All this time I thought I was one of the cool kids, dammit!
The toy biz version did come with that vacuum formed plastic bat-shield/armor for it though, but I did have to cut out the plastic tab from the wheels that made that crappy engine sound.