You know we love us some cool Vintage 60's BATMAN Toys, especially the ones from Japan! Here's a great example of the crazy wacky kind of stuff made for the Japanese foreign market. No, it's not a Batmobile car. This is a Tin Toy JEEP with a Batman and Robin design, and it has awesome bat-graphics all over it, POW!
OK, for now, this is sort of a rumor I have not been able to 100% confirm but supposedly Japan will have a completely different Batman Statue inside their Japanese retail version of the BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY Collector's Edition Video Game. We have all seen the Statue for the USA & Europe versions, it's pictured on the left. On the right side might be the one for Japan. It's basically the same thing, just more colorized. It also looks a lot more realistically detailed. But hey, please stay tuned to the Bat-Blog & if we get more information on this then we'll report it.
Here's a very well-made video featuring our friend Yuji Ueda. He's a big Batman Toy Collector & his main focus is the Japanese items from the 1960's. In fact, the video is sort of a tour of famous Vintage Toy Shops in Japan ( Yes, that would be my dream vacation, ha! ). But, as you'll see from this interview, he also likes the modern day stuff as well. OK, get ready to drool!
OK, The more I look at this image, the more I want to cry! The Bat-Blog has a cool friend over at facebook named Jean Baptiste. He lives in Belgium & is also a major Vintage Toy Collector. His main focus are old Japanese Tin Toys & Robots from Japan. He recently sent me this photo the other day of a beautiful 60's Batmobile Tin Toy Car from his collection. Now, I'm not sure if he was just sharing to be nice, or if he was trying to torture me ( ha ha! ). But either way, thank You Jean for the great pic. I love this old toy so much that I made two BATMAN WALLPAPERS out of it! Just choose the color you like, then POW! You got an awesome desktop background, ha!
Check out these wonderful photos of an amazing assortment of Vintage BATMAN MENKO Cards. These belong to one of our new friends named Yuji. He's been collecting these for awhile & says he has even more than the ones shown here! Yeah, I'm pretty jealous, ha! I have one large uncut sheet of these that were a gift from a good friend named Saul. I also have a few loose ones. But Yuji has almost everybody beat! Oh, before I forget, I wanna thank him for sharing these pics, they're great items.
Now some people might ask, "What is Menko?". MENKO is a Japanese card game played by two or more players. It is also the name of the type of cards used to play this game. Each player uses Menko cards made from thick paper or cardboard, with one or both side printed. A player's card is placed on the hardwood or concrete floor and the other player throws down his card, trying to flip the other player's card with a gust of wind or by striking his card against the other card. If he succeeds, he takes both cards. The player who takes all the cards, or the one with the most cards at the game's end, wins the game.
OK, today I'm on sort of a "foreign kick"! That means I'm focusing on some of the extremely cool Batman Merchandise & Toys made in other countries. But trust me, this stuff is pretty cool to see so you'll like it, ha!
The 1st example is an extremely RARE item. This is a packaged Bat-Ball Toy made in Italy in 1966. This Italian Toy is almost non-existent in the US. It's probably even hard to find over there! I love the vintage-style graphics. Plus, this is one of those toys where the packaging is "everything". I mean, once you open it & there's just that generic rubber ball, then it's no longer a "character item".
The next item is fun because it's Japanese & we all know that some of the coolest Bat-items come from Japan! It's a Video Game Disc for the Sega-Saturn by Aklaim. It's also tied-into the BATMAN FOREVER Movie.
Third, is this BATMOBILE Diecast Toy Car from the UK. It's a Hot Wheels Colour Shifters Car made by Mattel.
Now, the last photos, these are really great! I really love these! This is a complete set of 6 BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES Jelly Glasses from France. I think these might have been for the UK market too. If anybody remembers those Welch's Grape Jelly Glasses we have here in the US then I think these are a little smaller. Now, you might be looking at the photo & saying, "Hey, There's 12 Glasses?!" Yes, this photo shows both the front & back of each glass. The 6 on the left are the "front". The "fronts" have Batman & the "backs" have villains. Well, one of them has the Batmobile, ha, but you get the idea.
OK, I'm hoping somebody who reads this either learned something or at least enjoyed it! What do you think? Do YOU have any wacky Batman "foreign items" you would like to share? If so, then please shoot us a pic, or pics! Remember, the main focus of the Bat-Blog is to share the love & joy of collecting.
Here's a totally cool photo from a Bat-Blog Fan named Jerry. Two months ago he went to Okinawa, Japan for vacation and, while there, saw this big Batman Statue in front of a local souvenir shop on Kokusai Street (also called "International Street"). I really love this picture but it also reminds me about the current tragic events in Japan. The Japanese People still need help. So, I gotta ask everyone, if they can, to please donate to the AMERICAN RED CROSS. Thank You. Oh yeah, before I forget, a special thanks also goes out to Jerry for sharing this fun pic, it's GREAT!!
Shown here is a video clip of "Batman in Japan" Stand Up Comedy at The Pink Cow, Tokyo, Japan, March 5th, 2011.
I have really been thinking about Japan the last few days & worrying a lot. Since childhood I have always loved that special place & I have always wanted to go there. Seeing all the news footage on CNN lately has been sort of heart breaking. But it is very impressive how well the Japanese are handling everything. I know they have been hit hard & hopefully things will get better soon. In the mean time they do need some help. Food & clean water is getting hard to find right now. So, if any other Bat-Blog Fans out there can, please donate to the American Red Cross. Every little bit helps. Here's a link to their Official website, just visit http://www.redcross.org
I don't know what my fascination is with "Foreign Batman items" but that sort of stuff is really cool! Plus it's very hard to find. Here's some great examples: The 1st photo shows a JAPANESE POTATO CHIP BAG with a 1989 BATMAN movie promotion. Now, how wacky is that! Speaking of "Japanese", right now my heart goes out to all the people of Japan. The recent events there are such a tragedy. Let's hope things get better soon. The next pic features a 1980's German-Language BATMAN Comic Book... from Germany ( Duh!, ha! ). The the last group of photos are vintage Batman items from Australia. These Australian comics are from the 1970's. So, what do you think? Is this stuff kinda cool!? Hey, I got a question, Do YOU have any foreign bat-items you would like to share? If so, then please send us some pics today. Remember, the Bat-Blog is all about sharing information about the joys of collecting.
OK, I'm in a very strange mood today so I thought I would post some really weird Batman Wallpaper Backgrounds, ha! The 1st one uses graphics from the BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD TV cartoon. It shows the Dark Knight in an alternative universe ( Remember, I said, "weird" ). The next one shows an image taken from a Vintage 1960's Batman Comic Book from Japan. The way they drew his face so realistically is sort of unusual. But it's a great image & I love the Japanese lettering in the lower-right corner: Bat-Manga!! So, how are these? Anybody like them? If not, then please be sure to check out the Bat-Archives to see many more, most you will like. It's located on the left-hand side of this page, towards the middle... just explore & have fun!
The Bat-Blog became friends with a Batman Memorabilia Collector in Thailand known as "The BAT-CAT" & he has one of the very best Vintage Batman Toy Collections I have ever seen! He sent us a few photos to share & they feature just a part of his collection of Vintage 1960's and 1970's Batmobile Tin Toy Cars, a few Ray Guns, & even a Batman Robot or two. Yes! Robots!! Most of the vehicles are from Japan but there's also some from Italy & Argentina. I gotta say that my favorites are the older Japanese Batman Toys. All of them are in really great shape & some of them still have their original box or package. Please take a good look at each picture. They will make you totally cry & drool for days! I think the most unusual piece is the "Batman Cowboy Gun". Made from tin metal, it's extremely RARE & very exotic. BAT-CAT also owns a few Tin Toys of the Original LINCOLN FUTURA Car that the Custom 1966 Batman TV Show Car was based on ( 1st pic ) and that's pretty cool!! I wanna thank Bat-Cat for taking the time to shoot these wonderful pics & let him know that I am totally jealous, ha ha! but all kidding aside, I really appreciate it & you have some amazing stuff here, thanks again!
Here's a pretty cool video that was featured on an eBay posting ( I always think that's a really great idea to do that ). It's a Japanese ( Vintage 1970's ) ALPS Batman and Robin BATMOBILE TIN TOY that is one of those fun Battery Operated Cars! Now, this is a bootleg toy ( not licensed ) but still, it's a lot of fun & very very RARE! Plus, it's really neat to see it in action, ha!
In Japan there is a company called SKULL-CANDY who makes these very cool Audio Earphone Sets for your Mp3 Players, mainly the Apple iPod . Here are 2 they made with a Batman & Superman Theme. The neat thing is that I think they come with a set of Vinyl Figures too! Sorry, Not really sure. The Japan-based website I found these on was totally Japanese & I could NOT read a thing, ha ha! But either way these look like a lot of fun. As you can see, the ear-pieces have a set of snap-on "Bat-Logo" covers. But I gotta say that I totally love the vinyl figures way more!
Alright! It's "Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday" again here at the Bat-Blog & this week we have some really really weird stuff. Now most of you know our Batman Wallpapers are usually breathtaking, plus elegant & tasteful, ha ha! Well, they still are this time but they're also kinda strange. The 1st one is using Japanese graphics from a Vintage 1960's "Batman Toy Briefcase". It was a bootleg item from Japan & that explains the unusual coloring. But it's a great part of Bat-history so there you go! the next image is from a future DC Comics Batman comic book showing the "Return of Bruce Wayne". Well, sort of. You see, when "Bruce Wayne Batman" was killed by Darkseid awhile back he wasn't really killed but sent back in time. He awakes much later & his mind is confused plus he doesn't quite know where he is or what his name is ( something like that ) &, the kicker, he still becomes "Batman" anyway! Oh yeah, he becomes the Dark Knight in the "Caveman Days", ha ha! But don't laugh. I think this is gonna be an extremely cool storyline ( or at least let's hope so ). The artwork here is done by Andy Kubert & it's totally totally incredible. Now, don't forget, the large wallpapers are for your computer desktop & the small ones are formatted to fit the screen of an Apple iPod Touch or iPhone...enjoy!
In the year 2000 ( I love the sound of that, it's like a movie trailer voice-over for an old sci-fi film, ha ha! ) a company in Japan published a magazine that featured the collection of a Major Batman Toy Collector. The cool thing was that it was a total mix-up of many vintage items & then a few more "modern day" pieces. It's just a great reference guide for many extremely RARE Japanese Toys from the 60's & even some cool stuff from the Warner Bros Store, mostly Batman: The Animated Series. When I look at it I see a lot of toys I have, a few things I know about & want, and then even some items that I have never EVER seen before...a great variety! Be sure to click on the photos here for larger versions where you can see all the great Batman Memorabilia in better detail. I swear, you will be drooling for days!!
I know that the Bat-Blog has kinda been crazy with the Halloween Holiday lately & we have been neglecting the toy collector aspect of the blog. So, here's a post to make up for it, ha ha! Here's a really nice example of a few pieces of Bat-Memorabilia made in different parts of the world. The 1st example comes from the United Kingdom ( England ) & is the Original Bubble Gum Wax Wrapper for a Set of 1966 Batman Trading Cards. Oh man, I am totally crazy over those vintage-style graphics...awesome! The next item might appear to be French but it's not from France. This is a Batman Board Game from Canada! It was made by Hasbro in 1973. OK, the last 3 pictures are a Set of Japanese Batman Canvas Sneakers. These shoes, of course, are from Japan & came out around 1966. The original shoe box is shown here with the product & it's equally as cool! Again, the graphics are just totally beautiful. Do you live outside the USA? If so then please send us some photos of some fun "Foreign Batman" items you might have. Sharing the love of Batman Toy Collecting is one of the main functions of this fan site. Our e-mail button is always on the top right-hand side of this page, thanks.
