I've got BootLEGO bats in my belfry!

Looking at BootLEGOs on eBay the other day, I stumbled on to a brand new Bat-lot of Batmen with the new style cowl (I had yet to own any LEGO or BootLEGO Batmen with the new cowl style) and not only that, but the set included some great Batman variants. So even though I was as yet unfamiliar with the bootleg company that produces this lot (Duo Le Pin) I figured the pennies-on-the-dollar cost was worth the potential risk, so I ordered them...and man am I glad I did!

First up is Batfleck. I am pretty sure I will end up with an official LEGO set or two for the upcoming Batman v Superman movie, but BootLEGOS are so damn inexpensive and WHO CAN WAIT?!?! Also, thankfully I now know that Duo Le Pin is pretty high quality. These BootLEGOS are even closer to LEGO quality than the Sheng Yuan and Decool I have previous experience with! This set is just incredible. Don't get me wrong, they are still bootlegs and there are a couple flaws (one Batman head had the same no-emotion expression printed twice...ironic for Batman who isn't one to emote...and this Batfleck inexplicably has a scuba mask on the other side of his head) but...damn they are great. And they cost me less than 75 cents each with free shipping from China! And it only took less than a week for them to arrive! GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Up next: at first I wasn't sure if this were an 'official' Batman or not, it actually took me a minute to realize that this is the Batman: Arkham Knight Batman! How cool is that?!?!

This Batman even has printing on his arms and the sides of his legs! QUALITY! Another fun detail is that Arkham Batman has a calm expression without stubble while his angry expression has stubble. Like in the game, Batman gets angrier and less fresh as he battles throughout the night!

Next: Batman Begins. Each Batman minifigure comes with a batarang, a base and a bunch of pieces to make some little Batmobile/Batdrone or something. I left those out of the shoot because they are really just filler.

Next: Batman from The Dark Knight (in grey.) Some of the Batman minifigures came with plastic extended wings, and some came with cloth capes. I actually did a little mixing/matching to suit my desires, this one may have come with the cloth cape that I gave to Batfleck. Whatever, the whole point of these buildable minifigures is mixing and matching!

Batman Beyond. HOLY MOLEY! This guy alone is worth the low low price of admission! Other BootLEGOers have made half-assed attempts at Batman Beyond, but this is the first correct and screen accurate one I've ever seen. He came with a red cloth cape (another irony, THIS is one that should have the solid wings...in red) but Batman Beyond does not have a red cape, he has red retractable wings, so I left it off the minifigure.

Batman of Zur En Arrh! This is now the third BootLEGO Batman of Zur En Arrh I own (each from a different BootLEGO company. Wow!) We do indeed live in incredible times. I will have to do a side by side by side shoot of this version of Batman soon.

All these Batmen have back printing too, BTW. MOAR QUALITY!

Green Lantern Batman! Another wonderful and surprising addition. Now that I think about it, this guy had a cloth cape, so I switched it out with Batfleck. He looks better with solid wings (although they would look better still in green. GL Batman also came with flesh colored hands...weird...so I switched them with some spare black hands (BootLEGOS always seem to come with additional hands.)

Last but...well...least...is Space Batman! I think this Batman appeared in the LEGO Batman 3 video game. He has a normal face and a space face but the 'normal' face is weird because it is printed on the white plastic head. No skin tone. He looks more like Batzarro with the other face. So I'm sticking with space face!

Man, what a set! The quality of Duo Le Pin is incredible, even the cloth capes are better than anything I've experienced from BootLEGOS to date (while still falling short of LEGO quality...but not by much.) The unique characters and the use of the new style cowl makes this set a must have for anyone who likes to dip their toes in the BootLEGO pool from time to time.

Total Heroes Ultra Batman Beyond

First: this is not 'Batman Beyond.' There is no individual named 'Batman Beyond'.

This is Batman.

Or 'future Batman' if you must.

But never 'Batman Beyond.' 'Batman Beyond' is the name of the show he appeared on. And maybe the top secret Cadmus project that created him - but more about that later.

Now wrap your head around this one: Batman Beyond began airing in 1999. This future version of the Batman mythos put a teenager under the cowl and aged Bruce Wayne 40 years; which means the show originally took place in 2039. Batman had been retired 20 years by this time, meaning Bruce Wayne retired the role of Batman in 2019.

Think about that for a second.

2019.

That is only four years from now! It stands to reason that if Batman retired in 2019 he was probably already in his red-on -black get-up by 2015.

2015. Aka 'now.'

Which means this version of Bruce Wayne/Batman...

...is the Batman of today, according to the Batman Beyond timeline.

Whoah! Heavy!

Batman Beyond was a good show which wasn't perfect but should have lasted longer. Many concepts, like his tech saavy friend Max or his little brother Matt, never matured to their logical conclusions (ie future Batgirl and future Robin respectively.) Many more original rogues (or their heirs) could have been introduced, the future Justice League had tons of promise, and none of the villains created specifically for the Batman of Batman Beyond had enough time to develop and become icons in their own rights.

Fortunately the episode of Justice League called 'Epilogue' wrapped up Terry and Bruce's stories, revealing that Terry was actually Bruce's genetic offspring. (And here's something I only just realized the other day: Matt McGuinness is also Bruce's genetic offspring! Further cementing my regret that he never got the chance to become future Robin. Maybe it will happen in a comic someday.)

Not only did the show never get the chance to mature, but Batman Beyond action figures also never got the respectful line they deserve. During the initial cartoon run there was literally ONE figure that represented Batman from the cartoon. It was a good one for sure, but the rest of the line was total crap.

Seriously, after that one good Batman figure, you had a better chance of getting cool Batman Beyond toys from Burger King than from Kenner.

After that, DC Direct released a Batman Beyond Batman (actually, Tim Drake as Batman if you read the comic it was based on) which was pretty cool but was in the style of Ed McGuinness. A cool figure, but too buff to be the Batman we knew and loved from Batman Beyond.

Then Mattel released a Batman Beyond Batman as part of their DC Universe Classic line. There was a maskless (Terry McGuinness) version as well as a masked version. Thanks to Mattel's brilliant distribution strategies, I never found either at retail. And I really wanted the masked version. I'm pretty sure both will run you more than they are worth on the secondary market today.

Jump to today: finally we have this figure you see here. Arguably the best Batman Beyond Batman ever made. And again Mattel tried their damndest to keep him out of the hands of the general public - releasing him as part of their Total Heroes Ultra online only MattyCollector shipping-is-gonna-costya-plenty line. I intentionally do not follow Mattel's online store shenanigans, therefore I didn't even know this guy had been released until he was sold out. FOILED AGAIN! Or was I?

Hey, it's Mattel! Suddenly and without fanfare he was back in stock! Just in time for me to put him on my Christmas list and send it over to my big sister, who is a sucker for buying me toys. Seriously, when we were younger she would take me along to go shopping, and I would sit around in the 'boyfriend seat' outside the fitting rooms so she wouldn't be forced to shop alone. In return she'd buy me something - almost always a toy. Later in life when I worked at Target and would find a cool toy that I could not buy on company time I'd just hide it and call her to tell her where it was hidden, so she could buy it for me.

Anyways, thanks to my big sister who came through again I now own this wonderful Batman Beyond Batman!

The Total Heroes line is one of Mattel's currently running retail lines -  it thus far includes about six or eight figures. It's not certain whether the line will continue, but it seems to be petering out. There have been a couple 'Ultra' figures for the line, released as online or Con exclusives, and these 'Ultra' figures include bonus parts and interchangeable pieces and other extra bits that would apparently keep them from being sold at retail because no one wants to walk into a store and buy cool stuff, right?

One of the best bits here is that Batman comes with a small figurine of Micron, one of his future Justice League compadres. A real cool add-in - I really have to give Mattel credit here. He's tiny, sure, but you are getting two figures in one set. That's cool!

Batman also comes with multiple interchangeable hands, multiple batarangs, and a removeable set of extended wings. Finally, to go along with the removed mask accessory, he has three interchangeable heads: Bruce Wayne, Terry McGuinness and the Batman masked head.

This was really the selling point for me: A young-old Bruce Wayne head pushed this figure from cool looking to MUST HAVE and will be how I keep mine displayed. Because we've seen Batmans and Bruce Waynes and even old old Bruce Wayne action figures. But never has there been a 'mere moments before retirement' Bruce Wayne action figure.

At press time Batman is still available on MattyCollector.com. I highly recommend this figure if you have been waiting for a good Batman Beyond themed Batman; if you have a big sister who will buy it for you, all the better.

Harley Qwednesday :: Harley Beyond

With all the recent DC Animated direct to DVD, more mature animated films being huge hits these days, it's hard to imagine there was a time that an American animated feature couldn't cross certain lines, but that was the case a mere ten years ago with Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. It was originally edited to for content (due in large part to its release coming shortly after the Columbine shootings) and at first only the original script revealed it's edgier aspects. It was later released on DVD 'un-cut' and so if you haven't seen it at all, I suggest you go for the un-cut version. Also, if you haven't seen it Beware: Here There Be Spoilers!

But we aren't here to talk about Batman, it's Harley Qwednesday sillies, so this post is about Harley Quinn! And her spawn. Read on:

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, a direct to DVD standalone movie, first introduced a couple of Quinnesque twins known (both singularly and collectively) as 'Dee Dee.' The story goes on, and Harley appears in a flashback sequence where she apparently dies (of course no body is found) in a battle with Batgirl.

Blah blah blah lotsa story about non-Harley-individuals ensues.

Then at the end it is revealed that the Dee Dees' grandmother is Harley Quinn! She survived, and went on to breed as well! Which raises a whole lot more questions than it answers about Harley Quinn's future, but is awesome nonetheless.

I wish that someone would make Dee Dee action figures. Hell, I'd even buy a pair of Dee Dee dollies!

Batman Beyond was a great series. It was a fun, alternative and unique take on the Batman mythos that has, since it's original television airing (1999-2002) become an actual part of Batman canon (much like Harley Quinn herself) - integrating itself first into JLU animated continuity and more recently into the comic book world of Batman after the DC Universe was again split back into the multiverse over the past couple years. If you haven't seen it or Return of the Joker (or haven't seen them in a while,) I suggest you check them out!

Buy stuff by me at Zazzle!

Bed Bath and Batman Beyond

I still haven't found the DC Universe Classics Batman Beyond figure from wave four, and at the rate I am finding DCUC figures it'll probably be about 2015 before I finally do!

Thank goodness I have this Batman Beyond to keep me company:

Batman Beyond told the tale of a future/replacement Batman, taking place long after Bruce had retired. It was an exceptional series with a truly lackluster toyline.

Seriously. As far as I remember this was the only figure you could buy during the entire run of the series that actually looked like Batman Beyond. The rest were dayglo neon transluscent craptastic. It is therefore the only figure I ever purchased from the line.


This figure truly is great, which by comparison to the rest of the junk line makes it a holy idol of biblical proportions! As you can see, his wings can be connected to his wrists so he can expand them for flight, or they can...dangle. Well at least they can be expanded for flight!


The likeness is spot on to the cartoon style and character design as well. Articulation is extremely limited which was par for the course back in the late nineties, so kudos to the designers for making his shoulders spread out in a cartoon accurate movement.


As an added bonus, he even has removable ankle jets to recreate the flight sequences of the cartoon. Spiffy!



Eat your heart out, Iron Man!



Fwooooooom!!!!!!!



He also came with an oversized but appropriate batarang...



...which he could hold...


...or could mount into a small backpack type doohickey that attached to his back. Maybe the wings could be folded into/behind it as well, I don't remember.

Regardless, Batman Beyond was a great cartoon and is a pretty cool toy. It's too bad the line was poorly handled, as there were many great villains that could have been made.