Kenner 1990
In 1989 something happened that would forever change the world of motion pictures. A director named Tim Burton would choose an unusual cast, Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson, and would introduce us to one of the best comic book film of all time. Batman!
With the uber success of the film there came a line of toys, originally released by ToyBiz. The figures were cool enough, but they felt bulky and honestly there just weren’t enough of them. Toy Biz’s wave of figures gave us Batman, Joker, and Bob (Jokers head Goon from the film). There were two vehicles, the Batmobile and the Batwing and the Batcave playset.
Let’s drop a little history on Batman to help get you to my favorite line of figures ever produced. Ok, so before all of this there had been a pretty awesome line of D.C. toys called The Super Powers Collection. At the time of this run, Kenner was owned by General Mills, but in 1989 Kenner had been purchased by Tonka. Despite funding and a strong history with the D.C. line, they lost the licensing to ToyBiz. The figures weren’t bad overall, but they were very similar to the Kenner Super Powers figures. Yes, they did change them slightly and yes, they did at least try and mold them to look like the stars of the film but mostly it didn’t work. Now, don’t misunderstand me. The ToyBiz figures were great at the time, and the packaging was cool, but when it came to the amount of merchandizing that should have been done with such a major hit as Batman, they dropped the ball. What it did do however, was help Kenner release another line of D.C. Superheros and it was because of that that Kenner managed to win back the love of D.C.. It had only been a year; the movie was still fresh in the minds of everyone and the VHS was on the horizon and so Kenner made the smartest move it could. Kenner jumped onboard with the film and gave us the The Dark Knight Collection.
The Dark Knight Collection was exceptional. We did lose some of the articulation, mainly in the knees, giving us basic 5-point articulation, but they looked cool, they had capes that snapped on in a very satisfying way. The initial line as made up of eight Batman variants, a Joker who’s face changed colors with water, and a Bruce Wayne who could actually be changed into Batman. They all came with accessories.
Ok, yes, the various Batmen figures were basically just repaints, but the repaints were awesome and they were given different names and different accessories with fantastic capabilities.
In 1991 the run continued. Sure, there were some cons, for example, out of nearly 20 figures there were only two Jokers ever created, and a lot of the vehicles were just retools of previous Kenner lines such as RoboCop and SilverHawks, but there were also originals and honestly, I loved the Batcycle and the Joker Cycle.
There were 15 figures, and 9 vehicles in the collections. Of those 15 characters 13 were variations of Batman including 3 in the Crime Master Deluxe series which came in boxes with larger accessories, Wall Climber, Blast Shield and Night Glider.
There was Sky Escape Joker and Knock-out Joker which were both noticeably different in appearance as far as the paint scheme. Series 2 only consisted of 3 figures and all of the vehicles and was released in 1991.
So there you have it, a general overview of the Batman Dark Knight Collection. This is a great line to jump into as there is a clear finish line. Vehicles aren’t going to be cheap if you want them in box, and carded figures will hit you in the $20-30 range, but the number of characters isn’t overwhelming.
Currently we are working on an eBook for those who collect 80’s action figures. Think of it as a sort of brief history and catalogue of some of the more popular lines, a collector’s guide as it were. If everything goes according to plan it will be ready in a couple of months and we will let you know here on the Blog, through the podcast (which is available through iTunes, Amazon and Spotify) and on our Facebook page and Group https://www.facebook.com/Rewindtoyspage/.
The best way to find out about it however is by getting your free copy of our mini hints and tips eBook which is available now. Drop an email address and we will send you an email once the book is available, and don’t worry, we will not load you up on pointless emails in your inbox, you have my word.
You can get the mini eBook by following this link! https://mailchi.mp/c6e0bcd3a413/rewind-toys
We Also have out fantastic sponsor Entertainment Earth: https://www.entertainmentearth.com/?id=RE-010201518
And that’s it. As always it has been great playing with you here in our toybox and until next time remember, when it comes to Rewind Toys, the Hunt is half the fun! I’m Jason Emmitt, signing off.
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