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El Bombastico

El Bombastico

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
36,046
i feel like most toy lines were like this in the 90s. like what the hell was this crap.

aliens_kenner_bishop_back_aliens.jpg


tumblr_nbd0cvFl4y1sb6iwko1_1280.jpg


was very confused waiting for all these things to show up by the time i was old enough to actually watch the movies

I mean, Scorpion Alien was essentially the Aliens warrior, as was the Queen.
 

Astro Cat

Member
Mar 29, 2019
7,745
As a kid, I loooved these alternate figures. I had a Batman animated figure that had a red suit and I wanna say a jet pack? I tried to find a picture but no luck.
 

InfiniteKing

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,213
it's true I wanted the regular versions but I never appreciated the goofy gimmicks. I think they're great, probably just a little bit of a nostalgic look though for me.
 

Spaggy

Member
Oct 26, 2017
599
I'm pretty sure I had the Batman figure with the lightning bolts on it, but I have no idea where or how I got it. I doubt my parents got it for me. Most of my toys were from garage sales or giveaways from friends with a lot of toys.
 

MisterHero

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,934
why can't they be like ghostbusters and have like 5 different toymakers for the same standard team of ghostbusters in different scales
 

Deleted member 41651

User-requested account closure
Banned
Apr 3, 2018
1,981
i feel like most toy lines were like this in the 90s. like what the hell was this crap.

aliens_kenner_bishop_back_aliens.jpg


tumblr_nbd0cvFl4y1sb6iwko1_1280.jpg


was very confused waiting for all these things to show up by the time i was old enough to actually watch the movies
Those things are the shit. Neca has been cranking out xenomorphs based on those old designs. The last few mimic the old packaging too.
 

Zeliard

Member
Jun 21, 2019
10,945
It was weird, they were really selling Iron Man toys. But Iron Man wasn't well-known before the movie.

People always say this but I've always felt like Iron Man was super recognizable. Yeah obviously not like Batman or Superman or Spider-Man or even close (who is?) but still up there.

After Downey killed it in the role people acted like he had resurrected some obscure character and I never understood that. Felt like Iron Man was pretty huge in the 90s, but maybe I'm misremembering.
 

bastardly

Member
Nov 8, 2017
10,581
nah, i FUCKING loved all the variants in the Batman Returns line, played with those more than the proper suit one for sure
EaGw7CuWAAIX9zw.jpg
 

InfiniteKing

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,213
People always say this but I've always felt like Iron Man was super recognizable. Yeah obviously not like Batman or Superman or Spider-Man or even close (who is?) but still up there.

After Downey killed it in the role people acted like he had resurrected some obscure character and I never understood that. Felt like Iron Man was pretty huge in the 90s, but maybe I'm misremembering.
I sure as hell loved the tv show so maybe? Also he had a pretty cool look in the 90's comics and I'm sure the capcom fighting games brought him into the spotlight a bit.
 

Big Boss

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,467
What you're saying is true, but I loved the hell out of this one back in the 90's. ARMORED ICE SKATES BATMAN.

AehI1hM.jpg


So hey, it worked on me. I never even questioned as a kid how dumb it was to have a freaking ice skates suit. Granted I don't think I attached them often.

Damn I think I had this one 🥹
 

InfiniteKing

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,213
I actually remember getting that armored skates batman, toys r us had some sort of crazy deal with like buy two figures get two free or something like that so I had batman, robin, mr. freeze and probably another batman.
 

vpricot

Avenger
Oct 26, 2017
483
There was this really neat line of Batman figures in the early 2000s that also suffered from this. I had so many Batmen, but only like 2-3 villains. I wanted more villain figures so my Batmen could actually do something.
Yes! I hope you're talking about the Mission Master series. I had a ton of them for a hot minute as a kid.
 

Sandstar

Member
Oct 28, 2017
7,741
Complains about him not having his regular batsuit, first picture linked has him in his regular suit?

d8c897c3f9.png
 
OP
OP
El Bombastico

El Bombastico

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
36,046
Complains about him not having his regular batsuit, first picture linked has him in his regular suit?

d8c897c3f9.png

That was like a Target exclusive two-pack that was absolute hell to find at the time.

And that isn't his regular batsuit. That's his Sonar Suit that he only uses at the end, which should have a silver sheen to it to be screen-accurate.
 

SageShinigami

Member
Oct 27, 2017
30,474
This thread is proof that Era isn't normal. You didn't want "normal" Batman (which was easy enough to find), you wanted to know why Batman didn't have any of those cool suits from the action figures.
 
OP
OP
El Bombastico

El Bombastico

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
36,046
This thread is proof that Era isn't normal. You didn't want "normal" Batman (which was easy enough to find), you wanted to know why Batman didn't have any of those cool suits from the action figures.

Nah, normal is wanting a normal Batman figure. Only the weirdos looked at all the garish 90s crap figures with their funky-ass colors and wanted them instead of a normal batsuit.
 

Rodney McKay

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,205
I think I had "Torpedo" Batman action figure, it was pretty fun. I definitely preferred the different suit Batman figures compared to the standard ones.
i feel like most toy lines were like this in the 90s. like what the hell was this crap.

aliens_kenner_bishop_back_aliens.jpg


tumblr_nbd0cvFl4y1sb6iwko1_1280.jpg


was very confused waiting for all these things to show up by the time i was old enough to actually watch the movies
I had an Alien toy that actually was just the basic Zenomorph, except its gimmick was that it could explode with a spring-loaded mechanism.

It was kinda cool, but it wasn't easy to play with because it was so hard to get the pieces to click together. There was the head+internal guts piece, a back and front piece for the torso (I forget if the arms are connected to the torso pieces), and the legs. So you had to wrestle those 4 pieces together while fighting against the spring to get them to click together.

There was a button to blow it up, but the spring was strong enough to burst on its own if you play with it too much.
 
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SpitztheGreat

Member
May 16, 2019
2,877
I remember having this problem with Wolverine. The original run with him in his Uncanny brown suit included retractable claws that could be manually released. This models was very hard to find, but you could find any other variation, none of which allowed for manual control of the claws. Eventually I did find it and I put on a full court press to convince my mom that this was the Wolverine figure I had wanted the whole time.
 

SageShinigami

Member
Oct 27, 2017
30,474
Nah, normal is wanting a normal Batman figure. Only the weirdos looked at all the garish 90s crap figures with their funky-ass colors and wanted them instead of a normal batsuit.

Sure, you want that as an adult. Or even as a teenager. But at five years old, you get mad that Batman isn't in all those cool costumes from the toys in the films.

People always say this but I've always felt like Iron Man was super recognizable. Yeah obviously not like Batman or Superman or Spider-Man or even close (who is?) but still up there.

After Downey killed it in the role people acted like he had resurrected some obscure character and I never understood that. Felt like Iron Man was pretty huge in the 90s, but maybe I'm misremembering.

I've said this before (and someone yelled at me for it), but Iron Man was like...the first of the second string options. Like the main heroes were always Spider-Man and the X-Men. Then after that were Hulk and Fantastic Four. And after that, you got Iron Man. Dude was the first one they gave a cartoon to in the '90s after those four, he found his way into multiple video games and everything.
 

Mekanos

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Oct 17, 2018
44,171
I've said this before (and someone yelled at me for it), but Iron Man was like...the first of the second string options. Like the main heroes were always Spider-Man and the X-Men. Then after that were Hulk and Fantastic Four. And after that, you got Iron Man. Dude was the first one they gave a cartoon to in the '90s after those four, he found his way into multiple video games and everything.
I would have put Captain America above Iron Man, but that's nitpicky I guess. I knew Iron Man existed as a character but I couldn't tell you the first thing about him until the movie. I could at least tell you that Captain America throws his mighty shield.
 

Siggy-P

Avenger
Mar 18, 2018
11,865
I think it was probably more that all the normal batman figures got nabbed off the shelves before you could get them and all the shops would have to stock the shelves (and not look empty) was the shitty versions.

Like trying to find the good transformers. No I don't want that character that wasn't even in the show/film and is just a repaint of another figure, no one wants them!
 

Pop-O-Matic

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
12,896
This thread is proof that Era isn't normal. You didn't want "normal" Batman (which was easy enough to find)
The entire point of this thread is that no, it wasn't. Normal Batman figures were rare to the point of effective non-existence during the '90s, and if you wanted a Batman toy you were almost certainly getting one of these weird variants, whether you wanted it or not.
 

THErest

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,104
This was my go-to Batman for years.
yellowbats.JPG


Until I got this one for my 9th birthday.
images


I had others. I had the Returns Bruce Wayne transformation figure, but lost half the pieces for it. I had one of Keaton Batman with a spinning arm. I didn't like it much because you couldn't pose the arm, so yellow guy was my main. Then purple/red once I was in the Forever zone.


Similar thing with Spider-Man figures. I had Ben Reilly, octo-Spidey, Spider-Sense colored Spidey, battle-damaged Spidey, 2099, black suit with climbing feature, metallic version with silver webs (well before any movie was made)--pretty much had everything but regular damned Spider-Man.
 
Oct 27, 2017
8,688
Swamp Thing on the other hand had so many variations and my cousin and I would switch between which one we loved more and whether or not to be jealous of the new one each of us got.
 

miraimatt

Member
Oct 27, 2017
93
nah, i FUCKING loved all the variants in the Batman Returns line, played with those more than the proper suit one for sure
EaGw7CuWAAIX9zw.jpg

LASER BATMAN®! I'd forgotten all about him, but LASER BATMAN® was my dude. Could kinda pass as a regular-ish Batman… but also had a goofy missile-launching satellite dish "laser". Best of both worlds.
 

Volimar

volunteer forum janitor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,463
Remember how the discount stores would only ever have the weirdest alt versions of characters, or side characters no one cared about.
 

Mancha

alt account
Banned
Oct 23, 2021
2,520
I had these two:

7f1fc9c962984defbc53b0e338ddf956lg.jpg



estrela_batman_black.jpg


Just learned that the black costume one is rare and only released in Brazil.
 

Zombine

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,231
This thread is proof that Era isn't normal. You didn't want "normal" Batman (which was easy enough to find), you wanted to know why Batman didn't have any of those cool suits from the action figures.

90s baby/little kid here—totally correct. My favorites from that line were all of them besides the regular Batman. The gimmick figures rocked as long as they had full limb movement too.

The most "basic" one I loved was Catwoman, but I think even her arms were spring loaded? I remember the rubber whip.
 

devenger

The Fallen
Oct 29, 2017
2,734
I worked at Toys R Us in the 90s, so all this nostalgia reminds me of stocking the action figure aisle. And yeah, TMNT were the kings of this.


6e64b8421a44d0b5c0675fee586761dd.jpg
 

Jimnymebob

Member
Oct 26, 2017
19,634
I loved all the goofy Batman figures.
I don't remember what they were called to search for them, but one had a dark green batsuit with a purple torso and may have come with a glider thing on wheels that he could ride like a Segway, one had a black batsuit with highlighter yellow stripes on his wrists, ankles, and sides of his torso, and one was a Batman & Robin on e which had like a fully silver Batsuit and I think was bundled with a Bane which looked dope as hell because half of him was frozen like Mr. Freeze and half of him had vines growing off him because Poison Ivy.

i feel like most toy lines were like this in the 90s. like what the hell was this crap.

aliens_kenner_bishop_back_aliens.jpg


tumblr_nbd0cvFl4y1sb6iwko1_1280.jpg


was very confused waiting for all these things to show up by the time i was old enough to actually watch the movies
I had Bull Alien. It's a really well made figure lol.
 

Aldo

Member
Mar 19, 2019
1,721
Yes, this definitely pissed me off as a kid. I remember having the same issue with Inspector Gadget. Turtles had different gimmicks but most toys looked more-or-less like their animated counterparts
 

Red Comet

Member
Jan 6, 2018
1,488
Oh yes, I remember this horseshit quite well growing up. Never did get a Batman without some dumb brightly neon colored power armor.
 

Nightfall

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,963
Germany
To give you an idea of how bad it was, for the 90s Animated Series toyline, the only figure that looked regular was

s-l600.jpg


And right now a mint example goes for like $300 dollars on eBay, while the rest of them can be got for a dime a dozen.
Yeah I remember this. And I remember it pissed me off as a kid that I could only get weirdly colored Batman figures.

But I had this exact grappling hook figure! And it is worth something now? Damn shame... but I had a lot of fun with it back in the day.
 

dDASTARDLY

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
702
This thread is proof that Era isn't normal. You didn't want "normal" Batman (which was easy enough to find), you wanted to know why Batman didn't have any of those cool suits from the action figures.

Pretty much this. The era was amazing for the toys, but you never saw any of the cool fits in the shows and movies. That was the part that sucked.
 
Nov 8, 2017
13,109
My earliest "writing a list for Santa" memory is one where I was asking for a Robin toy but without any of the special suits, just the regular one. I think it was between Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, that kind of era. Or maybe just after B&R.

I had to ask my mum what the right word to use was. Eventually I wrote "Original Robin" on the list.

I never got it, because there was only gimmick suit Robin toys available at the time.
 

MechaMarmaset

Member
Nov 20, 2017
3,581
I always liked the variety when I was a kid. Those gimmick figures were awesome. I specifically remember that parachute one. And the Armored spiderman figure.


maxresdefault.jpg


armoredspidey1.jpg
 

viciouskillersquirrel

Cheering your loss
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,874
i feel like most toy lines were like this in the 90s. like what the hell was this crap.

aliens_kenner_bishop_back_aliens.jpg


tumblr_nbd0cvFl4y1sb6iwko1_1280.jpg


was very confused waiting for all these things to show up by the time i was old enough to actually watch the movies
Oh man, I had the Queen Face Hugger! The scorpion tail had a retractable hook on a string and everything!

She played the role of the sinister ally of my ultimate villain, played by my Hot Wheels Attck Pack Slaughterjaws. Oh man, good times.
 

TheRyzzl

Member
Oct 5, 2018
1,069
i feel like most toy lines were like this in the 90s. like what the hell was this crap.

aliens_kenner_bishop_back_aliens.jpg


tumblr_nbd0cvFl4y1sb6iwko1_1280.jpg


was very confused waiting for all these things to show up by the time i was old enough to actually watch the movies

These are dope!! I had a few of them. The gorilla alien was great cause you could suck up water in its head and squeeze it so it looked like it was spitting acid.
 

Tavernade

Tavernade
Moderator
Sep 18, 2018
8,630
I swear I remember reading about a depressing meeting had on Batman: The Animated Series where an ad exec or someone similar had a full on fit screaming that every child in America owned or would own five different Batman figures and their job was to make sure they could sell more vehicles and play sets.

It's bizarre, especially for Batman with his huge rogues gallery, that their goal was to sell multiple of the same character instead of getting kids to buy one Batman and then collect all the villains. Then again, the action figure business often thought female figures were so unwanted that even if they made them there'd only be one per case.

I can see the lack of normal Batman in a collector series, where they assume people will buy every figure in each wave so they need to be new (that's why Marvel Legends gets wacky, I think) but I never thought of those early Batman series as collector focused.
 

Replicant

Attempted to circumvent a ban with an alt
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,380
MN
This is how action figures work.

You push out a first wave of the normal character. You sell as much qty as possible. Sales go down and that figure is now saturating the isles. So you continue to release the same chaarcter in new suits and colors and gimmicks to keep the sales.