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 quick post to share a nice photo sent in by a Bat-Blog Fan from Italy. This is Ivan & here is a Batman T-Shirt that he just bought in an Italian Store. Yes, BATMAN is popular enough in Italy that they actually market products there... and that is so AWESOME! I also think it's cool that the graphics look very retro-style. Check out the Bat-Logo, just like the comic books from the 1970's & 80's. I wanna thank Ivan for sharing his pic. Plus, if any other readers from outside the US come across ANY brand-new pieces of bat-merchandise then please let us know.
As a totally obsessed ( yes, crazy ) Batman Toy Collector one of my favorite areas in the genre are "foreign items". They're pretty hard to find here in the US & they're always interesting. Here's a few examples: This 1st item is a Vintage Movie Poster for the 1960's BATMAN film. But what make it unique is that it's from Italy & the language is completely Italian...awesome! I love the graphics on this thing. Now, the next 2 pictures show some cool Batman books from around the globe. The 1st book was published in France ( Yes, it's all in French, ha ha ) & it reprinted some Golden Age stories from 1943-44. It was released as a hardback around 1989, during the Tim Burton movie craze. The next book is a paperback & one of the things that make it extremely interesting is the size of the book is very very weird. It has a standard width, but it was made to be extremely tall ( or very long ). The next great thing about it is that it's from Uruguay! It was published around 1968 & is extremely RARE! So, I guess I'm gonna ask all Bat-Blog Fans who live outside the USA if they have any "foreign bat-books or toys" in their collections to please send us some photos. Thanks!
Right now there's an Art Show titled "New Idols" at the Don Gallery in Milano, Italy. The show features 1980's Pop Icon Sculptures by Francesco De Molfetta. He's done a few that are a parody of E.T., Transformers, Barbie Doll, Superman, etc... Most of them are sort of political & all of them have a lot of humor. This is the one he did of Batman, or I should say, "Fatman", ha! For more info on the event, click HERE!
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!
OK, I'm probably the only person who thinks this is cool, ha ha! But here are some Italian television channel "Bumpers" for THE BATMAN CARTOON in Italy. They're short promo video clips announcing the TV show.
Here's an Italian TV Advertising Commercial from Italy. It's a short ad for the Italian CODATRONCA Car Company. The basic message, I guess, is that their new automobile looks like Batman's Car, but it is NOT the Batmobile! Ha Ha, enjoy.
Everybody who knows me personally knows that I am a total Andy Warhol Fan. So when my friend Jeffery sent me this pic of a cool poster with "Warhol AND Batman" I was pretty happy, ha ha. This is an extremely RARE Art Gallery Poster for an exhibit of Warhol's artwork in Torino, Italy. The event happened in 1989 & the actual graphic is a large painting that the Artist did in the 1960's. I love that they chose his "Batman Logo" painting for this. It was an early piece where he was still trying to be a little bit like an Abstract Expressionist. It's a famous piece of art that you really don't get to see very often. Awesome! Thanks Jeffery!
