Oh yeah! If you're lucky enough to live in, or near, England then you know that today is the day that the very 1st BATMAN LIVE World Arena Tour show starts tonight! It will be in Manchester & I am already totally super-jealous, JEALOUS!! It will run for 6 nights from July 19th - 24th at the Manchester Evening News Arena. Check out this TV Commercial Advert showing in the UK right now!
With the BATMAN LIVE World Arena Tour opening pretty soon in the UK ( The very 1st show, I think, starts next month ) the advertising hype is starting! Shown here, in the very 1st photo, is the Official Marquee Poster that will appear in front of theaters. Then, in the 2nd pic, is a French Advertising Poster at a Bus Stop Terminal in Paris, France. Then, a HUGE Giant-Sized Vinyl Billboard in Liverpool, England! ( Please click on it, it's a really BIG Photo ) WOW! OK, I'm asking all of our friends who live in Europe to please send us some photos of this kinda stuff when you see it. You guys get to experience this event a full year before we Americans do & I'm totally jealous, ha!
Shown up above are the 1st five Issues in the "Batman Automobilia" Series by Eaglemoss, in the UK. You should be familiar with these toys, the BAT-BLOG was practically the 1st website to report on them. Basically they're highly detailed Batmobiles with small dioramas set-up inside clear-plastic display cases that were sold with it's own special magazine that told the history of that particular Batmobile. Well, the Eaglemoss Company had 10 cars already planned, but now there is very recent news that they now plan to only make the 1st five & the rest will be cancelled. This is sad news because these things are totally cool. We're not quite sure why they have been terminated but hopefully things will turn around. Stay tuned & we'll let ya know.
Here's a short video from the UK production team bringing the BATMAN LIVE World Arena Tour to life. It's main focus is on the choreography of the fight scenes.
Yesterday, here at the BAT-BLOG.COM, we featured a few videos of the unveiling of the Batmobile Car that will be used in the BATMAN LIVE World Arena Tour. The event happened in the UK & you know people there must have went insane. Well, today we decided to share some amazing photos of the BATMOBILE CAR! ( Please click on them for larger versions ) For a Batmobile Prop Car I think it looks pretty cool! I don't know, what do YOU think about it? Please share your comments on Facebook or Twitter. Also, if you're a member at one of these social networks, but not yet a friend of BAT-BLOG, then please join us! The buttons for finding us there are always on the top right-hand side of this page. Thank You.
Today, in the UK ( London, England ), they unveiled, literally, the brand-new BATMOBILE CAR for the BATMAN LIVE WORLD ARENA TOUR...Sweet!
The Bat-Blog has a friend on Facebook who sent this amazing photo! Scott said, "My sister in law sent me this, apparently they're shooting the Dark Knight Rises outside of her office in London." In the photo we can see a Gotham City SWAT Van... AWESOME!! ( Thanks Scott ).
Over at the Official Website for the BATMAN LIVE: World Arena Tour they have finally opened their online store! Inside you can find a cool Souvenir T-Shirt & Ceramic Coffee Mug. The shirts are sold in both Adult & Kids sizes. The prices range from around $25 to $32, ouch! The Mug is about $11.34. Remember, their prices on the site are in British Pounds, so if you're an American then use the Currency Converter to see Dollars. CLICK HERE!
This is a very quick post to share some extremely cool Batman Collectibles from the UK. These wonderful pics were kindly send in by a good friend named Kevin who is lucky enough to live near there. What are they? These are beautiful display boxes for Batman Easter Candy ( Milk Chocolate Eggs with Fruit-Flavored Gum ). One is in the shape of the Dark Knight's head & his eyes are die-cut open so some happy kid can see the goodies inside. The next one is more of a "box shape" with a great scene of Batman and Robin in Gotham City. Both of these boxes came out during the existence of the "Animated Series" cartoon on TV so that explains the cool graphics. I have a few of these UK items in my collection & they're different ( They would be added here if they were not so deep in storage right now ). So, that makes me wonder how many variations they made. But that's what is so great about being a Batman Toy Collector. There seems to be a TON of stuff out there to find & you can stay busy for 2 lifetimes, ha! ( Thanks Kevin for sending in these photos ).
Well, it looks like the BATMAN ARKHAM CITY Video Game is showing up, like crazy, on covers of some UK Gaming Magazines in England. Here are 2 examples: Playgamer and 360. Of course each magazine covers different consoles, the Playstation 3 ( PS3 ) and XBox 360. If anyone, anywhere in the world ( ha ), sees some other covers soon then please let us know.
This UK Newspaper video is a short interview with Nick Grace, the man behind BATMAN LIVE: World Arena Tour!
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.
We're excited! The Bat-Blog just got some awesome new photos showing the costumes and set design for the UK stage show of BATMAN LIVE WORLD ARENA TOUR!! They were very large pics so I decided to offer them as super-fun BATMAN LIVE WALLPAPERS you can use to brighten your desktop's background. All the photos are pretty much self-explanatory! The 1st one shows the costumes for some of the characters: The Joker, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Batman, Robin, Riddler, The Penguin, & Poison Ivy. The next wallpaper features just Batman and Robin, but it shows a lot of details to their costume design. Last, but not least, the final photo shows what the "Gotham City" Set Design of the Stage will look like. So, which costume is your favorite?
YES! FINALLY! We finally get some decent press coverage from the BATMAN LIVE World Tour Show that will start in the UK & then arrive later in the US. Oh yeah, Featured in these 4 Video Clips: We get to see the Set Design, an Animation Sample for the Stage Video Screen, a CG representation of Harley Quinn's Carnival & also Wayne Manor ( with a very small teaser of the Bat-Cave ), and then the very last video shows all the Actors & their Costumes! Oh man, everything looks really really AWESOME!! I think this show is going to be incredible!
Eaglemoss Collections, the UK company that brought us the cool "DC Superhero Figurines", is now coming out with a new collection of Batmobiles! These new cars are die-cast, 1:43 Scale, & come inside a presentation case that has a 3D lenticular backdrop. Also, each car comes with a collectible 12-page magazine that gives the history of the vehicle. The 1st car in the BATMAN AUTOMOBILIA Series will be the Batmobile from the 1989 Batman Movie! Then, they're making the 1966 Batmobile from the Classic TV Show!
Here's a list of the five cars in the 1st wave: - 1989 Batman Movie
- 1966 Batman TV Show
- 2005 Batman Begins Movie
- 2009 Comic Book Version
- 1944 Comics Version
They plan on continuing the collection & those cars, in the 2nd wave, will include: 1992 The Animated Series, 1985 Comic Book Version, 1939 Comics, 1995 Comics, & 2008 The Dark Knight Movie Bat-Pod!
Oh man, these sound really great! Plus, the production photos of the 1st five cars so far look really really good, I'm totally excited!! Now the bad news: I gotta say that these cars will take a little trouble to find in the US. You see, they're made in the UK exclusively for the European Market & will only be made available in the USA through special outlets. One rumor I've heard is that they might be distributed through Diamond Distributors, they supply American Comic Book Stores with product. So, you might check one of those. Another source will be a few online stores that do ship in the US. Once I get that list compiled I will be doing another post here so be sure to stay tuned to the Bat-Blog!
OK, here at the Bat-Blog we publish a lot of Batman Tattoo Photos because it's a very fun form of ART & I think they're always interesting to see. But this one is very special to us because the guy who got it said he was inspired to get off his couch & go get inked by reading a few posts here at the Bat-Blog...WOW! We're really honored, seriously! Plus I'm glad that the tattoo work turned out so well, ha! The BATMAN TATTOO we're talking about belongs to a guy named Stu. Of course it's the ADAM WEST version from the 1966 TV Series ( Awesome! ). Stu told us it was inked by Tony Evans of Opulent Ink, Wolverhampton ( in the UK ). Well Stu, please tell Tony we think he did an amazing job! The shading is very well done & it gives this Bat-Tat an almost photo-realistic look, very nice! I mean, it really really looks like WEST!!
