The Batman The Never Was

[Mr.Marion]

Here is the checklist for anyone wondering. Very Batman dominant line, 8 Bat-family members, only 7 For the rest of the DCU.

[cjefferys]

Well, I can see your points. They’re good ones. However, the Kenner figures look better to my eye. I remember seeing the Toy Biz figures when they were in stores. I recall that my thought, at that time, was they looked very much like Super Powers, but cruder in appearance. That’s my take on them.

- Ian

That's my feeling as well, and only reinforced by the later original characters. They're undoubtedy fun and colorful, though. Had I not just spent the '80s collecting Super Powers, I might have been more tolerant.

Agree with both of you. After buying the Super Powers figures, when these guys showed up in stores I just felt that they were inferior, knock-off looking versions of the Kenner ones. At first I was surprised to see that they were actually licensed and not bootlegs.

[EmergencyIan]

^ I recall being surpised when I saw the figures on shelves, as well.

- Ian

[Boshek]

As a kid I loved these figures. Getting two more Batman villains made me so happy!

[palitoy]

For a brief time, I worked with the man (and the WB licensing person) who threw the toybiz deal together. They were telling me all the majors didn't want the action figure license, so Charan (a Canadian company) grabbed it and Toybiz was formed.

It's a bit mind blowing to think a nobody company out of Montreal had the license to the summer's biggest movie and one of the best selling action figures premises of the 90s but yep!

[hedrap]

It's a bit mind blowing to think a nobody company out of Montreal had the license to the summer's biggest movie and one of the best selling action figures premises of the 90s but yep!

That's the greatest What If: What If Mego survived '82? Have to believe Marty would have gotten the '89 license

[palitoy]

That's the greatest What If: What If Mego survived '82? Have to believe Marty would have gotten the '89 license

He would have been on a short list for certain.

[hedrap]

He would have been on a short list for certain.

It's amazing when you really think it through. By '88, Star Wars had cooled off and nobody realized superheroes were about to enter its second media golden age. Marvel was so weak by this point, Mego would have gotten the licensing wholesale and been lined up to buy the company years before Toy Biz! At this stage, WB would have been fine with co-licensing, as nobody wanted DC, so WGSH would have returned in full bloom.

So what's the scale for Elseworlds 90's WGSH?

[palitoy]

It's hard to really pinpoint what Mego would have done because the limitations on children's advertising were changed around the time of Mego's demise.

That means that Mego themselves may have divested themselves of an over reliance on licensing and made their own properties (Of which we know that Transformers would have been one). I'd love to see what 80s Mego would have looked like, it may not have been to our exact liking.

[thunderbolt]

How long did Toybiz hold the DC rights? Seems like it was pretty short and Kenner jumped right back into Batman.

[palitoy]

How long did Toybiz hold the DC rights? Seems like it was pretty short and Kenner jumped right back into Batman.

Kenner had stuff on shelves in early 1991, so it must have been less than two years total. I remember I was in college and seeing the big display at Eaton's.

[thunderbolt]

Kenner had stuff on shelves in early 1991, so it must have been less than two years total. I remember I was in college and seeing the big display at Eaton's.

I knew it was before Returns came out as the line only had Bats and the Joker in the line. Short time for Toybiz, they moved on to Marvel pretty quickly after that.

[PNGwynne]

I have all that '90s Kenner stuff in storage, it's probably worth a buck-fifty.

[PNGwynne]

I knew it was before Returns came out as the line only had Bats and the Joker in the line. Short time for Toybiz, they moved on to Marvel pretty quickly after that.

And made a pile with it, didn't Toybiz save Marvel?

[hedrap]

And made a pile with it, didn't Toybiz save Marvel?

Yes and no. Revlon/Perelman was close to liquidation where DC wanted to by the Marvel core in bankruptcy court. So in that context, Arad and Perlmutter's gamble to overtake the company kept the Marvel Universe intact. But, the licensing - Toy Biz, co-owner of Marvel, was "paying" for the rights - was straightup laundering. They kept Marvel slave to Toy Biz, flooded the market with figures at half the cost and sold/reworked whatever media rights they could. Classic pillage and plunder.

For as much credit Arad gets for saving Marvel, Saban/Fox Kids deserves as much. Without Spidey and X-Men animated, Marvel would have become a DC sub-brand.