Batman: The Animated Series Action Figures Retrospect
Happy Birthday Batman!! Bats will be turning 75 this year and one of the ways we are celebrating is taking a look back at one of the most influential Batman toy lines to grace our shelves. There is no arguing on the overall success of Batman: The Animated Series or the toys that were spawned from the animated series. This to me, is the birth of modern day collecting. Sure, people collected toys before Batman but not at this level. What I mean is, all the kids who grew up with G.I. Joe and Transformers latched onto something new AND that my friends was Batman.
I do believe the success of the show fueled the toy line, which was born in 1992 and grew from there. Before collecting became what it is today, you had several pieces that drove the marketplace wild. The Robin Dragster is by far, one of the most valuable pieces to date and still tough to locate. Besides the Dragster, figures such as Combat Belt Batman, Penguin and several other villains became difficult at best to find. We were also treated to a subline for the Mask of the Phantasm movie, which brought even more fans into the fold. Collecting became tough back in the day as more and more people started to look for these characters.
The toy line switched over to The Adventures of Batman & Robin and continued to succeed where Batman TAS left off. That line spawned one of the most desired figures to date; Harley Quinn. Now the flip side to all of this is the massive amount of repaints we would get. Unbeknownst to many collectors, this industry trend would continue to this day and become part of the norm for manufactures and toy companies alike.
Here is an official check off list of the entire Batman the Animated Series toy run. As you see we did not include Adventures as we wanted to spotlight the original series first. We will take a look at the Adventures of Batman and Robin latter and we will also look at the upcoming Animated series from DC Collectibles. Enjoy!!
• Batman: The Animated Series Action Figures – Series 1 – 1992:
Combat Belt Batman
Penguin
The Riddler
Robin
Turbojet Batman
Two-Face
• Batman: The Animated Series Action Figures – Series 2 – 1993:
Bruce Wayne
Catwoman
The Joker
Man-Bat
Scarecrow
• Batman: The Animated Series Action Figures – Series 3 – 1993:
Clayface
Knightstar Batman
Lightning Strike Batman
Mr. Freeze
Ninja Robin
• Batman: The Animated Series Action Figures Deluxe- Series 2 – 1993:
Highwire Batman
• Batman: The Animated Series Action Figures – Series 4 – 1994:
Anti-Freeze Batman
Dick Grayson/Robin
Poison Ivy
• Batman: The Animated Series Action Figures Deluxe & Two-Packs – Series 4 – 1994:
Ninja Power Pack – Batman & Robin
Ground Assault Batman
Power Vision Batman
• Batman: The Animated Series Action Figures – Series 5 – 1995:
Bane
Bola Trap Robin
Cyber Gear Batmany
Glider Robin
Killer Croc
Rader Scope Batman
Rapid Attack Batman
Tornado Batman
• Batman: The Animated Series Action Figures – Exclusive:
Arkham Aslyum Escape
• Batman: The Animated Series Vehicles & Playsets – Series 1 – 1992:
Batcycle
• Batman: The Animated Series Vehicles & Playsets – Series 2 – 1993:
Batmobile
Batplane
Bat-Signal Jet
B.A.T.V.
Hover Bat
Robin Dragster
Jokermobile
Batcave Command Center
• Batman: The Animated Series Vehicles & Playsets – Series 3 – 1994:
Aero Bat
Hydro Bat
Electronic Crime Stalker
Bruce Wayne’s Street Jet
• Batman: The Animated Series Vehicles & Playsets – Series 4 – 1995:
Ice Hammer
