Friday, August 20, 2010

Toybiz Advertisement

A ToyBiz advertisement from a 1989 magazine.

Brian B

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I crapped my pants when I first saw this when I was a kid. What I loved about it was that it used the prototype for the Toy Biz Line which was essentially the Kenner Super Power mold of Batman painted black with a black cape...a figure that I'd give my condo away to have. lol. Dammit I love that figure too bad it doesn't really exist. Or someone who worked for Toy Biz has it! lol

Unknown said...

It also sucked big time that the actual Toy Biz Batman figures looked nothing like this. It was a huge let down

Brian B said...

I was wondering about that. I was thinking "I can't believe I don't have this guy. Mine has Micheal Kenton's head on it.".

Brian A said...

This ad cracks me up. I was really excited about the potential for Batman movie toys before the movie came out. When I saw this ad, I was disappointed that it was just going to be a Super Powers repaint. However, I accepted this "fact" and waited with anticipation for the toy line to hit shelves. I was shocked that the actual toy was an entirely new sculpt... not a great one, but a new one. I kind of wished they had just stayed with that Super Powers Batman repaint.

Also, this ad just goes to show how different the toy industry was back then. Amazing that Toy Biz took out a full-page ad to advertise their new toys with this picture. It's not like its a long or medium shot of the figure... it's a GIANT closeup of a figure that they knew wasn't going to be close match for the actual production figure... AND was a figure that the "toy public" was already familiar with. "Ah...run it anyway. Who's gonna know?"

Brian A said...

You know, Jay... now that you mention it, this would be a cool custom to make. Easy, too.

Brian A said...

Brian B, Who's Michael Kenton?

Brian B said...

He is a guy I went to high school with. He looks like the ToyBiz Batman that I have and they both looks similar to Michael Keaton now that I think about it.