Posts: 156 Location: in the shadows Joined: 31.07.05
Back in 1997 Kenner was at the top of the toy game with the success of their various Batman toy lines. One of those lines was the Legends of Batman line. After a very good run of those figures it was decided to cancell that existing line and replace it with a new one, Legends of the Dark Knight. This was advertised as an actual "elseworlds" toy line, which gave them a free reign on the designs of the characters without being held to traditional comic book costumes. It was also going to be in a larger scale than any of the past Batman lines and was going to be packaged as a "Premium Collectors Series". This also meant that the price tag was going to be a bit higher than the standard, $7.99, which then, was high. It was a risk, to be sure, but it paid off, as both kids and "collectors" flocked to the stores to pick up the release of this hot new figure series. Since this lines release there has been some mixed reviews, but the majority agrees, this was one of the finest sculpted Batman line ever produced. Beautifully detailed and frightenly twisted, these made great additions to anyones figure collection and opened the door to many kids imaginations. The villain designs were truly a work of art. The premise behind this toy line was as follows:
"From a horrible nightmare, Batman awakens to a twisted world where criminals are in total, tyrannical control. In this apocalyptic vision of Gotham City, the villains are unimaginably deadly and the Dark Knight finds himself surrounded. To fight back and regain control, he developes Nueral Suit technology that acts as in integral part of his being, Tapping into his thoughts and impulses and automatically reacting to danger without hesitation.Now, Batman becomes a living, breathing weapon and his adventures become Legends of the Dark Knight!"
There were 13 figures, including a couple exclusives, and 1 vehicle in this line. Some of the stand out figures from this line include the Man Bat, which sports a 15" wingspan. A beautifully scuplted Batgirl. A very brutal looking Bane (which is the best plastic incarnation of the character to date, imo). And a Batman that is loosely based on Kelly Jones design. This particular Batman figure is very sought after by collectors, it was released originally in a traditional blue/grey costume and was later released as an exclusive in black/grey. Unfortunatly, this line didnt last very long, and the final wave became very hard to find at retail, leaving most collectors to rely on the secondary market to complete their collection. To this day this line remains one of my all time favorites, a proud display of finely sculpted plastic incarnations of some of our favorite characters that truly became a Legend of the Dark Knight.
RE: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT......a fans retrospective -
Posted on 23-11-2005 23:07
The Legends line of figures was one of the best lines of Batman figures ever produced. In addition to two series of Retail figures there were Warner Brothers Store Exclusive repaints of the figures.
Here?s a list of figures.
Legends of BATMAN
BATMAN (Hong Kong)
BATMAN
Catwoman
Limited 100th Edition BATMAN
Batcycle (w/BATMAN)
Buccaneer BATMAN
Catwoman
Crusader BATMAN
Crusader Robin
Cyborg BATMAN
Dark Rider BATMAN
Dark Warrior BATMAN
Energy Surge BATMAN
First Mate Robin
Future BATMAN
Gladiator BATMAN
Knightquest BATMAN
Knightsend BATMAN
Long Bow BATMAN
Nightwing
Power Guardian BATMAN
Samurai BATMAN
The Joker
The Laughing Man Joker
The Riddler
Ultra Armor BATMAN
Viking BATMAN
Egyptian BATMAN
Egyptian Catwoman
Pirate BATMAN
Pirate Two-Face
Desert Knight BATMAN
Flightpak BATMAN
Silver Knight BATMAN
Legends of the Dark Knight (BATMAN)
Assault Gauntlet BATMAN
Bat Attack BATMAN
Bat Attack BATMAN (ToyFare)
Batgirl
BATMAN: The Dark Knight
Clayface
Dark Knight Detective
Dive Claw Robin
Glacier Shield BATMAN
Glacier Shield BATMAN (ToyFare)
Jungle Rage Robin
Laughing Gas Joker
Laughing Gas Joker (ToyFare)
Lava Fury BATMAN
Lethal Impact Bane
Man-Bat
Neural Claw BATMAN
Panther Prowl Catwoman
Panther Prowl Catwoman (ToyFare)
Shatter Blade BATMAN
Spline Cape BATMAN
The Penguin
Twister Strike Scarecrow
Underwater Assault BATMAN
Skywing Street Bike BATMAN
BATMAN (Warner Brothers Store)
Buccaneer BATMAN
Catwoman
Crusader BATMAN
Crusader Robin
Cyborg BATMAN
Dark Warrior BATMAN
First Mate Robin
Future BATMAN
Gladiator BATMAN
Knightquest BATMAN
Knightsend BATMAN
Long Bow BATMAN
Nightwing
Power Guardian BATMAN
Samurai BATMAN
The Laughing Man Joker
The Riddler
Viking BATMAN
RE: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT......a fans retrospective -
Posted on 24-11-2005 02:30
Posts: 1631 Location: Rockville, IA Joined: 24.06.05
Very nice line indeed. Until I see/buy DCD's Rogues Gallery line for myself, the LOTDK villains are staying at the top of my favorites. I may get some more of these, the only figure I still need is Clayface, and maybe the Dark Knight blue & grey Batman. I got my Dark Knight Detective at my comic shop for around $15. Doesn't stand real well with that big cape, but it's still one my most favorite Batman sculpts.
I've been really wanting to take some photos of these figures for the site, but either my camera sucks or I'm a bad at photography. And Batman: The Dark Knight never was added into the BYTB database, I'm still trying to find a decent image. I did see a Spanish version go on eBay for quite a sum.
RE: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT......a fans retrospective -
Posted on 24-11-2005 03:20
This line was released during the years I was not buying any figures, but I still browsed the action figure aisles from time to time. I was sorely tempted to buy some of these, but I just didn't have the money to spare for it. At the time, they were the best-sculpted Batman figures ever produced, and probably the best-sculpted superhero figures in general. All the figures from this line I have were picked up in recent years. I still don't have Batgirl and Clayface. It'd be nice to have one of those Jones-style Batman figures, too. The recently-released Rogues gallery Penguin is basically a refined, slightly superior version of the LOTDK version. The Rogues Gallery Man-Bat actually has LESS articulation that the LOTDK version. :rolleyes: Bane was a great figure for his time, but IMO, the Mattel version completely eclipses it. The LOTDK Scarecrow is still pretty damn nice, too. They're old figures, but they have held up very well.
Drunken Fist wrote:
This line was released during the years I was not buying any figures, but I still browsed the action figure aisles from time to time. I was sorely tempted to buy some of these, but I just didn't have the money to spare for it.
I was in pretty much the same place - at the time these were released, my "collecting" was pretty much limited to then-new Hot Wheels as they were a lot cheaper and smaller. In the last couple of years I've kept my eyes open for these figures, I also think they were some of the best sculpts ever.
RE: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT......a fans retrospective -
Posted on 05-01-2007 00:41
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