| Figure Review: Batman, Super Powers Collection -
Posted on 21-01-2007 00:37 |
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FlaBat
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Batman
The Super Powers Collection: Kenner, 1984.
The Super Powers Collection was launched in 1984 and continues to be a collector favorite to this day. Kenner put super hero figures back in the stores in 1984 with its first series of figures. Unlike the larger MEGO figures almost 10 years before, these figures were on a smaller 3 3/4 inch scale, all plastic with cloth capes. Kenner first released, well known characters like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, and added more over the next two years.
SPECS:
3 5/8 inches tall, 7 points of articulation (head, shoulders, hips, knees), ?Power Punch? action feature. Cloth Cape.
PROS:
It?s the first of the modern generation of smaller action figures. This action figure actually has an ?action?. Pressing the legs together activates the ?Power Punch? feature and the figure swings both arms in a punching motion.
CONS:
None really, considering it was state of the art in 1984 it still holds up well today.
OVERALL:
By today?s standards this figure looks downright fat. However, it is a simple figure of a classic design and truly an ?action? figure, with it?s punching feature. The Super Powers Collection holds certain spot in history, as it?s the last pure line of action figures. Kenner?s The Dark Knight Collection that followed, introduced the variant figure and action figures have not been quite the same since.
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| RE: Figure Review: Batman, Super Powers Collection -
Posted on 21-01-2007 02:34 |
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BornAgainBatman
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you need to do more Reviews Flabat. I love reading them 
I still dont have this one yet.
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| RE: Figure Review: Batman, Super Powers Collection -
Posted on 21-01-2007 05:10 |
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Drunken Fist
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I still have several old Super Powers and Toy Biz DC Heroes figures, but not this one. I even still have my old Dr. Doom and Dr. Octopus Secret Wars figures, but I don't know what happened to this one. I've wanted to get one off Ebay over the years, but I keep resisting the urge because I have so many other Batman figures now.
See my Myspace profile!
CHECK OUT MY BLOG! |
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| RE: Figure Review: Batman, Super Powers Collection -
Posted on 21-01-2007 07:05 |
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pipecito2112_YYZ1980
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wow, what a sweet memoirs i've of that figure!!! sadly, one of me childhood dogs ate them
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| RE: Figure Review: Batman, Super Powers Collection -
Posted on 21-01-2007 09:01 |
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spencer1984
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Very cool, great review FlaBat!
The complete history of the Batmobile: BatmobileHistory.com
Scale models of Batmobiles & more: spencer1984.com |
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| RE: Figure Review: Batman, Super Powers Collection -
Posted on 22-01-2007 09:38 |
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Darknight
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This figure will always be in my top five best Batman figures ever. It was really the first time that they tried to bring the comic page to the action figure. With the exception of Brainiac (because it broke) I have the entire first wave of Super Powers figures from when I was a kid. Those are probably my most prized toys.
It is funny that you mention that there were no variants in the line because they had plans for different colored versions of existing molds and a deluxe Power Plus line. It's interesting how Kenner/Hasbro basically used the same philosophies that were not implemented with the Batman movie lines a few years later.
If you have any interest in the Super Powers figures you have to check out the Super Powers Archive. For information on the unproduced waves on that site you can CLICK HERE.
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| RE: Figure Review: Batman, Super Powers Collection -
Posted on 22-01-2007 13:10 |
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Caleson
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Great review. Looks like you even "sacrificed" the collector value by opening your figure.
I kept holding off buying this figure because I wanted a nice loose one with his cape. I finally bought one a few years back out of a bin of '80s figures at a flea market. He doesn't have his cape, so for now, I may just make him one. The Superman he stands next to is pretty bare too.
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| RE: Figure Review: Batman, Super Powers Collection -
Posted on 22-01-2007 20:44 |
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FlaBat
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Caleson wrote:
Great review. Looks like you even "sacrificed" the collector value by opening your figure.
Not only that but he was MOC and I didn't even wait to take a photo of it on the Card Back.  It was a narrow Card Back anyways. :p
Edited by FlaBat on 22-01-2007 20:45 |
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| RE: Figure Review: Batman, Super Powers Collection -
Posted on 22-01-2007 23:49 |
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BornAgainBatman
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Man, everytime i see this toy i want it more and more |
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| RE: Figure Review: Batman, Super Powers Collection -
Posted on 23-01-2007 00:23 |
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A_Spidey_Fan
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Just checking, did the action feature interfear with the articulation of the arms? Like does it make a clicking sound or does it seem like if you move the arms by yourself, the arms will break? |
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| RE: Figure Review: Batman, Super Powers Collection -
Posted on 23-01-2007 00:31 |
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FlaBat
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No, there is no interference and no noise. On Batman, the right arm swings upwards and the left arm swings downward. You can position the arms any way you like. It's the left leg than triggers the motion in the arms.
Nearly all the Super Powers Collection figures had some sort of action to them. The Joker has the right arm only swing down as that figure came with a large green hammer.
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| RE: Figure Review: Batman, Super Powers Collection -
Posted on 23-01-2007 01:01 |
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Darknight
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FlaBat wrote:
No, there is no interference and no noise. On Batman, the right arm swings upwards and the left arm swings downward. You can position the arms any way you like. It's the left leg than triggers the motion in the arms.
I really do not understand why this technique wasn't carried on in future figures. After thsi line died any action figure you got with a built in action feature would click. Being an engineer, it just really grates on my nerves that the technology was there, but no one used it.
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| RE: Figure Review: Batman, Super Powers Collection -
Posted on 23-01-2007 07:54 |
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A_Spidey_Fan
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Yeah DarkKnight, I agree with what you are saying. That's why I ask because many times whenever there's an action figure that involves some movement on the figure it's self(Such as punching feature, kicking feature, head movement, etc)., not only is there the clicking sound when you try and move it on you're own, but also, sometimes the artciulation that involves the moving joints can only really move when the action feature is activated, and you can't really move it on you're own due to some restriction. And from what I've read from most reviewers, most don't like action features partly because of this(Besides restrictive artculation). But in this review, FlaBat mentions the feature, but doesn't even mention about how restrictive the feature is and what not unlike in pervious reviews(Which is why I ask).
I never had any of the Super Powers toys when I was young, but I did remember a friend or 2 of mine who had either DC toys from Kenner/Hasbro or ToyBiz(Sorry, I don't remember), and I remember whenever you sqeeze the legs of this Superman figure, his arms would move, yet I could still move them with out problems(I think this figure also had a Kryptonite ring, which would make Superman fall down as if he was affected by Kryptonite).
But back to the whole action features that involve movement of the figure. Because of the clicking sound, whenever I try and move a figure's joint that's part of the feature or what not, I sometimes fear that I'll end up breaking the action feature of the toy, which will either cause the joint to be now stuck, or be too lose(So say it's a arm. Everytime I move it up, it will just fall down back).
For example, for my Batarang Attack Batman figure from Batman Begins, his right arm will always stay some what up so that I can use the feature, because if I move it, the clicking sound makes me very nervous, especially since it really feels restrictive. The same can be somewhat said of my Sabertooth figure from the last wave of the 1st X-Men movie toyline by ToyBiz(This figure has snow cover over him). His feature is more or less the same as the Super Powers Batman figure, in which you sqeeze the legs and the arms move up and down for some clawing action. Although moving his arms isn't as bad as the my Batarang Attack Batman, there is still a clicking noise(Though maybe not as loud when comparied to Batarang Attack Batman), and there is some sort of feeling of restriction, but the feeling of restriction isn't so bad because I can still move the jonits pretty good. As well, for the movie Sabertooh figure, I don't feel too scare to move his arms because the restriction isn't so bad(Dispuite the fact of the clicking sound and the feeling of restriction still there), but for my Batarang Attack Batman figure, I'm very scare to move his arm, espeically do to how the clicking sounds a little higher and the restriction is pretty tight.
Edited by A_Spidey_Fan on 23-01-2007 07:57 |
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| RE: Figure Review: Batman, Super Powers Collection -
Posted on 23-01-2007 09:07 |
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Darknight
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You even better explained my point. I know that you can't fatigue the action feature or the joints on the Super Powers figures because my Superman would have floppy arms from the 20+ years of age, and that figure spent a lot of time having his arms moved up to "fly" when I was a kid (or last week, whatever). Yet any toys with action features made after that line have geared action features that cause the clicking noise.
You are right, if there is too much movement the teeth of the gear will wear down and lose its hold. Something that was surpassed over 20 years ago.
It sounds like your friends didn't have the Super Powers Superman, the one with the Kryptonite ring was from the Toy Biz DC Superheroes line. Toy Biz re-tooled a lot of Super Powers molds for the line so it looks the same. I didn't think that it had the action feature, but you can definitely tell the difference from the magnet in the chest to make him fall over when exposed to the included kryptonite ring.
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