A look back at the Batman Unmasked exhibition

Another different type of video this week - a look back at the temporary Batman Unmasked exhibition that was in Covent Garden in London from September to December 2024 (and also Manchester before that).

I meant to get this edited last year when I actually went to the exhibition as a way to show people what it was like before they went. Unfortunately I ended up not getting around to editing it until this year, after the exhibition had closed. Oops. Oh well I guess at least I didn't spoil all the surprises.

Anyway, hope this is of interest. It was really great to see all these old Schumacher Batman movie costumes and props up close - the actual things that the actors used and wore. You could see all the scuffs and marks on them and paint was visibly peeling off some bits. There was a little bit from all the Batman movies from the last 35 years but the Schumacher stuff was what stuck out. The costumes and props from those two films are so colourful and over the top. It's probably what got me so interested in making props recently. 

When you see this stuff up close you realise how important all the camera work and lighting and effects are - because the reality is that lots of this stuff looks kinda cheap when you're eyes are inches from it. It was never built to be poured over like this or last as long as it has.

The exhibition was a little pricey and short for what you got but I'm still glad I went. I appreciate the theatricality that went into it. It certain made it feel a little grander than it actually was. 

What's on all our minds? Props

Bit of a different type of video this week. I've been bitten by the replica prop making bug so I'm looking to start putting together some more.

Batman Forever had such a great collection of imaginative and elaborate props. I don't know which direction to go. 

I want some challenging stuff as well as some easy ones. I want the really iconic stuff as well as the super niche stuff. Any suggestions for what to make, let me know.

Here are all the links that I put up in the video:-

The mini Nygmatech box is available from: https://www.theartoframses.com/ and Ramses' instagram link is: https://www.instagram.com/koolpropstudio/

Links to my elements to make Riddle 1 is here: https://archive.org/details/if-you-look-3 and Riddle 2 is here: https://archive.org/details/tear-one-off

Link to magazine prop photos if you want to print them off are here: https://archive.org/details/mag-architectural-diary

I'll hopefully be doing some more of these types of videos where I just talk about stuff rather than constantly showing off toys and figures so let me know if there's a topic you want me to discuss.

Batman Forever Merchandise Review: Robin figure from McFarlane

Apologies for taking so long to getting around to reviewing this figure. I actually took SO long that news just hit McFarlane will be losing the DC license next year (it's going back to Mattel - read more about that here).

Anyway, on to the figure itself. This is a nice figure. I'm a big fan of the costume in this movie. I love that it takes most of its cues from the Tim Drake comic book suit. 

Some stuff they've done well. I love that they've kept the interior of the cape yellow (lots of other toy versions skip over that). The head sculpt is good too. I don't know if it's up there with McFarlane's Poison Ivy but it's a solid representation of Chris O'Donnell. I was quite surprised that this is a completely different head sculpt from the Batman & Robin one.

I love that it comes with extra hands. I don't know why it has hands for grasping things - maybe the makers are expecting us to borrow some of the gadgets like the batarang and grapnel launcher from the Batman figure. But I do enjoy the pointing finger and open palm hand. It means you can give the character a bit more personality when you pose them. These McFarlane figures are so flexible they deserve to be put in good poses.

On to the bad, the colours of the suit are kind of flat and matt. Not the muted metallic tones that the movie version had. That's a shame. I have seen people do good custom paint jobs but I don't know that I have the skill to tackle this one.

All in all, a solid start to the Batman Forever line.

Batman Forever Merchandise Review - Batmobile vehicle from Spin Master

Although it's meant to be exclusive to Target Stores in the US I have my hands of the Spin Master "Retro Collection" Batman Forever Batmobile. I found them being sold on Amazon UK and initially they said it would ship in June! Thankfully that turned out to be false and my order got moved up to the end of January.

It's pretty surreal to see. They really have designed this to be almost indistinguishable from the original Kenner version. There are a number of changes though. It doesn't light up (but it you have some blue LED lights yu can stick them inside) and doesn't fire a missile out the front.

However, the car is much more accurate to the film. It has the headlights, the correct bonnet and the canopy slides forward. The latter is a great update as that always frustrated me about the old Kenner one that just had a hinge.

You do get a bonus figure which is nice but it's not a great representation of the Sonar Suit.

Still for £20 there's very little I can complain about. It would have been nice to get a new mold but I get that these figures are beloved by the 30/40 year old parents who will be buying them for their kids.

New audiobook - Robin Facing the Enemy read by Drew Griffin

In the run up to the release of the Batman & Robin movie, two short books aimed at kids were released alongside Michael Jan Friedman's novelisation - "Batgirl To Dare the Darkness" by Doug Moench and "Robin Facing the Enemy" by Alan Grant. Both of whom were noted comic book writers at the time. 

While the Batgirl story is set after the 1997 movie and sees her going up against Black Mask, the Robin novel is set in between the two Schumacher films and sees him finding his feet as Batman sidekick (by going off on his own... again).

It's a short, fun read and I'll do a little video with more of my feelings on it at some point in the future. There's some references to the events of Batman Forever but they aren't huge. It's maybe a stretch to call it a full fledged interquel. More of a solo spin-off.

While the Batgirl novel received a short 30 minute "audio drama" in 1997, the Robin novel didn't receive anything. 

Thankfully that has now been corrected by our resident audiobook reader - Drew Griffin (so all thanks to him, not me!) - who has done another great job and brought this story to life. I hope you all enjoy it.

Have a listen to it in the link below. It's two hours of your time and it breezes by:-

Batman Forever Merchandise Review - Triple Action Vehicle Set from Kenner

I can't tell you how long I've waited to find this pretty rare vehicle set for the Batman Forever toy line. It's the last bit of the Kenner toy line - not counting the role play sets like the Combat Utility Belt - that I needed.

One slipped through my fingers on eBay three years ago and I've only ever seen about 3 or 4 for sale in my whole life. I don't know if they just weren't sold over here in the UK or they came so late in the toy line's shelf life that not many were sold/made.

Anyway, I had one shipped from the US which was expensive but it was definitely worth the cost. Bless the seller, he included a few Batman Returns Statues inside the package as a bonus. I think he thought I was nuts paying so much for shipping.

This is a really clever toy that allows you to recreate all 3 (or 4) vehicles from the film. Kudos to the designers at Kenner for thinking this up. 

You just know they knew that kids would "frankenstein" their own crazy vehicles with wings and wheels.