Kenner Batman Returns 1992 Wave 1 Guide and Review
Kenner Batman Returns Wave 1 was released in 1992. Kenner's movie line had a last-minute name change to Batman Returns when the movie hit cinemas in 1992. The new line featured several interesting and cool versions of the original Batman figure sculpt from the earlier Dark Knight Collection which in turn was a re-sculpt and re-tooled version of the 1984 Kenner Superpowers Batman.
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This Kenner Batman line also included the infamous villains, Catwoman and Penguin. Catwoman got an upgrade to her sculpt, but the Penguin figure featured was a repainted version of the Kenner's Superpower figure.
A Tim Drake version of Robin, who was the latest version of Robin in the comic book at the time, was also introduced in this line even though Robin did not appear in the movie.
Kenner also released
some very detailed and fun playsets and vehicles with the 1992 line which was a
huge success for Kenner.
Each of the Kenner Batman figures stood just over 5-iches in height and had Kenner’s standard 5-points of articulation on the neck, arms, and hips. The figures came on similar blister packed backing cards to The Dark Knight collection. These backing-cards were probably the most impressive part of the whole collection!
The front of the card
featured the “Batman Returns” logo at the top with a sky-blue and red
background and at the top on the right of the logo was an artist’s impression
of the featured figure. The bottom half of the card was covered by the blister
containing the figure. Above the blister was the name of the figure enclosed
and any featured accessories or ‘action feature’.
One of the best features
in the Kenner Batman lines was the artwork, which was nearly always highly professional
and of a high standard, if only the actual figures lived up to the same
standard.
The artwork on these cards was fantastic and very appealing, was most of the artwork on the Kenner lines.
The biggest downfall with this Kenner Batman line, as with the previous Dark Knight collection, was the over reliance on Batman variations. This would not have been too bad had they altered the sculpt but instead they again used repainted and retooled versions of the Superpowers figure.
There were fifteen Kenner Batman figures in total released in Wave one, but six of these were re-releases from The Dark Knight Collection. These figures were the same but in Batman Returns packaging and logo.
● Batman (Aero Strike)
● Batman (Air Attack)
● Batman (Arctic)
● Batman (Deep Dive)
● Batman (Laser)
● Catwoman
● Penguin
● Penguin Commandos
● Robin
Re-released
from the Dark Knight Collection but in Batman Returns packaging.
● Batman (Crime Attack) – Batman had a
gold rather than a black suite.
● Batman (Shadow wing)
● Batman (Sky winch)
● Batman (Thunderwhip) – a purple thunder whip and ninja stars.
● Batman (Powerwing)
● Bruce Wayne
Kenner Batman Returns Figures
Aero strike Batman:
The Aero strike variation of Batman was painted gold, with black highlights reminiscent of the Tech Shield Batman in the Dark Knight line. The paintwork was well applied with little to no bleeding or overlapping.
This version of Kenner Batman could fly through the air and attack the enemies of Gotham. The figure also came with 'UltraSonic Armor,' that clipped onto his torso, a removeable cloth cape and a rocket launcher that clipped onto and attached to his arm.
The launcher came with missiles that loaded into the spring-loaded launcher and were fired by pressing a lever on the side.
MOC $10:00 - $35:00
Loose $9:00 - $15:00
Air Attack Batman:
This was the only version of this Kenner Batman, but it still used the same body sculpt as the Dark Knight collection. With its white and black design, he looked like an artic camouflage soldier. He also had a yellow belt and a touch of yellow on the Batman chest logo and the removable cloth cape. The paintwork on this, because of the camouflage pattern, was difficult too apply, but here it was near perfect.
He was armed with camouflaged artillery chest gear that had really cool laser rays, wing missiles, and an infrared scanner that moved to cover his eyes when in place. The chest gear slid over his head and snapped into to place at the waist and chest.
The wings on the gear could be removed and reattached in reverse positions. You could also attack villians below by dropping the wing missiles. The infrared scanner and laser rays can also be moved into attack mode.
MOC: $10:00 - $13:00
Loose: $9:00 - $15:00
Arctic Batman:
The Arctic Kenner Batman had a white body, black boots, black gloves, a black mask and cape, black shorts, and a gold-colored belt. There is also a hint of gold on his chest emblem. The color scheme, and thereby the paintwork, was a fairly straight forward and well applied with very minimal bleeding or overlapping.
The figure came with "freeze-proof" polar armor and an ice blaster weapon. The polar armor fitted into place over Batman's head and clipped to the waist and had a transparent helmet that fitted over his head.
The ice blaster was a bulky white weapon with a soft end that you squeezed to fire a jet of water at his enemies. To load, you placed the Ice Blaster's tip into water (without the projectile). Then you squeezed and released the rubber bulb to fill it with water. Inserted the missile into the Ice Blaster, clipped the weapon to Batman’s arm and squeezed the bulb to fire the missile and water the bad guys.
MOC: $11:00 - $20:00
Loose: $4:00 - $6:00
Deep Dive Batman:
The Deep Dive Batman was Kenner's idea of a Batman that could chase his enemies into the deep waters. The figure had a yellow costume, black boots, black belt, a black cloth cape (how, or why, he would wear a cape under water is a question that comes to mind), as well as other highlights in black, which was supposed to resemble a wet suit. Despite the general absurdity of this figure’s premise the colors actually looked quite good and menacing. Again, the paintwork was well applied with little overlapping, except on the legs.
The Deep Dive Kenner Batman figure came with black attachable scuba gear with breathing equipment and air tanks that slid over his head and clipped onto his chest and enabled him to breathe and gave him high visibility under water. He also had two ‘flipper’ or ‘fins’ that clipped onto the side of his boots.
The best accessory for this figure though was his underwater turbo sub that Deep Dive Batman could fit onto, and there are even a couple of handholds for him. It also had a firing missile mechanism. The torpedo fitted into the front of the sub was fired by pressing down on the small button on the front.
For the price of a carded figure this was an awesome accessory.
MOC: $12:00 - $23:00
Loose: $15:00
Laser Batman:
The laser shooting Kenner Batman had a silver-painted suit with a waffle pattern sculpted in to it and a removable black cloth cape. This figure used the same body and head sculpting as the other figures but the waffle pattern was molded on not painted.
He came with a purple radar dish missile launcher with a bat emblem molded into it that fired a missile and had 2 movable parts. The Radar Dish gear fitted onto his back.
This Kenner Batman figure was an awesome addition to the Kenner line, particularly as the waffle effect on his suit made him quite unique and stand out from the others.
There was also a Laser Blade vehicle that was made to go with this figure, but I will review that with all the other vehicles.
MOC: $17:00 - $25:00
Loose: $8:00
Catwoman:
Catwoman was sculpted wearing her catsuit as in the movie. She came with a whip and taser gun as accessories. The sculpting and paintwork on this figure was superb with a very good likeness of Michelle Pieffer, who played Catwoman. The detail and paintwork on her face was particularly good with excellent detail, especially on the eyes. Her outfit was very smooth and shiny with detailed stitching and patterns on her outfit.
She also had a special whip action with her arm. With the whip in her right hand, you pulled the hand back and released it for whip action. The whip was made from a very soft, flexible black rubber type of material. Then there was her taser gun, which fitted onto either arm with a c-clip and launched a projectile when you pressed a button. The missile, or projectile was connected to the gun by some string.
Overall, this was a very nice figure and it was great to finally have another adversary for Batman. The only real downside of this figure was that she was fairly uneasy on her fee and difficult to stand due to the slightly bent stance she is posed in.
MOC: $5:00 - $22:00
Loose: $5:00 $13:00
The Penguin:
This figure of Penguin was dressed in a ceremonial tuxedo with a top hat and gloves. The tux was black, but there were traces of red on his hat, bow tie, and his inner shirt was pure white. His umbrella was also painted in a similar red, black, and white pattern.
The paintwork and detail on this figure, as with most of the others, was superb but he did not resemblance the Penguin from the movie, but more the animated Pen. This is because this figure, as with many of the Kenner figures, was a repainted and retooled version of the Joker from the 1984 Kenner Super Powers line. The only difference was that the Batman Returns figure had no knee articulation and had a hole in his back to attach the umbrella launcher into. The Batman Returns Penguin also had his eyes painted in which the Super Powers figure did not have.
The Penguin’s Blast-Off Umbrella Launcher had a dual purpose. Firstly, the launcher could be attached to the Penguin’s back to facilitate a quick high-flying escape over Gotham City’s busy streets, similar to the Sky Escape Joker’s copter pack.
Secondly, it could be used as a launcher which could be clipped onto the Penguin’s arm. The launcher had a lever on the side to fire the umbrella at his foes, typically Batman and Robin. The Toy Biz Penguin had a similar mechanism, but it did not work anywhere near as good as this one did.
MOC: $12:00 - $66:00
Loose: $18:00
Penguin Commandos:
In the movie the Penguin had an entire army of loyal penguin commandos at his disposal. So, Kenner released a pack with two Penguin Commandos, one gray and one black, that came with two backpacks that attached to the penguins backs by a c-clip around their waists.
There were two different back packs, the first was yellow with black tiger like stripes, two rotating guns, and a mind control headset, that fitted over the penguin’s head.
The second backpack was gray with red stripes. This backpack was armed with two blue plastic rockets that could be fired from the top of the launcher by pressing a lever at the side. This pack also had a mind control headset that fitted over the penguin’s head.
The penguins had articulation on their heads, wings, and feet. The head swiveled from left to right and their legs could also be rotated a full 360 degrees. The wings on the gray penguin were stretched out from the penguin’s body and could be rotated fully round but they could not be folded back in against their body. The wings on the black penguin were molded against the penguin’s body and like the gray penguin, could be fully rotated.
These penguins were very cute, detailed and well made, giving a nice touch and adding authenticity to the collection by allowing you to buy multiple packs to build your own penguin army!
MOC: $4:50 - $22:00
Loose: $8:00 - $18:00
Robin:
Although Robin did not make it into the Batman Returns movie (although the rumor was that he was planned to be in it), he did make it into the Kenner Collection. The color scheme and design was taken from the updated Tim Drake design that featured in the comic book from 1990-2006. He had “olive” green pants and sleeves with a red waistcoat, and a painted gold belt and a gold on black “R” emblem on his chest.
The detail and paintwork was generally very good, although a little sloppy on his arms. He had a long cloth cape, that was attached by a c-clip around his neck, that was black with a yellow inner lining, black boots, and a black face mask that completed his iconic look. The sculpting was well proportioned with a slightly muscular body mold.
Robin came with a large grappling hook and a launcher. The launcher clipped on Robin’s back with a c-clip around his waist. The grappling hook was inserted into the top of the launcher and fired by pressing a button on the side. The grappling hook could then be fired and secured in position. Then the rope was threaded through the pack so Robin could slide up and down it.
This was one of the few Kenner Batman figures that wasn’t a repainted or retooled Super Powers figure. There was also a Jetfoil released in this line specially for the Robin figure.
MOC: $14:00 - $35:00
Loose: $7:00
The following Kenner Batman figures were re-released from the Dark Knight collection in the Batman Returns line but were exactly the same as the Dark Knight collection figures except for the title and logo on the backing cards. This means that the loose figures are priced the same, with the exception of Crime Attack Batman, who was also re-painted.
Crime Attack Batman
MOC: $45:00
Loose: $5:00 - $16:00
Shadow Wing Batman
MOC: $36:00 - $50:00
Sky Winch Batman
MOC: $20:00 - $35:00
Thunderwhip Batman
MOC: $20:00 - $45:00
Powerwing Batman
MOC: $125
Bruce Wayne:
MOC: $14:00 - $35:00
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