1977 Batman Wrist Shooting Grappling Hook Toy

1966 TV show type Bat-Items found on eBay, Collectibles, etc.

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Batman65
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Re: 1977 Batman Wrist Shooting Grappling Hook Toy

Post by Batman65 »

Scott Sebring wrote: Mon May 13, 2019 11:14 am I had the Spider-man one back around 1975. Never saw the Batman one before. The Spidey one even had a TV commercial for it.
Yep, I had the Spidey one also. What a lot of fun back then. I wasn’t aware either that there was a Batman version. Yep, I remember that commercial also. Now I do feel old...lol
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John Mack
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Re: 1977 Batman Wrist Shooting Grappling Hook Toy

Post by John Mack »

Good memory Jim. Yeah, here's #1, most definitely Kubert...also, here's an inside page featuring the 1974 Janex talking alarm clock. Just as an aside, I fell for the false advertising of the clock that boasted, "Wake up to the actual voices of the Dynamic Duo"...I was disappointed it wasn't West and Ward, but you know, I would have purchased the clock anyway had I known.
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SprangFan
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Re: 1977 Batman Wrist Shooting Grappling Hook Toy

Post by SprangFan »

Those Heroes World catalogs were fascinating. Even as I kid I had to wonder if it wouldn't have been cheaper to just photograph the merchandise instead of paying artists -- even student artists -- to draw them all. But maybe here we see the reason why: even a piece of junk can look cool in an illustration.

The Megos in particular varied greatly depending on who drew them. Sometimes they looked like fairly comics-accurate miniature heroes, while other artists tried to capture their true clunky, oddball nature with the baggy cloth costumes and "oven mitt" gloves, but all the illos looked better than the real thing.

The weirdest part was the ads for posters or books that were themselves designed around famous illos. Show me Infantino's cover for " Batman from the 30s to 70s" and you've got an instant sale. Show me an anonymous art student's interpretation of the art of Infantino, not so much.

I still laugh sometimes at the sheer chutzpah of a catalog that says, "Hey kids, send us your money and get something that looks sorta, kinda like the image shown here. More or less."

That blister card is the bomb. I sorely miss that "Wild West" era of marketing, where an Ernie Chan (!) illo could be arbitrarily paired with a 1940s logo without a bean-counter somewhere insisting on a consistent "brand."

If you remember and miss the days we saw wonderful junk like this in every grocery, drug store and five-and-dime, check out the great book, "Rack Toys: Cheap Crazed Playthings" by Brian Heiler, webmaster of the great "Plaid Stallions" website, celebrating everything cheesy from the 70s and early 80s.

https://www.amazon.com/Rack-Toys-Cheap- ... way&sr=8-1
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SprangFan
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Re: 1977 Batman Wrist Shooting Grappling Hook Toy

Post by SprangFan »

Remembered I posted about the Heroes World catalogs once on my Superman fan site, with a comparison of some items as advertised vs the real thing.

http://davidmorefield.com/superman/clip ... sworld.htm

There's a link in there to the actual catalogs as hosted over at the Mego Museum.
"You were right again, Batman. We might have been killed."
"Or worse. Let's go..."
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Yellow Oval
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Re: 1977 Batman Wrist Shooting Grappling Hook Toy

Post by Yellow Oval »

Man, I love all the old comic ads and all the cheapie toys we used to get at the 5 and dime store or the occasional find in the grocery or drug store toy section. I would have been over the moon back then to have found some of these Bat-items. I think as a kid cheapness didn't matter, only as long as the toy could help further my imagination.
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John Mack
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Re: 1977 Batman Wrist Shooting Grappling Hook Toy

Post by John Mack »

Yellow Oval wrote: Fri May 17, 2019 5:23 pm Man, I love all the old comic ads and all the cheapie toys we used to get at the 5 and dime store or the occasional find in the grocery or drug store toy section. I would have been over the moon back then to have found some of these Bat-items. I think as a kid cheapness didn't matter, only as long as the toy could help further my imagination.
Back in the day, put a Bat on it, had to have it lol
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BatmiteReturns
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Re: 1977 Batman Wrist Shooting Grappling Hook Toy

Post by BatmiteReturns »

SprangFan wrote: Tue May 14, 2019 2:59 pm Remembered I posted about the Heroes World catalogs once on my Superman fan site, with a comparison of some items as advertised vs the real thing.

http://davidmorefield.com/superman/clip ... sworld.htm

There's a link in there to the actual catalogs as hosted over at the Mego Museum.
Very cool comparison,I had the Batman bank but that was it. I was such a spoiled little bat brat LOL
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BATWINGED HORNET
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Re: 1977 Batman Wrist Shooting Grappling Hook Toy

Post by BATWINGED HORNET »

John Mack wrote: Mon May 13, 2019 3:32 pm It's obvious that EON's James Bond Moonraker "borrowed" this concept with James Bond's wrist dart launcer...The toys were from 1977, Moonraker wouldn't appear until 1979 lol.
Wrist mounted devices / weapons were a pretty old concept at the time, especially in spy novels and comics, so I really don't believe the Moonraker weapon was borrowed from this toy.

About the toy: I remember the Heroes World ads well, and found the idea of it fascinating--only in its Spider-Man form, as it just made more sense.
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