It's always fun finding merchandise for Batman Forever that I've never seen before. After several years of doing this website I thought I knew pretty much everything that was made for the movie. Trust me, I own an awful lot of it now.
Anyway, it's a neat idea. Selling a t-shirt in a novelty case. That way you get a bonus thing to play with while you're wearing the shirt (which is great for kids). You could almost use it in place of the Kenner Batmobile - just think of how many figures you could fit in it - at least 7-8.
As mentioned in the video I have no idea why they chose to use the Jean Paul Valley bat symbol on the wheels. That's going to have to remain a mystery for now.
I'm getting pretty close now to having a complete set of the Batman Forever Kenner figures. This one took a while to track down. Had to get a boxed version as you don't see many loose ones about. It's also a bit of a nightmare to search for being that it's called 'Batarang Batman'. Wish they'd have come up with a more unique title there Kenner.
Anyway, the figure itself is kind of neat. The transculent green on the arms and legs add a dash of vibrant colour and I've got to give the designer points for not doing just another backpack/missile accessory. The twisting Batarang is kind of cool and works well for knocking over bad guy figures. As I say in the video I'm sure this is borrowed from the Scarecrow figures from the BTAS and Legend of the Dark Knight lines.
This is definitely one of the better figures in the Batman Forever line. The only thing that lets it down a bit is the flat purple chest.
I had more or less resigned myself to never owning this massive Batcave playset. It rarely ever pops up on eBay and when it does it goes for astronomical prices. I lucked out last year when a seller contacted me and asked if I wanted to buy his one for £50. It was an absolute no brainer to say "yes".
It is a great playset and I am glad it's now in my collection. The main selling point is it's size. The thing is HUGE but fortunately it is let down by it's rickety and wobbly nature. I can't help but love the sturdier, smaller, more packed Wayne Manor Compound a little bit more.
If you can find one it's worth getting. If nothing else it gives you somewhere to hang your Batwing.
I make a pretty bold claim in this week's review but I'm going to stick by it. This IS one of the best playsets of all time.
It's technically a repaint of the Wayne Manor Compound from Kenner's Batman Returns toy line but it works much better for Batman Forever. You can recreate the section of the film where Two Face and Riddler break into Wayne Manor and blow up the batcave.
Okay so it doesn't totally look like the exterior/interior of Wayne Manor as it appeared in Batman Forever and they've just recoloured Axis Chemicals green to represent Claw Island but it's still a really fun set offering a lot of variety. I don't blame Kenner for bringing this out 5-6 times.
Okay here's something I've been working on for a while. Back in March 2021 a twitter user @MinddKidzag released three awesome scanned pieces of paper work from Batman Forever.
1) First up, a copy of the shooting script (previously there was only the Batchler's original Batman 3 script and one of Akiva Goldsman's drafts). This scan appears to be what they actually shot and contains scenes and lines not featured in the film. Some of this tallies with the deleted scenes on the DVD and Blu-rays but some does not.
2) A comprehensive film schedule detailing the order that everything was filmed. Again there are a couple of bits not featured in any script (featuring Nygma purchasing and developing Claw Island).
3) A list of scenes to complete (ie. small insert shots needed after principal photography was completed). Some of these were done and some seemingly were abandoned (like the helicopter ride to Wayne Enterprises).
There’s a big push to get the hashtag #ReleaseTheSchumacherCut trending on twitter on 16th June (the twenty sixth anniversary of the film's release). As such I thought it would be a good idea to go through the script and pull out the missing stuff because I believe it ultimately tells us what the Schumacher Cut includes.
So if you want to see the stuff I talk about in the video, go online on 16th June and let @ATT @hbomax @jasonkilar know that you want them to #ReleaseTheSchumacherCut
This part is particularly interesting because the last few images are something called "Forever Kids" which was an attempt to make illustrations suitable for under 5s. It looks a lot like the Animated Series.
There's also a bunch of product concept ideas which were never made like Batman rollerskates, umbrellas, waistcoats and more.
