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12
inch Batman and Robin
All
Photos provided by Andrew
Murray. Big thanks to you, Andrew. Nice shots!
The
Dynamic Duo came in two different twelve inch forms, the best
known stateside being the Magnetic Batman and Robin. The head
sculpt on the Magnetic Batman is especially cool and severe
and the grimmest visage of the man Mego made. Robin looks
all grown up here and is actually a reused sculpt from the
Gabriel Lone Ranger line, I guess once you've seen
one masked man in Hong Kong......
Recently
Non Magnetic versions of these figures have emerged in completely
different boxes, these are later foreign releases as the "Fly
Away Action" logo is printed on the box.
With
magnetic hands and feet, these hefty Megos have built-in play
appeal. Batman comes with the buff stocky body, while Robin
has a skinny one. Both are 12 inches tall. Note the cuffed
gloves and boots to enable totally mobility in the hands and
feet. Batman's logo is fused plastic, while Robin's is a sticker.
 
The
first versions of Batman and Robin were the Canadian exclusive
Verisons. Found commonly due to a mid eighties warehouse find
and their subsequent distribution through Diamon Comics Distributors,
these are often NRFB as store stock. This is especially true
of 12 inch Comic Batman and Spiderman, but the 9 1/2 inch
version of Robin below is a different story.
Easily the rarest large-size Mego, 9 1/2 inch Robin and 12
inch Batman represent the only time Mego ever addressed the
scale issue with the Dynamic Duo.The President of Parkdale
Novelty was not particularly happy with a small Robin advertised
as 12, he believed it to be "false advertising"
 
Burbank
Toys sounds American but it's a European Company.
 
Of
note on the back of the boxes is that the standard Mego clip-art
is used for the Heroes on the flap, but the box back has new
artwork. The art is quite cool, click
here for close-ups.
US
released 12" Magnetic Batman has a very striking box, typical
of some of the late seventies releases.
The US Magnetic Robin Box has some really beautiful
artwork on the back, a real pinnacle for Mego. It's interesting
to note that a great number of Mego's 12" releases in the US
used white packaging.
This item is signed by Burt Ward, which some believe actually
devalues
an item such as this.
 
Early
Canadian boxed 9" Robin (Courtesy of Palitoy) and UK Magnetic
Robin MIB
Above
is the boxed Non Magnetic Batman, courtesy of Mark.While the Robin is spotted from time to time, these Batman figures are almost never seen. Possibly one of the rarest Mego Batman items produced due to it's "end run" nature.
 
Above
is the boxed Non Magnetic Robin, Mego used artwork from the
1977 Style guide for the front and reused the art from the
Wayne Foundation for the back. These were likely released
around 1980 and are extremely diffucult to find.
Evolution of a headsculpt The Mego magnetic Robin headsculpt
got around, it was originally sculpted by Freelance Sculptor
Bill Lemon (who also sculpted Marx's Johnny West) for the
Gabriel Lone Ranger series (where it no doubt originated)
and then by Mego for the Denys Fisher Angels series before
ending up as the Boy Wonder's visage (Thanks to Chris Franklin
for help in this one) UPDATE Laurie Halbritter was
nice enough to point out that the Lone Ranger's head surfaced
as Hasbro's Super Joe as well, man that's one busy man of
action!
The Mego licensed Ensueno Batman 12" doll, found only in Mexico.
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