What, no Mad Bomber?
Jesus Christ, I have a buttload of Mattel to talk about. I found the most recent wave of retail JLU on my way out of Columbus to C2E2, I got three more JLU sets at the con itself, and when I got home I had Ghostbusters Louis Tully. Oh, right, and I got Action League Batman/Joker the day before I left. Will have to get around to that some time.
Let’s start with the Gray Ghost 3-pack set, then, I guess?
Hey, it’s the Gray Ghost! When Batman was a kid, he was super fanboy for the Gray Ghost. The Gray Ghost was like his Power Rangers. But then Batman’s parents died, Batman became Batman, and then Batman met the aging actor who played the Gray Ghost and got really pissed off that the aging actor who played the Gray Ghost won’t put on a costume and fight real crime. Batman, you are the world’s greatest detective. Why are you so dumb?
They were the first toys I opened at C2E2, but they certainly wouldn't be the last.
Also, there was lots of the actor who played the Gray Ghost throwing furniture around as the musical score pleasured itself.
The toy of the Gray Ghost is of the aging actor in the Gray Ghost costume, not the actual Gray Ghost, which is fine by me. The latter is fictional, and so would look kind of weird standing in my display. (You know what I mean!) What’s weird is that the Gray Ghost appears to be completely bald. There’s no paint for his hair behind his ears. I remember the actor having thinning hair, not Lex Luthoring it. Ah well. Who’s gonna be staring at the back of his head anyway.
It looks to me like Gray Ghost’s got a new head, torso, and cape. The rest is probably The Question or something.
If only I had my TNBA version to put in the middle here.
The rest of the three-pack is filled out with character reuses, but that’s fine by me. There’s the requisite Batman, and he’s the JLU toy decoed like the Batman: The Animated Series design. It works well enough despite having the wrong belt. I like that the inside of his cape is blue.
The third guy is the Joker, because why the hell not. Fitting in with the BTAS theme, this is the JLU Joker toy decoed like BTAS Joker. This interested me more than I thought it would. I mean, I definitely prefer my JLU Joker, but it tickles my brain in the right areas to see that toy done up in an earlier model’s colors. The purple suit’s a smidge bluer, he’s got the orange shirt, and his bowtie is teal. With the hair being a dark green and his face painted up just a little differently, he passes off as BTAS Joker pretty damn well. JLU Joker is just BTAS Joker with sharper lines anyway. He’s certainly a better BTAS Joker toy than any of the original BTAS Joker toys, but that’s what 20 years of sculpting advances will tend to do.
That’s right. Twenty.
Twenty years? STOP MAKING ME FEEL OLD WILLIS!
And you know what? Now I’m okay with mARKHAMill not ruining his voice to play the Joker anymore. Five years of that, fifteen years ago, is enough in one lifetime.
Wait, 20?
I’m going to die soon.
YOU SHUT YOUR DAMN FACE WILLIS THE TOY LINE DEBUTED IN 93 SO THAT’S ONLY 19 YEARS OHHHGODDDIMSOOLDDDD….
Shaper lines and a totally different face.. Just sayin. Totally agree with all that shizzle you said.
Are you sure you’re not talking about the TNBA design? That was a totally different face.
Naw that was a totally different face that also couldn’t even be a friggin face (the black eyes and lipless mouth.. so creepy.. finding out it was supposed to be a skull made so much sense).
Upon closer inspection though, BTAS and JLU/returnofthejokerflashback are more similar than I remembered. Still, nose is smaller, nostrils aren’t visible from above, eyes are more discrete, face is wider, and yeah like you said, sharper chin angle.. basically they made him a lot more HUMAN.
Wait, 20?
As of September 5, 2012. But it’s close enough to be depressing.
Also The Gray Ghost/Actor were voiced by Adam West.
This is important information that must be shared from the rooftops at maximum volume.
This, so much so. That the actor that played the Gray Ghost was stereotyped for the role and faded into obscureness, more or less what could have happened to West if he hadn’t embraced the fans as he has.
The only other toy that could have been cool as a third figure would be the pawn shop dealer, whose appearance was based off of Bruce Timm (who also voiced him, IIRC)
The actor’s name was Simon Trent and yes, the Bruce Timm guy was also voiced by Timm.
(It’s been forever since I’ve seen this episode…) Wasn’t the pawn shop guy who looked like BT actually the Mad Bomber?
The Mad Bomber What Bombs at Midnight?
Wait!
You mean Bruce Timm actually said something besides ‘AARRRGGGHHHHH!’?
Wow!
My friends bought this exact 3-pack for me while they were at Target the other day.
Enablers.
Maybe Grey Ghost’s head is an repainted Mr. Freeze head with the bubble helmet swapped out for a fedora? The goggles certainly look similar.
No, I’d recognize that. It’s not Mr. Freeze’s head. The only Mr. Freeze head with goggles would be from the original BTAS toyline, which was a different scale.
They are giving JLU toys at Mexico’s KFC. They are not that good, but is nice to know that the DCAU is not really over. http://www.kfc.com.mx/
I looked at your Grey Ghost and immediately thought “Judge Doom” from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” Just saying
How long until we get elderly Bruce Wayne as the Gray Ghost?
If only we’d gotten a figure of the bomber too. That would have been great. It would be like having a figure of God in your collection because he created everything in the way you see it.
Well, umm, not to stereotype, but he does happen to be an aging male actor who still likes to dress in a cape, with no sign that he ever married or had a significant girlfriend…