Joker Week Bonus: The Dating Game!

CB: Ms. Harley Quinnzel are you ready to meet the eligible bachelors?

HQ: I sure am Chunky!

CB: Well let's get started, Bachelor number one, tell us a little about yourself!



Joker 1: Well I come from the small state of Rhode Island, straight from a little toy shop called Hasbro! I dislike Bats, and I likes to keep my hands free, so I can hold a big "BANG!" gun, missile launcher, or rev up the ol' Harley if you know what I mean?

HQ: Oooooh!

CB: Wow, right out of the gate there, Bachelor number two how about you?



Joker 2: I'm from the sunny state of California, around Mattel way. I also dislike bats, I like playing jokes on people, and I know some card tricks. Oh and I love pet Hyenas.

HQ: Oh, you would just adore my little babies then!

CB: Okay, animal magnetism, Bachelor number three, it' your turn!



Joker 3: I'm crazy, I'm mad, I did a few cameos in a little show called Justice League, and I also know some card tricks... This card reminds me of you Ms. Quinn...

HQ: Oh, how?

Joker 3: It's got a big Mr. J all over it!

Joker 1: Hey now, I was on T.V. too, anyone Here of a little show called the Batman Adventures???

Joker 2: Pfffft, I did that show too, no big deal, but I'm also from Cali, and Card tricks... Card tricks baby!

Joker 3: Can't you see I'm crazy, crazy for you baby...

CB: Okay, okay settle down bachelors. Ms. Quinn, have you decided on one?

HQ: One? I'll take them all!

CB: There you have it folks, three for the road! Tune in next week when we go back to our regular Eclectorama format of eclectic toy goodness! And thanks for hanging in there for Batman and Joker Weeks! Big Kiss!

Group: Mmmmmmmmmmmaaaaa!


Note of thanks to Rob! at the Aquaman Shrine, Joker 3 was played by one of the many JLU Club exchanges we have going! Viva La JLU Club!

Joker Target!

Oh, I mean Target Exclusive Joker. Released on the heels of the Batman Gotham Knight Target exclusives, the Joker: Clown Prince of Crime flew in and out of Targets like a thief in the night. Standing at about 8" to 9" tall these figures from Hasbro are what most consider "Mego Like" meaning of course similar to the Mego Toy Company figures of long ago. Megos were known to be 8" action figures of your favorite heroes and villains wearing cloth costumes (yes, like dolls) instead of molded threads like todays plastic action figures.



This Joker fits right into the whole DC Super Heroes of the time, and with the modern Hasbro release of Marvel Super Heroes. So it's like Mego all over again. I think the detail in the costume is crazy and I really like the head sculpt on this Joker, a little more scarier than it's Mego brother, but still a cool little sculpt.



The Joker came with his Jester cane, a "BANG!" gun that while larger is probably more at home in this scale than from were it was recycled from, the Batman the Animated Series figure of Harley Quinn. I guess they at least kept it in the family. He also came with a large present (not shown) that when a button was pushed would split open and a little Jester figure would pop out.



This is another line I wished Hasbro would have kept going on. I could only imagine the other Bat Villains they could have done... Mr. Freeze, the Riddler, Catwoman, Two Face... They did get around to making the Penguin as a Target Exclusive, so at least Bat's got two fiends to fight!

Quick Fire Joker

Before there was DC Universe figures, Mattel launched a series of action figures under the Batman banner sculpted by the Four Horseman. The Joker here called Quick Fire Joker came packed with a huge green gun (not shown) that fired either a hand of cards or a "BANG!" sign. Not your usual projectiles, unless you're the Joker I guess. He also came with one of the most bendable canes I've ever seen. The cane is almost a rubber type of soft plastic, I know they didn't want any little ones to get injured, but wow this thing is like holding a rubber band.

Now usually I try to get a "normal" Batman and a Joker from each series, of course sometimes that plan doesn't always work out. Quick Fire Joker was one of the hardest to find from the series in my area, of course years latter they were released at discount stores in a two pack, though slightly different colors. I finally tracked one down at lunch time durning the week day. That afternoon was the longest wait ever. I left the Joker in the car while I finished up the days work, rushing home at 5:00 to free the Joker from his little plastic prison, I felt like I was 5 years old rushing home after school to catch my favorite show or play with a brand new toy.



The thing I like about this figure is that crazy look in his eyes and what a grin. That and he has a certain style or flair about him!

C3 Minimates Joker

2004 brought us one of the coolest little Joker playsets around. The C3 line of Minimates from Art Asylum hit selves with a bang, zip, pow! C3 stands for Create, Construct, Customize. These Minimates were taken from several sources of the Batman mythos including two different cartoons, comics, and even movies. Though some of the movie versions never saw release.



This set is based on the Justice League cartoon and is titled the Chemical Warehouse Battle. As you can guess these sets come with little Lego like blocks and Minimates. You can follow the instruction like a Lego set or build whatever your heart desires, cool thing is the bricks in the C3 sets are compatible with Lego sets. I know some people really do not like Minimates, but I really love these little toys, they remind me of a cross between some of the first Lego figures and the stuff they produce today. That and they are like a little hybrid of the Medicom Kubrick figures.



Now if you are scratching your head about Minimates, here's how they started. Art Asylum created them based on Japanese block style figures, they originally were 3" high, and several licenses where approached at that scale. Latter they partnered with Diamond Select to bring out the 2" Marvel Minimates, and still later they partnered with a little company called Play Along to bring out the C3 Construction series introducing the first DC Minimates to the world.



Today Art Asylum is in full swing again with Diamond Select toys to release a more comprehensive set of DC Minimates, plus tons of other licenses including Back to the Future, Battlestar Galactica, and Star Trek to name a few. Okay that's Minimates in a nut shell, to learn more you have to check out Minimate Central .



The C3 sets are no longer available, even when they were released some of the sets were near impossible to find, three sets that were released during the end of the line are the hardest, the Mini Javelin from Justice League and two from the Batman Cartoon, the Batcopter and Batcycle.

Let's Get Things Started!

Not a figure per se, but rather a vehicle with a little Joker figurine inside. The awesome laughing fish shaped Joker Mobile! Does the Joker Mobile have a theme song? If so insert it here, I'll wait...

Okay, released around 2004-2005, the Joker Mobile was from a great series of die cast vehicles featuring Batman and his villains. The company responsible, Corgi, one of the kings of die cast. Not only did Corgi release almost every incarnation of the Batmobile known (they left out movies and the Barris) but the did cars for Catwoman, Two Face, Killer Moth (thanks Jay!), Batman's little buddy Robin, and the Joker.

Each one seemed to have a cool little feature, Joker's was you pushed in the smile on the front of the car and the canopy would spring open. Another cool little bonus was there is a relief of the character on the bottom of the car.



I wish Corgi would have kept the license for these so we could have gotten more of the Bat Vehicles, they seemed to be hitting all the comic versions of the Batmobile, so I kept hoping that the Bat Tank from the Dark Knight Returns would have popped up, Wouldn't that have been cool?



I'm happy to have gotten a hold of the Joker Mobile, Just looking at that grill makes me all smiles!

Whoop! Whoop! Joker Week!

So you made it through Batman Week on Eclectorama and thought you would see if I had moved on to something else... Surprise!

Mego Batman spied this guy moving in on his territory this past Saturday, so I thought I would kick off Joker Week with one of the best, hands down Jokers around, Mego's the Joker! Okay my example is not the best specimen of Mego's Clown Prince of Crime, but the figure itself is what I'm talking about.



This Joker was won in an auction along with another one with one shoe (not shown) that was a fist fighter version of the character. When I was bidding on them I just figured they were the same figure since the seller didn't specify, I figured I would eventually pick up some reproduction shoes for the second one and I would have one at work and one at home... I was really surprised to find out one was a fist fighter.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah the Mego Joker to me is one of the best likenesses of the character around and I figured if I was going to have a Mego Dark Knight I needed Mego Villain, which lead me to a Mego Batmobile that they both usually go riding in.

I'm not sure why, but as a kid I only had Star Trek and Marvel Megos, but my Buddy had Batman, Robin, Joker, Penguin, the Batmobile, the Bat Cycle, and I believe the Bat Cave so I didn't miss out, there was always plenty of Batman Mego goodness when Steven was home!

So like Batman Week, in celebration of the Dark Knight (like every blog in the toy universe), Joker Week is going to be full of some of my favorite Joker Action Figures and toys.



Enjoy and... Haahaaahaaaahaaahaaahaahaahaaaaahaaaahaaaahaaaaahaaaaahaaahaaahaahaaaahaaahaahaaaaa!