In 1984 Kenner Toy Co. came out with The Super Powers Collection of DC's most popular characters. The toys were an instant success and I have fond childhood memories of playing with these action figures. I can recall at one time owning Batman and Robin,The Joker, Superman, Aquaman, Hawkman, the Flash, and Green Lantern. They were advertised on the backs of the comics I was reading, on the cartoons I was watching and the department store where we shopped. I can remember a picture of Superman with his arm vibrating from his incredible life like punch that was produced by squeezing his legs together. I loved the toys like Maynan loved her Carebears and I can still remember seeing the ads for Batman's Batmobile and how badly I wanted that toy and how deserving I felt Batman was to have his own convertible with its amazing and complicated gadgetry used to catch bad guys. My parents were very generous in giving me the action figures I craved but were very conservative in purchasing accessories for my heroes, no frivolous autos, planes, motorcycles, or mopeds were typically included and that blue Batmobile with its ramming abilities needed to be mine. My friend Jeremy had one and when I went over to his house to play I'd often ask to see his Batmobile so I could play with it and envy its coolness.
This past weekend I was in a thrift store in Vermillion when I looked over at the toy bin and saw what I have coveted for 24 years...the 1984 Kenner Batmobile for fifty cents! I about peed myself from the flood of excitement produced by my inner child and his underdeveloped bladder.
This wasn't the end all be all of toys that I wanted more than anything else in the world, but it was pretty darn close. When I was around the age of five or six my parents gave me some colored pencils and my dad taught me the basics on how to draw the human figure by using circles, which I grossly misunderstood, but I used my grandfather's old ledger book and drew my favorite character- Batman, fighting crime and solving mysteries. Proof of my fantasies are in these crumbling pages.
Now after a 24 year absence, the void in my existence has been filled.
