When I moved house 11 years ago I just packed up all my stuff, comics and toy crap and stored it in the loft and garage, totally forgot I had most of it.
Jordan Toy Hunter Man goes rooting through this guys garage and plucks out a Combat Belt Batman with this, " I just found gold" look all over his face. This particular Batman toy he found was from the animated series.
The Batman animated series aired back in the early 90's, produced by Warner Bros the show ran for 85 episodes from 1992 to 1995, Kevin Conroy voiced Batman and Bruce Wayne and Mark Hamill (yes, Luke Skywalker himself) voiced Jack Napier and the Joker. As with most WB licences at that time toys were a big part of the shows merchandising.
Batman figurines have been around for decades, ever since Bob Kane first drafted his character and the demand for toys and merchandise grew as the evolution of comic book culture.
Batman comes in all different guises, even if he never wore any of the different outfits licensors and toy manufacturers always look at ways to squeeze the dollar as far as it'll go - some are actually pretty cool ideas, others are, well, not so cool. (Infrared Batman came in a red suit...a red one!) Ninja Power Pack Batman came with Robin and the black and gold garb was just as weird as it probably sounds.Ground Assault Batman had a Green Goblin inspired foot glider thingy or “Motorized Turbo-Powered Ground Jet!” as its officially called.Then there was SkyDive Batman but last but not least was the little gem called "Combat Belt Batman".
Combat Belt Batman had a grappling hook, far more sensible if you ask me, I mean the man climbs all over peoples houses and places of business at night dressed as a Bat..man. of course he's going to need a grappling hook. Anyway, at the time this figure sold for around $4, or at least, that's the dollar equivalent of what the price label I had on mine was when I pulled it from the box in my garage.
Mr walking toy encyclopedia Toy Hunter man says "do you know how much this is worth?", garage man shrugs, adjusts his thick frame glasses and stands there mouth agape waiting for the punchline.
"This is a Combat Belt Batman and worth over $100 in this condition" says Toy Hunter Man - two parts of that description went in an nestled their way in the back of my mind, "Combat Belt Batman" and "$100". I knew I had one and set about raiding the garage the following day.
Long story short I posted that little guy in mint condition up on Ebay for $104 and within 3 days sold him to a buyer in Devon, England. The best single click that earned me $104.
Ok so you got this far, there has to be a morale of the storty, well sort of, if like me you have no real attachment to some of the crap in your garage, primarily toys - do yourself a massive favor and see what you have lying around, I know the Star Wars stuff has always had a collectors price tag attached to most of it, especially the 1976 Kenner stuff but I had absolutely no idea I had $104 sitting in a box in the shape of Batman with a grappling hook. no wonder for years the Chinese economy was booming these guys probably churned out thousands of these figures yet an internet search now will show you now that these as pretty rare to come by.
See, now tell your wife sitting around watching TV is a good way to earn money and don't let her touch your toys!
Collectors Resources
Toy Collectors Price Guide 2016 via Amazon
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