Batman & Robin Merchandise Review - Deluxe Aerial Defender Robin figure from Kenner

This figure and it's Batman counterpart might be some of the strangest figures of the Batman & Robin toyline. Rather than have a figure and a backpack, this one fuses the figure permanently into a mini plane. In fact, on closer inspection, you only get a head and torso.

As a kid I probably would have hated this and tried to pull the vehicle apart but as an adult I find it kind of novel. Kenner were trying to find new ways to make their action figures stand out and I can't blame them for that. Particularly when your toy line has over 40 figures!

One interesting note is that the figures are actually pretty accurate to the look and colours of the ice suits in that are used at the end of the movie (the Guardians of Gotham 2 pack are also pretty close).

Batman & Robin Merchandise Review - Microverse Observatory Playset from Kenner

I've got a lot of nostalgia for these kind of micro playsets. I had 5-6 Mighty Max playsets back in the day (some of which are still intact) and definitely a few of the Star Wars ones. I don't know how much I played with them but they were always fun to set up and have on a shelf. There's something intrinsically fun about having a movie set rendered in miniature form. 

Took me a while to find a complete version of this Observatory playset. People tend to lose all the little accessories easily which is understandable so it means wading through tons of half complete sets on eBay. Glad to finally have it in my collection but it doesn't feel quite as fun or packed with features as the three Batman Forever ones.

The scale of the figures is very small and the playset feels a little bit... empty. It could have really done with a trapdoor or missile or something extra to bring the whole thing to life. 

There's two more Batman & Robin microverse sets out there - a Batcave one and a slightly larger Arctic Gotham set. I'll keep my eye out for them. I'd really like the set of micro figures too (shown in the video) but I can't find these anywhere.

New audiobook: Robin Facing the Enemy read by Drew Griffin

In the run up to the release of the Batman & Robin movie, two short books aimed at kids were released alongside Michael Jan Friedman's novelisation - "Batgirl To Dare the Darkness" by Doug Moench and "Robin Facing the Enemy" by Alan Grant. Both of whom were noted comic book writers at the time. 

While the Batgirl story is set after the 1997 movie and sees her going up against Black Mask, the Robin novel is set in between the two Schumacher films and sees him finding his feet as Batman sidekick (by going off on his own... again).

It's a short, fun read and I'll do a little video with more of my feelings on it at some point in the future. There's some references to the events of Batman Forever but they aren't huge. It's maybe a stretch to call it a full fledged interquel. More of a solo spin-off.

While the Batgirl novel received a short 30 minute "audio drama" in 1997, the Robin novel didn't receive anything. 

Thankfully that has now been corrected by our resident audiobook reader - Drew Griffin (so all thanks to him, not me!) - who has done another great job and brought this story to life. I hope you all enjoy it.

Have a listen to it in the link below. It's two hours of your time and it breezes by:-