BATMAN ROBOTS
Maker: Nomura/ Bandai/Tada/Billiken
JAPAN circa 1960
Nomura Batman and Robin Robots
Nomura's Batman Made in 1966 and standing 11 inches tall, this robot has a tin
body, vinyl head and cape with the bat emblem. Battery-operated, it walks forward
with head glowing
Mr.Johnson noted that the toy tends to fall forward easily. "Not very many
people know this, but its feet are twisted around backward. They're purposely
that way," he said. Why? Because when the Nomura designers first assembled
the robot and inserted the D-cell batteries in the back, it fell backwards.
So they turned the feet around to compensate. Now it tends to fall the other
way.
People, on the other hand, fall over each other when they see this one. Values
are in the neighbourhood of $5,000 or $9,500 with box.(info courtesy of www.Comettoys.com)
Bandai Batman Robot
Bandai produced a smaller Batman robot. It stands only 26cm tall .The batteries are located in the legs and the action is similar to the Nomura. The distinctive addition is the lighting bat logo in the chest. This is a rare toy.
Tada Batman Robot
Tada is a company better known for producing Japanese super heroes, but their great rarity is the long-legged clockwork Batman. It's only slightly taller than the Nomura (31 cm) but its slender structure and its exaggerated legs make it a distinctive robot. (Bandai,Tada pictures/info courtesy of Alphadrome)
Billiken Batman figure
The most affordable version of all is the Billiken Batman in the black body armor,yellow belt and his classic vinyl black clock.