Legends of the Dark Knight Internet Exclusives (1997-1999)

Back in the old days, people wrote letters to each other. They called on the phone. They talked in person. Then, magically, as the 90's progressed, this crazy invention called "the Internet" sprung out of the aetherial plain. Anxiously, we booted up our Packard Bell and Macintosh computers, got the 18mbs modem on the phone line (and kicked off anyone trying to use the phone), and hit the Internet at a speed of one page per half hour. It was glorious.

It was during this time that Kenner had the brilliant idea to sell three action figures (one with a completely new, unique sculpt and two repaints) exclusively on the Internet. They thought they had outsmarted me, but in fact, all it took was about 8 years and eBay for me to get my hands on these figures. Dark Knight Detective (pictured above), Shatterblade Batman (below; a repaint of the 1996 Spline Cape Batman from the mainstream line) and Clayface (bottom).

I think it should go without saying that for a kid (hell, even for an adult like me), the Legends of the Dark Knight collection was insanely awesome. My brothers and I collected a large portion of them, and to this day I maintain that this was one of the greatest action figure lines of all time. Yes, the articulation is pretty poor. Yes, most of the figures were repaints of the same basic sculpt. But these figures were badass.

Shatterblade Batman, being a repaint, doesn't do too much for me, but I couldn't buy 2/3 of the set! (That's just not what we collectors do.) Normally (like I've mentioned before) I don't usually leave figures in their bubbles, but since this figure is still relatively rare, I thought it best to keep him safe in his packaging.

The Dark Knight Detective figure is a repaint of another hard-to-find figure: Legends of the Dark Knight The Dark Knight (that's a mouthful), which was a blue and gray version of the classic Batman. He has a permanent spot on the top shelf of my collection; Clayface is an incredibly new and unusual interpretation of the character (plus, he's got 5 faces... you rotate his head around to reveal each expression). He's huge, heavy, and all around intimidating (if one is inclined to be intimidated by action figures).

Awesome Clayface. Awesome Batman.