Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jul 30, 2023 | 3 comments

EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK: It’s the 1966 Batman movie’s anniversary!

It’s been a loooonnnnnng time since we’ve shown off one of The Toyroom owner Anthony Durso’s 8-inch-scale custom playsets — and man has it been worth the wait.

The Penguin Submarine from the 1966 Batman movie has been at the top of my wish list for years, as Anthony well knows, considering how much I’ve hectored him about it. (It didn’t help that I got to see the original model from the film up close several years back.

Well, now the playset is here and we’re giving you the EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK, just in time for the movie’s July 30 anniversary.

Here’s Anthony:

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By ANTHONY DURSO

A year and a half in the making! Ugh! This one had so many starts and stops, it give me a headache. Definite designer’s block. How to incorporate an entire submarine with such little real estate to work with? This probably went through at least four or five different versions.

Although I would’ve liked to have done the exterior of the submarine, it just wasn’t working for me with the wraparound concept to include both the infamous penguin features of the sub, as well as the top deck where the United Underworld get their final comeuppance:

So I decided to feature other elements on the exterior that the Dynamic Duo can encounter in their custom Batboat (if anyone has one on-hand) or Mego Batcopter: the Penguin Periscope, the Bat Ladder and Shark, the Penguin’s Exploding Octopus, and the Magnetized Buoy.

For the interior, it’s all bells and whistles, or actually lights and buttons. The interior of the sub in the movie isn’t well lit so I was scrutinizing and magnifying a lot of screen caps of the film. And even then I was still in the dark on many things. I knew I wanted to include the “dressing room” doors of the Fearsome Foursome as the back wall. The graphics on the doors are my best guess at representing what was going on in that dimly lit area. (Apparently they producers thought the Joker was the Puzzler?)

For the other walls, it’s an amalgamation of different sections of the sub, including Penguin decor that also featured prominently in his other headquarters (“Waste not, want not” was the set designer’s motto, I’m sure. The penguin painting alone appeared in the Penguin’s terrestrial hideouts as well as the United Underworld’s dockside front!)

There’s various radar screens, missile firing buttons (both the underwater and skywriting variety), the periscope, dials, and lotsa buttons and lights. Lots. Oh, and the test tubes containing the dehydrated remains of the United World’s Security Council. (Everyone of them has a mudder…)

Now that this is finally done, it’s time to move on to Gotham City!

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A few thoughts:

— Young Dan would have gone bananas for this. Just imagine setting it up for The 4:30 Movie.

— Anthony’s created dozens of playsets over the last few years, primarily for comics characters and shows. You should definitely click here to check out our index, which shows off each set and provides links to more detailed views.

— As I always feel compelled to point out, I don’t make anything from this. I just love showing it all off. Each set — including case, artwork and complete assembly — is $85 plus shipping. Contact thetoyroom@yahoo.com or you can message Anthony, who also owns Retropolis Tees, through his website the-toyroom.com, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

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MORE

— The Complete TOYROOM PLAYSET INDEX. Click here.

— Dig This UP-CLOSE LOOK at the Original 1966 PENGUIN SUB. Click here.