Back in 1989, Batman-ia was everywhere. I was 14-years old and couldn’t have been more excited. I had t-shirts, I had magazines, I had the soundtrack. And, yes, I even bought the cereal.
But, being a little older than most kids consuming a movie tie-in breakfast cereal, I didn’t get the Batman cereal very often; probably only a couple of times. So, I wasn’t getting it by the time they started throwing in freebies or featured contests on every box. With your Batman cereal you could get a free t-shirt, poster, glow-in-the-dark “flying disc”, a kite, comic books – you could even win your own Batmobile!
But the best giveaway had to be the Batman bank…
I know, it may not look like much, but seeing this plastic bust of Batman shrink-wrapped to the box, was a real eye-catcher in the cereal aisle. Most prizes, unless they were really small, had to sent away for with a self-addressed stamped envelope and a check from your Mom to pay for shipping. But not this time! The Batman bank was yours…today! It’s no surprise that Xennials like myself have such a fond recollection of this cereal giveaway. I know I had one – he sat on top of my homework desk for years – but I also know I eventually got rid of him as I was cleaning out my bedroom to move into my own apartment in the mid-90s. It was just a cheap, plastic bank. Who needed it, right?
Fast-forward almost 30 years and I was wandering through an antique mall just last weekend when I came upon a Batman bank. And, well, it had to come home with me.
I’ve recently gotten interested in the hobby of collecting cereal boxes (more on that at a later date…) and had been browsing through the offerings on eBay. Naturally, I take a special interest in the cereal boxes from my youth, especially those that had a pop culture tie-in, like G.I. Joe, Mr. T, C-3PO’s, Ghostbusters, and, of course, Batman. However, the Batman cereal boxes with the Batman bank are a little outside my price range, going anywhere between $30 – $50, plus shipping. I have a hard enough time dropping any money on a vintage cereal box (which is why I’m really just a tourist in the cereal box collecting game), so spending $40-ish, is just not something I can justify. Even the bank by itself will cost you upwards of $15 or $20 by the time you pay for shipping.
So, when I found this bank for only $6.50, I wasn’t going to pass it up. Would I love to have a matching cereal box to go with it? You bet! And maybe someday I’ll come upon one that’s the right price for me. But for now, this little guy can sit on my shelf and watch over me, just as the real Batman watches over the citizens of Gotham City every night.
