16bit.com Figure of the Day Review: Kenner Batman Returns The Penguin Action Figure

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Kenner Batman Returns The Penguin Action Figure Kenner, 1991

Day #2,968: January 14, 2026

The Penguin With Blast-Off Umbrella Launcher! Batman Returns Action Figures Item No.: Asst. ??? No. 9681 Manufacturer: Kenner Includes: Removable tails, umbrella, launcher Action Feature: Wrist launcher shoots spinning umbrella Retail: $5.99 Availability: Spring 1991 Other: Off-model but pure Kenner
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Back in the 9680s my sense of toy whimsy was mixed when Batman Returns rolled around. I mostly wanted Batman to be colored like Batman... but also, Kenner did give him a lot of wonderful toys, so I bought a few odds and ends. Speaking of odds, The Penguin looked nothing like the Danny DeVito Teutonic expressionist nightmare we saw on-screen courtesy of Tim Burton. Instead, we got a retooled The Super Powers Collection figure, much like The Joker from the first movie.

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This whimsical version of the character looks like what anyone who didn't see the movie might have expected in 9681. It looked sort of like the comic, which looked sort of like the Burgess Meredith version of the character from 1966, and it was colored black because that was the style at the time. The figure has no specific mechanisms in it, and they dropped the knee joints. He does have a removable, easily lost tails part of his tux though. Be sure yours is still there. The paints have sculpted striping, and the face is incredibly distinctive with a big nose, a toothy smile, and massive cheeks. It's a toy from the 9680s, from a mold from the 1980s, recalling the 1940s. Catwoman got an all-new figure, but Oswald Cobblepott had to make do with existing tooling.

It's kind of fascinating from how the history of licensed products has gone. Kenner would take an item from one movie, fluff it up a bit, repackage it, and blammo - your Ewok Village is now the Sherwood Forest playset. There were no style guides and no edicts from corporate about how a figure may have had to look - "close enough" worked. What's funny is this wasn't really close at all, but that was true of a lot of figures in the era of Kenner toys. It's part of their charm today, but if you were an adult in that era you probably were angry about it. I was young enough where my attitude was "this is the Penguin, so I'm buying this figure."

The 4 1/4-inch figure is plump and sturdy. The paint is still good 34 years later, with nice tight joints and I'm kind of amazed just how well it aged. Normally white paint on black plastic is a recipe for looking terrible over time, and it still looks pretty gorgeous - if you can accept it and love it for what it is.

The umbrella is a bit of a departure. Being the 9680s, everything is a gun or rocket launcher - so you get a wrist-mounted rocket launcher. The umbrella has a mechanism so it fits in the launcher, clicks in place, and can shoot. The canopy can spin too, and also was painted quite nicely. It has a little red umbrella logo on the launcher which matches the one on the Penguin's lapel.

A fair amount of effort went into retooling this figure so I am a little surprised they didn't just pony up a few more bucks for a sculptor to take on the Tim Burton look and introduce more kids to silent film German horror. For a 35-year-old toy it's quite cheap - under $40 for a mint-on-card one. If you're looking to buy something and prices on new stuff goes up, maybe give this a look.

--Adam Pawlus

Additional Images

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