Now That's a Big Batmobile

 I saw this massive plastic Jada Batmobile in a charity shop. The 12 inch figure was sat at the wheel, so you can imagine how big it is.

I was sorely tempted at £3.50. this thing is even bigger than the fabulously big Mego batmobile.

I resisted ,(the one pictured is on eBay) but was reminded of the film The Batman, which I've begun watching for the second time.

It's a tough watch, simply because it's 3 hours long and filmed largely at night-time.

I'm plodding through. Two hours to go! 

 It doesn't help that the new Batman has a non-descript face under the mask and looks like a depressed teenager without it, floppy dark hair and all. It's hardly Affleck and miles off Keaton.

The whole hard-boiled noirness has gone into overdrive and everyone is subsumed into a Nirvana-hooked darkness, literally. Characters are blurry shadows in an endless wet night. No-one stands out, not the Penguin, Catwoman or Gordon. Not even the Riddler, all drowning in spilled ink.

Maybe it's just me. After all this flick reached the Oscars and promises a whole new Bat franchise, the Penguin riffing in his own series already and The Batman 2 coming out in 2027.

I dunno. It's just not DC. Maybe it's too DC. Come back Tim Burton, Gotham needs you!

What do you think readers?

I've gone to bed.

Don Carmelo Batmobile

I saw this on an Argentinian site and boy, what a bat toy!

A Don Carmelo production from Argentina, from the 1970's - a very large scale plastic (1/10 scale) issue of Batman's Batmobile.

Do you know this South American rarity readers? Do you like it?

BAT JAM

Woodsy and Fellow Batnuts!

I do love the various iterations of Batmobiles and have had up to 70 in my collection, but as the latest discussion has pointed out, Mattel just gets totally bonkers with its constant release of 'new' Bat-rides. Anywho, this Monster Jam Batmobile from 2011 is probably the oddest I've ever bought.

From Vegas Bat-Cave

Ed

HOT WHEELS WHITE BATMOBILE 2023 ISSUE

Batman might prefer his Batmobiles in black, but Hot Wheels like a little variety. The latest version of the 1989 movie car is white, with black tampo-printed stripes, clear purple windows, and purple wheel rims.

This is a tie-in model for the recent DC Superhero movie The Flash, with the movie title in the upper left hand corner of the card. Although it seems the car in the film is the usual Batmobile black.

The model is part of the 2023 Batman sub-series. It has a black-painted metal baseplate, with the copyright dates "2004, '17" cast-in, and a white plastic body. Made in Malaysia.

The 1989 movie car is also available in dark grey with orange stripes, but this does not have The Flash on the card.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

2023 BATMOBILE 5-PACK BY HOT WHEELS

Here is an addition to my die-cast collection last year. The 2023 Batman 5-pack, which has a 2022 copyright date on the back of the box.

These 5-packs usually contain one or two real Bat vehicles, a Gotham City Police car, and two or three villain cars. This set is a little different, in that there are no villain cars. Instead, the extra vehicles are marked for Batman's main side-kicks - Robin and Batgirl.

Sometimes the Bat vehicles in these sets are also available individually on cards, or they may be unique to the set. The Gotham City Police cars, villain cars, and side-kick cars are only available in 5-packs, and never on their own. If you find one loose, it came from one of these sets.

In recent years Hot Wheels have taken to listing the vehicles in their sets on the back of the box, which is very helpful.

Muscle Bound is a red coupe, with yellow and black markings, depicting Robin.

'11 Dodge Charger R/T is a metallic blue Police car, with white trim.

'49 Merc is a light blue convertible, with a black plastic interior. The markings are mainly yellow and black, and depict Batgirl. Her name appearing on the rear wheel spats.

TV Series Batmobile is the classic 1960s TV car. Black, with maroon trim, and turquoise pinstripes.

The Bat is semi-matt black, with dark gunmetal grey pods, and a green tinted canopy. This model does not have wheels, and desperately needs a stand, but does not have one.

My favourite models in this pack are the Batmobile, and the Batgirl car. Poor Batgirl is one of the most over-looked characters in the Batman universe, so it is good to see her getting some attention here.

See what you think.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

A TRUMP BATMOBILE!?$!

Thanks to the enthusiasm for Hot Wheels on Moonbase Central plus the brief interest shown by my grandson I have tried to keep an eye open for a few of the models that reappear with different paint schemes from time to time such as Custom Otto & Cockney Cab II.

The easiest way to keep up with releases seems to be via eBay and it's here that a 'Hot Wheels Custom' search lead to finding these creations.

I stress that in this case it's politics neutral, there have been no Biden items that I have seen and these will join my small collection of political ephemera. Buses are part of political campaigns, so is appropriate. The Batmobile, well this adds a whole new dimension to that character.

These are well done with custom header cards and it brings back memories of Dinky Toys back in the 60's/70's that issued unpainted kit form models of some of their die casts.

I wonder if Mattel will one day do a similar range? Disassembling and paint stripping small models is tiresome especially when the parts are riveted.

Terranova47

USA

THE SECOND BATMOBILE

Woodsy and Fellow Bat-nuts (errr, I mean Moonbasers),

Here's the second on-screen Batmobile from 1949's 'BATMAN AND ROBIN' serial. This one is smaller and less ostentatious than the first one from six years prior. Again, it's an everyday runner - no special gadgets that I'm aware of (although I have to admit it's been a l-o-n-g time since I watched all 15 episodes and maybe there's something I missed).

To me this looks like it could be a 1949 Mercury and some years back I bought a diecast 1/24 scale version from Washington Mint to post as a contender for the title. However, it is still in the unopened box! The model is quite close and may be the only 1949 Mercury offered by any toy company. What do you guys think - Batmobile or no?

From Vegas Bat Cave

Ed

ED'S 1943 BATMOBILE

Hello All,

Being a big fan of Batmobile's, I loved Paul's A.'s post regarding the 2024 version of the first comic book Batmobile by Mattel (which I hope to pick up within another month or two - got a slew of birthdays to deal with first).

When I started collecting Batmobile's w-a-y back in the day, I was trying to piece together everything I could find regarding them. Unfortunately, over the years I lost a lot of the digital material I saved due to hard drive issues or other calamity, so I had to re-trace some of my steps. 

Attached are screen grabs from the first on-screen Batmobile. It appeared in the Columbia Picture's serial 'BATMAN' from 1943 and was basically an everyday runner - no Bat-phone, no Bat-radar, no Bat-nothing. Four tires, a steering wheel and an engine - just a car. But! does anyone know what type of car this is? I've tried to identify it but came up with bupkis but hope that some company, somewhere made a toy of this type of car.

From Vegas Bat Cave

Ed

*

Postscript:

Our friend Paul V kindly supplied all the info!

The Car's make! on Yahoo Life

The Toys! on Google Search

First Batmobile by Hot Wheels

The very first Batmobile was a red convertible, seen in Detective Comics No.27. As part of the 2024 Pop Culture premium line, Hot Wheels have released a model of a slightly later version, from DC No.44, as the First Batmobile.

This model first appeared as a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive model in 2021. This came with figures of Batman and Robin, metallic red wheel hubs, and silver windscreen framing.

The 2024 Pop Culture version is gloss red; with a black interior; white and light grey tampo-printed dashboard; red plastic wheel hubs; whitewall tyres; silver-grey radiators and hood ornament; yellow headlights edged in black; clear plastic windscreen with no printed framing; and a rear number plate that reads 019680. The baseplate says 1941 Batmobile, but the casting is undated, which is a little unusual.

Being part of the Pop Culture line, it is a metal/metal model. Meaning it has a metal body, and metal baseplate, with Real Rider wheels, and is 81 mm long.

The card is really nice, and features a 1940s style Batman logo. There is also a DC Batman 85 Years anniversary logo next to the car.

This is the Hot Wheels Wiki page for this model.

https://hotwheels.fandom.com/wiki/First_Batmobile

As a premium model, with plenty of metal, this is about three times the price of a normal, Mainline Hot Wheels model. But it is gorgeous, and worth every cent.

Four photographs. One shows the car parked outside Stately Wayne Manor.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

THE SHARP KNIGHT

 The other day I picked up a battered Corgi Batmobile in Wetherby for £1.

Straight from the Battle of Arkham it was missing its roof bar, three tyres, one axle, front blisters and the aerial. The rear blisters were falling apart too. It came with two spare tyres but not the correct size. All in all, quite good!

I started by re-colouring the body with a Sharpie pen.

I finagled a new roof bar and patched the rear blisters. I also tried a new technique for the front blisters; cutting out semi-circles of plastic and folding them into position. Tyres: I grabbed a few different ones from the bits box and axles are cocktail sticks. It runs - sort of - but it doesn't need to be perfect for me my cabinet. Time to move on.

Some focused bat work later it was ready for Gotham's grimy streets once more. See what you think Bat-fans.

Before

After

I painted the blisters metallic blue. No longer transparent, it'll do. The aerial is off a clothing price tag. The red light is temporary until I find a smaller better one. The body was re-Sharpied again.

Now where's Alfred and that cup of tea and a ginger nut?