Batmobile Week: Day Five, THE TUMBLER!!!

I saved the biggest and best for last, the Batman Begins Tyco Radio Controlled Tumbler!



Man this thing is huge, at about two feet in length making it the largest Batmobile in the collection. I have only ran it a couple of times, it freaks the dogs out so much that I can just set it in the middle of the floor and they will bark at it.



I picked this monster up on clearance right after the holidays back in 2005. Half price on a huge Batmobile was nothing to sneeze at.



I do wish it could open up and had some other play features, but I can live with it having the radio control and the light up feature. Don't get me wrong I love this monster, but if I won the lottery I would go out and by the Hot Toys Tumbler for a nice display piece, but for sheer running around the house, tearing things up and chasing bassets this is the Batmobile to have in your arsenal.



Besides the lights it does have sound, when it's running it makes the acceleration noises and when you slide it to a stop it makes the braking noises, plus in demo mode it will make a laser firing noise.



Here's a picture with yesterday's Batmobile to give you an idea of the size of this beast.

Well, that's it for Batmobile Week! I can honestly say that it was fun featuring the Batmobile. I have been wanting to do more with the Batmobile for quite some time. I can also say that I could have probably stretched this out to Batmobile Month if I wanted, so I might be doing some more Batmobile Weeks in the future if everyone enjoyed it. Till the next Batmobile Week, look out! I'm going to take this thing for a spin!

Batmobile Week: Day Four, A Classic Batmobile

First things first, Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I hope you all had a good one and thanks for dropping by for a little Batmobile action after your meal.



I like this Batmobile for several reasons, one it's a cool looking 1960's Batmobile, two it's one of the Corgi Batmobiles of the early 2000's, three it reminds me of this little two seater I used to own.



I'm not going to even pretend I know everything about this Batmobile. For instance, what the heck is that thing that pops out of the hood? A boom box or a missile launcher.



If I were still a kid I would pretend it was all sorts of things, a sound device for surveillance, a laser cutter, a stereo system you name it.



This was one of the last few of the Corgi's I picked up, they were starting to get scarce around these parts and when you found them you picked them up. One of the coolest lines of Batmobile produced, there are several of the last releases I never saw in stores. This little guy is a a free wheeler measuring about 4 inches.

Batmobile Week: Day Three, Batmobile Forever!

I'm going to say it, while the movie isn't one of the Best in the Batman Franchise, also not the worst Batman and Robin I'm looking at you, it did have some pretty cool vehicles.



Before I begin with this Batmobile a little trip down memory lane to one of the best Father's Days ever. I was the receipent of not only a little Hibachi, but all three of the Batman Forever model kits! Yep, the Batmobile, Batwing and Batboat. I still have my Batmobile and Batwing, I gave in on the Batboat, my son wanted to use it as a pool toy that summer. Good times.



Back to this Batmobile, this would be the Kenner Batmobile from Batman Forever. It's a one seater, but man is that a cushy looking seat.

Closed!

Just like the movie it has the fin that can split, which is cool because when I built the model version I glued the fins open.

Open!



You know you have to have something shoot off the Batmobile, so this time the grill gets to double as a missile.



The fins on the back fenders pop up to reveal a couple of machine guns, I guess in case you get caught in a chemical factory and needed to shoot the door, because we all know Batman wouldn't shoot bad guys.



The sweetest feature, the light up blue engine. Okay by todays standards this is not a big deal but back in the nineties, too cool. A funny side note, it takes two C size batteries to light this bad boy up and there is even an access door so you can replace the light bulb in case it burns out.



So there you have the Batman Forever Batmobile, coming in over 12 inches long, another free wheeler.

Batmobile Week: Day Two, Art Asylum C3 Batmobile

"Holy Do It Yourself, Batman!" Before Lego graced us with what would be the most awesome assortment of construction toy Bat Vehicles in history, Art Asylum launched the C3 line with an assortment of Bat items that were pretty amazing in itself.



Art Asylum had been pretty successful with their Marvel Minimates, but decided to launch the C3 line with their new DC Comics license, featuring characters from the Batman Comics, the Justice League and the Batman Cartoons. I really liked the C3 line and was sad to see it pass away, I think Art Asylum had a few things working against it with this line, but the things it had going for it were awesome for the time.



This Batmobile was a two seater, which always made me wonder why Batman and Robin came with the C3 single seat, mini Batmobile. his feature alone made it pretty cool, it is all too common that when you buy a Batmobile for your action figures, it's only going to seat one figure, there are a few rare occasions, but for the most part Robin is walking.



Under the smoke, clear hood of the Batmobile. All sorts of play scenarios here. Small engine though.



Turbines to full! This little feature was cool. Not only did it simulate flames from the exhaust, but could then swing and rotate over the canopy to become a missile launcher. The missiles shoot pretty good too.

"Ptew! Ptew!"

I liked that not only did they have the opening hood and cockpit, plus the missile launcher, but they incorporated the wheel weapons on all four wheels, so you could tear up the tires of the villains you were chasing.



You could also swing out the sideboards to knock some bad guys down. I think if a Batmobile is blazing towards you at full speed this last little trick would cause some pain.



This Batmobile is around 9 inches long and comes with a little Minimate Batman. Since I love Legos and Minimates, this was a win, win for me. Plus it's a fairly cool Batmobile on its own.

Batmobile Week: Day One, Mego Batmobile

I could have easily filled this week with the 1989 Batmobile or only Batmobiles that action figures would fit in, but where would the fun be in that, so I thought I would select five that represent different parts of the collection and different scales. Some may have memories attached to them, others were picked up because they were Batmobiles, all are among my favorites. I hope you all enjoy the selections, let Batmobile Week begin!



Up first is my Mego Batmobile. I wish I could say this was my childhood Batmobile, that honor falls to another which can be seen here and here. Nope, I didn't have this a s a kid. I had plenty of other toys, so picking this up on ebay was pretty much because my Mego Batman needed a ride.



It does bring back some good memories of my friends and I playing with our Megos, one friend in particular had Batman and Robin, plus the Batmobile and the Batcycle. He would let me use the Batcycle for my Spider-Man and Captain America, we didn't care if they were from separate comics, it was all good in the Superhero neighborhood.



This little vintage Batmobile is about 12 inches in length, maybe a hair longer and has some pretty cool details, I especially love the Bat Symbol on the wheels. I should look into some Bat Hub Caps for the Jeep! It can seat two 8 inch to 9 inch figures and is free wheeling, meaning no power here you have to push it.



Until I find a nice Mego Robin, nice meaning a decent price, this guy has been displayed with the Mego Joker taking Batman for a ride and my Hasbro Batman and Robin. When it came in the mail it was dusty and had a few scratches, but you could tell some kid thoroughly enjoyed this toy. I often wonder if he misses it, I know I would.

Batmobile Week!

My friend Chewbacca here and I concede that the Batmobile is truly an epic ride, though it seems that fans of our respective franchises were away from their computers during the voting period. Nonetheless we were given access to the Eclectorama Batmobile Collection and a Maintenance Bay in the Bat Cave so we could fill the week with Batmobile posts, so tune back in this afternoon for the first of Batmobile week.

Keep up if you can...

"The Batmobile takes the lead!"

Looks like the Batmobile is winning our little popularity poll, so much for the Kessel Run, and where are the Star Trek peps, the poor Enterprise hasn't received a single vote. Five more days, will the Batmobile win? Will the Millennium Falcon make a jump to light speed, will the Enterprise make it out of dry dock?

Popular Vote!

In the three franchises that I collect, there is always a stand out vehicle, which I believe to also be the most popular vehicles in pop culture. So I thought for an upcoming feature I would do a weeks worth of posts about one of the vehicles above. All will be from the Eclectorama collection, and I believe I have enough of each to make five days worth of posts.

So make sure you vote in the poll and in the following weeks the most popular of the bunch will get a week dedicated to them alone.

May the best ride win!

A Quick Heads Up!

Toys R Us, online and in stores, has the standard version of the 1966 Batmobile on sale until the 31st of October! I know I'm probably a bad Bat Fan, waiting this long to pick one up, but I just couldn't pull the trigger on the original $ 39.99 price tag. I'm thinking there might be a few other Batfans out there that might find this info useful as well.



Second, our buddy at Open the Toy, LEon, has a Photohunt posted featuring our traveling Spock and a photo snapped by Sarah Pierce. It's a challenge and some fun so drop by and give it a try. Tell him Spock sent ya!

1989 Batmobile - 2009

Hotwheels is at it again with their Batman 1/64th scale line. The 60's Batboat, the 1989 Batwing, the Super Friends Batmobile of the Seventies and the 1989 Batmobile!





I really love this line, not only for the size but the detail, check out the opening top! The range of Bat Vehicles they are producing is great as well, if it was so hard to find these little jewels it would be smiles all the way around. That said I have found a few, and this one was at the top of my list so I was more than happy to walk out of the toy store with it in tow.



I know some, Rob I'm looking at you, do not appreciate the "Weenie" Batmobile, but I think this is one of the top Batmobiles out. One of my favs since I first saw it roar across screen. Tell me, how many of you don't crank the charge of the Batmobile from the soundtrack in your car on those midnight rides to 7-11 for a Slurpee fix and pretend your are hauling bat-but in the 1989 Batmobile? huh? Come on lets see some hands.



I'm really looking forward to finding more of the vehicles in the series. The Batwing is next on my list and I still haven't found a Tumbler. Well to check out one of my earlier finds, and another favorite, go here. In the meantime I'm off to save Gotham... Da da dada, Dum da da da da da daa daa daaa...

Returns of the Batman Die Cast

Not too long ago I featured the Batmobiles that flew across the screen in the original 89' Batman and 92' Batman Returns with a promise to show more of the Returns Vehicles. So with out a moments delay here are the other die cast that make up the Batman Returns Vehicles.

First up the Bat Jet Ski Boat, don't look at me, that's what they called it, I would have just called it a Bat-Hydrofoil or something.



This boat that looks more like a submarine made it's appearance towards the end of the movie, when Batman was jet ski boating through the sewers of Gotham to the Penguin's hide out.



Next out of the gate is the Batmissile, which is really a different configuration of the Batmobile. Who didn't think it was cool when the Batmobile ejected it's fenders and reconfigured it's wheels to form this sleeker version to get through the tight alleyways of Gotham? The only thing that bugged me was what happened to the fenders, or what was left of them? Did Alfred have to go pick them up?



Finally the villains ride. A huge Duck. I believe this was supposed to have been taken from what was left of the old abandoned zoo that Penguin lived under. I always got a kick out of the scene where Penguin returns to his hide out and this thing sort of six wheel drives out of the water and up a ramp, just looked funny to me.



So there we have it the Die cast vehicles of Batman Returns! Jet Ski Boats, Missiles, and Duck, oh my!

Batman and Robin Batmobile

This one is funny, cause I only ever purchased a couple figures from that time. This was sort of a present left on my desk for some web work I did. See I worked in a design position for a company that had a plant attached to the building. I could draw stuff up in the morning and walk it out to manufacturing and they could start building it that day. The head of the foam department always had these side deals going. He would purchase items at garage sales and estate sales, recondition them and either sell them or give them to family members.

He would bring me older digital cameras; some off market brands some name brands, always older and long out of production. Since I could find my way around the manufacturers web sites I would download all drivers, software, and manuals and burn them to a disk for him. As a thank you, I would walk into work a few days later and there would be some form of Batman item on my desk from one of his hauls. He knew I liked Batman and would just look out for crazy little Batman items. I couldn't even tell you if this thing was complete, but it doesn't really matter; it's just a cool surprise.



It was indeed a neat little arrangement, that wasn't even arranged. He would just drop something off on my keyboard to say thanks for helping him out. I often wonder what would happen if that company was still in business and we were both still working there. How much past Batman merchandise I would have ended up with. All told I received this little Batmobile, a Comic Batman Mug for my pens, a used CD from Batman and Robin, and a small poster of Batman form the first movie in a classy gold poster frame.

Cool Bat Candy!

Man we are on a Batman Movie kick here of late. These are from the 89' Batman and 92' Batman films. I usually do not keep all the little food packages and what not from movie promotions, I should, these are probably more collectable than actual toys. I could not find myself parting with these though, even after the candy was all gone. They are just that cool!

The Figure is from the first Batman film, it was one of the first times I saw a full figured candy container. The bottom had a little lid that you would snap on and off to get at the sweet little bat treats and the arms even move. How cool s that! The size is a whopping four to five inches.



Second is a little Batmobile form the Batman Returns film. Same M.O., remove bottom to get at candy. You can see I kept the sticker intake so I wouldn't loose the lid like the Batman figure container. I assure you the thing is empty. I remember my son and I used to pick this thing up every time we saw one, we must have had a fleet of candy container Batmobiles. This is just about the same size as the Ertl Batmobiles of an earlier post. Even the Deco is about the same. You could almost mistake it for an Ertl at a glance. The detail is really good and the wheels roll as well. What's better than a Superhero filled with candy, one that gives you a toy to play with when you are done!