Hot Wheels: Batman – 80 Years Set

Can you believe it? 80 years!? It won’t be long before Batman will be older than any living human which I think is a true testament to the medium of comics. I guess it’s debatable whether Batman or Superman is the most well-known, but I would argue that Batman has remained more consistently relevant than Superman. Sure, Batman has gone through periods of being…less than reputable…but I don’t think he’s ever really tipped into “un-hippness” in the way that Superman has. Marvel seems to offer up the more cutting edge characters a la Spider-Man and Wolverine, but so far, they haven’t transcended the sort of cultural boundaries that Batman and Superman have.

Superheroes weren’t really known for their personalities back in the day; instead, gimmicks and themes served to give the reader a glimpse of who they were, i.e. Bruce Wayne was nuts about bats! Almost every notable comic book character has been through the extremities of morality, but few of these are as well known outside of the hardcore fans as Batman. He’s also stayed relevant by remaining a product of his times, be it campy costumed crime fighter, a bona fide computer nerd, a hard-boiled sleuth, a world class martial artist, or even a jaded and bitter anti-hero. However there’s an underlying truth that allows this to happen: is it his status as kind of a “scary” good guy? His famed Rogues Gallery? Or maybe it’s the fact that he doesn’t really have any superpowers, which allows us all to project ourselves onto The Batman to some degree. I mean no matter what, we can’t ever relate to Superman whizzing through the skies and catching meteors barehanded and melting solid metal with our fucking eye-beams. We can’t connect to Wolverine running through a hail of bullets, suffering the pain of each and every impact but never fearing death. What the fuck can we fathom about Power Lanterns or a living symbiotic costume or tweaked versions of both Greek and Norse godhood? The idea behind Batman is certainly improbable but it’s certainly not implausible, especially as we start to think of it as something that just needs enough money thrown at it!

So yeah, Batman’s cool, and it’s no wonder Hot Wheels can’t enough of the man and, more specifically, his machines! We just had a new 5-pack drop within the last couple of weeks, so I was pleasantly surprised to see this Walmart-bound set hanging around shelves last weekend.

It’s nothing too major, just a series of Batmobiles basically, but it does continue what appears to be a lucrative (yet affordable!) tradition and adds more more more color variations to our Bin O' Batmobiles. To the best of my knowledge, these are not direct duplicates of any Batmobiles (that I have, at least). Some-friggin’-day I’ll lay all this out in a single post (or as a permanent page when I figure out how to implement some wider structure into the site) but in general we can judge these cars by several criteria beyond the obvious body shape, including primary color, secondary / accent color (if applicable), window color, graphics (presence, placement, color), and finish (metalflake, glossy, matte).

Let’s take a quickie look at this set of 6:

• 1 / 6 – Batman v. Superman – ’11 Dodge Charger R/T (GCPD)
• 2 / 6 – Batman v. Superman – Batmobile – (glossy dark gray, red windshield)
• 3 / 6 – The Dark Knight Rises – The Bat – (glossy black exterior, plastic blue “underbelly,” blue windsheild)
• 4 / 6 – Batman Live Batmobile – (glossy black finish, blue windshield, shiny purple accents on rims)
• 5 / 6 – Batman (1989) – Batmobile – (full reflective chrome finish with black undercarriage)
• 6 / 6 – The Batman Batmobile – (glossy black finish with chrome under-carriage, no accents / graphics, red windshield)

I won’t prattle on too much about these but there are a few things worth drawing attention to. I guess there’s not much point in addressing the GCPD car. It’s got the usual heavy sedan thing going on and most of these things look like the same model to the non-car geek. I totally get the logic by tossing these things in, though lately I feel like the practice is an exercise in laziness – seriously, give us a “Bat Buggy” or even just a bullshit villain car with some respectable artwork.

We’ve seen tons of BvS Batmobiles over the last couple of years, but this might be the first I’ve seen in dark gray and I’m pretty sure it’s the first I’ve seen the model paired with red for windows as well. The Bat is another vehicle with fairly consistent exposure and we’ve seen a lot – black, blue, gray – but this is a first. The “exterior” is an expected black, but it’s the matte blue plastic comprising the under-areas that really make it stand out.

I don’t even exactly know what Batman Live is, but I’ve always loved the look of the “Batman Live Batmobile” because of its “early-90’s-vision-for-the-future” kind of look. It’s very much Batman’s typical style taken to an extreme and it feels like it’d be right at home in a comic where speed and stealth is as favored upon raw power and an all-inclusive arsenal. As subtle as it is, I really like the scant purple highlights against the vehicle’s blackness. I do wish they’d gone a little further with it and made the windshield purple as well.

If I told you there was one of these that soared above the rest, which would you think based on description alone? Well it better be this one! Not only is it probably the most iconic version of the Batmobile, it’s also decked out in mirror-finish chrome! In the 3 Walmarts I was in that day that carried this set, only 1 of them actually had this Batmobile on hand, and I can certainly understand why. People are going to see this and they are going to want it! And I can’t even argue; it looks fantastic.

Last is the Batmobile from The Batman, and to be honest I’ve always been a tad “meh” towards this car. All the soft edges take away from its threat level and the design itself leans a little towards the generic for my tastes. However, I think decking out the whole thing in black (none of those strange colored stripes) was a smart move along with the red “glass.”

And there we go, another set of Batmobiles to gawk at! I wonder what’ll happen when they run out of the usual blacks, blues, grays and otherwise…maybe some deep purples…? Well whatever happens, this should be an exciting (upcoming) year for the Big Black Bat as we celebrate his 80th birthday!

New Batmobile Set at Walmart

Originally posted on February 14th, 2017.

I don’t get the Walmarts around here…their consistency is terrible and I’m always nervous that I’m missing something!  Anyway, I dropped by my closest one to pick up some odds and ends today and noticed a cool “set” of Batmobiles (well, and a couple of other Bat-vehicles).  These “sets” aren’t exactly sets; instead, they’re individual Hot Wheels with a certain theme with a “X / Y” number designation in the corner.  Sometimes there’s 8, sometimes 6, and in the case of the recent-ish Batman v Superman cars, only 1 through 7 were numbered but there was sort of an 8th “secret” car.

Anyway you’ve probably seen these before.  Hot Wheels especially loves doing Star Wars and superhero themed series like this.  In addition to the BvS set I mentioned, they’ve done a Captain America set, an Avengers set, Star Wars Planets, Star Wars Factions, Star Wars Movies/TV, a Mario set (not the same thing as the Mario Character Cars), a couple of Spider-Man sets, and probably several others I’m unaware of.  (There’s also a recent Ghostbusters set that doesn’t seem to exist anywhere around here…)  The sets are nothing more than Hot Wheels Originals with specialized decorations, but they’re still pretty cool, and at a buck a pop, why the heck not?

From what I’ve noticed on eBay, they’ve done this whole “Batmobile thing” before.  So are these just reissues?  Maybe, but I ain’t never seen ‘em before (in stores) and as an added bonus, the set includes what might be the only major Batmobile shape from Hot Wheels that I’m missing: the ‘89 Batmobile with the huge ass front tires.  (I don’t know if it really has a name or not, and since they make a “normal” ‘89 version, this has just become the “huge ass front wheel ‘89 version.”)

Hot Wheels has also done a phenomenal job of making subtle changes in the paint jobs of these Batmobiles, leading to multiple variations. I’m not primarily concerned with all of these variations – I certainly don’t mind grabbing one when I see one, but they’re tough to keep up with and I usually have to rely on my son to tell me which ones we have and which ones we need. When it comes down to it, there are 4 major (well, more like 3 major and 1 minor) aspects of the paint job worth inspecting. One, two, three, or all of them could be different from another vehicle, and even then sometimes the differences are kinda subtle, i.e. a black body versus a dark gray body. Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Body Color – Obviously the vehicle’s main color. Easy to spot, but again, watch for subtle differences.
• Window Color – More noticeable on some vehicles than others, but definitely worth paying attention to. Sometimes this can be the only difference between a couple of vehicles.
• Luster – This wasn’t something I was immediately aware of, but since noticing it, I’ve started to see it more and more. It just refers to whether the finished paint job is matte, glossy, or occasionally, metalflake for that “sparkley” look.
• Details, Accents, and Graphics – Although I would consider this the somewhat minor aspect, it can be the most noticeable. Due to the austere nature of most Bat-vehicles, there usually aren’t a lot of graphics going on, but there are the occasional flames or outlines.

With all that being said, here’s the lowdown on the series itself:

• 1 / 6 – Batman: Classic TV Series Batmobile
  • I’ve got a lot of these for whatever reason or another, and I think this versions is pretty normal. I’ll check it out in more detail against the others at some point.
• 2 / 6 – Batmobile
  • Hot Wheels simply calls this the “Batmobile,” though it most closely resembles the one used in the 1989 and 1992 movies. The big difference is those gigantic front wheels. This version is just plain black, but I’ve seen at least one variation with flames at the front.
• 3 / 6 – Batman Begins Batmobile
  • Curiously, Hot Wheels usually reseres the “Batman Begins” label for the camouflage Tumbler and refers to the all-black version as the “Dark Knight Batmobile.” This version has blue windows (which I have a version of) but I’m unclear on the body…it certainly could be just plain black, but I guess it could also be considered a dark gray. I have lots of these little black Tumblers, most of which are in a matte finish, so I’ll have to do some side-by-side comparisons to decide conclusively.
• 4 / 6 – Bat-Pod
  • This is the re-tooled “Bat Cycle” featured in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. I have a small 1:64 version of it, but I’m wildly unfamiliar with the details. I don’t even know if the Bat-Pod comes in multiple colors or variations. Yet again, I’ll have to drag out all of my 1:64 Batmobile stuff and look closely.
• 5 / 6 – The Bat
  • Oh yes, the crazy weird helicopter-Batwing replacement from Dark Knight Rises that we never could get a great look at in the film. Seriously, I really had no idea what the overall shape of The Bat was until the models started coming out. It’s unique and original…but it ain’t no Batwing. Anyway, back in the 2016 regular series, Hot Wheels released 2 “Bats:” one black one with a yellow window and a gray one with a blue window. This particular “Bat” features a blue window with a black body! And possible metalflake. It still just looks like The Bat, but hey, it is technically a unique variation as far as my collection is concerned.
• 6 / 6 – Batman: Arkham Knight Batmobile
  • I wish I wish I wish Hot Wheels would make this as part of their 1:50 series. Alas, all we have are several 1:64 versions and a pricey 1:43 out there somewhere. Anyway, this one is highly unique: it’s a dark, glossy blue with metalflake and although the Batmobile never takes on this appearance in the admittedly awesome video game Arkham Knight, the final product is pretty damn cool.

Now for a closer look!

The ol’ 1966 Batmobile & “The 1989 Batmobile with huge ass front tires!”

The Batman Begins Batmobile (Tumbler!) and the Bat-Pod

The Bat & The Arkham Knight Batmobile

Well that’s it for now folks. Stay tuned though; as long as there’s no new news on the Character Card front, I might keep posting stuff related to all these little Batman-related cars (etc.) that I’ve got laying around. As always, alert me to anything cool that I don’t already know!