Tag Archives: batman 89

June 23, 2023

Mezco One:12 Collective Batman (1989)

By Joe
Let’s get nuts!

When it comes to the world of more high end action figure collectibles, I’ve been able to get my hands on a few. Some rather prominent companies have yet to cross my path though, and it’s not really for any reason other than they either don’t make what I like or I don’t really like what they make. Mezco is more of the latter as their approach to superhero characters with soft goods come out looking like Mego to me. There’s nothing wrong with that aesthetic, if you like it that’s fine, but me personally? Not really. And it’s definitely not something I have any interest in spending upwards of 90 to 100 dollars on. The company seems to have a really dedicated following though so there’s obviously a market for what they do. As for the company itself, I’ve heard mixed things. I’ve read too many horror stories from people trying to get a replacement for a defective product and having their concerns go unanswered. The company is known for its lengthy delays on product with zero communication about where any of it is. And they do the thing that a lot of companies do where they launch something with rendered images and the waiting to actually see what the figure will look like usually lasts until release.

This body takes some getting used to.
The Bat Ass.

Needless to say, I’ve approached the company with some degree of trepidation. I’ve been able to ignore most releases from Mezco because I just don’t like the product, but the one that did catch my eye was their reveal of Batman from the 1989 film of the same name released on this day 34 years ago. The Michael Keaton version of the dark knight has always been a favorite of mine. It fits right in with the theme of this blog as Keaton’s Batman was my introduction to a more grim version of the character. Prior to the Tim Burton-directed film showing up on my television (my family rarely saw films in the theater when I was a kid) my only point of reference for Batman was the Adam West version. No disrespect to Mr. West and his show, which I adore for different reasons, but this Batman was an all together different animal. I had lots of the Toy Biz and Kenner releases that tied-in with that film and its sequel and Batman was a pretty big deal following the release of that film for basically the rest of time. The funny thing with that film though is that most attempts at action figures have failed to “wow” me. I’ve basically disliked them all for one reason or another and the best ones have all been in larger scales that I’d rather not collect. When Mezco showed off their version, it was the first time where I saw that depiction of Batman in a 1:12 scale that I felt matched up the 1:4 or 1:6 scale figures out there. Once I was able to get over the price, I did commit to buying one. And then the wait began. And it went on and on and on….

He moves reasonably well, but there’s a fear element that comes into play every time.
That’s about as far as I dare go with a kick.

Three years! That’s how long it took for this product to go from flashy internet pictures to reality. No excuse has been given as to why it took so long. Mezco would just put up a release window, and when that came and went they’d bump it to the next quarter and we did that dance for years. Did they have issues with the license? Maybe, but a lot of companies have their hands in Batman so that seems unlikely. Was it this new-fangled seamless body they had been working on? Very possible, but it’s not something they haven’t attempted before. Maybe they were forced to time it to the release of The Flash which features Keaton’s Batman? Again, maybe, but probably not from the start. If such a mandate came down it was probably pretty late in the game. Did Mezco have cash issues? I don’t know, but I suppose you can never rule it out. For whatever reason, it took a long time for this figure to get to me. I had honestly given up on ever seeing it. I wasn’t that worried about it since I ordered through Big Bad Toy Store so I didn’t pay upfront. Those who had through Mezco certainly had more to worry about and more to be angry about, at that. They all got their figure a couple of months ago, as they should. I had to wait a little while longer and in the interim I’ve often found myself not really knowing how to feel about this one. I normally avoid reviews of anything I plan to review myself, but my curiosity got the better of me with this release. Now that I have my own figure in-hand, I’m still sorting out my feelings on this one.

The white residue is annoying and seems to have accumulated the most under the arms.

Batman arrives in a plain, but somewhat flashy, box. It’s all black with the film’s logo on it which is honestly how it should be. Inside, the figure and its many accessories are housed on a tray and everything is packaged rather well which is obviously a good thing. If you’re going to charge as much as Mezco does, then you damn well better make sure the product gets to people in good shape. Out of his packaging, Batman stands at right around 6.25″ to the top of his head. Michael Keaton is not an especially tall man meaning this figure isn’t true 1:12 scale, but it’s fine. The film often did its best to try and shoot Keaton from angles that kind of hid how short he is. Low angles and isolated shots were relied on with the one scene that really broke from that being Batman’s run from the Joker with Ms. Vale in tow. And wouldn’t you know, he kind of looks goofy in some of those shots. Mezco took some liberties with his height, but also with the cowl. I may prefer the 1989 movie, but when it comes to costumes I much prefer his look from Batman Returns. Well, the cowl anyway. I could take or leave the armored torso of that film, but the cowl was more stream-lined and appeared to be made of a thinner material. In the first film, it’s more rounded on the sides and quite thick. It did help it to cast more shadows around his mouth and eyes, but at the cost of almost looking squished. Mezco’s take on the cowl strikes me as somewhere in-between the 89 version and the one we see in Returns. And it looks pretty good. I see the Keaton likeness in the opening of the cowl as well as in the eyes. And the details of the suit itself also look pretty nice, save for one thing.

This setup sucks. Big time.

All of that white stuff. Batman is basically coated in powder as part of the shipping process. The body, being seamless, is basically rubber with a metal skeleton underneath it. It’s like a high-end version of those rubber, bendy, figures that were pretty common once upon a time. To prevent it from cracking or sticking to things during transportation, the suit is coated in a powdery substance that looks terrible, but should gradually ware off. Handling this figure is honestly the best thing you can do for it. Some have turned to vinyl coatings and such, but I don’t know if that’s recommended for long-term use. At least I know I’m not willing to try it, but I will concede that I’ve seen some sharp looking results from those who have taken that route. This rubber body does create a disconnect between the hard plastic of the hands and cowl and the rest. It’s more muted and not as dark. It’s also hard not to shake the feeling that the head is a bit oversized for this body. In the movie, it kind of was due to the cowl, but perhaps not to this extent. He’s also not meant to be displayed like this as just a body with a head so I don’t want to be too critical, but it is a $100 action figure so I don’t know that it’s really possible to be too critical.

This is the best I could do with the cape, and as you can, it’s still not flush. I’m not OCD, but this drives me nuts.
It also fits him like a poncho so you’re going to want to take advantage of those wires to pose some of that away.

With a cape added, the figure starts to look more like its big screen counterpart. That is, if you can get the damn thing on. Mezco included two capes with this figure: a wired one and a non-wired one. Both capes are fairly large and feel like a faux leather material on the outside and plush on the inside. There’s a lot of material here that basically covers the entirety of the figure, but it’s quite wide giving Batman a bell shape. This is what I don’t like about soft goods at this scale. They just don’t have the proper weight to behave like a larger cape would. It should, at some point, start to come back towards the body instead of just continuing to fan out. It’s why I much prefer the wired cape as that can be controlled some, but it has its own problems. Both capes affix to a ring under the head and it’s supposed to snap-in to the collar on the figure. The problem is, the squishy body doesn’t provide enough resistance and working it in becomes an extremely frustrating process. Plus, Mezco decided to make the heads connect via a magnet. It’s honestly not a bad idea as this costume prevented Batman from being able to move his head so why bother with a ball joint? The issue this creates though is if you can’t get that cape to snap-in properly, the magnets in the head and body are not strong enough to just hold it in place. There’s a gap that’s left behind and it looks stupid. Part of the problem is the cape is sewn to the ring around its entirety leaving very little room for the chest. There are product shots on the back of the box that are clearly using a different cape because of how it comes out of the bat logo on the chest. There’s just way too much cape here. And even with the wires, the cape is still a chore to maneuver. I’ve seen many people just clip it behind the figure to get that more tapered look, but that hardly seems acceptable to me for a figure in this price range. They also did the same thing Medicom did with its Hush Batman in not using enough wires. Mezco included a wire in basically every other seem rather than all. Why cheap out there?

My pictures aren’t going to do these faces justice, but trust me when I tell you they look great including bloody-faced Batman.
There’s another magnet in the belt which works with the grapnel gun accessories, but unfortunately not the Batarangs.

The rubber body is essentially confined to the torso, hips, and the limbs. It ends just past the elbows on the arms where the gauntlet begins which is a standard, harder, plastic. The same is true at the legs where the body ends just past the knee and the boots are done in plastic. The belt is floaty and also plastic and there isn’t much holding it in place. There’s a groove sculpted into the waist for it, but it’s going to move around constantly. The squishy texture of the body is definitely an unusual sensation with an action figure. It feels more springy than a stress ball, almost like handling a water balloon. The legs and arms have a nice shape though, while the torso is sculpted well from the front. From the side, he loses a bit of shape. Poor Batman has no ass, but at least Mezco gave him some nice, large, shoulders that tape well at the bicep. Someone should show Hasbro that this is how you sculpt a shoulder in relation to the bicep. There is some sculpting on the back and I have to assume it’s accurate to the film. I don’t recall ever seeing Batman’s back without a cape. There’s even a sculpted seam on the rear of the cowl that, again, I’m willing to just concede is accurate to the film as I can’t recall a good shot of the back of Batman’s head.

“Joker’s robbing the bank, better summon the Batmobile!”
“I remember you being a lot bigger.”

Where this figure is going to shine brightest is with the heads. The figure comes with an articulated head which is by far the worst in the set, but even it looks okay. The eyes articulate on it, so they’re very large in relation to the rest giving him a real surprised look. I don’t care for it personally, but I get why Mezco did it as the figure can’t turn his head so this gives people at least some ability to allow Batman to look to his left and right. The neutral head without the eye gimmick is plenty fantastic. The Keaton likeness is damn near perfect and I love how the eyes came out. He looks confident like he’s about to knock some sense into some hoodlums and all of the cowls have this nice, satin, finish to them that really captures the look of the film. The one drawback that’s basically present on every headsculpt is that the Batman logo is not painted as cleanly as it could be. All seem to feature at least a little yellow on the bat logo, and that’s really not excusable at his price range. Especially on a figure with very little paint. The other portraits include one with a slightly open mouth like he’s talking and a battle-damaged one from after he wrecks the Batwing. The mouth is open on it like he’s taunting the Joker with his own catchphrase (“You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?”) and there’s even a touch of scuffing applied to the ridge over his left eye. It looks great and while I think the vast majority of people who get this figure will just stick with the neutral head, these other ones are totally viable for a display as well.

The head with the moving eyes helps a little bit when trying to sell an action pose, but it only goes so far.
I do like the wired accessories to the point where I think I’m going to have to display him with at least one.

That basically concludes the aesthetics portion of this review. Now, considering all of the attention this unique body construction has received, I think we’ll just jump right into articulation. As stated previously, this figure is basically a metal skeleton with rubber coated over it. I expected it to be a bit stiff out of the box, but was surprised at how smoothly it moves, for the most part. Mezco does include a brief instruction sheet with this release that basically cautions against moving any of the joints past 90 degrees. Doing so will risk taring a hole in the body itself and you don’t want to do that to your $100 toy. I wish they had included an image of the body itself without the suit over it as I think it would be helpful to know how the figure is truly constructed. I found that moving the arms out to the side was a piece of cake, but sometimes they don’t really want to rotate forward at the shoulder and I have to assume something is getting in the way. I was able to bring the arm out, and then forward, and that usually worked. For whatever reason, it’s more of an issue with the right shoulder than the left and the hips seem to function the same. Out to the side is no problem and Batman can do some splits, but going forward can be finicky.

He’s also got this big ass thing if you find the grapnel gun too understated.
It also articulates, though it doesn’t have any wired accessories.

In addition to that basic movement, we also get rotation at the biceps, a bend at the elbow, a twist at the glove, and little ball-hinges at the wrists. The legs can rotate a bit at the thigh and bend at the knee. The boots also swivel and at the ankle we get a little range going back, almost nothing forward, and a little bit of range at the ankle rocker. The knees and elbows both have no issue hitting a 90 degree bend. I think they could go further, but I’m not pushing it. There is some rotation at the waist, which Mezco doesn’t draw attention to, and even an ab crunch. Engaging such is kind of scary though, but it appears to work pretty well. It at least allows for some adjustments when posing the figure if you want it to be as tall as possible or maybe rotate a little to work with the accessories. Mezco recommends not leaving the figure in anything extreme for too long. I’m not sure what passes for extreme. Can he be left on the shelf with a bent elbow or his arms out to the side? I don’t know. It doesn’t seem particularly stressful for the arms to be out to the side, but I can totally see a bent elbow perhaps doing so. It feels like there’s enough material over the skeleton to prevent issues of the steel becoming exposed in most places. With this figure, it’s really going to be a case of “time will tell” as what happens if it starts to dry out? Will this body become brittle after awhile and split in places? I don’t know, and I don’t know if Mezco could honestly answer that or not. It’s a risky everyone is taking who purchases this figure.

Remember his bomb? It’s okay if you don’t.
And I think this tiny, little, thing is his smoke bomb.

If you like accessories, Mezco certainly has you covered. Batman is known for an assortment of wonderful toys and we get just about all of them in this set. For starters, he has four sets of hands: fists, gripping, a wider set of gripping hands, a trigger right hand, and a more open left hand. For the tighter gripping hands, he has four Bataranges. They’re sculpted well and have a touch of silver paint at the tips and look like the real deal from the film. He also has a fifth Batarang connected to a thin, bendy, wire for him to use like a grappling hook or an offensive weapon. There’s also a tiny vile of his smoke bomb stuff (at least, I think that’s what it is) which he can hold and he also has the little remote for the Batmobile. There’s a silver shuriken, which I don’t remember at all from the movie, and he has his time bomb which is this little steel-colored gadget. It has a really intricate sculpt and I’m surprised at how far they took it for something that’s largely obscured by the gripping hand.

You also get an action stand, which I think is pretty typical of Mezco releases.

For the trigger hand, we get the grapnel, or spear, gun. Batman can hold it effortlessly and it also features a magnet of its own so that it can attach to the right side of his utility belt. There’s a hook attached to a bendy wire that can also peg into it like it’s being fired or you could extend it entirely. He also has a second hook with no wire. It’s supposed to slot into the end of the gun like it’s loaded, but mine doesn’t seem to fit. I don’t know if it’s defective, but I’ve seen plenty of images of others who got it to work properly. We also get the collapsed version of the grapnel gun. This is what he has attached to his belt in the getaway scene that he has Vicki grab onto. It also can attach via a magnet to his belt and it can accept the bendy wire hook. There’s also that gigantic, double-grapnel hook gun which Batman uses to escape from the museum. It slides over the figure’s forearm and the two firing mechanisms are articulated so it can spread out like it’s going to fire a line to either side. It feels a little delicate, but it looks really cool and it’s well-painted, just be sure to go easy with it. Especially since the gauntlet portion is painted silver and it would be a shame if that rubbed off on the figure. Lastly, Mezco includes a stand that features either a peg for the foot to slot into or you can slot in a transparent arm which is also included. It’s a solid stand and a pretty conventional one at that. The base is the Batman logo, though like the movie poster, it’s a traditional Batman logo and not the one on the figure’s chest with the two added points at the base of the bat. It’s fine, though this figure doesn’t need much help standing and the metal skeleton makes it heavier than a typical figure. It’s also a little strange since Mezco doesn’t recommend leaving the figure in any crazy poses, though if you just want him with his arms out it can work for that. I’m still happy to have it, even if I end up using it for a different figure.

It’s only a matter of time until Batman gets his own “Bat-verse” film or special.

There’s a lot going on with Mezco’s take on this version of Batman. There’s also some baggage too considering the long wait, especially if you were one of those individuals who paid upfront and had Mezco just hanging onto your money with no communication for three years. There are certainly issues with this figure, and some of them should not be. The biggest offender for me is the cape, which is just not well-engineered and poorly designed. It has me considering a third party cape, which is pretty absurd for an action figure in this price range. The seamless body is also something I’m still not entirely sold on. It looks okay, and the white residue is not as bad in person as I thought it would be. I still wonder if it was necessary though. Do we really care if we see joints in our action figures? Plus, with the cape you can hide a lot of that if you want to. It seems to pose okay, but I’m also afraid to pose it. It’s not a fun way to make a toy.

At least we can all feel a little safer now knowing Batman is out there.

At the same time though, the likeness is fantastic. This is the best looking Michael Keaton Batman I’ve seen. I think it rivals the figures in a larger scale. NECA did one in a 1:12 scale a few years back that was okay. It was almost too accurate to the film though and he had kind of a frumpy look. Mezco took some creative licensing with their adaptation and I think the figure benefits from that. It has me really wondering what I would do if they announced a Batman Returns version with the same approach. Would I be down for another one of these seamless bodies? Ehh, it’s a tough call. I know I wouldn’t be if it had the same cape and I definitely wouldn’t pay upfront and order through Mezco. I’m almost left hoping I don’t even have to make that decision. Considering the price of this figure and the unknowns surrounding how this body will hold up long-term, I have a hard time recommending it. I definitely don’t at the current aftermarket/post release price which is around $170-$185. It’s just not worth that kind of money. It’s barely worth considering at the MSRP which was $110, if I’m not mistaken. What it comes down to, for me, is how much you value having a little Michael Keaton on your shelf. If that’s worth a lot to you, then I think you’ll ultimately be satisfied with this figure. Excepting the cape, it looks great and it has a lot of accessories. If you don’t have much of an attachment to the Keaton Batman and you just thought it might be fun to have this version of the character with your other Batmen, then it’s probably a luxury you can do without.

If that’s not enough Batman for you, I have a few more toy reviews you can check out:

Batman – The Adventures Continue #50: Batman

If you’re a repeat visitor here at The Nostalgia Spot, then you’ve probably noticed that around here there is a high opinion of the television show Batman – The Animated Series. I did a re-watch of the series that spanned more than two years and also checked out the various films based on the property.…

Keep reading
by Joe

The Hot Wheels Batman Series

I’m not much of a car collector, but when I was a kid I went through a Hot Wheels and Matchbox phase. My favorite car was a small, black, one that I only barely remember. I have no idea what make or model the car was, but what I liked about it was that it…

Keep reading
by Joe

MAFEX No. 105 – Batman: Hush

You may have been wondering why I decided to devote an entry earlier this week to a nearly twenty year old action figure of mediocre quality, and if so, now you know why. I wanted to take a look at the DC Direct Batman based on his appearance in the Jeph Loeb written, Jim Lee…

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by Joe

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Film, toys

June 11, 2021

The Hot Wheels Batman Series

By Joe
Hot Wheels gave their Batmobiles a makeover.

I’m not much of a car collector, but when I was a kid I went through a Hot Wheels and Matchbox phase. My favorite car was a small, black, one that I only barely remember. I have no idea what make or model the car was, but what I liked about it was that it had something on the rear that reminded me of the turbine on the back of the Batmobile from the Batman television show. As a kid, that was my Batman and I loved watching reruns of the 1966 show even though the cliffhanger endings always bothered me as a kid. I loved that car though, but I’d eventually replace it when the 1989 Batman movie arrived for with it came a ton of merchandise, including a Hot Wheels sized Batmobile. I don’t remember if it was actually a Hot Wheels brand or not, but it worked with the few sets I had and I very much liked having it. I also got out of cars not that long after though, so it would be the only tiny Batmobile I’d ever have.

When my son was around the age of 2, I started buying him Hot Wheels and one of the first priorities I had as a dad was to get him a Batmobile. And I did, getting him a variation of the ’89 Batmobile and later one based on the design from Batman: The Animated Series, but his love affair with small scale cars didn’t last very long. He still has a bunch of them, and also has the giant garage and some track sets, but he’s moved on much like I did when I was his age.

In my numerous trips to Target in search of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and assorted other action figures, I’ve come across a new line from Mattel’s Hot Wheels brand. It’s a line of Batman vehicles, but they’re not at the usual roughly 1:64 scale of a traditional Hot Wheels car. The regular BTAS Batmobile is rougly 3 1/8″ long while this new scale puts it at 4 1/2″. They’re also not the same price since they’re around 9 dollars after tax. I’m not sure what the scale of these cars are. Their construction though is largely the same as they’re a mix of diecast and plastic with Mattel using diecast on the more prominent pieces with the plastic often used for the base. And since they’re bigger, they look better and they stand out.

My childhood affection for the Batmobile is something that’s never really left me. When I bought those Batmobiles for my son, I was tempted to buy an extra for myself. I never did, but when I saw these larger ones it had me thinking these could be daddy’s Batmobile. I still didn’t jump right away, as that price was a turn-off initially, but I just couldn’t keep turning them down. Eventually I caved, repeatedly, and now I have a small assortment of miniature vehicles from Batman. On an individual basis, there isn’t much to talk about, but now that I have a small assortment I figured it made sense to take a look at them in a blog post. I’m going to start with the one that made me jump into this line first.

Mattel went a little too far with this one including things it didn’t need to.

The 1989 Batmobile from the movie Batman might be my favorite. I say might be, because I really have a hard time deciding between it and the next two we’re going to look at. It’s just a cool design though that combines a flashy aesthetic with something that’s actually functional. This thing looks drive-able, even though it would be a bit long and cumbersome to steer. It’s sort of like the car Cruella DeVille drives, but with armor and a bat theme. Seeing the Batmobile self-drive in the movie was a huge thrill for a kid at the time, and when I got a chance to see the real thing at a car show I begged my parents to pay for a photo of us with the Batmobile.

Mmm that backend.

This Hot Wheels version of the Batmobile pretty much nails the likeness. It’s cast all in black and has all of the little details you probably remember from the film like the ribbed rear panels, the ports for the machineguns, and even the little side hatch for that grappling hook it can fire. Mattel did take some liberties with the coloring though as maybe they felt it was just too black as presented on film. They used a metallic silver for portions of the engine on each side of the vehicle, on the gas tank access, and on the hubcaps. From what I can tell based on shots from the film, the gas tank access points weren’t black, but they definitely don’t stand out as much as they do here. I’m guessing their color was closer to a gunmetal finish. The hubcaps though are definitely too shiny and bright. They do have the little bat logo on the center, but they should be black and it does kind of bother me that they are not. It’s still better than the standard Hot Wheels I got for my son, which has a random, red, racing stripe on it for some reason.

Neat, but unnecessary.

What might bother me more though, is the little action feature Mattel included. The hatch on the Batmobile is functional and it slides forward to reveal the innards of the car. It’s not super detailed inside, but it looks pretty neat. What’s not neat is how they engineered it. In order for it to slide forward, Mattel had to cut a track into the vehicle’s hood. It’s an eyesore, and what kind of sucks about it is that the car is packaged with the hatch open so you don’t see this eyesore until you open the box. It looks fine when open, but I bet most people want to display it closed. I don’t really know of a way Mattel could have engineered this without cutting an ugly track somewhere into the car. Tracks on the side would have probably looked worse, and sticking in a hinge instead would be inaccurate. I think I would have just not included the feature if it was up to me, or maybe try to attach the hatch with a magnet. That though would have required the hatch be engineered differently too as it’s plastic, which is also a bit of a bummer as it’s noticeably more shiny than the diecast portion. It doesn’t ruin this toy, but it’s far from perfect.

If I had to pick a favorite Batmobile this might be the one.

The Batmobile from Batman: The Animated Series was my second purchase from this line, and unlike the 89 Batmobile, it’s pretty damn near perfect. It feels a bit more weighty than the 89 one as I think there’s more diecast in use here. It gives it a wonderful feel with a lovely matte finish. The hatch doesn’t function and instead it has a blue piece of plastic serving as the windshield. It’s a little odd, but it contrasts nicely with the all black exterior. And that’s basically the only nitpick I have with this one. The Batmobile from BTAS wasn’t black, but dark blue. Most of the toys though cast it in black, which always annoyed me. It’s similar to how many Batman action figures make Batman’s cape and cowl black instead of blue. The best solution is probably to make it black with blue highlights to make it look like it was pulled right from an animation cel, but if a company isn’t going to invest that much in the paint application, then just make it blue. The standard sized one my son has was given a dark blue, sparkly, paint job. It’s pretty cool, though the sparkles might have detracted at this scale, but at least they tried to capture that color-changing aspect of the source material.

A more exciting paint-job and this thing would be perfect.

Aside from that, I really can’t find anything to complain about. The “ribbed” portion of the hood looks great, the front-end is accurate, the hubcaps are the right color, and even the headlight placement looks good. I do think Mattel probably had to dull the points on the back of the car to adhere to safety standards, but it doesn’t harm the look of the car. There are no treads on the tires, which is a little odd, but you can’t really see the tires unless you flip it over so it’s not really an issue. Of some interest to me is the 2017 copyright on the bottom of this one so I guess this thing isn’t new, but it’s new to me.

I can’t look at this and not hear the theme song.

The first Batmobile I fell in love with was indeed that 1966 one from the television show Batman. This Batmobile, based on a Ford concept vehicle, is definitely more of a style over substance vehicle. The previous Batmobiles we looked at are like luxury tanks or something, but this one is just a slick car. Except for that siren in the middle, that’s a little dorky. It’s all black though with logos on the doors and hubcaps. The open top design meant that Batman and Robin could just jump right in, rarely utilizing the doors, though it also meant that Batman might have been slow to respond to distress calls from Commissioner Gordon if it was raining out. The dual, bubble dome, windshield is such an “of its era” design that remains charming. By far though, my favorite feature of this Batmobile when I was a kid was that turbine on the rear of the car in which flames would burst when Batman hit the gas. That feature is so awesome and stylish that future versions of the Batmobile made sure to keep it.

Nice car, but what is up with this?!

The Hot Wheels version does a good job of replicating the car from the show. The proportions and front end look great, and they even sculpted a Batphone in-between the two seats. What hurts it a little is that this is a design that calls for finer details, and even though this is bigger than a typical Hot Wheels car, it’s not really big enough to capture those finer details. Some of the interior comes across as a red-orange blob because of paint limitations, and they chose to paint the siren the same color rather than use translucent plastic. There’s also a blemish on the passenger windshield on mine that’s disappointing, but not truly detracting. What really confounded me though was the presence of a trailer hitch. It’s weird to look at the rear of the car for that iconic shot from the show where the flames burst forth, only to see it obstructed by a trailer hitch, something that definitely wasn’t present on the actual vehicle from the show. If Batman wants to tow something he should probably just get a Bat Truck.

When the streets just won’t do.

This line isn’t just Batmobiles though. There’s actually a bunch of other vehicles, like Penguin’s duck and the Batcopter, but I didn’t want any of those things. What did catch my eye though is the Batwing from Batman: The Animated Series. The Batwing from that show is heavily influenced by the same vehicle from the film. Its proportions are altered slightly, but the general design of replicating the classic Batman logo is preserved. It’s definitely a cool vehicle, and I had the Kenner version of the movie Batwing as a kid and loved it. When I saw this at the store, which is from the second series of vehicles, it was an easy buy.

The stand is simple, but pretty cool.

This Batwing is basically just a solid piece of black metal. It’s extremely satisfying to hold and I instinctively started flying it around my head and making soaring noises when I pulled it out of the package. Like the BTAS Batmobile, Mattel utilized translucent blue plastic for the windshield which looks pretty cool. The subtle, sculpted, details on the top of the plane look nice and sharp, and this thing is just all-together a little slice of cool. The points on it are dulled to a degree, but it’s not something that truly takes away from the toy. It doesn’t have any additional features, but Mattel did include a little flight stand. It’s just a ball peg that snaps into the underside which lifts the Batwing about 2″ off of the surface it’s on. The ball-peg connection means it can pivot a bit to either side or up and down to give you some display options. This one just simply gets the job done, and it might be my favorite of the bunch as a result, though that BTAS Batmobile is right there with it.

Batman, the maritime warrior!

That 66 Batmobile is pretty cool too, but that trailer hitch is confounding. Or at least it was until I saw my latest purchase from this line: the Bat Boat! The Bat Boat from the 1966 television show is part of series 2 and with it comes a trailer. Now, I remember the boat from the show and the movie, but I don’t remember ever seeing Batman tow the thing with the Batmobile. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to hitch a trailer right where flames fire out of a car, but that era was definitely style over substance. It’s definitely a humorous image to conjure up of Batman waiting in line at a public boat launch towing his Bat Boat with the Batmobile, then struggling to launch or pull it out, getting his boots wet or his cape hung up.

Even Batman’s trailer is tricked out.

The Bat Boat certainly looks the part though at it’s a metallic blue with white underside. This one is mostly plastic and it has a very light feel in the hand. It’s definitely not as cool as the Batmobile as it has these dorky flame decals on the side, but it does have that giant engine on the back so it was capable of shooting out flames as well. I do like the metallic blue finish it has though as the glossy look works well for the source material. The trailer is just all plastic, but it does have bat fins over the tires and the big, orange, bat logo on the hubcaps. The details around the hitch are actually pretty well done and it looks like a real boat trailer and the boat itself rests on it well enough. The actual connection to the Batmobile is a bit odd as Mattel basically put a ring at the end instead of an actual hitch design which is cupped and rests on top of the ball on the back of the vehicle. The ring design makes it look like the Batmobile hitch should snap into this ring, but it doesn’t really work with mine. Just resting it works okay and the Batmobile can actually pull this thing. Was it worth it to ugly the design of the Batmobile with that trailer hitch? I don’t know, but I guess I would have displayed the two connected if given the chance. I just wish the hitch was easily removed from the Batmobile. It is a separate piece so maybe I could work it out if I was determined. At any rate, if I never wanted the boat and hated that hitch I could definitely remove it, but I might destroy it in the process. Since I do have the boat, I’m not willing to take that risk.

So that’s why we have a trailer hitch on the Batmobile.

That’s it for now though. As mentioned earlier, there are other vehicles in this line that are mostly different versions of the Batmobile or one of Batman’s other flying vehicles. I don’t really like any of the Batmobiles that followed BTAS, so I’m good. The only tempting one is the Super Friends Batmobile which looks a lot like the 66 version, but it’s blue and has softer features since it came from a cartoon. As for future vehicles, I’d probably be interested in the 89 Batwing, but I’m not into the 66 Batcopter or the Bat Ski Boat from Batman Returns. Maybe there are other Bat vehicles I’m spacing on, but for now, this is a fun little assortment of Batman vehicles and if it never grows beyond this then I’ll be perfectly content.

Bat cars! Assemble!

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