The Retro-Tumbler/Bat-tank/Bat-Stryker IFV project is nearing it’s final touches, so I thought I would stall — I mean share — with a brief look back at some production Batmobiles whose designs also were pulled out of the designers imaginations or, occasionally, other places.
We’re going to star with a Batcycle. Wha? They still count.
When ToyBiz launched their 1989 line, they did so with quite a few vehicles. In addition to a somewhat screen-accurate Batmobile and a very accurate Batwing, they also created a Joker van, Joker cycle, and this hot little number. The Kenner one that would follow it was very similar, but that one was lifted from their Robocop line. This one was a completely new creation, and it had great body lines, had drop-down wings, and it fits the ToyBiz Batman really well — better than the Kenner Batman, for that matter. A little unassuming, perhaps, but this vehicle would not have seemed out of place in the movie it was based on, and that’s a solid accomplishment.
Kenner had some really cool stuff up their sleeve, though, and among those was going to be this monster. The Gotham City Dragster was to be released in the Dark Knight Collection, and with its raising suspension and sweet design, it would have been one of the most impressive-looking vehicles of all time . . . if it had come out.
Instead, the closest we ever came was with this reworked version for the Animated Series, which is also very cool, but easily the rarest Bat-vehicle Kenner ever made. There was some type of production issue with this vehicle that caused the cancellation of the first one and only a handful of these to be released. And so the dream of the Dynamic Duo running matching dragsters remains out of reach for just about everybody.
The Animated line certainly had more than its fair share of cool, inspired vehicles, though. My personal favorite is this one, the Ice Hammer. This vehicle operated more like a drill rig, with a somewhat exposed rear cockpit, but, holy crap, was it cool-looking. From a design standpoint, it feels like a forerunner to the Batman Beyond Batmobile, and the stark white finish really sets it apart from any other vehicle, canon or otherwise.
But getting any vehicle in scale for a bigger figure is, and has been, exceedingly rare, let alone a cool made-up one. Among those select few has to be the Legends of the Dark Knight Skywing bike. While maybe not to everyone’s taste, in fact I think I said a swearword the first time I saw it, this vehicle is so damn distinct it’s hard not to find some affinity for it. It looks like a Scarecrow-induced nightmare on wheels, with lots of metallic paint and some big un-folding wings. It was perfectly at home among the McFarlane-styled figures of the line, and I may yet need to track down another, just for the hell of it. Those yellow wheels, though . . . never liked em.
One of the most impressive designs has to be the Shadow Tek Bat-Tank from Mattel’s The Batman line. Designed maybe to loosely imitate the look of the Bat-tank from the “Artifacts” episode, this is one of the few true “Bat-tanks” ever to be produced for a Batman line. The separated front wheels definitely have a look of proto-Tumbler to them, but the bat-elements are incorporated really nicely, giving it the proper fins and lines to still feel very much like a Batman vehicle, and the “techy” styling keep it in fitting with the rest of the line. Its only downsides were the smaller scale and the captive pilot Batman figure — those kept me from buying it, even though I love the design. I also never remember seeing this camo-pattern version in stores, but that might have been a good thing.
And finally there is the most dangerous Batmobile of them all. Designed for the 4 Horsemen’s Mattel line from the early 2000s, this Batmobile was an interesting take, not based on any particular comic version to that point, instead maybe borrowing from the Batman Forever vehicles that preceded it by almost a decade. Unique and awesome for being a 6-inch scale figure vehicle and a two-seater, this Batmobile also had a pursuit feature where Robin’s cockpit detached to its own vehicle. The colors were great, the design stood out in a crowd, and it just had a tendency to poke kids in the eyes. Mattel re-released it with some softer fins later on, but the notoriety had been achieved — this was one mean made-up Batmobile.
See you again next week, when all that paint should hopefully be dry on my own made-up Batmobile!