HOLY 'MY-WIFE-IS-GOING-TO-KILL-ME-FOR-BUYING-ANOTHER-TOY', BATMAN!I thought those Corgi deals I blogged about a few days ago were cool, but I totally missed this. Back in 2007, to mark the 40th anniversary of the classic 1966-1968 'Batman' TV series, Warner Brothers, DC Comics and Mattel announced the only officially licensed production of a stellar line of Hot Wheels die-cast reproductions of some of the show's legendary vehicles. They started to ship the micros earlier this year, w/ the bigger versions hitting the street in Spring/Summer.
The lengths taken to recreate the iconic Batmobile in absolutely perfect detail are breathtaking. First, the Hot Wheels design team took precise measurements from the actual car and electronically scanned the vehicle in order to work on the design digitally. 3-D images were then created and used to cut the die-cast models’ tooling, ensuring the highest accuracy.
The actual TV Batmobile was designed by custom automotive legend George Barris, who based it on a never-produced 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car. From the wheels to the curved windshield, Hot Wheels reviewed the final product w/ Barris prior to it's release to insure it was right...and you can tell.
As I said earlier, they've made these in the affordable 1:50 size , but I picked up the glorious 1:18 scale version today at Toys 'R' Us...last one they had and if i'm correct, the overall release is of a 'limited' variety. $40, but worth every dime as i've been wanting one of these for years...like, 'since I was a kid' years.
Out of all of the stuff i've been grabbing since my return to geekdom...this, without a doubt, is the Crown Jewel.
No comments:
Post a Comment