Review – Matchbox Batmobile

Based on the Total Destruction Batmobile (review here) this new Batmobile toy is considerably larger than that version of the car that we looked at last month. But that doesn’t keep this Matchbox Batmobile* from being awesome; especially when you consider that it’s not too tough to find for less than $1. I honestly have no idea how Mattel is keeping their Hot Wheels and Matchbox prices low . . . but I sure am thankful that they are!

An Amazing Design

Long and mean, the Matchbox Batmobile* follows the style of the Total Destruction Batmobile perfectly, from the single seat cockpit to the bat-headed ram at the front of the car. The only real design difference between the two is the wheels — this tiny car doesn’t have the custom wheels that are on the 14-inch version of the design — but that’s minor and doesn’t harm the design at all.

Comparing the two cars you can see other variations between the two toys, but nothing that makes me enjoy this toy any less and nothing that’s so big as to be immediately noticeable. The two cars are completely different sculpts — the fins are one point where the two designs vary — but it’s also obvious that they both came from the same set of sketches. A cool design that should find its way into at least one or two DC Batman comics.

No Batman?

Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars are basically always empty, but the details on the cockpit make me kinda wish that Mattel had included a tiny Batman inside this Matchbox Batmobile*. If you take a look at the below photo you can see how Mattel put effort into the interior of the car and I’m sure I’m not the only one who would have been quite happy if they had included a little Batman at the wheel.

A Little Excess Paint

The paint apps are mostly perfect — that metallic blue looks fantastic — but there are some ugly red splotches on the hood where paint got a bit out of control. Worse than the excess paint, though, has to be the DC trademark and copyright notice plastered on the right rear of the car. All of this information is on the underside of the toy so I cannot understand why the type was printed on the upper body of the car. That’s some ugly white lettering that we didn’t need.

Closing Thoughts

I love that the new Batman movie has brought us toys like this Matchbox Batmobile* and I really love that Mattel decided to take the fantastic Total Destruction Batmobile design and immediately bring it to a smaller scale. This is a great Batmobile and at less than $1 it’s a toy that every Batman fan should go find right now.

Philip Reed really should have a Super Powers Batmobile on his shelf. It’s very sad that he doesn’t.