Dream Tomica No. 146 Batmobile

Back to old school
A new review after completing the work on BB Senshi Sangokuden Sonsaku Physalis Gundam, which is more of a follow-up to another review I did a few months ago. ^^


This is the original Batmobile from Takara Tomy's Dream Tomica series. It's one of the two Dream Tomica models I got late last year, with the other one being the Tumbler, which was reviewed in early June this year. ^^

Coincidently, LEon from Open The Toy recently did his review on this fabulous model as well, so I wish to give him a shoutout here. ^^

Movie-wise, this vehicle needs no explicit introduction I think. ^^ Its long, smooth and streamlined design is quite a sight in Tim Burton's "Batman" (1989) and "Batman Returns" (1992). As a kid who was into robots and mechas, the extremely unconventional car design of the Batmobile, and of course all of its nifty gadgets and gimmicks formed some of my most memorable scenes of the two movies. ^^ I did however, felt that the overall design has very little to do with its pilot. ^^; Besides the wings on the back of the vehicle and the black color scheme, there's nothing "bat-like" or "Batman-like" about the Batmobile. ^^ On that point, the Batwing deployed in the first movie is my pick as the vehicle design with the closest sense of connection to Batman's enigma, perhaps in all of the movies based off the masked hero. ^^

When I got older and started appreciating designs for their intrinsic look and values, rather than looking for merely gadgets and gimmicks, I find myself liking the Batmobile more than ever. ^^ It's a uniquely beautiful car, a classic by today's standards no doubt. ^^ It looks almost like a luxurious limousine, except it's meant for two persons only. ^^ The huge turbine engine in front of the car is a design I couldn't understand as a kid, but its unique look makes it one of my favorite design elements about the car now. ^^ It's like having a turbine engine from a jumbo jet installed in front of your car, and that's plain awesomeness right there. ^^ All in all, for liking the vehicle's design so much, I wasn't going to give up getting this model after learning about it. ^^


Front view of the box.


The first Batman movie emblem, DC Comics and Warner Bros Entertainment Inc's company logos on the top side of the box.


Product cautionary notes on the bottom face of the box.


Simple design for the side of the box.


More product info on the back.


Comparison of box's size to "Transformers: Prime" Cyberverse Commander Class Megatron in robot mode.
It's the robot mode of Megatron for comparison this time, since the vehicle mode was featured in the Tumbler's review.


Box open.


Apart from the Batmobile itself, a small folded promotional pamphlet and a lucky draw ticket (?) are also included.


The promotional pamphlet and lucky draw ticket are identical to those that came with the Tumbler.


The mini model is removed from its plastic package. ^^
More images of Dream Tomica Batmobile:











Closeups on the details:














Bottom view:





Some special features of the model:




Spring suspension for front and rear wheels. ^^
The Tumbler only has this feature for its rear wheels.


Size of the model: 7.5cm (length, to the tip of the rear wings) x 3cm (wide) x 2cm (tall).


Comparison between the model and my palm. ^^
Like the Tumbler, the detail treatment on Batmobile is pretty amazing. The smooth bodyline certainly captures the essence of the vehicle's design accurately, and the die-cast material gives it a solid weight that feels really great to hold as well. ^^ Small as it is, details like the engine parts on either side of the car, the turbine engine, the wheel rims, front and rear lights are not only molded well, their paint work is beautifully done too. ^^ The intricate mechanical details beside the car's body are my favorite detail design on this model. I have no idea what they are for on the actual car, XD but they are very well done on this model nonetheless.

Because of their relatively larger size as compared to the same component on the Tumbler, the clear plastic windshields can be seen much easily on this model. Interestingly though, because of the black interior, the clear property of the windshields isn't noticeable in normal view. On the other hand, I think the wings should be made smaller, and the turbine engine should be black in color, if I remember those two components correctly from the movies, but overall, it's still a very nice small scale representation of the classic design. ^^

Finally, given this is the only other Dream Tomica model in my collection, here's a quick comparison between Batmobile and The Tumbler:




An encounter between the oldest and the latest. ^^
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Dream Tomica No. 146 Batmobile