Huffy Flounce

I just want to thank each and every one of them for all they've done to their bodies. Thank you so much, Mr. Shot First, for saying what needed to be said.

I don't want to see another one of these!

Until the next one.

DUUUUDE! I had no idea there was a real-life version of the Batman:TAS Batmobile!

That's pretty sweet.

More!!!!

That was always my favorite Batmobile. I think I like that it's sleek, simple, and elegant, without too many extreme lines. It somehow looks like a limousine and a sports car at the same time.

Mal Shot First wrote:...it's sleek, simple, and elegant,...

Actually, that would be a good description of the Bruce Timm look of the Batman universe in general.

I have a soft spot for the Batmobile introduced by the Super Powers toy line and cartoon. I think a modified version of it was also used in the comics for a while. Here's the toy:



Never owned it. Always wanted it.

Here's a collection of Batmobiles through the ages.

I can't remember which comic it is in, maybe one of the Halloweens, where Batman says they will take the car, and Robin asks "Which one?" in a frame that shows a cavern containing all film, TV and comic iterations to date! all on racks and ceiling mounted claws etc.

It's pretty cool.

I don't know if Kulich really wrote this (the site claims he wrote it, but Googling phrases from it only results in a link to the same site and a link to another site quoting it), but it's cool if he did.

I don't know if I ever had a Batmobile, but I'm pretty sure I had the Spidermobile at one point. It was kind of dumb. Can't believe they actually put that thing in a comic (the comic I had started after he'd just driven it into the harbor, thanks to a Mysterio illusion, so it was present in dialogue only. Obviously it was in the issue prior, which I never read.)

The Spider-Mobile is a pretty famous example of lampshade hanging. The comics acknowledge that it's stupid-looking and a bad idea, but it hasn't stopped Marvel from licensing it and making money off the toys.

I had a bat copter and bat bike. It was pretty sweet.

I used to be pretty big into models and such. When a new batman movie would come out my dad would get me a corresponding model (except Returns, he got me the batwing then) and put it together for me. He did this because while the models were awesome, my skills were lacking.

At some point during my youth I decided to do the same for a friend and got him the '89 batmoble and put it together for him. That thing looked terrible. The windows were all fogged up with paint fumes, the gear shifts were mostly laying stuck to the seats. Horrible, horrible job by me. I even tried to do the optional machine gun additions.

I sometimes wonder at what point in life he tossed that thing in the trash.

I was the same with models like that. I had no patience and also no cash for the proper equipment.

Now I am older, wiser (ahem), more patient (double ahem) and have more spare cash I do feel a real urge to try again. As a hobby it beats beer and Malboro.

When I was eleven or so, my class went to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Most of the field trips I went on were A/B Honor Roll trips, but I think this one might have been for my full class. I remember a bunch of dumb kids being there. Then again, there were usually a bunch of dumb kids on A/B Honor Roll trips. Our school had impressively low standards.

A couple months before the trip, my ex-stepbrother had impressed me with with a Revell Red October model he had put together and spray-painted black. Looked pretty sleek. It was airtight. He illustrated this by filling our tub with water and showing me how it floated. I made some comment about how a submarine that can't dive is a failure of a submarine. He called me a wise ass and told me his Red October was off limits.

Dude was obsessed with submarines, and all thanks to the Connery/Baldwin Hunt for Red October. It wasn't long before he joined the navy. He put in for submarine duty and eventually got it. I think he was happy on the sub for all of a day or two. Turns out sub life is the height of drudgery and isolation. Who knew?

Before he left, he gave me his Red October model. He told me he no longer needed it, since he was gunning for the real thing. He also let me have his USS Dallas. I took baths with them. I'd excuse myself and say it's because I was eleven, but even eleven's probably too old for that kind of thing.

Thanks to the Hunt for Red October models, I developed a brief interest in model kits. I put together a Hulk and a Thing. I put together a Porsche and a Lamborghini. Lamborghini models were a hot item for a couple years. I think Rain Man probably played into it. The Lamborghini was the first one I put together, so it looked terrible. There was a gluey thumb print on the front window pane. It was on the inside. Nothing I could do about it.

Anyway, back to the Space & Rocket Center. They had model kits for the NCC-1701 and NCC-1701-D. I think they had a TOS Romulan Bird of Prey, too, but I ended up buying both Enterprises. Couldn't decide between them. They were in the clearance section, so they were relatively cheap. I spent all the money I had on them. I think most of that money had been meant for food. A friend gave me a bite of her Neapolitan-style astronaut ice cream, so there was that.

I did a decent job of putting them together. The looked good, at least. I realized they weren't put together as well as I thought they were when I took them to the bath with me. The NCC-1701-D took on some water. The water sloshed around in there for years.

That trip to the Space & Rocket Center had an effect on me. A couple years later, I went back as a Space Academy cadet. My time there lasted a week and cost my grandparents something like six or seven hundred bucks . It got me out of having to walk with my grandfather down into Grand Canyon yet again, so I was pretty appreciative. Not going with him to the Grand Canyon meant not getting slapped or humiliated or made to go to sleep each night at eight or made to stare at barren landscapes on interminable drives out west. I wasn't allowed to read during these drives. That's its own story, though.

I realize that some of the above comes off like a person of means complaining about how his social advantages aren't advantageous enough for his liking, and it makes me feel shame.

I

Bananarama's Bouncy Bits wrote:I was the same with models like that. I had no patience and also no cash for the proper equipment.

Now I am older, wiser (ahem), more patient (double ahem) and have more spare cash I do feel a real urge to try again. As a hobby it beats beer and Marlboro.

I have been thinking exactly the same thing lately. Not that my cash flow is all that awesome these days.

Actually, I'd like to make my own UAV someday soon, either a store-bought quadcopter or my own design. Probably need to enlist the help of a buddy who is handy with electronics.

Double actually, I'd like to make some kind of remote model car that can turn into a UAV. These folks made something pretty neato along those lines:

https://www.youtube.com/user/mielnikuss?feature=watch

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/20 ... -go-beyond

When we have a real place, I'd like to turn a tabletop into a miniature WWII battleground.

I have a thing for plastic army men. Jubbers already knows about it.

My friend is desktop war gaming ex world champion, currently ranked #3 now. Travels all over. Does ultra modern 1:72 stuff. His wife likes it when he's out of the house with his little men!

That sounds awesome. And expensive.

Not for his wife. She hasn't seen their dining table for about 2 years.

Every 24 months he creates a scenario and battlefield board for an event. His last was called "Bridge on the River Wye' - the river in question being near where we live.

I am sure there will be pics online somewhere but you know I am too lazy to Google. It was so good, it made a magazine article in a publication for war gamers.

Here we go....

http://www.brigademodels.co.uk/mws/Show ... index.html

And yes, that is a fully functional 'OO' gauge railway he built across the middle complete with demolishable bridge. I have never really had any interest in this stuff but I went to see it in action to support him as a mate and I have to admit, it was damn awesome!

I might get banned on AICN. If I do, it'll be because I posted this:

Q: So when is the next Batman movie shooting?
A: Opening weekend.