A decent superhero themed toy vehicle has always been a tough thing for toy makers to get right. Historically, they tend to be normal/generic cars with gaudy hero images and titles across their sides and hoods. Okay, Superheroes can be a bit gaudy, and tend to wear their names or symbols blazoned across their chests/heads/capes etc. - but if Batman, the king of superhero "mobiles," doesn't drive a car that says "BATMAN" across the hood and have his grinning mug on the doors, then no one should.
So I usually avoid these types of things, even though I am a 1:64 die cast AND Super hero aficionado.
I avoid them to the point of actually seeing AND avoiding some new MGA/Marvel die-cast at K-Mart this weekend. They were cars with comic cover images covering them like a car-cover from marketing hell. Their only saving grace was that they came packaged with mini versions of the comics they referenced. Cool, but still avoidable.
My tune changed later that same day when I went to the dollar store. And not just because the price was right.
I found these Marvel cars among the cheap lead-laced booty of the dollar store toy aisle.
First off - the Punisher car. Okay, this thing is perfect. And I'm not even a Punisher fan. But who WOULDN'T drive a suede black Camaro-esque with a skull on the hood/doors? Seriously. I can GUARANTEE the Punisher would! Also it is very reminiscent of the Nova in the recent movie Deathproof. Cool on so many levels you have to take an elevator to enjoy it.
And to top off the awesomeness of the design, there are BULLET HOLES! And not just holes on the sides and back, but bullet ricochet marks on the top of the fenders as well!
Okay, whoever designed this one is a genius of minimalism. Pure, unadulterated brilliance! And for a dollar!?!?! Get outta town!
Next up we have Captain America. As I was leafing through the pegs, I was thinking to myself "please be a Cap car, please be a Cap car..." and my prayers were answered. Maybe I need to aim higher with my prayers.
The same Camaro-esque vehicle as the Punisher, this one is painted no more or less gaudy than the Cap himself. But with no "Captain America" or pics of Cap throwing his shield on the car itself, it is perfect. I love it! I can see this car in that old seventies Captain America TV movie - it would have been great.
And look at the cardboard these cars are attached to. Each one had the character die-cut in the center. This one is too pretty to destroy.
Okay, so I was only going to buy the two. They are perfect. But hey, I was at the dollar store. So even though some weren't even worth that (the Spider-Man quad and Hulk Hummer to mention a couple) the following two couldn't escape my grasp.
The Wolverine car is pretty silly, but it is a wholly original design and reminiscent of the Batmobile from the nineties animated series. The Venom mobile is almost cool - as a Corvette-esque creation with the spider symbol on the hood and four headlights that look like a spider's multiple eyes. The only thing that makes it less than perfect is the previously mentioned character image on the side. Oh well, the cardboard is very cool and I am keeping this one carded for now.
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