#31: Hot Wheels - Batman Arkham Knight Batmobile (HW City 61/250)

Hey, did you know there's a new video game coming out in the Batman Arkham series? Although it's the fourth game in the series, for the first time you'll be able to drive the Batmobile. I didn't even know that Hot Wheels was making it until I saw that Eric had found one. I've been keeping an eye out ever since, and saw at least two in the store on the day when I found it. Mattel already made the earlier Batmobile from Arkham Asylum, but the Arkham Knight version is a different beast altogether. This one is more of a tank, a la Dark Knight Returns. It's not really the most bat-like of Batmobile designs, but that can be attributed to the game designers.

#30: Star Wars The Black Series - TIE Pilot

Hasbro made the TIE pilot in the six inch line before they made the Snowtrooper. Hopefully they'll still keep releasing classic characters after the new movies start coming out, because Snowtroopers are the coolest (no pun intended) Imperial troopers. The TIE pilot is a pretty basic figure. It's got all the typical articulation of the line. It's almost entirely black, so there's very little paint. His sole accessory is the typical Stormtrooper blaster, which has a holster on the left hip that it fits into. I seriously doubt that Hasbro will make a six inch scale TIE Fighter, but the pilot is cool enough.

#29: Hot Wheels - The Jetsons Capsule Car

Mattel originally released the Jetsons car a couple years ago, but I never saw one. They do seem to be pretty good about re-releasing hard to find Hot Wheels cars, and I happened to see one at the grocery store recently, long after I had given up on finding one. This is a pretty decent adaptation of the cartoon design to a wheeled toy. The wheels in this case are clear plastic, and the two propulsion tail things are sculpted into the underside of the car. It could perhaps be more rounded on the bottom, but that probably wouldn't be feasible with the wheels in place.

#28: Transformers Generations Combiner Wars - Decepticon Viper

There were two reasons I wanted to get Viper. One: it's a Transformer with a G.I. Joe altmode, the Cobra Rattler, which is one of my favorite G.I. Joe vehicles. Two: it's basically the only G.I. Joe toy available from Hasbro at mass retail this year. It's not exactly a Rattler, but it's got the right colors and if you squint, it's hard to tell them apart. There's also a cool Cobra/Decepticon mashed up logo.

This is one of the smaller Transformers toys, so going between robot and jet is pretty simple. Another cool touch is that Viper's head looks like the Rattler pilot helmet. Viper doesn't include any weapons, but has a third mode that serves as a weapon for other figures. There have been several G.I. Joe/Transformers mashup toys available as SDCC exclusives, but I believe this is the first one available at retail. I'm not sure if this is just a one-off type of thing, but it would be cool to see more G.I. Joe influenced Transformers toys, especially since the Joe line is currently cooling its heels.