If you were to think back, what would you vote for as the coolest movie vehicle of all time? The Delorean time machine from Back to the Future? How about the Ghost Busters' vintage ambulance also known as Ecto 1 ? Or, for fans of the more obscure, maybe the giant twelve wheeled truck, known as the Landmaster, from Damnation Alley? This month I begin a special series of toys, all representing famous movie vehicles. These vehicles have captured movie goers imaginations and now the vehicles themselves are captured in miniature size in die cast metal and plastic. On with the show...The 2005 movie Batman Begins told us some important details about the caped crusader. First of all, he was trained by ninjas in a secret compound in Asia, second of all he gets his cool toys from a defunct military technology division of his own company, and finally, all the whacked out bad guys he fights are the product of a hallucinogenic drug that was dispersed through the water supply of Gotham City. OK, cool, now Batman is grounded in reality right? In one scene in the movie he discovers a vehicle prototype under a tarp and takes it for a test spin. The vehicle, called the Tumbler, looks like the bastard child of a stealth jet fighter and a military truck.
Historically batman drives a dragster like car that, while fast and powerful, actually makes very little sense for a vigilante crime fighter. A military vehicle is a much more reasonable choice. Batman Begins' production designer Nathan Crowley designed the Tumbler through an organic process of clay models and plastic model bashing. The actual movie car is quite impressive. It is capable of speeds over 100 mph. and was jumped 30 feet as part of the production.
Today I have for your consideration a 1:18 scale model of the Batman Begins Tumbler in it's original military prototype camouflage paint scheme. This toy was released primarily as a collectible item several months after the films theatrical release. A regular black version was available first. The black version is still quite easy to find on EBay for around $35 The camo version is considerably more rare.
Many of the details of the movie vehicle are featured on this toy, and I have included many notes about the actual movie vehicle, so roll into the Vehicles Gallery of the Cabinet of Curious Frivolities and take a close look at the many details of the Batman Begins Tumbler.
Full steam ahead...
Sometimes the best toys are the ones you make yourself-- and I'm not talking about paper airplanes here. Nine years ago I entered the live-steam hobby and it helped me cultivate an interest in toys that are nothing less than miniature working replicas of real machines. In the past nine years I have amassed a pretty respectable collection of miniature machinery. Many of these pieces are rare models that I purchased-- much like the 
While most people on the streets of modern Japan simply keep to themselves, this group is boisterous and vivacious-- they smoke, they swear, and they approach random tourists to offer directions-- they are schoolgirls. It could be claimed that schoolgirls should be a national symbol of Japan. Any search online will yield thousands of results that sexualize Japanese schoolgirls, seeking to make money off of pedophiles and perverts around the world, however Japanese schoolgirls often fetishize themselves by rolling up their skirts at the waist. This not only makes the skirts often absurdly short, but it makes the iconic pleated skirts flair outward. The rest of the uniform has become iconic as well; from the sailor top and knee high socks to the tiny backpacks. 
They are cute but prickly, meek yet menacing . Italian artist Simone Legno has created a world of cute and creepy characters. His characters are the equivalent of an adorable puppy bearing it's teeth and growling at you; you instinctively have the reaction "awwww, he's trying to be mean and scary". With different series of characters ranging from the sharp and prickly "Cactus Friends" to the bullet brandishing bovines of the "Moofia" and the cuddly but morbid, skeletal characters of "Til Death do us Part", Simone calls his world Tokidoki. A mysterious but sexy tattoo clad woman is often portrayed interacting with the world of cute characters. Tokidoki has become somewhat of a phenomenon, showing up on clothing, toys and designer hand bags. His work is popular enough that counterfeit products now appear in Asian street markets.
