As expected, 2011 was a good year to be a car fan. Three of the top 10 grossing movies were essentially "car movies" (
Transformers: Dark of the Moon,
Fast Five, and
Cars 2), while three others managed to have highly recognizable vehicles in their franchise history (the Weasley's Flying Anglia from
Harry Potter, Bella's Chevy Pickup from
Twilight, and Red Skull's monster from
Capitan America). Other movies with some good car action included
The Green Hornet,
Drive Angry,
The Mechanic,
Drive,
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol,
Super 8,
Arthur, and
Bellflower (with special mention to
Real Steel&
Sucker Punch for their awesome use of robots & mechs, respectively).
2011 also marked the passing of several Hollywood icons, including Anne Francis, Pete Postlethwaite, Kenneth Mars, Dwayne McDuffie, Michael Gough, Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Cooper, Jeff Conaway, Peter Falk, Lee J. Ames, Roberts Blossom, Linda Christian, Bubba Smith, Cliff Robertson, Harry Morgan, and Jerry Robinson.
My own work continued to be a mix of building and collecting. This year I added
The Avengers' Lotus,
Mannix's Toronado, the
2004 Batmobile, the
1987 Batmobile, the
Dark Harvest2 Durango,
Major Motoko Kusanagi,
007's Z8,
G2 Optimus Prime,
Herbie,
The A-Team van,
the Weasley's flying Anglia, the
EVA-WP-6000 Twinklehead, the
Smokey & the Bandit 2 Firebird,
R.E.V.,
Gearhead,
G2 Sideswipe,
Danger Mouse's Mark III,
Roadbuster, the
Monster XR4Ti,
Leadfoot,
Clu's Light Cycle, the
200 MPH 370Z, the
I Am Legend GT500, the
Rain Man Buick, and
UR2EZ. Other personal highlights included the third annual Bandit Awards (hosted by myself and
Joe Johnson), attending ToyFair and NYCC, and securing the final piece in my Paul Alexander box art collection.
In hobby news, Revell & GearZ introduced the first ever Hot Rod Model Building Contest, while Hasbro expanded their line of Human Alliance figures (the spiritual descendants of the large, highly detailed Alternators/Binaltech series) and several businesses in Japan were victims of the Tōhoku Earthquake in March. Although 1/24 diecasts have not been as readily available as in previous years, we still saw M2 adding another Mustang and a Challenger to their 1/24 lineup, Ertl's "unofficial"
Death Proof Charger, and several new TV & movie cars from Franklin and Danbury Mint. Round 2 continued to raise the bar with several reissues of long-sought kits, new parts packs, three Looney Tunes-inspired kits, and the release of their all-new '66 Batmobile. Moebius Models also joined the 1/25 car fray with their Hudson Hornet, International Lone Star, and Bat Pod kits (and plan to follow up next year with a 1/25 Tumbler kit).
All in all a busy year, and I'm looking forward to what 2012 brings!
