My Fave 5 - Pop Culture Hot Wheels Vehicles

Aside from wrestling figures, the only other collection I actively maintain are Hot Wheels, more specifically the cars from all parts of pop culture, which can be difficult to find due to collectors and sellers and their price point of $1 each.

For the past 4 years, Hot Wheels has been incorporating more and more iconic recognizable cars we know and love from movies and television.  Of what I currently have, these are my top 5 favorite releases (in no particular order):

DeLorean Time Machine (Back to the Future Trilogy) - It's hard to believe only 3 years ago Hot Wheels made one of the most iconic and well-known cars to ever grace the big screen: Doc Brown's time-traveling DeLorean from the Back to the Future trilogy.  It was only a matter of time as prior to this release, the regular '81 DeLorean was released in the main line to be followed by the version of the car people tend to remember more than the original manufactured automobile.  With the original film being one of my all-time favorite movies, there is no doubt the car from the film is also one of my all-time favorite Hot Wheels.  Everything you could ask for in an screen accurate die cast car is here and the detail is incredible, right down to the "OUTATIME" license plate.

The Mystery Machine (Scooby Doo) - What would wind up being the first of quite a few Hanna Barbera cartoon cars to appear in the Hot Wheels main line is also one of my all-time favorites: The Mystery Machine.  When thinking of the mystery solving great dane himself, who can forget the van that him and the gang went everywhere in?  Their car was practically as recognizable as Scooby & Mystery Inc.  Again, Hot Wheels' attention to detail here is second to none.  The Mystery Machine as we all remember is recreated with 100% accuracy as a die cast vehicle.

The Homer (The Simpsons) - As of writing this, The Homer is the most recent pop culture Hot Wheels release to hit retail.  I also have to note that I am a huge fan of The Simpsons and grew up watching the show, so for any car from america's favorite animated family sitcom to show up in the Hot Wheels main line is a big deal to me.  Depending on how much you watch the show, you may or may not recognize this car, for it is not the one Homer was known for driving.  In an episode from one of the earliest seasons of the show, Homer designed a car meant for the everyday working man that ultimately made his half-brother Herb's car manufacturing company go completely bankrupt.  The outlandish automobile is faithfully recreated for Hot Wheels and even boasts approval from the man himself, Homer Simpson.  This is perhaps my favorite pop culture Hot Wheels car to date.

Bat Pod (The Dark Knight/The Dark Knight Rises) - This entry is kind of cheating as it was released in a motorcycle based subset of premium Hot Wheels (however it was later released in the main line, sans Batman later on).  That doesn't stop it from being a very cool Hot Wheels release, made even better by the inclusion of the dark knight himself.  You may or may not be a fan of Christian Bale's portrayal of Batman, but like it or not, there is no denying how awesome it is to have him with his bike from the films in the scale of all of the regular Hot Wheels.  I'm hoping in the future they take more chances like this in the motorcycle line, not only releasing iconic bikes, but the characters known for riding them.

Dodge Charger & Toyota Supra (Fast & Furious) - If the prior entry wasn't cheating, this one definitely is.  However, as a fan of the movies, them coming out within a month of each other, and due to the tragic passing of Paul Walker, I can't help but include both cars in this list.  These two cars from the first film, made famous by Vin Diesel & Paul Walker respectfully, are sleek and cool on their own, but even better together. While they don't sport the detail their carding depicts (however Wal-Mart exclusive releases with different carding do include all of the right deco), they are still great releases.  It is also cool that Hot Wheels managed to secure rights to making cars from a film that is all about them too.

That does it for this edition of "My Fave 5."  I plan on making this a semi-regular column so be on the look out for more posts like this to come covering different topics from the realm of pop culture.