Oh, Bat-gadgets. I do love you so. The neat thing is, the '50's Batplane had pretty much the same transformative abilities ("Wow! A Batmarine!" exclaimed Dick), so either the writer was referencing a classic old story or our concepts of what is REALLY, REALLY COOL haven't actually changed that much over time. Personally, I kinda prefer the second explanation - I find it somewhat comforting.