As you may be aware, posting on this site has been very few and far between this year, compared to years past. There are a lot of reasons, but the main one is time. I started this site and I have run it on my own in my spare time, while working a full time job outside the home. I have a wife, a child about to turn 2 and another one on the way in the next 5 months. With all that going on, there is not a lot of time left over to spend on other things. And with a second child on the way, I anticipate having a lot less free time than I do now.

Another reason is lack of interest. I still love Cars. But the characters in the main line now being produced are very minor characters in the film. They are running out of characters to make into diecast. This is why the line has been splintered into the lenticular Cars and the Cars Toons among others. And now a second movie is on the way, which will start a whole new line of toys to collect.

Also, there is the lack of space. Having to make room for 2 children in the house, I have a lot less room to store my collection, much less display them anywhere. So there is simply nowhere to put the Cars I already have in addition to any new ones coming in.

To sum it up, I will be ending my Cars collecting or cutting it way back soon. And I don’t have the time to give this site what it deserves to continue to make it a great resource. So it’s time for a change. The site will stay up as it is, but the comments will be closed. I will not be posting any new information here. Instead, I am going to try to get the forums off the ground again. The new forum is called Cars Collectors and can be found at http://carscollectors.com/. I will be posting there when I can, but the community will have a much bigger role there. To me, that seems like a much better solution than just simply shutting down, and I hope those of you who participated here will continue there.

In closing, I just want to say that the past 3 and a half years have been amazing. I want to thank you guys for sticking around and help keep this site going. This site wouldn’t have existed this long without you. Take care.

Jonathan
Cars Toys Blog

Click here to view the embedded video.

It looks fun, and I am excited to see it! What did you think?

‘Cars 2′ is set to release June 24th, 2011. And here is the official description from Disney.

Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) take their friendship to exciting new places in “Cars 2” when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage. Torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret spy mission, Mater’s action-packed journey leads him on an explosive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world. Adding to the fast-paced fun is a colorful new all-car cast that includes secret agents, menacing villains and international racing competitors.

They say we will have the first official trailer tomorrow.

To top it all off, Yahoo! has the first official movie poster.

Update: Notice anything about the poster? Look closely, and you can spot some of the Cars characters from the upcoming movie!

‘Cars 2′ is the next Pixar movie on the list and is due out next summer. Expect the toys to show up in the Spring.

The latest Mater’s Tall Tales Cars Toon short to air on the Disney Channel is Heavy Metal Mater. Somehow I missed that it first aired on Friday night. But if you missed it like I did, it is airing again on the Disney Channel on Sunday night at 9:50 PM ET and Monday night at 7:55 PM ET. That is for my area only, so be sure and check your local listings.

Here is our gallery of Heavy Metal Mater toys from Comic Con.

Cars Toon: Mater's Tall Tales

In addition to having all the shorts, including Heavy Metal Mater which may or may not have aired before then, there are 2 yet-to-be-aired shorts available, Mater Private Eye and Moon Mater. Here is the description.

Rev up your engines for this unforgettable collection of Cars Toons starring Mater, the lovable and hilarious tow truck from the hit movie Cars. From the creative minds of Disney/Pixar come nine highly entertaining “Tall Tales” involving bullfights, drag races, rock concerts, monster truck showdowns and even UFOs – plus, check out the new, exclusive, never-before-seen Cars Toons Mater Private Eye and Moon Mater.

Monster Truck Mater

The new Cars Toon “Monster Truck Mater” will premiere on the Disney Channel on July 30th at 9:30 PM (via Pixar Planet.) It is directed by John Lasseter himself. Here is the official synopsis.

Mater is a professional wrestler who works his way up the ranks from amateur to World Champion Monster Truck Wrestler, wrestling all kinds of characters along the way. When faced with his biggest opponent yet, Mater tags in his “tag team partner,” Frightening McMean.

Set your DVR’s now because this is sure to be another hilarious short! Also, there are toys on the way, which you knew there would be. Watch the rest of the Cars Toons on the official Disney Cars YouTube Channel.

Anyway the old page is now archived, and I created a new page that should be used the same as the old page. Thanks to those who leave their recent finds info for everyone to see, and sorry for neglecting this page recently.

Tokyo Mater and Dragon McQueen

Tokyo Mater is set to air this Friday, March 12 8:55 pm ET/PT on Disney Channel. The animated short will also be presented on Disney XD on Monday, March 29 7:23 pm ET/PT. I think this is the second time it has aired on TV in the US. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s really great, probably my favorite out of all of them.

Based on the popular film CARS and the hilarious CARS Toons, a series of original cartoon shorts airing on Disney Channel, Disney XD and streaming on Disney.com/Cars, Mattel has the toys that are sure to win the checkered flag racing into imaginations everywhere.

Monster Truck Mater

“Monster Truck Mater” is an upcoming episode in the Cars Toons series. It will air in 2010 and will be the seventh episode in the series. Besides the above quote, the only thing mentioned in the press release is Monster Truck Mater related product. Monster Truck Mater is another Mater’s Tall Tales short that has not been shown on TV yet.

There is a Monster Truck Wrastlin’ Ring, a Monster Truck Feature Assortment and Frightening McMean. Here is the info along with a photo of the playset.

CARS Toons Monster Truck Wrastlin’ Ring
As seen in the CARS Toons episode “Monster Truck Mater,” the culminating event is the final showdown in the ring. The Wrastlin’ Ring lets kids re-create that memorable scene and “fight” with different opponents or battle The Monster. The set features a motorized floor for great wrastlin’ action, as well as a “claw” for scooping your opponent out of the ring. The ring is made to accommodate the oversized 1:55 scale CARS Monster Trucks.
ARP: $29.99 each Ages: 4+ Available: July 2010

CARS Toons Monster Truck Feature Assortment
This assortment brings the CARS Toons story “Monster Truck Mater” characters to life in a whole new way with cool features, exciting movements and fun sounds. Each character comes in a slightly larger 1:43 scale – perfect for smaller hands – and allows kids to take their opponents down for the count with great wrastlin’ action and sounds seen in the popular CARS Toons.
ARP: $14.99 each Ages: 3+ Available: July 2010

CARS Toons Frightening McMean
It’s “Frightening McMean” from the popular CARS Toons feature brought to life in a larger scale. With a raised chassis, monster truck-worthy wheels and a cool custom paint job, little hands will love the push-around-play of Frightening McMean – plus touch the hood of the car to activate authentic sounds and phrases inspired by the CARS Toons!
ARP: $19.99 each Ages: 3+ Available: August 2010

Cars Toons Monster Truck Wrastlin' Ring

This is for sure not the only thing that Mattel will be showing at Toy Fair this year. Stay tuned for more news coming soon.

To be fair, Cars diecast have been going strong since 2006. Mattel has produced some great toys, not to mention every major Cars character and most of the minor ones! But 3 years is a long time, and the line is obviously losing steam. To try and combat this, Mattel is doing 2 things, lenticular Cars (Look My Eyes Change) and Cars Toon Cars.

Lenticular Cars are just a way to sell the same Cars Mattel has been selling for the past 3 years all over again. I have not bought a single lenticular Car, minus the chases of course. I liked the Cars Toon shorts, and I understand that many are excited for the diecast. But Rescue Squad Mater was not my favorite short, and that’s mostly all we have gotten so far. I have only bought a few of these so far, and I can’t bring myself to spend more money on Cars that were not in the movie but only had a few seconds of screen time in a 3 minute short.

So, it’s not looking good for me and Cars in 2010. Not to mention, the price continues to go up, while Mattel’s distribution on Cars is a terrible mess, at least in the Knoxville area. More on that in a minute. But what about Final Lap Cars, you say? Really? A retail exclusive can save the line? I don’t think so. I hate retail exclusives. And going back to distribution, the distribution of Final Lap Cars has been terrible in my area.

So, in the end, I think distribution is hurting Cars the most, and it may kill the line ultimately. I won’t go into it too much, but distribution has always been a problem for Cars. Mattel’s methods are to package a few new Cars in with lots of old ones. This always results in lots of pegwarmers. This has not changed. But with Lenticular Cars the problem is amplified, due to the fact that none are new, minus the chase Car.

Even the Cars Toons Cars are an example of Mattel’s poor thinking with distribution. The first series was Rescue Squad Mater. The second wave should have been Mater the Greater. What did Mattel do? Put out a few Mater the Greater Cars with cases of Rescue Squad Mater. I don’t see how this helps anyone, including Mattel. And it’s not going to change.

In the end, does it really matter? If you’ve been paying attention, you know that 2011 is the year of Cars 2. So in all probability, at the end of this year, Mattel will be gearing up for the next movie line. You may have also noticed that the Cars Toons are helping move the line in that direction. So this all may be the natural progression of things. But I’m not so sure. If Mattel turns off hard core collectors, it may be very hard to win them back.

On a more positive note, the New York Comic Con and Toy Fair are coming up this month. Mattel will likely have a heavy Cars presence at NYCC this year, just like last year. So we will be able to see what they have planned. We just might not be able to get to buy all those Cars. Also, we will be seeing another 2010 guide similar to the 2009 one. Some lines still have promise, like the Mega Size and Haulers. But sadly they are still plagued with the same distribution problems.

In the end, great toy lines come and go. Collectors are always sad to say goodbye to the lines they love. Is the end for Cars around the corner? Or will Mattel make it to Cars 2 and have another hit on their hands?