Cars Toys Blog

Mattel Toys from the Hit Disney Movie

Real World Inspiration for Cars

— March 21st, 2008

1951 International boom truck

The truck on the left is a 1951 international boom truck. It’s also the inspiration for Mater.

Almost all of the characters in Cars are based on real cars. I thought it would be fun for Cars fans to see the real world basis for the Cars characters. So I put together a photo guide of the automobiles the Cars characters were based on with character names, model, year and photo.

It’s not all inclusive, but I believe I covered most of the main characters. If I left out any easy ones or important ones you think should be included, leave your suggestions in the comments.

Carded Rollin' Bowlin' Mater

— March 20th, 2008

Carded Rollin’ Bowlin’ Mater

Back in November of last year, I wrote about the Cars 2006 Factory Sealed Set that was available through the Hot Wheels Collectors Club. This was a set of the first 30 Cars all on the desert cardbacks, including singles and Movie Moments, and it was limited to only 500.

You may remember Dirt Track McQueen and Rollin’ Bowlin’ Mater from that set. That was the first time, those Cars appeared individually carded, and the only place to get them that way.

Well, if you still need those Cars for your collection and missed the factory set, now is your chance. A seller on eBay has the Rollin’ Bowlin’ Mater and the Dirt Track McQueen from that set up for sale. Even though they may be cost you a little bit more to get them, it beats paying for the whole set when you only wanted those two.

1 Comment »

Carded Rollin’ Bowlin’ Mater

— March 20th, 2008

Carded Rollin’ Bowlin’ Mater

Back in November of last year, I wrote about the Cars 2006 Factory Sealed Set that was available through the Hot Wheels Collectors Club. This was a set of the first 30 Cars all on the desert cardbacks, including singles and Movie Moments, and it was limited to only 500.

You may remember Dirt Track McQueen and Rollin’ Bowlin’ Mater from that set. That was the first time, those Cars appeared individually carded, and the only place to get them that way.

Well, if you still need those Cars for your collection and missed the factory set, now is your chance. A seller on eBay has the Rollin’ Bowlin’ Mater and the Dirt Track McQueen from that set up for sale. Even though they may be cost you a little bit more to get them, it beats paying for the whole set when you only wanted those two.

1 Comment »

New Cars Photo Guide 2008

— March 9th, 2008

I put together a photo gallery of unreleased Cars for 2008. I hope you like it. Click the link on the image below to check it out.

Anime Chuki

Anime Chuki (Case H)

2 Comments »

Cars Toys Blog Has a New Look!

— March 9th, 2008

Posting has been non-existant for the last week due to the fact that I have been busy working on a new design. Now that it’s complete and tested, I’m happy enough with it that it’s ready to go, so I pulled the trigger and launched it this morning.

It’s something that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I hope it is an improvement overall. My goals were to make it visually appealing and Cars related and also easier to use. I hope I accomplished that. I’m sure there will be things I missed or problems, so please bear with me in the weeks to come.

This blog is not for me however, it’s for you, the readers. So I would like to know your opinion. Do you love it, or hate it? Are there problems with it? Weigh in on the new design in the comments please. Thanks.

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Wal-Mart Movie Moments on Clearance?

— March 2nd, 2008

After the Christmas season, Wal-Mart put a lot of their toys on clearance, and one of the things I saw go on clearance were Cars Movie Moments 2 packs. I saw these on clearance in more than one of my local Wal-Marts. The Cars in question were the peg warmers from the Supercharged line, Sally and Crusin’ McQueen, Buzz and Woody, Mike and Sulley, etc.

In the stores where I saw them, they were not discounted very much at all, but I heard a rumor that in one local store, they were recently spotted at less than $3 each. That is a good price, but only if you don’t already have them, or were needing to pick up some extras. Has anybody else seen this deal at a local Wal-Mart?

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Mattel Cars for 2008 Revisited

— February 29th, 2008

Okay, now that we have some info from Mattel on what to expect for 2008, let’s breakdown what we know has been announced and what was shown at Toy Fair. Here is the news out of Toy Fair.

  • Over 123 cars available over the course of the year
  • Single card line will have 18 new cars and 18 refreshers
  • There will be 12 new Movie Moments 2-Packs, 6 new 3-Car Packs, and 3 Die-Cast Launcher sets

As far as Movie Moments goes, I posted this list of new Movie Moments from Mattel in November which covers 4 of the Cars shown at Toy Fair, Tumbleweed McQueen, Mario Andretti, Patti and Damaged King. So we can assume those Cars are part of the Movie Moments and not the single packs. Here are the 2 pack names with those Cars in them and the assortment name.

  • Tumble Weed Lightning McQueen & Doc Hudson – Release G
  • Mario Andretti & Patti – Release L
  • Race Damage King & Lightning McQueen – Release M

We also saw the Leak Less Gift Pack and Trunk Fresh launcher at Toy Fair, so we know where those go. So what about the singles? Well, if you take the Movie Moments out, we are left with this list of 9.

  • Van
  • Tires McQueen
  • RSN Chopper
  • RPM Pitty
  • Chick Hicks Crew Chief
  • No Stall Crew Chief
  • Dinoco Pitty
  • Dinoco Crew Chief
  • Tank Coat Pitty

This leads to the question of the remaining 9. We can answer that by filling in the gaps with what we already know. Anime Chuki has been announced for the H assortment. Pit Crew member Sarge was shown at San Diego Comic Con last year. Richard Clayton Kensington is already out there as part of Mattel’s charity auction last year. Those 3 make 12, leaving 6 Cars left for 2008. There were lots announced to retailers by Mattel at the end of last year, but that list has already changed significantly. So you’re guess is as good as mine.

Don’t forget about the Speedway of the South Piston Cup racecars set that should be out this year. Also remember that nothing is set in stone, and all this is subjest to change. What do you think will be in the remaining 6 for 2008?

3 Comments »

What Happened to Cars at Toy Fair 2008?

— February 27th, 2008

Now that Toy Fair 2008 is behind us, it’s time to reflect and address the question that is on Cars collectors minds, what the hell happened to Cars at Toy Fair 2008? Okay, maybe that’s just the question on my mind. But after San Diego Comic Con last year and the upcoming list of Cars we got this year, I admit I was expecting big things. I even made some grandiose predictions that were nowhere close to coming true.

To be fair to Mattel, they did show some Cars this year, Mini Cars that is. They are trying to push that line big time. After all, not having to worry about movie continuity, they can really pump out the character variations there. But of the diecast Cars being shown, only 17 new Cars were on display, with 5 of them being Pittys and 2 more Lightning McQueen variations.

So what happened here? Well, according to Mattel, out of 123 Cars that will be available this year, only 18 of them are new, in the single card line. In addition, there are 12 new Movie Moments 2 packs, 6 3 packs and 3 launcher sets. Those however have been mostly comprised of reissues in the past. There was no mention of the Speedway of the South Piston Cup race car set that is supposed to be out this year. This is way off of the list we got at the end of last year, so I guess you can throw that out the window now. This also follows in line with the recent assortment changes we have seen.

What does all this mean? Well, it’s very possibly that retailers are cooling off on the diecast line right now, and are wanting more of the Cars mini line. If that is true, unless you are into the Mini Cars, get ready for a slimmed down 2008 for Cars collecting.

6 Comments »

The Case of the Missing Blu-Ray Lightning McQueen

— February 23rd, 2008

Well, there is a big discussion going on right now in the Cars collectors community. On November 4, 2007, I wrote about the Cars Blu-Ray movie coming out and the promotion for the Blu-Ray Lightning McQueen that was included with it.

To recap, 15,000 Blu-Ray McQueens were made. To get them, you needed a code, which you had to buy the movie to get. To redeem it, you went DisneyMovieRewards.com and signed up and entered your code. I did not participate because it wasn’t an exclusive I had to have, and I did not want to buy a whole movie I already had to get it. Plus, I don’t have a Blu-Ray player.

I wasn’t aware of any problems with this until recently. Apparently, the program has been royally botched to the point that people are receiving multiple Cars they didn’t order and some that placed orders and had order confirmations never received them. The image of a room full of monkeys getting the envelopes and then stuffing boxes full of Blu-Ray McQueens and mailing them comes to mind here. To make matters worse, there are 65 Blu Ray Lightning McQueens for sale on eBay right now.

I am wary of mail-away offers due my frequent bad luck with Hasbro Mail Away offers. Years ago I entered a GI Joe mail away offer, and never received the figure I sent away for. I wrote them and later received 2 figures, when I only sent for one to begin with. Not long after that, I sent away for another GI Joe figure on a different offer. This time I sent for 2. I never received them, while other collectors received multiples they did not order. I wrote to Hasbro again, and they stated that a third party was handling the orders and distribution for the mail away and that there was nothing they could do. I had better luck with the last Star Wars mail away I entered, actually receiving that one. So I have learned from experience that you need to watch out.

To be fair to Disney, they clearly state that the offer is only “while supplies last” and expired at the end of January. Plus, this was a very limited product. I am willing to bet that those that bought one DVD and sent in the code within the first few weeks of the offer had no problems getting one. I don’t know anyone personally that participated, so I can’t say for sure that is the case. It’s just my guess. I’m also willing to bet that if you waited around awhile to redeem your offer or redeemed multiple offers, you ran the risk of missing out.

My guess is that Disney is using a third party for fulfillment of the offers. I know that it sucks if you bought a DVD and did not get the Car, but there is most likely nothing you can do in this case, except BEWARE the next time you enter one.

I want to hear from those who participated in the Blu-Ray McQueen offer. If you sent away for the Car and either received it or didn’t, please let us know in the comments.

14 Comments »

Cars Hunt #022108

— February 22nd, 2008

I stopped by Toys R Us in Knoxville, TN yesterday to look for Cars once again. Yet, I left very frustrated. Let me just say that they have a ton of World of Cars stuff, Movie Moments, single carded, 3 packs, gift packs and playsets. But all of it is old. I didn’t find one new Car. The most recent thing I found was Pit Crew Doc and Fillmore.

The problem with this is that they are stocked full, but they are all old Cars. They even have a sale on right now, buy 2 get 1 free. This might help move it, but I doubt it unless a brand new collector comes in that needs to catch up on a lot of old ones. What will happen is, this store won’t order any new stock until the old is running out.

This is a problem for Mattel, as well as collectors. Mattel will see sales languishing at stores like this. These old Cars, or peg warmers, are going to languish there for a long time, especially now that Christmas is over. So I probably won’t find any new stock there for a long time. This is going to keep happening at retail stores as long as Mattel continues to short pack new Cars, like they have always done, forcing collectors like me to go to eBay to find any new stuff.

Rating: Bad

Sarge

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