Warthog

I wonder if other James has this yet.

Loopster

So this Hot Wheels Roller Coaster car can be attached with other similar cars, but the little plastic people riding it are in different poses in different cars to simulate the randomness of an entire line of cars with different people in them!

I must find more!

Shark Bite

The coolest part of this Hot Wheel is that the jaw opens and closes as it rolls along. Neat!

Snoopy and Louis LaRue

Okay, with Snoopy I'm just bragging that I found one. Because it's Snoopy, possibly the biggest part of my cultural childhood. And he has a Hot Wheel where he drives his house.

As for Louis LaRue, I've been waiting for this guy for a while. He's a mime. But he's also an anthropomorphic car. It's a ridiculous combination and I must win that ridiculousness. The only Cars due cast in this series I want more is the irrate and surly French tour bus. Because stereotypes.

Hot Tub

I'm on the lookout for a Hot Wheel based on Snoopy's doghouse/Sopwith Camel that's supposed to be coming out. And while I was in the aisle I saw those blind packed mystey cars they do... Although there's also a peephole in the package so you can get a sense of what car it is without squeezing. One of them was called Hot Tub and I knew I had to get it becuase it's a hot tub affixed to a race car.

Let's Go

Mario told me about a new Lego based Hot Wheel toy. Then I found it later that day. So let's see how it does.

Sadly, the studs that are meant to keep the figure sitting down aren't very good. The figure is very loose and if you tried to do a loop the loop, it would easily fall out. It doesn't fit the foot studs either.

The stunt stud on the back of the car is a little better. There's a tighter fit and I could see the Lego staying on during a loop.

Much better are the hand holds on the front and back of the car. The Lego figures really grip onto them and there's no sensation that it might fall off.

The Flintmobile

The picture pretty much says it all. It's a Hot Wheels car of the Flinstones car. It has 4 wheels hidden in the stone wheels and there is an empty space in the floor where feet would go through.

Buyer's remorse, This weekend In buying toys edition

Spent way too much on costume accessories this week at Target, but that's a blog I gave up a while ago. But toys...

 

Picked up a Hot Wheels car of a rocket powered school bus, which is an odd way to power a school bus, and speaks to a growing trend toward fantasy that I'm not entirely comfortable with for Hot Wheels, but I suppose that's what they use the Matchbox line for. Meanwhile, I wanted a Hot Wheels school bus.

Also picked up a Walking Dead minimate pack because it has a good minimate zombie and a comicbook version of the Governor with bonus eyepatch head. Mostly for the minimate zombie.

Then theres a TMNT lego polybag set which I only picked up for the minifigure with a krang image printed on the torso, simulating the awesome giant alien brain in a robot body torso idea.

 

Also got a Daphne minifigure because some asshole opened all the blind bags so I could look inside them and find the ones I wanted. Kinda mixed feelings on this. On the one hand I got what I wanted, on the other hand this is just a huge dick move. If I saw whoever did this I wonder if I would have yelled at the person doing it, adult or kid. I told a store clerk... And they just walked away and I later saw them working an empty cash register. (The box holding the blind packs had been moved to another part of the store too, so they weren't even near the other Scooby Doo building sets.)

 I also picked up the Voodoo Man becuase he's actually the Freak of Crystal Cove from the recent Mystery Inc. series. In that continuity he's actually Fred Jones' father and town mayor who in realitty kidnapped an infant Fred Jones from his real mystery solving parents in order to extort them into staying away from his criminal plans. In an ironic twist, Fred Jones sr learns to love his adopted son and when Fred'ss real parents return The Freak is also revealed to be a better parent and more loving than Fred's real family who are now corrupt adventurers. Man that was a good show. Anyway, they made a figure of the Freak... And then gave him a new name which makes absolutely no sense.

Of course if you check the Character Building website you realize that in the UK, where CB is located, they do things differently there. Like have all 5 members of the Mystery Inc. gang available through the blind packs. It also turns out that 7 of the monsters aren't part of the Scooby Doo line in the UK. For the US Scooby Doo Character Building release CB folded in minifigures from their Monsters vs. Zombie line, possibly to fill out the Scooby line but more likely because it was the only way to get those figures into US stores. 

Bump Around

Hey, Hot Wheels Bumper Car!

They try to claim its been modded out under the hood to be a street car, but whatever, bumper car.

'67 Pontiac GTO

I've long wanted a Hot Wheels car that had the Hot Wheels logo emblazoned on it. I've considered other cars, but I just couldn't get into the model of the car to appreciate the paint job.

Until now. It looks good and the logo is well integrated in the design of the paint, it looks very natural in a corporate sponsorship kind of way. I love the meta aspect of it, not to mention the way it looks like crass commercialization. Low art as high art! POST MODERN HOT WHEELS!

Parking Lot Sale Purchases

I went to a Parking Lot sale at Toy Fusion, something AJ had tipped me off about a while back. It was an interesting place, full of vintage toys on sale by vendors who either knew what they had and what it was worth, or people trying to clear out their garages. That means there were a lot of boxes with miscellaneous toys in various condition on sale for cheap.

It also meant I got to see toys I've never seen before. It was like a mini-flea-market for toys. Except the toys weren't all 50 cents or 3 for $1. But I mean look at the obscure stuff you could find!

I'm pretty sure that's a Peter Pan from the Disney Store line of articulated action figures. Aside from a waist joint, this thing had the same, possibly more, articulation than a Mattel figure. *rimshot*

So let's go over what I ended up buying, and why, since that's the name of this blog.

Movie Masters Isamot Kol

It's a Green Lantern Movie Masters figure. After the debacle that was the Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern figure in this line, I vowed not to get another Movie Masters Green Lantern figure unless it was Isamot Kol or really, really cheap. (Like under a dollar cheap.) This figure meets that criteria by being Isamot Kol. Like all Movie Masters figures, this is poorly designed. The way the limbs are designed, it's really difficult to have him stand up unless he's on all fours. However the articulated tail and mouth mean I really like this figure because his massive jaw opens. Actually all the problems I have this figure could have been solved by adding articulated ankles. There's articulated wrists! How can articulated ankles be that much harder?

Oh, also, trying to distinguish a green ring on a green hand: Not so easy. It took me a minute to figure out what hand the ring was on.

Kobra

Look, I'm not calling him Lord Naga. TRADEMARKS BE DAMNED!

I wanted this guy for a while now, mostly just to broaden my DCUC villain collection. I didn't want to pay full price because he has a plastic cape, which I hate, and because DCUC figures are too expensive these days. Fortunately, loose, without his build a figure piece, the dealer was willing to bring the price down to something I can live with. His legs are a bit warped, but that just be the way he's designed.

Hot Seat

Mario pointed this car out to me, and I decided to get it. It's a Hot Wheels car designed to look like a toilet. With a plunger as the steering wheel. And the seat has a hinge, so you can have all the fun cliche jokes about leaving the seat up.

What do you want, it was $1. I thought that was well worth the limited amusement value that I get out of the thing.

Cyclops

After seeing all the loose Marvel Legends figures, I thought I should get one if I found it at a good price and I really wanted it. So that's how I chose Cyclops here. I love Cyclops and all his repressed, weird back-story insanity. I skipped this figure when it first came out, and I've sorta regretted it once I began picking up some 6" figures.

The dealer was willing to cut the price a little, so it was an easy decision. Especially once I saw that his fingers were articulated and he has double jointed elbows so you can pose him doing his iconic visor-touch. I'm still not in love with Marvel Legends, especially when the thigh doesn't have a cut joint to supplement the ball jointed hip-thigh, but I really like this figure.

12-inch Luke & Han

These aren't even the collector's series. They're the really bad, early 90's Kenner figures. I pretty much only got them so I could cannibalize them for the costumes and because the guy cut me a huge discount if I got both.

Damn, they have big hands.

And that's pretty much it. Except for the 1:6 scale chainsaw I picked up.

Man I miss when Toys R Us had a wall of 12 inch figures. (Which is where I got Jesse Ventura... Actually I found him stashed on a clearance shelf, but only because the Toys R Us had carried him earlier. We never really appreciated the 90's.)

A-team van but smaller

Well here's something that I was surprised to see on a shelf at Target. I'm really loving Hot Wheels increased regularity at releasing pop culture vehicles. I wonder if they're just more attuned to the way that our culture has become increasingly saturated with nostalgia for cultural artifacts or they just accidentally hired a huge geek who is slipping these under the radar. Or maybe their reps who go to Comiccon are coming back with skewed views about what the people want.

Either way it means I have a die cast representation of B.A. Bartacus's van. The back of the package downplays their mercenary nature, but has to keep pointing out that B.A. Would have to constNtly strip the van and put it back together due to all the crazy times they had to turn it into a death car... Because of all those greedy businessmen with their own private armies who were harassing poor small town people with hot daughters.

Things I didn't know were out

So, like I said, I went to rich people Target. And they had stuff I had no idea they were releasing, let alone that it had come out.

They've brought back 12 inch GI Joes! And one of them seems to have Kung-Fu Grip! A shame I went through my 12 inch figure desire revival 3 months ago. Over it now.

Scout Class (Or small but not key chain small) Star Wars Transformers! If they release an AT-anything I'll get it.

I never wanted a camera that only took video from the POV of a car driving down a Hot Wheels track more than I have right now. Also, even with shitty resolution, good spy camera?

"This? This is just the toy car I carry around for luck. I'm just going to wave it over your top secret plans for luck."

Wall Track. For those people who are either pressed for space in their abode or for people who want a really bad idea for wall decorations. Actuall, if I felt at all comfortable with Taping a track to my wall I might look into this.

And Finally, can I just say that the Arkham City Batman in the Batman Legacy wave looks horrible.

The Two-Face ain't that great either. The Movie Masters Jim Gordon looks awesome.

Armored Truck

You know, I thought this Hot Wheels car felt a little light. You'd think a diecast armored truck would have a little more heft to it. But then I realized why it was so light.

It's hollow inside! And how cool is it that they had molding on the inside of the door? Even if it doesn't make any sense why the outside would have a handle but the inside would have wheel based lock... I don't think... I'm not a locksmith. But still, kinda weird.

But this is awesome, because you can actually have the Hot Wheels Armored Truck carrying things. Although you might want to skip putting valuables in it. It may be called an Armored Truck but it's still just a toy car. An easily lost or stolen toy car.

Security your name is not "Hot Wheels."

Back to the Future Time Machine

Remember when everyone went wild and bought themselves a Hot Wheels Delorean because it reminded them of the time machine from Back to the Future? Well, guess what suckers! Hot Wheels decided to make those obsolete by making a Back to the Future Hot Wheel. Wait, I bought that Hot Wheel. I'm a sucker! The title of this blog has never been more appropriate. The Back To The Future officially licensed Hot Wheels car has some pretty neat detail. It's got the OUTATIME license plate... sort of badly painted on. Although one thing I found rather neat is that it has a different looking dashboard than the Delorean car, so it's not just modifications to the body that have been done. The interior reflects Doc Brown's modifactions to the car.

Also, check out the car profile on the back.

Hot Wheels: VW Bug, Dairy Delivery, Classic Caddy

Hey, Wondercon vendors were selling Hot Wheels, and then I bought some! Let's do a run down. VW Bug

Seriously, who doesn't want a Hot Wheel of a VW Bug? Especially one that looks like it was vandalized by a retro-80's discotech.

Dairy Delivery Won't lie to you, I only got this because it has "Got Milk" printed on the side. Who knew Hot Wheels was into a corporate sponsorship with the Milk Council? At least they put it on a milk truck, which makes sense. Although I would totally buy a Hot Wheel of a muscle car with "Got Milk" pinted on it. Classic Caddy Classy! I got this so I could send it down a Hot Wheels ramp and then do loops. Because damn, it looks like the car of a rich dude who comes from old money. And he's got a chauffer named "Bentley." So pretty much I'm saying an old rich guy from any movie made in the 80's.

Buzzerk

Hey, Hot Wheels. It's been a while. Okay, so let's talk about this Hot Wheel I picked up. It's most prominent feature is the giant buzz saw. I had hoped when I picked it up that it would spin when the car moved across the ground. It did not. Oh sure, if it suddenly hit a new surface, like say a small piece of cardboard, it would spin, but it takes more than just pushing the car across the floor to make it happen.

And that makes me sad.

However if you drive your Hot Wheel car by pushing down on it with you finger and guiding it around, then the buzzsaw will spin. Yup, you've got to apply the ole pressure on the car continuously. I'm sorry, I don't do that. I'm an adult collector of Hot Wheels, so to me this isn't going to happen. At least not that often... I think. Maybe if I get really bored. But I'd have to be really bored.

Scary Cars

Hey, Target had a sale on Halloween items so I got 5 Hot Wheels cars for $2.50. Each one is designed to be Halloween themed. But are they any good? Let's find out.

This sucker is called Rodzilla. A silly name, but probably accurate given that it's a car with a giant dinosaur neck and head attached to it. It's Halloweenish because monsters are Halloween, right? I guess. I'd hate to drive this car in real life, the neck is a joint to allow it to turn it's head around, but it's also very loose, swinging around as it moves foward. It took a couple trips down the ramp before it even completed because the neck kept hitting the ramp as it was spinning around.

Next up is the '59 Caddilac Funny Car. This is Halloween because of the mummy, the pumpkins, and the flames in orange.

Since it's a funny car the body lifts up. I used to love that feature on toy cars when I was a kid. It's still a little cool now, but it also prevents the damn thing from successfully making the loop on the ramp. So it gets a DNF on the ramp.

I like the Halloween decorations on the body. The orange contrasts well with the black. Even if it didn't have the pumpkins on, the flames give it a "car from hell" vibe. It looks very inimidating... scary might be a better word.

Okay, coming up next is The Gov'Ner. No idea why it's called that. It's Halloween decorations is that it's bright orange. Also a skull on the hood.

This is a surprisingly light Hot Wheel. The entire body is made out of plastic. I like the design of the body, although the Orange on Orange flames make it look silly. The skulls help a bit, but overall I can't help but look at this and think, "That is a very orange car." Orange isn't a scary color for a car. Not really. Not since the Dukes of Hazzard.

Next up: Phantasm. As you can see it's a translucent green and it has ghost decals all over. Because it's translucent it's made entirely of plastic, making it feel even lighter than the Guv'Ner. I think the only metl of it is the axels. The translucent green looks cool, you can even see the seats through the top and sides. It's not scary, but it does convey the ghost theme well. And those decals help remind you in case you ever forget. Like huge educational aids for stupid people.

This is an insanely light car, it has no heft to it whatsoever. I feel like I could shatter it if I dropped it. When you roll it it moves as though it has no weight to it whatsoever... like a ghost. Oh man, that totally makes sense now.

And finally we have "Torpedo Jones." It's another ghost car, although this one is actually diecast metal, with a plastic driver figure in it. What makes it ghostly, aside from the ghost decals (the same seen on the Phantasm), is that the driver figure glows-in-the-dark, toy shorthand for a ghost.

I like it. The Glow-in-the-dark feature isn't overstated and actually works. The car looks old-fashioned and so promotes the "car from the past" element. Not my favorite Hot Wheels car ever, and not one I would ever buy if it were sold individually, but not a bad car.

And if you're wondering how they all did on the ramp, well take a look.

As noted before: the '59 Caddilac Funny Car did not finish. Rockzilla performed poorly, barely making it past the Batmobile. Ironically both the Phantasm and Torpedo Jones were able to surpass the Ecto-1, and as you can see, the Gov'Ner became the car to beat as it sailed past every other Hot Wheels car I own.