Mainline Hot Wheels catchup!

Close to three months ago, I was able to get my hands on some F and G case cars from a G case in order to fill my "requirements". Since then, our major retailer The Warehopuse brought in even more parallel imported cars (this time 2015 Case A/B) along with regular 2015 F Case while the local Kmart has had nothing new since its D and E case restocks in February and March. With school holidays fast approaching, it was assumed by local collectors that something new had to be just around the corner and over the past week and weekend it was confirmed by reports of a K case being found, along with an M case.

Due to my close proximity to Kmart and its extended opening hours, I have been checking in on Kmart every day "just in case" and today was rewarded. As I got into the toy area I saw the shopping carts loaded with boxes and even closer I saw the familiar sight of multiple Hot Wheels boxes - 5 packs, Star Wars ships and two mainline J cases - one empty and one full.

I pulled up my wish list that I keep on my phone for just this reason and began to look through the pegs to find the cars I was wanting for the collection. because there was another case nearly, I tracked down the store employee and asked if it was possible for me to look through the other box.

After approximately 15 minutes of checking and double checking, I had a pile of cars to go to the checkout with and had mostly ticked of the wish list - missing the Super Treasure Hunt (of course).

With school holidays in less than a week, fingers crossed that K, L, M and N case cars are found!

Majorette Limited Editions

While looking at some recent posts over on an Australian Die Cast forum, I noticed a haul post from a member showing some Majorette cars found at a local "end of line" store. Enquiring if anyone was willing to get me a set of the 9 cars on show, I quickly received a reply and within days had confirmation that a parcel was on the way. 3 days later I had a parcel on my doorstep containing a set of the 9 cars.

What I noticed on this set was that it was mostly European cars (with Majorette being a French company, this is expected) and included two cars I have never heard of before.

In hand, the cars look very good - each having either painted or clear plastic for the front lights and painted tail lights and other details, and the black interior looks way better than chrome that has been getting into too many Hot Wheels cars.

Time to see if there is a series 2 out there ...

1:1 Scale "Hot Wheel"

Since February I have been selling down my collection of Transformers because I ran out of room. I have made sure that any money made from selling has been saved as there are three big things that I had to do "in the future" - a) pay of my student loan (about $14,000), b) upgrade my car and c) purchase a house (save the deposit).

Dad surprised me one day and said they he would give me a small amount towards a new car, and that started the wheels turning and I started to have a look around running with the idea that any car purchased should be less than 5 years old, have less than 60,000km on the odometer and be in good condition as any car I purchase would probably last me 10 years as my current Honda Civic has. Due to requirements with my storage shed, I was also aiming towards a hatch back with a decent boot/trunk volume (with the seats folded down).

My search was hampered by not really finding anything in my budget that suited my requirements, when I came across a listing for an ex demonstrator car. It stretched my budget completely, along with what Dad had said he would contribute but the more I looked into the car, the more I thought that this car was my new car. Eventually I was able to take the car for a test drive and it was everything I was wanting in a new car with the only issue being that is was a few thousand more than I had available to spend. Chatting it over with Dad, he let me know he would double his contribution towards a car and at the end of the test drive I told the salesman I would purchase the car.

A few pieces of paper and a few thousand as a deposit, secured the car for pickup the next weekend and after the longest week in the history of man, I finally was able to pick up the car!


Some of you at this stage are asking - so what did you get!!

2014 Mazda 3 GLX Hatch (known as a Maxx in Australia and a iSport in the USA)
Managed to get the new 'facelift model' that arrived with the new Skyactive engine and more bells and whistles than I have ever had in a car before.

Matchbox Supreme Heroes

I was a happy person when news broke of a new Matchbox premium series for 2015, featuring realistic vehicles with premium decorations, a new wheel design and rubber tires. Reports varied between a lineup of 24 to 36 vehicles. Happiness gave way to mild disappointment when the line was refreshed down to just 12 vehicles.

While placing the order for some Greenlight cars, I also added in the first mix/assortment of the Supreme Heroes.

The first mix/wave is "ok", it would have been nice to have spread all the fire engines over the next few mixes rather than putting three in one mix. However since the line was reduced, this may have been unavoidable.

Roll on Mix B!

Retro Entertainment 2015

To quote T-Hunted - BOMBA!
Or maybe not :

Walking into the supermarket after work to get some items required for dinner, I walked past the small toy section and stopped dead. Hanging on the pegs were the first series of the 2015 Retro Entertainment, a series that - to the best of my knowledge - has not yet appeared in the USA stores.

Pulling out the camera for some quick in store shots, I selected the best cards and proceeded to the checkout, promptly forgetting to get the food I went into the supermarket to get.

Excuse the in store pictures, better images uploaded when light is available

Unlike every other wave, this wave only has 4 cars - for whatever reason the planned Porsche Speedster never made it to the assortment. However, this mix is still very fantastic and it will be a shame when the Retro Entertainment (or just Entertainment) series comes to an end.

Hopefully in the next few weeks, more local stores get these in (or my USA case order is filled) so I can get some extras to open.

Greenlight Hitch and Tow Series 3

With the lack of anything new locally, I decided to place another order at a USA store in order to secure the Greenlight Hitch and Tow Series 3, along with a few older Greenlight items I was after.

After a few days refining the order to make sure I wasn't spending too much, I placed the order and waited for the parcel to be shipped to my USA shipping address and then finally onto New Zealand.

Having skipped series 2 of the Hitch and Tow series, Series 3 called out to me with the Police Cruiser and the Dodge RAM with the attractive graphics decorating the side of the truck and trailer. It also didn't hurt that the Dodge D-100 and Chevrolet G20 van hit a 'sweet spot' in the collection.

Joining the journey were a few older items that I wanted, again with the Dodge and Chevrolet van hitting a 'sweet spot' but taking me dangerously close to going over my maximum number of the same vehicle.

There were still other older as well as new releases that interested me, but they have to wait for the next order and sadly with the exchange rate taking a dive at the moment, it is not the time to be importing items from the USA.

Hot Wheels 68 Copo Camaro

Finally, something Hot Wheels related has arrived thanks to the Hot Wheels Collectors online store. With no new Hot Wheels locally to be excited about and not enough decently priced older releases available on the local market, the dry spell has forced me to go looking at other brands as well as other "collectibles".

Released as another Special Edition (read, costs more), the 68 Copo Camaro is released in the fantastic original Hot Wheels Race Team decoration.

Just a shame that this was the only item in the box and with no more planned HWC releases in the next few months, the local stores need to get their act together and deliver new mainline cars, as well as Retro Entertainment and Heritage.