Green Machine

Back in my last Greenlight post I mentioned that the New Zealand supplier had mentioned that new stock would be coming into the country around the 1st of September. So after a full days break from not visiting my local Toyworld (and annoying the staff), I again wandered into the store and was very surprised to see a restock of Greenlight.

As I checked through the pegs it became very clear that this was just a single car restock of all the Greenlight items that the supplier had brought in back in March and did not contain any new items.
However what surprised me further was that sitting on the front of the pegs was a single Green Machine chase piece.

Naturally I couldn't leave it there and so the piece came home with me,
It wasn't until I got home and checked the blog that I saw why the item looked familiar - it was the same Green Machine as I had picked up from the same store back in March when this shipment of Greenlight was new.

Retro Entertainment

The Hot Wheels Retro Entertainment line quickly became my favourite Hot Wheels line to collect and it will be a sad day when the line wraps up. Around the beginning of August, I started seeing hints that a new release was close and around a week later I saw the first non pre order listing of cases on eBay. I ordered and sent them to my USA shipping address in Portland and waited.

My normal requirements for each Retro Entertainment release is three sets - one for my sealed collection and two more sets for fellow collectors in New Zealand. Dependent on the cars actually released, I normally add an extra set to the order, but this time around the team of three (aka DCTV) had asked for a full sealed case so I ordered a total of three sealed cases (for a total of 48 cars).

A few days after the parcel arrived at the USA Warehouse and postage was paid, the parcel arrived in New Zealand and then a few days later arrived on my doorstep. I was home from work with enough time to be able to take the case for DCTV to the post office in order to send it so he got it the next business day (hopefully, as long as New Zealand Post did their job).
It would have been nice to add a shot of the three sealed cases to the blog post .. but there is always next time!

In this assortment, we have two variations of the Back of the Future Time Machine - a hover mode which was recently released as a mainline basic car and a Mr Fusion version which looks oddly like one of the very first Retro Entertainment cars - but I suspect there is a very small variation.

Then what looks like the same Dodge Charger R/T from the Fast and the Furious movie that has been released before - but again probably has a small variation - along with a 67 Camaro from the movie Christine.

The star of the wave has to be the Toyota 2000GT Convertible from You Only Live Twice, and in person it lives up to the pre release hype. Fingers crossed they manage to release more versions of this casting (with extra detailing) down the line.

And now the countdown is on for the next mix!

Lego WALL-E

Occasionally I check out the Lego news websites and one day noticed that an upcoming Lego Ideas set was WALL-E (from the Pixar movie of the same name). Ever since the release of the movie I have wanted some form of toy of the main character and now I had the chance of getting a Lego version.

During one of my frequent lunch trips into Toyworld, I was informed that they were receiving a large Lego shipment by the end of the week containing many "limited distribution" items (along with Star Wars Force Awakens sets) and one of the workers informed me that the Lego Ideas Birds set that I had asked about in an earlier visit was part of the shipment. I was also able to see a list of what else was coming in and I got really excited when I saw that the WALL-E set was also coming in.

Come Monday at lunch time, I took a trip down to Toyworld and took a look at all the new stock that was being placed on the shelf (having been held back over the weekend due to a coupon sale) and then went to the counter, paid for the WALL-E set and counted down the long hours until work ended and I could crack open the box and build the figure.

Spoilers - he is awesome!!
Well worth the purchase price (even in New Zealand).
If you have any interest in the WALL-E figure, go hunt down the figure now.
My only issue with the figure is that he does not "transform" into a cube. Practically impossible, but would have been awesome if Lego could have figured it out.

Older Hot Wheels from New Zealand

I joined Facebook when "my good friend from the capital city" told me about a great little closed group for New Zealand Hot Wheels collectors when I was really new to the community and trying to find out more. To this day it is still the main reason for having a Facebook account and I keep my security settings very high in order to keep everyone out. Anyway, one of the long time members of the group advertised a sale on some of his spare cars back in May and I ordered a few and then a few more and then a few more. Paid and waited for things to be posted ...

Came home from work and found the box waiting for me at the start of the week and opened it up while trying to remember just exactly what I had ordered all those months ago.

Some mainlines, including treasure hunts and an opener (the 63 Studebaker Champ)

Some metal/metal cars

Finally a couple of Retro Entertainment cars that I wanted to open. The Kenworth truck does not have the detailing on the front and rear that I normally want to open a car but the casting is awesome and I seem to be going through a small truck phase at the moment and wanted to open a truck!

Greenlight and M2

I've been keeping an eye on one of my favourite USA stores to order Greenlight from for some of the new stock teased many months ago by Greenlight as well as some of the old releases that I want to eventually join my collection. One pre order item finally came in stock and so after adding, then removing, then adding and tweaking the order to be just right and then asking if any New Zealanders wanted something ... I made an order.

Because I use the stores flat rate shipping, it took a while to get from the seller all the way to my shipping address in Portland but eventually it got there and I then paid for postage down to New Zealand. Coming home from work to see a much anticipated parcel waiting is a great site.

The main item I wanted from the order is actually a die cast exclusive to another website (or so Greenlight says) so I was surprised to see it listed with this retailer. Really happy to get a new casting, that is slightly different from all the "muscle castings" that Greenlight produces.

The next main item on the hit list was the Pennzoil Durastar Truck from HD Trucks Series 2 - there was something about the colour scheme and the general casting that appealed to me,

Rounding out my side of the Greenlight order were some new release Muscle Series 12, a couple of cars I didn't have too many of in the collection as well as the Dodge Challenger that I am collecting all the colours of (not that I can tell you why I am doing that) and a Series 9 Hollywood release.

Joining the order were a couple of surprise M2 Auto Mod releases - these just appeared on the website one day and I told myself they would be mine. So now they are.

Now the wait for the local Greenlight distributor in New Zealand to list his September arrivals on the website, there are many items coming out from Greenlight that interests me and so if I can order from a local source I will. All depends on what is brought in to the country.

RMZ City

While checking out Toyworld, I noticed some 1/64 scale trucks in various form (Petrol Tanker, Fire Engine and Refuse Truck) on the shelf from a toy line called RMZ City. Sitting next to the tucks was a BP service station along with a giftset featuring 4 cars, a truck/trailer unit and road signs. Given the number the store had on the shelf, I decided to wait for a percentage off sale, but before that could happen the number available reduced and I decided to pounce before I lost the chance to purchase.

Decided to go with the BP Petrol Tanker as a trial, and overall it is a pretty solid toy.
Recommended for those who want some larger 1/64 scale items for their collection.

I look forward to adding the Fire Engine and the Refuse Truck to the collection.

Japan Transformers for July

Another month, another arrival of Transformers from Japan!

Three more additions to the Transformers Adventure line-up arrived early in the month - 2 deluxes with additional paint applications over the American releases and a brand new Optimus Prime figure.

TAV-21 is an exclusive Japanese Optimus Prime figure - leader sized but with a proper transformation compared to the larger one and three step figures released by Hasbro. Primary purchased as an addition to the truck collection, the figure towers over all the regular deluxe figures due to his really long legs. Does feature lights (and maybe sounds - Japan, please supply free batteries) and comes with some additional weapons that can be used with other figures.

TAV-22 and TAV-23 are almost the same as the American releases, but with the famous "extra bit of paint applications" that Japan adds to their figures and the reason why the majority of my Transformers collection hails from Japan. Interesting to note that in package the "app scan sticker" is not covered by a fake sticker as per all the other TAV releases so far -- one can only speculate as to the reason for that.

Oversteer Toyota86 GT

While once again taking a look through the 1/64 scale offerings at the store I purchase my Transformers from Japan, I came across another in stock Oversteer listing, this time the orange Toyota86 GT (otherwise known as the Toyota GT 86, Subaru BRZ or the Scion FR-S in other parts of the world).

As a car I would love to own in real life, I was happy to add the car to a pending shipment after my last successful order of an Oversteer model.

Arriving a few days later, the display case was a touch smaller than that found on the Mazda along with a box to hold the display case in rather than a slip cover. Aside from the minor packaging changes, the up close details on the remain the same as the Mazda - spectacular!

Hopefully I can find a seller who has some more Oversteer to purchase from, as I can see plenty more being added to the collection in the near future.

RAOK from the Capital

Once again my "good mate in the capital city" has sent through a small, but fantastic parcel containing some choice items for the collection. One item from the box will be covered in a separate post.

Contents

From the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, comes a special edition vehicle - the BLVD Bruiser in the gorgeous Hot Wheels colour scheme. Metal body, plastic base and rubber tires, this item is available online and in the Children's Museum store for a reasonable price.

Added to the parcel was another Super Treasure Hunt that I required to creep ever slowly towards completion for the 2015 year. Due to our main retailer sticking with parallel import cards for the majority of the year and other retailers only getting in one case it is increasingly difficult to get Super's in the wild. As a result, getting a super in a parcel is a great feeling especially when it looks this good.

Masterpiece Gold Bumblebee

Before the storm of three new Masterpiece releases in September, October and December, Takara Tomy have re-released MP-21 Bumblebee as MP-21G Gold Bumblebee as a homage to the G2 release of the toy in 1994.

Added to the figure is the mass release of the face that was included as a Amazon Japan exclusive for MP-21, as well as a new accessory in the form of a jetpack that I really hope can be used on some of the larger Masterpiece Autobots (like Convoy and/or Lambor).

Now if only I could decide if I open one up or not ...

Oversteer Mazda 3 Die Cast

While searching around the 1/64 scale die cast items at the online store in Japan I get the majority of my Transformers from I came across a listing for a die cast version of the real car I drive - the 2014 Mazda 3. Ordering the same colour as the real car, I paid and added to the next order that shipped from the store.

Compared to my real car, the 1/64 scale model is based off the top of the line sport model (known as the SP25 here in New Zealand) which changes the wheel size and adds a sunroof.

Looking at the model, the attention to detail on both the exterior of the car as well as the interior is breathtaking, which my camera not able to do any sort of justice. The only small blemish on an otherwise perfect die cast model is the slightly off centre Mazda logo.

Looking forward to taking this model to work in order to have a small part of my hobby on display in the office, but also to be able to say that I own this car in real life - not that I expect anyone to ask.

Hot Wheels Club - 83 Chevy Silverado

In mid July the Hot Wheels Collectors club offered up another release for Series 13 club cars, the very popular 83 Chevy Silverado. As with all my orders, the parcel took its time getting to the shipping forwarder in Portland before being consolidated with other orders and being shipped to New Zealand.

As mentioned with other Red Line Club cars, Series 13 cars re-introduced the premium feel of the cars that was lost during the issues with Series 12 and if I could, I would love to open up this truck and have it on permanent display.

Looking forward to the next release, which may be the sELECTIONs cars after a couple of backorder changes.

2012 Hot Wheels Racing Off Road

Back in 2012, Hot Wheels released a Racing Series featuring different styles of racing cars in this "premium" series. For whatever reason I skipped getting the majority of the cars at the time of release even though racing cars are one of my primary reasons for liking and collecting die cast vehicles.

As time went on, it became harder and harder to get full sets but in mid July I managed to win an auction for a set of the Off Road series at roughly half of the retail price.

The most expensive one -- for some reason 

Glad to finally have this set, now to find the NHRA set and then another Road Racer set.