Taking a Chance With The Hot Wheels Speed Graphics 5-Pack

Each year, there's a grand total of about two 5-packs worth getting, and they both revolve around the same theme. One is the annual Hot Wheels Exotics 5-pack, usually featuring five of the hottest European sports cars and supercars, with minimal graphics and occasionally the odd stripe or two. The other is Matchbox's version of the Exotics 5-pack, which is similar but with far better castings and more realistic designs. Otherwise, most of these multi-packs are best suited as children's gifts, for the ones who haven't yet reached the age to differentiate good taste from bad taste.

This year, there's a third, and it's this Speed Graphics fiver. There are two particular models in here absolutely worth having regardless of what you collect, and the rest is a toss-up depending on who you're talking to.

I personally like three of these models: the Corvette Grand Sport, Ford GT LM, and the Toyota Supra. Three out of five, for five bucks, is not bad at all. Last week, I took opportunity of Target's 40% off all Hot Wheels promotion on Cartwheel to snatch this quintet for $3, which brought me to a single dollar for each car I intend to keep.

Now that's more like it!

After examining each of these in person, I felt the Corvette was more ho-hum than I had thought. The yellow base is, naturally, hideous, at which point I had to remind myself that Hot Wheels and common sense are not synonymous with each other. The GT, while a bit simplistic, is pretty as always. The Supra really wowed with its bold colors and perfectly suited (and very underrated) Y5 wheels. It's fantastic and my favorite release of the Mark IV to date.

I think I'll keep those two tucked away safely and toss the others in the donation bin.

The Dodge Charger Drift car is merely a shell of its former self.

Love the colors and the livery, but this casting is plain awful.

Hot Wheels designers sure love their yellow bases!

From the Playing Mantis Vault: Finding Vintage Johnny Lightning's in 2016, Part 3

The last sighting was three weeks ago, at my local Toys"R"Us. This was easily the best one yet. There had to have been more than a dozen different models on the pegs, ranging from classic to modern American muscle, to trucks, to fantasy vehicles, and even a Mini Cooper to boot. As much as I would have loved to grab all of them, the price tag kept me in check. Thus, I walked out with "only" four cars in hand: a crazy Plum Crazy Challenger, a pair of '69 Shelby GT500's in coupe and convertible forms, and one insanely sick '68 Camaro. Like I said, easily the best yet.



I forgot to mention one thing about these releases: the hologram sticker. In lead photo, you can see it slapped onto the upper area of the blister. That's the one thing that differentiates these from their original releases. That's it. Is it worth a premium on the secondary market? Hard to tell at this point. A brief check on eBay yields only a few results. However, as is commonly said, buy them if you like them. Don't get caught up in the hype. At the end of the day, when you look back at your collection, make sure you actually like each and every one of your cars.

It's almost a shame because I open all my cars and throw the packaging away. Luckily, this blog is evidence that these are indeed from the Playing Mantis Vault.

As more collectors have been finding these, a few interesting observations have been made, which leaves us with a few unanswered questions. For one, there have been sightings of the same models in different parts of the country. Therefore, there are multiples of some, if not all, of these releases. The question is "how many?" How many cars from the collection are actually out there and how many of each? How are they distributed?

Secondly, there's the whole restocking situation that I mentioned in my last post. If these are supposed to be "limited", why are Toys"R"Us stores are receiving multiple shipments? Or is it simply that they are only putting out a few at a time? For the conspiracy theorists (myself included): could Johnny Lightning actually be producing these behind our backs at this very moment and disguising them as old releases?

We might never know the answers to all of those questions. Mystery can be a good thing. Having not collected during the Playing Mantis years, I'm just happy to have these at all.

From the Playing Mantis Vault: Finding Vintage Johnny Lightning's in 2016, Part 2

March 9, 2016:

Lightning strikes again.

Not a lightning strike as in the chase piece, but it may as well have been one. A second "From the Playing Mantis Vault..." sighting. This time, it's a 1964 Pontiac GTO in a shade of faint, olive green. Is it green or is it gold? You decide.

April 3, 2016:

A third vintage Johnny Lightning sighting.

This pair were found at the same Toys"R"Us store where I found my first "From the Playing Mantis Vault..." releases. That tells me one very important thing: these do get restocked. Did a collector in your area grab them before you got there? If so, don't give up. Keep checking and you might eventually find some.

Part three coming tomorrow! And it just might be the best one yet.

If You Don't Succeed, Try Again: Matchbox's Best-Of-World Series, Part 1

Matchbox is one of those brands that gets kind of neglected nowadays. It doesn't have the sheer firepower that Hot Wheels has, and distribution and availability has been frustratingly spotty. As of the past few years, the releases have been largely generic castings, the kinds that hang on the pegs for months and only get spontaneously picked up by desperate parents who need a toy for their crying child. As a result, collectors have almost completely forgotten about the orange brand. I, myself, rarely check the Matchbox pegs now, under the assumption that I'll end up finding the same insignificant models that I saw on my last trip to the store. And the trip before that. And the trip before the trip before that.

Well, Matchbox is listening. They are slowly phasing out more generic castings in favor of licensed ones. How many of you have seen Target stores completely rid themselves of Matchbox pegs altogether? Fortunately, they're coming back. Matchbox has announced that singles will be making their way back to Target within the year. That's something I'm definitely looking forward to.

But the biggest buzz regarding Matchbox has been this. The so-called "Best Of World" series. It's essentially a direct heir to the Supreme Heroes line from last year, with a few important changes. By the way, remember the Supreme Heroes line? Maybe you don't, and I wouldn't blame you for it anyway. Talk about short-lived; the series was canceled after just two waves (of four models each). In summary, a complete failure. And when you fail, you go back to the drawing board. You rethink, restrategize, and redesign. This is the end result, and it's a heck of a series.

Ten models, total, in the series, eight of which I've acquired. The other two, a golden fire engine and a BMW motorcycle, can stay on the pegs for all I care. Each of these models comes with extra details and, most importantly, molded wheels with rubber tires. The modern version of the Matchbox Premiere series that I so loved during my childhood. More on that in the coming days, but let's focus on these models first.

The series is a melting pot of castings, from emergency to service vehicles, modern to classic cars, sports cars to sport bikes, spanning numerous countries of origin, hence the "Best Of World" moniker. It's almost a shame that there's only ten models altogether; there's so much potential with all the great castings that Matchbox has in its arsenal. Hopefully we'll see more in the future. I'd like to think that this initial wave is a "test run" or sorts for Matchbox.

The four I'll be showing today are the BMW 1-Series M, '93 Ford Mustang LX SSP, Lamborghini LM002, and '69 Cadillac Sedan DeVille. I'm gonna go ahead and say that the 1-Series M is the best car in the set. Obviously, that's a biased point of view as it's both my favorite BMW and my favorite Matchbox casting, but the rest of these are fantastic in their own rights. See for yourself! Which model is the one for you?