Dagnabbit, Hot Wheels Is Going To Make Me Buy An RLC Membership

I’ve been able to resist it for so long.  The Redline Club has always seemed like more of a pain than it’s worth to me, with limited edition drops that sell out in seconds and the rather offensive demand that you pay to even have the privilege of missing out on a drop.  Add in the often clunky-looking moving parts and the perplexing 9am PST launch time for RLCs – a time that’s inconvenient for anyone in the US working a 9-5 job – and Redline Club cars have never felt worth the hassle.  It seems Mattel has decided to up the ante, because some of this year’s models (previewed at the Hot Wheels Convention in LA) look absolutely stunning.

View the full livesteam on the Lamley Group Youtube channel here.   

The car that really caught my attention was this mint green Porsche 964.  The Fuchs-style wheels are a perfect fit for this casting, and the bronze accents on the hood and doors are a great touch.  After missing out on the black version of this casting (and being unwilling to pay the crazy prices for it in the secondhand market), I knew I was going to have to get an RLC membership just to try for this car.  

Though I suspect I’ll never be able to get my hands on one, this R34 GT-R looks very cool.  Described by the Hot Wheels team as “color shifting paint”, I suspect this will be the blue to purple colorshift of the GT-R’s famous Midnight Purple paint.  Given the secondhand price of the existing RLC R34’s, I suspect this model will be incredibly expensive to pick up if you don’t have an RLC membership.  Though I hate to admit it, I want it (or at least a shot at it). 

Luckily, next year’s membership car (the only car you’re guaranteed to get with an RLC membership) looks quite nice as well.  This is the first time we’ve seen the Kawa-Bug-A without a roof rack, and it looks rather handsome.  I’ve always liked the stance on this casting, and it’s much better proportioned than the car culture version of the Beetle.  The open windshield glass is a particularly cool feature. 

We’ve seen this ‘95 Honda Integra Type R before – it was first previewed nearly half a year ago at the Hot Wheels Nationals in Ohio – but it remains just as gorgeous as the first time we saw it.  I’m not that much of a JDM lover, but I’m definitely a sucker for white-on-white cars, and those small white Real Riders look perfect on the Type-R’s trademark white paint.  The red interior adds a great pop of color, and the whole model looks very well proportioned.  This is the kind of model I’d love to see in the Elite64 line, as there’s no spectraflame and no need to make it limited production. 

I can’t help but feel like the new Pagani Huayra R casting was made for all the people, myself included, who have criticized Hot Wheels for the rather simplistic castings of RLC given the high price point.  This feels like a deliberate step up in casting intricacy and printed detailing compared to what we would traditionally expect from RLC.  The requisite chrome finish is here, but there’s now wing mirrors (unclear if they are diecast or plastic) and crazy aero.  I suspect it won’t be quite as intricate as the Tarmac Works version, but it was never going to be…it seems to still have a bit of that toy-like magic that the more serious models lack. 

Finally, finally, we’re getting a new Mk4 Supra casting.  Even though it’s not in the car culture line where it belongs, we were long overdue for this more modern take on the Mk4 Supra.  The existing casting, in both mainline and premium forms, has a bit too much of a bodykit and a bit too aggressive of a wing for the modern sensibilities of car culture.  This new RLC casting looks to rectify that, with a much more stock-looking body and a removable rear wing.  I’m not sure about the decision to make the targa top removable, but we’ll see how it looks once it’s ready for production.  

Apparently someone told the Hot Wheels team that JDM is in, because the Mk4 Supra announcement was immediately followed by a ‘93 Mazda RX-7!  Unlike the Supra, I actually quite like the mainline casting, so the appeal of this casting will largely come down to color choice for me, but I’d love another clean FD RX-7 in my collection! 

Following the popularity of the GMC Cyclone in mainline and Car Culture, its SUV counterpart is coming to RLC!  I’m stoked to see a fully detailed version of this 90’s legend, and I just hope it gets a clean, stock looking deco. That brings us to eight total cars that I actually want in the RLC line next year.  Given the insane markups on secondhand RLCs, it seems Mattel is forcing my hand.  I’ll be a 2024 RLC member, despite its flaws, for a chance at some of these epic upcoming models.  I just hope I can actually get my hands on some of them…