I’ve made no secret of my belief that Hot Wheels is incapable of making a compelling Exotic Envy set. Despite the enormous potential of a theme based entirely around the exotic cars that occupy our dreams and adorn posters on bedroom walls, Hot Wheels has consistently filled the Exotic Envy sets with several pegwarmers. So... Continue Reading →
If you grew up in the mid-2000's, you know how fierce the fan wars could get between lovers of the Subaru WRX and the Mitsubishi Evo. These two rally icons were juggernauts of the car scene during the early internet era, prompting endless forum debates, Instagram fan pages, and plenty of races. While many consider... Continue Reading →
In what has become somewhat of a tradition, Hot Wheels showed off a lot of rather underwhelming and uninteresting models during their sneak preview slideshow at the Convention last Saturday, leaving me with a feeling of disappointment. Then, as seems to happen every year, pictures of the prototype boards started to appear online about an... Continue Reading →
I’m never quite sure what to make of the Team Transport series. It’s home to some of the most legendary Hot Wheels releases of modern history, but as its price has crept higher over the years, it’s also felt more difficult to justify many of the sets. Especially when, if I’m being honest, I buy... Continue Reading →
Normally, I make a dedicated top 5 list for both the Hot Wheels mainline and the premium line, but I decided to combine them into one roundup this year. The Hot Wheels mainline felt pretty weak this year, with only a few new models that interested me, so any top 5 list would require padding... Continue Reading →
This year’s Hot Wheels convention preview presentation felt very underwhelming to me. The mainline section of the presentation was filled with a huge number of generic “originals”, the premium section had some good models but also a disappointing number of future pegwarmers, and even the RLC line featured far less to excite me than previous... Continue Reading →
Through all its iterations, the Exotic Envy premium series has been a mixed bag. The concept is an easy slam-dunk (a car culture set comprised of all desirable, poster-worthy exotic cars – yes please!), but the execution has fallen short of the concept’s potential in every iteration. We’ll examine the new set momentarily, but first... Continue Reading →
With the year coming to a close, it’s time to take a look back at some of the best models of 2023. This year, we ended up with a few car culture mixes being delayed, which means I had fewer models than usual to pick from since I’m only including new models in this list. ... Continue Reading →
It’s the weekend, and that means it’s toy show time! Local toy shows are one of my favorite ways to get older and rare modern models without having to pay eBay markups and shipping. Let’s jump right in! First up is a Walmart exclusive McLaren Senna from the Quarter Mile Finals semi-premium set. When these... Continue Reading →
Big Lamborghinis from Hot Wheels have historically been a mixed bag. Some, like the mainline Aventador, are well proportioned and nearly perfect Hot Wheels models. Others, like the mainline Murcielago, just look a bit off – riding a bit too high and being a bit too flat. Others are let down by their color choice,... Continue Reading →
It was certainly a long time coming. When the Shelby GT500 casting was released in 2020, it was a pretty good looking upgrade to the Shelby GT350 casting we already had in the lineup. Unfortunately, ever since its debut release, this casting has been plagued by the same unfortunate tampo treatment: hood, roof, and sides. ... Continue Reading →
Another Sunday means another toy show haul, and first up is the BMW M1 Procar featuring a Project Cars livery. This model was released as part of the Eurospeed set from the early days of the Car Culture line, a set which sadly managed to elude me when it first came out. While I generally... Continue Reading →
It’s been a great couple of years for diecast Porsches. After what felt like decades of Matchbox and Hot Wheels reusing the same old 911 GT3 castings, we’ve finally seen a whirlwind of new Porsches released. Hot Wheels released the 992 GT3 and Taycan, and Matchbox released a new Cayenne, 918, 911 Carrera 4, and... Continue Reading →
Even when the shelves of retail stores are empty post-Christmas, you can always count on a toy show to be a treasure trove of exciting models and some great deals. This Sunday was no exception! Can you believe Greenlight made a model of an Iowa State Patrol car? I don’t normally collect Greenlight models, but... Continue Reading →
This was a great year for Hot Wheels premiums, especially as a lover of German cars. There were many contenders, and I’m only considering cars I actually have (which disqualifies the E36 Estate), but I was finally able to narrow it down to five! Number 5: Nissan Z Proto The new Z appeared in both... Continue Reading →
This post is based on the premium/car culture sneaks shown in a recent Lamley video, so if you haven’t watched that yet, go check it out. Let’s jump right in with my favorite model shown, the Cayman GT4! Given Porsche’s huge following among car and diecast enthusiasts, I’ve always been perplexed by the lack of... Continue Reading →
Car culture is undeniably one of the best lines Hot Wheels has ever made, featuring models of some of the greatest cars ever built. However, the line has a glaring omission – it contains very few of the cars that make up the majority of modern car culture. Go to a car meet and take... Continue Reading →
Many a Hot Wheels designer has commented on the challenges of designing a 1/64 scale car. The challenge, they say, is that a car cannot just be scaled down to 1/64 because the proportions will look wrong on such a small car. Instead, they must adapt the features of the car to fit on such... Continue Reading →
It’s Sunday, and that means toy shows! While new inventory has been slow coming into retail stores, there’s always something interesting to be found at a diecast collector event. So, while I would have loved to be at the Hot Wheels Collector Nationals in Charlotte, I set off instead for my local toy show. What... Continue Reading →
The Hot Wheels Collector Nationals in Charlotte are this week, and perhaps the most exciting news so far is of the upcoming Car Culture mix. The card art was originally posted by Lamley Group, followed shortly by full images posted by 1stopdiecast. This mix is focused on JDM cars and looks to have some absolutely... Continue Reading →
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