In the world of Hot Wheels, we get some good castings and some bad castings. Every once in a while, we see the design team update a casting to fix an issue with it or to modernize it to meet modern expectations (such as the first-gen Dodge Viper or Matchbox’s Jeep Gladiator). It’s not too... Continue Reading →
That’s a pretty salacious headline, so let me start off by expressing my love of this model. This new GR Corolla casting is excellent, with plenty of details and a plastic grille section that reminds me of Hot Wheels from a decade ago. It’s a little bit wide compared to other Hot Wheels hot hatches,... 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 →
The Mk7 VW Golf has been a frustrating casting to collect, as every version we’ve seen has been ruined by ugly side graphics that come at the cost of any front or rear detailing. As a lover of clean cars and Volkswagens alike, this has annoyed me to no end. Luckily, it seems someone at... Continue Reading →
The late 2010’s really were a peak for Aston Martin’s design language. All their cars were the perfect combination of elegant and aggressive in a way that just exudes “cool” – none more so than the DBS. Hot Wheels’ take on the DBS is fantastically executed, with great proportions and lots of casting detail. Originally... Continue Reading →
Believe it or not, the original Lamborghini Murcielago casting came out in 2003. To its credit, the Lambo holds up better than most castings from that era, but a lot has changed in the years since. Hot Wheels castings have become more detailed, more realistic, and less focused on track use, which meant the aging... Continue Reading →
We all know the Hot Wheels mainline serves as a gateway drug of sorts into the world of 1/64 diecast collecting. They offer a great blend of value for money and are easy and affordable to build a collection out of. However, like many collectors, I find myself collecting fewer and fewer of these mainline... 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 →
It’s no secret that the Hot Wheels mainline has been highly budget constrained for a number of years. Castings have slowly begun to include more plastic and less metal, fewer tampo passes, and reduced quality control. Since being a “$1 toy” is such a big part of the Hot Wheels brand, it’s understandably difficult for... 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 a rare event when Hot Wheels launches a new product line, so I was eager to check out this new Aventador with its removable rear bumper and nearly $28 (with shipping) price tag. While this isn’t technically the first Elite64 model, the Aventador is the first in the line to really capture my (and... 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 →
2022 was not a banner year for Hot Wheels, though perhaps that’s just because 2021 was such a good year. Either way, we still got a number of excellent new models this year. These are my top five! Number 5: Lucid Air In his recent feature on the Lamley blog, Graham Heeps mentioned how nobody... Continue Reading →
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