$6. More specifically $5.50 plus tax.
Just focus there for awhile. Forget the price increase, just focus on the fact that each 2018 Hot Wheels Car Culture model will cost about $6.
Then think about this: That is dirt cheap.
Focus on $6. Think about the things you have spent $6 on lately. Even today. How many times do you question that something cost $6?
The only reason some are questioning the $6 cost on the Japan Historics 2, the first batch of the new Hot Wheels Car Culture, is because Car Culture used to be cheaper.
But guess what? They are still cheap. Way cheap.
We are in a 1/64 renaissance. Matchbox is returning to form, US-based premium brands like M2, Auto World, and Johnny Lightning are churning out amazing stuff every month. Japanese brands like Tomica continue smack-dab in their groove, and new brands like Tarmac Works and (wait until you see them) Mini GT are moving in. There is almost too much good stuff.
And leading the way is Hot Wheels. More specifically, Hot Wheels Car Culture. The line has been a revelation. Small mixes, each with a different theme, aimed squarely at the collector. It was made for the collector, and it is the collector that can make it better.
And collectors, as they have lapped up every new assortment, have asked for near-perfection, and Hot Wheels is delivering. As far as I can tell, since Car Culture debuted with Japan Historics (let’s call it JH1), collectors have praised the casting selections, the assortment themes, the incredible artwork, the new castings and Real Rider wheels, and the overall execution. What they have complained about, justifiably, is the “incompleteness” of the models.
For something so good, skipping certain graphics like the front and rear details seems especially frustrating. So Hot Wheels changed it for 2018. Full graphics – a la Pop Culture – becomes the norm. Add to that better paint, crisper upgraded decos, larger cards and more card art, and expanded casting and new casting choices. All because we asked for it.
Let’s get into a little more detail:
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- Full graphics. Pretty explanatory. Front, rear, top, side, and any where else that needs graphics. No more blank spots where the headlights and taillights should be.
- Better paint. You won’t see spectraflame here, because realism instead of nostalgia is the key with Car Culture. But the paint used is a step up from basic and mid-premium models like Car Culture used to be.
- Crisp upgraded decos. Last year Car Culture moved to the Thailand plant. Fewer leaks to be sure, but there are processes there that create crisp details. Look at the front of the JH2 Laurel for example.
- Larger cards. Car Culture is the signature Hot Wheels line now, and more card space allows Julian Koiles to work his artistic magic on a larger canvas.
- Expanded casting options and new casting choices. This is one of the most exciting developments. The higher price point means more options for new castings in the line. More metal, more details, more options. Models that would have been nixed before can now be developed.
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And all this starts with Japan Historics 2. The first set of 2018 might be the most anticipated, but with Cargo Carriers, Drag Strip Demons, and the mind-blowing Team Transport coming, among others, there is a lot more to cause collector frenzies.
So far the price increase hasn’t been an issue. JH2 is being gobbled up the second it hits the pegs, if it even hits the pegs. And frankly, I don’t think it should be an issue. JH2 looks and feels different than other Hot Wheels. I have mentioned this particular mix, with its Japan Car Meet theme, and cleaner-than-clean look, is more art than toy. And when you compare them to other premium lines and brands, they are a comparable price, or even much cheaper. I can’t look at the Laurel and C210 Skyline, for example, and think they should have cost me $3.
And Hot Wheels even proves this with the look of JH2. Some of you might not like this argument, but it is asinine to complain that these models are too plain. TOO PLAIN!?!? You want flames on these? Busy racing graphics? An unnecessary stripe? Mattel didn’t rip you off by not including side deco. The goal is to make these models look their best, and that is what they did, showing off the colors over decos. And don’t forget the killer ghost “BRE-inspired” deco on the 510. Collectors for years have said they don’t want graphics for graphics sake, and I still haven’t heard anyone legitimately argue that they would pay more if Mattel made the models look busier.
Even with Hot Wheels celebrating its 50th birthday, nothing will garner more attention than Car Culture in 2018. It has started loudly with JH2, and the set is worth not only the hype, but the price. Golden Age indeed.
I’m still not convinced. In Australia we’ve had to pay $6+ for Car Culture since the beginning and even then I thought we were getting ripped off on the cars that didn’t have front and rear tampo. I always feel like in a set there are 1-2 amazing ones and others appear to kinda get sacrificed on the the truly premium treatment. With JH2, I think it was the Fairlady and RX3 and the paint on those seem no better than what we see on mainlines. And with painted silver headlights I mean it’s cheaper to buy a metallic marker and do that yourself… Maybe the other series coming up with liveries and significant tampo on all sides will make it seem worthwhile but yeah I’m not convinced yet.
Ya, that is why it’s not worth it to me. The subaru in cars and donuts was pretty close to these for $3.50. That was the golden age…
Here in the UK we can’t even get the JH2, if we really have to have them then we must go to eBay and buy from the US where they are $40 a set plus postage, then we may get hit with import tax and the Royal Mail ransom fee for “admin charges”, so they end up costing us the equivalent of $18 per car. I’ll stick with mainlines and Matchbox until Mattel sort out their distribution thanks.
I watched two old men play tug-o-war with the Datsun yesterday at Wal-Mart. Although extremely pathetic, it provided great entertainment. These cars are nice, but no where near $6 nice. Not when other brands offer better paint, better details, PLUS opening doors and hood, for the same money.
Nice, but not for me.
Wow! Tug o war over a toy car? I have to say that is idiocy. And just so they can put it for resale at twice the price. And someone will buy it. And when they are as nicely detailed as an M2, AW, GL, and of a subject that interets me, I have no issue with $6 for a car. I’ll have to see these though. I might like the 510 – my college roommate had one of those. But the others mean nothing to me. I’d rather have the GNX in this level. Or the hurst Olds. I got a MCSS GL at Christmas and it is beautiful. HW makes nothing like it. even when they do, they exaggerate too much on the wheel opening. I know HW is supposedto be play toy first, but I am slowly replacing my larger kits and diecasts with 1/64 cars and am looking for the most realistic version I can find. But maybe, in time, HW will get back to the American Iron some folks want. But that’s cool – I can work on other brands and the HW that do interest me in the meantime.
A tug-of-war between scalpers who are trying to define their “territiory.” I see it all the time.
This is beyond idiocy. This is advanced stupidity.
Oh, and $6.00 is too much for a $1.00 toy, no matter how much you dress it up. I’ll just wait until the local Wal-Marts bring the price down and put them on the clearance rack. Then I’ll buy them.
Ditto. Just not worth it imho.
These are actually now cheaper in australia than the us considering the currency conversion…even most of the hw replica entertainment cars are less than $5aud now ☺.
What makes the set so great is that they look like something you would see on the road. Mattel gave us full tampo on these! (Yes I’m including the side greddy decals). The side tampos are just right.
I’m a full believer that you can’t make collectors happy. They will always want want something more for less. As for me, I love the car culture line and will gladely shell out $6 for them. Granted I can get Autoworld for the same price, but they aren’t out there pushing a Subaru WRX or a Mercedes 190E (both 2 of my favorite cars ever.)
I bought 2 of the castings. They are indeed excellent! The price held me back on the others. The wheel size seemed a bit small for the castings. Since the price was similar to Auto World, it also slowed my purchasing. I will stick with Auto World at that price point.
Great set ! Flawless castings and execution.
I think my favorite one is the Mazda.
Only negative point for me : no Car Culture series available in France. I paid 50 dollars (pre-order) for this JH2.
My only problem with this set is that 4 of the 5 cars have the same 4-spoke wheel. Some more variety in that regard would have been nice.
Swap the wheels, put the 4 spokes on another suitable car and put something else on the Laurel or Skyline or Fairlady Zed.
At $6/each I buy the individual casting of the models I collect and leave the rest. I’m not much of a “set” guy.
Paying $6 for a toy car just to put it on a shelf and stare at it forever
They do look great, got my case last week and had to open a set. And while I do like the M2 and Greenlight cars I don’t like opening them. I’ve seen too many of their cars in the store with bumpers, lenses and even falling apart where the rivets busted. With the Hot Wheels I have a great looking car at a reasonable price that I don’t have to worry about when I open it.
I see lots of folks complaining that premium line Hot Wheels aren’t as ‘premium’ as brands such as Greenlight and M2. With all due respect to those brands and to those who collect and like them, I’ve noticed some issues with their products:
– Most 1:64 Greenlight vehicles roll very poorly. I recently opened a Hollywood line Elvis Presley ’55 Cadillac Series 60, which I must say looked beautiful in the blister, but when I pushed it along the table, it barely rolled a few inches whilst bouncing up and down due to the uneven tires. That’s not to mention the whitewalls that looked like they had been painted by someone with their eyes closed. Almost every Hot Wheels model with Real Riders that I’ve tested has rolled nicely, and most tire decorations – whilst not perfect – are applied to my satisfaction.
– Yes, 1:64 M2 models feature significant detail and a great many individual parts, as advertised. The issue, however, is that they seem not to have much by way of quality control. I’ve seen several models in the store with pieces misaligned or even fallen off in the package. Indeed, Hot Wheels products are not without factory errors at times, but if you ask me, M2 is the king of factory errors. For a brand that asks nine dollars a model here in Canada, I expect better quality product than what I’m seeing.
All-in-all, each brand produces realistic, collector-aimed models in its own style, but if you ask me, the Mattel brands still produce the most well-put-together and sturdy products. If they’re charging more money for the addition of extra detail and different castings that’s fine by me. At the end of the day it depends on what you’re looking for, and so far Greenlight and M2 haven’t produced the quality of product that I’m after. I’m happy to see a premium Hot Wheels line with full-detail, and am happy to pay the extra money for it.
“M2 is the king of factory errors.”
This. I’d say of the last 4-5 M2 cars I’ve actually bought, I was pleased with only the ’60s Ford Econoline as there are no opening parts. The colors on their muscle cars are simply awful and not true factory shades. And then there’s that d@mn plastic platform they’re all screwed to that adds nothing to the product. That being said, I do think they have nice casting choices. But if you’re looking for vintage factory stock vehicles, AW is where it’s at.
Anyways, this JH2 set is well worth it. Very well-executed castings and no silly graphics.
+1000 what Chris said….I’ve slowed down collecting Johnny Lightning and Auto World because I still get a few cars that roll very poorly due to crooked tires. One or two cars here and there, I can understand but it’s happening enough to where it’s annoying me…..and M2, well I just stopped all together because I’ve had too many models with crooked axles, tires, doors and hoods with fitment issues, whitewalls that look like they were painted with a liquid paper brush (like on my Chevy Apache trucks)…so the Car Culture price increase for me is negligible, in fact, I think it’s worth it considering it’s still a little cheaper than the “premium” brands with better quality control and full tampo treatment. When I cracked open my JH2 set and took a closer look, to me, the tampos look like good quality and since the Laurel and C210 look so different from your average Hot Wheel casting, they actually feel like premium models. I am grateful that the HW Design listened by giving us the full tampo treatment and I’m excited to see what’s coming down the line from the Car Culture, 50th Anniversary Favorites and Team Transport segments.
These models are without a doubt very beautifully made, especially the Skyline and Laurel. But there’s no way these are worth 6 times more than a normal mainline.4-5 dollars is the maximum these should cost. And that is just the US price. Elsewhere in the world these are even more expensive. And for the really unlucky guys like me (who live in a country where Car Culture isn’t available at all) we have to pay almost twice to acquire these.
The only good thing I can see with the price increase is that hopefully it’ll scare away some of the scalpers and normal collectors will have a better chance of finding it on the pegs, at the store price.
It won’t scare away the scalpers on this set… but it will for other sets I am sure. I know some stores that still have TRUCKS series cars on the pegs, of course only two or three of the castings are left, but when they can’t sell everything out at $3.50, how are they going to at $5.50. Look at how many pop cultures and entertainment series cars don’t sell at that price point!
$5.50 is getting quite spendy in my opinion, but if the models continue to look this good, then there’s no question I’ll continue to bite. The only problem is actually getting them. I won’t beat a dead horse any more than I have to on the distribution front, but I do think that collectors (as in, people who want the cars for themselves, not to sell) would have an easier time of things if Toys R Us did a box set for every Car Culture release (like they did with the Forza releases of the Entertainment line). This would increase the chances for true enthusiasts to get what they want. This would be a win-win for everyone I think. How about it, Mattel?
They all look wonderful, I want ’em all. I can’t even imagine the price of them when (& if) they come to Brazil…
I don’t have the 510 on order, and won’t make an effort to get it if I don’t see it in-store. The others were about $10 a piece, and well worth it compared to what else I might get for the same price (an M2 of a less cool car? 10 mainline HWs? a gram?).
nice cars.
I had to buy a set on ebay for 40$ + 20$ for shipping from USA to France, and I don’t complain, I’m just happy getting them soon !
I couldn’t agree with you more.
Car Culture is the only series from Hot Wheels that i collect now. It showed potential from the beginning and hit a few rough patches in its first year, but i am glad i stuck to it. The move to the Thailand plant last year was already a noticeable improvement in quality. All that was left was those missing details.
And now it is happening.
This is going to be a great year.
This is going to be (arguably) the best series Hot Wheels ever did (I still think the original Vintage Racing series is the best series HW ever did, but this year might be the year it finally passes the baton)
I feel very fortunate to have found a freshly pegged set. This came a day before A&J emailed me to tell me that my pre-order was cancelled.
At $4.99 I don’t think we’re having this conversation. These are undoubtedly fantastic. I was originally on the fence about getting them since there were repeats. But once I saw them in person I knew I had to have an example of each.
I spend a LOT more than $6 on Japanese cars. Yes TLVs are amazingly well detailed but a lot of them have plastic bases. So with these it can be justified that no one else is making moderately customized Laurels and Skyline Japans – meaning not Bosozoku.
You don’t have to buy them and you shouldn’t feel pressure from other collectors to buy what you don’t really want.
they are nice but they are far too overrated especially when Autoworld and Greenlight are much better value (even too bad they are a pain in the ass to get In New Zealand more so for AW as i had to get a set from the states. When you go premium you can’t go back.
I live in thailand . This Jh2 made from thailad but U know in thailand this car each the price is 11.5$ dollar about 395 thai bath . Haha is very expensive if i live in Us i defenelty buy 100-200 car . I But without doubt . This is fact . Made in thailand but very expensive low.
Worth every penny! Finally, Car Culture cars that look great and not like rolling billboards! The M2 set I have from Wal Mart came with with stock wheels, even on the “Race” graphics versions!! Not very attractive! Just got the Tokyo Torqure set from Greenlight and they are pretty sad. Bummer M2 didn’t want to pay royalties to BRE, they could have done these so much better.
And as a JDM enthusiast and Datsun 510 Owner, I can’t wait for what they do next!
Bring them on!
As much as some of you lot fawn and dribble over Mattel – i have to say they are nothing but a bunch of A***holes, we spend a fortune on their products to just have them cancel ALL sets at the very last minute, meaning that we can ot get any of them, so unless i and many others from Europe and other countries find very kind and generous people, we lose out yet again – how this is supposed to be good, well, it is not, the “bottom line” is being hurt by the morons that have decided that unless you live in the land of Trumpism, you can get stuffed.
I finally found them at a Target after all our Walmarts never seem to stock them even if brickseek indicated they had them. I’m glad that I was able to find the full set although I left the Z as I did not care for the color. As far as the cost is concern, it is well worth it if you are interested in those models specially compared to TLV (I know that they are a different caliber but it helps) 🙂
Still haven’t seen them. Obscure old Japanese cars have no meaning to me. Too expensive.
Wow, so many thoughts running in my head, many topics and sides of arguments, but let’s go with what I think, since it seems every other post here is just that, what they are thinking. Price, well, double edged sword if you ask me, too low and no profit and therefore not going to stay in business unless diversified in other aspects, like Barbie or the like that can make a huge profit. The slippery slope here is you make it sound like Car Culture’s tampos being on all four sides and not garish liveries and such would be “a la Pop Culture” except, it ISN’T like Pop Culture in the price and if the folks selling these are going to jump a full dollar here for this set that was a whole dollar cheaper and came out more times a year than Pop Culture, where does that leave us?? Less Pop Culture, I won’t complain, I can literally count on ONE HAND how many Pop Culture cars I really wanted the last ten years due to the casting choice mostly, then the silly and over the top decos. Now we are invading price wise the Retro Entertainment, which if I am honest, only grabbed my attention first at a Hobby Town when the Beverly Hills Cop Nova was cast. I think I paid closer to $7 for that and I learned my lesson when I saw it and then shortly thereafter, other good stuff in the same package hit Wally World for nearer to $6. So, where does that leave us, well, it could help and hurt folks to allow the Hobby shops of the world to carry the Retro series near $7, make a small profit and not have to compete with the behemoth that is Walmart and its other WORLDWIDE names, and really give a treat to the hobbyist and die hard die cast collector along with shopping small if they are fortunate enough to have these shops around, Tower Hobby has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, WOW, HOW?? They are the ONLY catalog and hobby distributor for many monikers and types of hobby supply and they can’t make it, the internet killed them, I know, but they(Tower)pretty much took out all the small multi hobby shops that moms and pops used to run from a brick and mortar shop. These shops used to sell the die-cast, up to the balsa wood models you had to spend tedious hours assembling, there was the joy in that, some folks could wander in and get a small something for EVERYONE in the family, from a simple Matchbox car, up to a full RC car kit to build or ready to play with.
I digress, price, I am waiting to see if the Car Culture bubble pops the other bubbles in domino theory. I havent seen the new CC line on my Walmarts, but freezing temps in the south is something we dont get, so perhaps that is putting the reset behind. My brother in FLA has seen the JH2 line, asked me if I wanted them, all were on the shelf at Target, my Target hasn’t had a basic Matchbox restock since Thanksgiving and their pegs were empty, perhaps that is their way of dealing with a reset, don’t put anything out till we are through Christmas and put all the really hard selling/high profit out in the faces of the kids so we can get this junk out of our back stockroom. Pitiful that I am finding much better selection and just plain cars at DOLLAR TREE, seemingly the last place I would have thought, but 2017 was the year I got the luckiest and the most current stock for Matchbox in the Houston area??!!! WOW, I guess another thing to blame on Harvey, right?
Now that price has been addressed, I wouldn’t have minded HW going up to $4.50 a Car Culture single, but they didn’t. I have to admit to not getting them all last year, picky on my casting choices I guess as well as not all that impressed with the wheel selections either. Collectors collect what they like, we all do, scalpers tend to hoard it all up and resell it so they can profit from RIGHT PLACE RIGHT TIME/PAID OFF the stockers for first dibs, whatever. I have seen the other brands you listed as US Based, not impressed all that much with price for item AND NONE are made in the USA, so perhaps they are just advertised as North American brands with a heavy hand to US Domestic cars with some dabbling into JDM machines and not much in the Euro scene aside from some old VW buses and bugs, so really no diversity in the entire globe of cars and they do seem to all focus on post war era cars, and abruptly stop at the late muscle era. Sometimes you get some 80s glitz and glam and guffaws, but not very diverse if you ask me. I think if a single Die-cast maker stepped into Jay Leno’s garage and made a pact with the automakers that they were making the set of cars that Jay has and to let them pull it off without crazy rights purchase prices, well THEN we would see the most diverse collection of cars made in 1:64 scale that couldn’t compete with the entire history of perhaps even Matchbox since their beginning. That won’t happen, but it is cool to think, since Jay isn’t a certain brand guy, he seems to be so rich he can be anything with wheels kinda guy. LOL
AW, M2(mostly) and lately JL have come up with some good looking cars, but price and presentation miss for me, the M2 cars are multi-piece(Base) and have seen far too many broken in their sealed case, lights flying around like teeth knocked out of a hockey player, etc. JL might be making a comeback, but who knows and they do make cars that you were most likely to see on the streets in their time, so I will give those guys their due, but yes, we have been spoiled by the folks at Mattel giving us dollar cars all these years, perhaps it is time they bump up the price, put them up a full 50% higher to $1.50 here in the USA, come around holidays, they will be slashed in order to garner sales and stuff stockings and Easter baskets alike. Everyday prices is where they need to make their dough, so bring up the price of the mainline and it will be accepted if kept there long enough. Have a look at the grocery store, they keep the PRICE the same and your favorite cookies or cereal or what have you just goes DOWN IN QUANTITY by the ounce to present to you the price is the same as it used to be, but you are getting LESS for the same price, that is what will happen to this world of die-cast simple cars if it keeps going the way it has been and I don’t see why or when it would change, no matter what country you live in, things simply do not and can’t stay the same as they used to be. Buy or don’t buy, it is simply your choice noone is holding a gun to your head and telling you to not feed your kids and buy a die-cast car instead.
I have been in and out of collecting these things 3 distinct times in my life, when I was a kid and they were truly toys to play with, when I was in my 20’s when it seemed a competition with my brother on who could get the most cool Corvettes and color variants there of and now into my 40’s where I see the evolution of the castings from the muscle to some real just plain cars that I won’t get the chance to own in real life to drive, so I can dream a little in small scale and I pray I can park all those little cars in my garage and my wife won’t kill me as they are not taking over the house. LOL She and others around the globe afford us this luxury, so it is just that, a bit of a luxury.
Worth the price increase? Perhaps. That remains to be seen. I’ll reserve my judgement until we see the “upgrades” applied to cars I’m actually interested in. Imagine if you will my disappointment in finding that after never seeing Japan Historics 1 and the pent up anticipation for Japan Historics 2 that what we ended up getting were a bunch of low riders. I’ve been a lifelong fan of the Japanese auto industry, having owned and driven many myself, but have always had a strong dislike of the whole low rider look with their flamboyant chrome and metalflake paint. I think the only thing that out does low riders for ridiculousness is this recent affinity for the broken axle “stance” look.
As I said, I am a huge fan of Japanese cars. Maybe these are just a tad before my time. But I do think if done right, I would have been interested. I am totally fine with the clean look, just give me normal wheels or go for a more traditional race/track car look and deco.
I found a full set of Japan Historics 2 last weekend at a distant Target, but could only bring myself to purchase the Bluebird and Fairlady. They still have the overly wide chrome gumballs, but at least they’re not lowriders. I’m still not really loving them, so may return them.
$6 norm? No thanks. Overpriced. I don’t know if this is the norm and word has been passed down to Lamley, but this post seems blatant in trying to condition collectors into paying more $$ per car and I flat out disagree with the sentiment. I understand the points being made about the quality of the paint and tampos. I can also think of plenty of $1 mainlines that have awesome paint and/or front and back tampos.
Is there a conflict of interest here? Are you allowed to (or would you) vehemently reject and speak out against the controversial policies or behaviors of a company (price increases or the cancellation of pre-orders) if you are directly benefiting from that company or products?
In the end it doesn’t really matter. People will make up their own minds and decide whether or not $6 for a little toy car is too much. For me it is. For others maybe not. Gotta love the freedom to choose!
I got the whole set and then returned 3 of them (unopened) because I got caught up in the excitement but they just didn’t really appeal to me. Hearing about the grown adult fights and the cancelled orders, not to mention huge distribution problems…Car Culture is quickly losing that allure that made collecting little $1 cars so fun. Fun while it lasted, but maybe its time to go back to mainlines.
I fucking love the 240ZG from this set. I was skeptical due to complaints about paint issues, but it might be my very favourite Hot Wheels car so far. I might even get two, one to leave as is and the other to swap wheels, add headlight covers and convert the tail lights back to stock.
I do find it a little interesting that it’s wearing 432 badges, since afaik the G nose was never offered on the 432 and the S20 never came in a ZG from the factory.
Thanks to Mattel and the stupid stunt they pulled.. denying me the chance for a pre-order, I had to again, go out and hunt them down. According to Brickseek, it seems to only register the upc from the case box, but when I put in the actual upc from each car.. it won’t come up.
I’ve been trying most WM’s within an 11-12 mile radius and I can’t find any. Been looking for the last 2 weeks. I finally got lucky.. found an archaic Walmart which had both sets of 5 (or 1 box if you will) up on the pegs! They must have been there for only the morning since my arrival around 11:30.. my heart started beating at that point because I finally found the ‘Holy Grail of hype’, so I started getting paranoid thinking some other dudes were going to spot me with them.. so I gathered myself to find a checkout. Yes, my hunt was over! Checking on Brickseeek…Walmart only registered in my area. Target has yet to come up anywhere so I guess they’re waaaaay behind.
These rides really do look nice up close. The Fairlady & RX-3 or pretty good. The 510 pairs well w/that red interior. The Laurel & the Skyline!!!.. WOW!.. what good looking machines! Nice metalflake paint and the details are superb. The RX-3 is the only deviant with different wheels .. I wished there were more of a variety with wheel selection forthe others.
I’m gonna’ go out on a small limb and say the store price of these cars aren’t really that much of a leg breaker compared to what they’re selling for on the internet. I’m sure you’d pay less if there were 1/2 the amount of detail (i.e. front or rear lamps, window trim, door handles, monikers, turn signal indicators, etc). Compared to other premium offerings in the $5 range (before tax).. I think with the detail content involved for the cost, this might be a thing of the future for a premium line. If not because of additional painted details.. I wonder if because the hype is so strong for classic JDM.. Mattel has to keep up the cost?
Absolutely worth every penny.
For those that disagree. Don’t buy ’em.
People spending their lives driving to all the walmarts around town, then complaining that a toy is $6. How much is your time worth? Just buy on ebay for an inflated price. The time saved is worth far more than the price differential.