And heeeeeeeere we go!
2019 Hot Wheels is upon us. No 51st year celebration, just cool cars. It also means I need to get to the 2018 Lamley Awards, so start thinking about your favorites.
For now, let’s get into 2019. Wheel Collectors just received their order, and as always, picked a case at random to open for us, 3-by-3. The photos are below, as is the Quick Case Report video. And you can find the models to buy here:
Hot Wheels 2019 A Case at Wheel Collectors
Click on the image for a larger view:
The highlight? Well the R32 of course, and I cannot wait to see the Unimog in hand. This also marks the first Super TH with a new paint style, and a first in white. I will do a Super Showcase comparing the whites of the Super and Basic.
Unimog and the Skyline are great but I wish they would get away from these generics! You go in the retailers and you have to fight the pegs. If new models are not in front then I just skim through anymore. It really sucks that if you collect to relieve stress it stresses you out when you go hunting. Matchbox used to be the same but since they went to the 24ct cases it’s been a much better experience.
PS not impressed with the TH! So glad I don’t chase them anymore. They were hard enough to find now they will be impossible and what happened to the TH logo?
The TH logo is on the license plate in the back
John. That’s the whole fun of it. You never know what you are going to find when you are out there hunting. Sometimes you score and sometimes you don’t. Don’t let that stress you out. If every make and model was available at retailers, then why collect? If you want a specific one, let me know and I will help you find it. That is what collectors do, help one another to relieve stress and put a smile on their face. Thanks.
Hello, I’m in the process of collecting the 2019 hot wheels collection for my new born son. I’m missing a few pieces(84 to be exact out of 439) and since we live in Canada we don’t have the luxury of finding them all. Is there a way you can help me, or some else you know that can help me finalize my collection? Thank you
Not to mention when generics sit long enough and clog pegs, it prevents retailers from ordering anymore until most are sold. If every Hot Wheels was licensed and collector aimed, pegs would be completely empty. As a result, it would entice stores to constantly order new cases every month. It’s a two for one. Just like Matchbox once was from 2005-2011.
Awesome 2019 A case unboxing video congrats.👍 I will be on the hunt for most of those.👍
Where is Tesla Roadster?
Only 1 civic? Ridiculous! We can complain all we want. It falls on deaf ears. If HW cuts down on generics then inventory will move faster, people will get what they want for retail and the amount of scalpers will fall. But that’s not gonna change. We’ll always get a bunch of generics clogging up pegs and dump bins and preventing new stuff from coming in on time. People will have to pay higher than retail on the second market to get what they want because the number of desired licensed cars are limited per case and grown men are spending all day hitting up all stores to scalp all the cars they know that are hot. Just take a look at Facebook groups and Instagram. These people regularly posts all the cars they scalped with no shame. There will always be someone here complaining and rightly so. I’m just curious why no one brings up these issues to HW directly when they go to the conventions. All they do is ooh and ahh over powerpoint slides. The only thing we can do is continue wasting time and gas hunting and hoping to get lucky. Or become a scalper too so you can make money to afford “$1” cars.
I think scalpers are bribing some “players” in Mattel, to keep choking the generics on the pegs, thus keeping the supply ridiculously low. Or myabe insome forms of “kickbacks”. John, usually gets stuff for free, good for him. But, us with no access to conventions and free goodies, can only watch helplessly. Down with scalpers!!!
Tran, this is such a well put, accurate, on point summation of a situation so simple to comprehend. These days one wonders what CEOs get their salary for if they do not have their ears to that kind of ground. It’s not rocket science. It’s plain observation and swift market adjustment. For a company of the size and numbers like Mattel they are moving way too slow. With that much trash produced that will never pass retailers cash registers but rather the rear waste gate, I always wondered when HW’s relevance will drop to zero. This summer a former Mattel designer once high up on Mattel’s totem pole shared with me that employees had their heads down: after the 50th hype was tackled quite a number got fired. What is so difficult to understand a collectors market as the backbone while the kids segment preferring TV, social media, or video games breaks away? Meanwhile I stopped wasting time and gas. Instead I hunt on the internet.
Sure hoping this one shows up here. Usually, in October, the pegs usually start seeing new stuff in advance for Christmas, but locally this isn’t the case. The closing of a regional chain this summer (Magic Mart) made things even worse (and that was after Kmart’s closure two years before).
I’m really impressed by the mainline Dakar-type Unimog 1300., I like it a lot better than the first time this casting was previewed, in the Street Fighter line. Makes me wonder that with the bed topper removed, it’s the same as the mainline.
Saw a couple of the 2019s on short card in the UK today at Smyths toys…(star trek, Integra, and super chromes van thing). None of the good stuff though…
When you don’t distribute the new cases it causes people to basically reduce their collecting…so Mattel is shooting themselves in the foot. I’ve cut back so much my collection in actually manageable. Would never have thought that would have happened.
Since distribution continues to be an issue after a horribly supported 50th Anniversary year, it is no wonder that with the first release of 2019, so much of the talk circles around distribution issues rather than the cool new models. Here we are a month after this article was posted and I still have seen no signs of 2019 case A in my area. Unfortunately the places to purchase Hot Wheels is becoming fewer and fewer. For me, my only hope is Walmart (which ironically I hate going into). Sometimes I can find new stuff at the local Kroger affiliate, but Target is all but useless with only generics and a smattering of 4-6 month old licensed models on the pegs. Toys R Us is no more, Kmart is all but gone and even my longshot Dollar Tree has stopped carrying Hot Wheels as of last year. It makes me wonder how long before this becomes an online-only hobby.
Nothing too earth shattering here. I really like the Honda Civic with GReddy stickers (the EF hatchback has always been a favorite of mine), the VW GTI with MOMO deco, the recolored Fairlady 2000 and the Mach 1 Mustang from Diamonds Are Forever. I’m warming up to the Yokohama R32 Skyline. I love the color and the casting looks to be about right, but I would have preferred a clean deco for its debut release, followed up with a clean recolor in gray. If it were clean, it would have been my #1 pick of this case. I want to like the R33 and R34 Skylines, but to my eye these colors detract from their desirability. I’m on the fence. I may pass. I’ve always loved Integras (used to own one), but man is this one hideous! I’m debating whether to pick up the new Unimog as well as the recolors of the LR Defender and Lamborghini Reventon. I have other colors of both that I prefer to these.