If you go out at night, raiding the pallets for new cases of Hot Wheels, I would say luck is not as big a factor. More power to you, honestly. If that is how you want to spend your nights, go for it.
For the rest of us, finding a Super is about luck, or being at the right place at the right time. It is a random occurrence, and always a treat when it happens. Case in point? My 2018 vs 2019.
I used to able to hit a store or two every day. That was around 2013/2014. My job required me to travel through several towns in Utah, and if I had a spare minute I would pop into a Walmart or Target or elsewhere and have a look. The last few years I am lucky if I get into 2-3 stores a week.
Yes, I get some models sent to me, but the joy of a Super isn’t necessarily owning it. It’s finding it. So I go into a store to look around, and if I am lucky, get that “oh sh*t” swell when a Super appears. It doesn’t happen often, and it truly is random.
And yes, if you really want to find one, frustrating. It seems for some, watching others finding Supers can really rile them up. I get it, but there is one secret to finding Supers consistently. Dedicate your life to it. Those that always find them are religiously checking brickseek, able to drop everything and go to store after store, and spend a lot more time driving than most of us. It is all there for you if you want it. But if you don’t do that, rely on the random find. A good way to think about it is the very best baseball players get a hit about 3 times out of every 10 at-bats. They don’t complain that pitcher’s fast pitches are unfair. If they thought that they would go play in an intramural baseball league and get their 10 hits.
I will say it over and over again. Are there scalpers? Yes. But is everyone who finds a Super before you a scalper? Nope. There is a good chance it is someone like you who had their “oh sh*t” moment. And you might be next. If it happened every day, it wouldn’t be fun.
So, with all that said, luck has been on my side. Last year I found two Supers in the wild by myself. A Fairlady Z at a small town Krogers, and an Audi RS6 at a small town Shopko. One was a stop for coffee and the other a stop to visit a pharmacy for work. The Z was February, the Audi December (I think). I did find another Super, but that was because a friend who hunts more than I do got word that a new bin was hitting and he invited me to film. We found the Super together, and he kept it.
This year? Three Civics at one Walmart in an early afternoon in January, a Corvette at another small town Kroger, and now three Mustangs in a Walmart Easter bin right smack dab in the middle of Salt Lake City around noon.
That is the video I am posting today. I was there because a friend told me he saw the new Pop Culture Skyline there that morning, and I was nearby at lunch so I went in to see if it was still there. I just happened upon the bin, figured it had been looked through because my friend would have told me, but was surprised to see a Zamac Skyline I was looking for sitting on top.
So I dug. And I am glad I did. A Walmart employee laughed when she saw me and said she had never seen me before, and the “regulars” who come by wouldn’t be happy that I got to it first. I told her to tell them a handsome blogger found them and to tune into YouTube.
Enjoy.
In case you were wondering, there is that other find:
really ? mattel spoon feeds you every super while the rest of us have to deal with jobless asswads who can hunt all day every day for cars. on top of you getting every super and special release you want more. must be nice to be greedy and still get free stuff from the mattel.
Hold on now. He’ll give you a chance to buy them when he cleans out some stuff to make room for more.
And for you to come here, engage a topic, click anywhere, brings the contribution to feed the fact of what gave Mattel every reason to send him free cars to showcase. lol
There are waaaaaay to many people who collect around here to get this “lucky”. Every time I have ever seen a store employee stocking new boxes on the pegs, there is already 4-5 gray-haired retirees huddled around waiting. Same guys who like to take the most rare 1 car of any series and buy them all to sell on ebay It’s pathetic
Awesome super treasure hunts you found congrats. 👍I have been lucky with finding super treasure hunts since March 2017. I found in March 2017 the 1967 Chevy C10 pickup truck super treasure hunt in a brand new hotwheels shipper in the afternoon at my target just being put out while I was there. Then in December 2017 I found in a brand new hotwheels shipper the Porsche 934.5 super treasure hunt at my target late in the morning. Then in March 2018 I found the cruise bruiser super treasure hunt in a dump bin at my grocery store in the afternoon. Then in April 2018 I found in a brand new hotwheels dump bin at my Walmart 2 1952 Chevy pickup trucks super treasure hunts and this was in the afternoon. Than in may 2018 I found at another grocery store in a brand hotwheels shipper another cruise bruiser super treasure hunt. Than in December 2018 I found in the hotwheels Christmas train shipper at my Walmart the 1990 Honda civic EF hatchback super treasure hunt. Also in December 2018 at the hotwheels K-day event I pulled a Nissan skyline GT-R (BNR34) super treasure hunt out of my case. And then in March 2019 I went to the mall and i went to JC Penney and to my surprise they had hotwheels and i found on the peg a back to the future time machine hover mode super treasure hunt. And this was in the afternoon. So i have been very lucky for finding super treasure hunts at the stores over the past couple of years and so far this year and I want it to continue. 👍
“Jobless asswads.” That is my favorite new insult of the Millennium.
Thank you! I will be muttering it under my breath often.
.
LOL, “jobless asswads” beats “dickwads” any day…
IKR lololololololol 😛
I understand that collecting Hot Wheels is first come, first serve, but please don’t be so greedy when you find multiple $THs in the wild (which is apparently every two months in your area). Take one or two and leave the other(s) for other collectors that visit the store.
that is not my gripe with this guy. by all means take all of them i would too. but when he comes on here whining that it is hard to find this and hard to get that all while mattel and other diecast companies send him the free stuff than i get pissed. i understand he promotes these companies and he should get free stuff helping them out but do not act like it is tough to get things when you get them way before everyone else and most never see them at all. i am just getting tired of the stupid posts trying to act like he is the common collector going though the same stuff the rest of go though when it is total bull shit. get your free stuff, chases ect and show them off but stop with the “oh it’s been tough to get this or man i was so frustrated on the HWC sale day trying to get this ” when the rest of us really have to deal with going though it.
Preach!!
Yeah, it does kinda seem whiny when he gets all kinds of goodies sent to him directly by Mattel for him to preview while at the same time he scores three $THs in the wild TWICE and he says it’s hard for him to be a collector when most of us either never see any of it or aren’t able to afford it.
I don’t think I’ve said it’s hard for me. I think you’re misinterpreting what I say about the rare occurrence of finding a super. I went into a store to get a skyline I didn’t have. I found some Supers. It was awesome. I write about collecting. I wrote about this. It doesn’t bother me when I don’t find supers. It excites me when I do, like anyone else.
And as far as free stuff, start a blog and a channel, put hours into it each day for six years straight, and see if Mattel sending a few models for you to preview for the audience you have built feels “free”.
Nope, take them all. If you don’t, then the next person will. Just trade the extras with other collectors.
lofl @ leave $TH… NEVER ..LEAVE NO $THUNT BEHIND
i havent found one super this year but to all who have found em… congrads
The magic word here is “HUNT” guys. Did you hunt for it? Then you deserve the recognition and the prize. It is all luck here. If you bought it, then you did not really hunt for it. You can always buy it if you don’t have that urge, passion, or adrenaline to find it. It is easy to sit on your ass and have someone make you the sandwich, right? So like I said, treasure hunts are to be found by the ones that seek it. For the scalpers, this is what everyone is after, so be on the hunt. There is no reason to not to leave any behind for non passionate collector, let alone someone that doesn’t even know what a Super treasure hunt is. I totally agree on that having a channel or a blog requires a lot of personal time that Mattel recognizes and rewards that person for advertising their products, so the free stuff is actually a thank you instead of a paycheck. Be on the hunt and don’t hate the game. We all know who we are. Someone told me that he was jealous today of what the other guy had, and I told him don’t be. Be thankful of what you got, because some don’t even see what we have in different parts of the world.
A very very sensible reply Raz. There are many countries out there who don’t officially get a fraction of what U.S. consumers get in bricks and mortar stores! You should all consider yourselves very lucky.
Too many white knights in the castle here…
The lamley blog is a great way to know what is out and about. Also I know 90% of the time I’m never going to see the products advertised by lamley. Mattel don’t advertise for us in the UK. However think yourselves bloody lucky its on your doorstep and within price reach…. Snigger….$1…..😀 its like England not having matchbox😁.!!!!!……. That brand is fed to you guys like sweets \candy!!!….. Craig in a danish shop called Tiger. They have the old 1980s mbx peterbilt castings and also a current cast which is the ford explorer police unit…!.!….!how?!! Made in China in white boxes. This is my treasure hunt!!!!!! 👍😁. How sad!!!!……..
Hehe yes I’ve got quite a lot of recent Chinese Matchbox knock offs. The ones you’ve seen are by a company called SunQ and like you say is our only way to inexpensive Matchbox ownership these days!!
I’ve heard on the proverbial grapevine that NO UK retailer has taken up Matchbox for 2019. RIP!! 🙁
Hi Craig or…….just to let you know in Home bargains they have the set of 5 HWs marvel studios real riders at £1.99 each. Sad thing is these are a sign of a mis guided shipping container?!….. Or peg warmers from else where?!… Metal on metal !!!! All singing and dancing tampo!….WOW!!!….. All Mattel’s funding to these kind of line ups for HWs….. Sucked the life out of matchbox in all ways!!!… Please home bargains bring back mbx weird and wonderful surprise’s?!….. However just a heads up.👍
Ah… Sun Q?!…. Thank Q!!… I knew Craig April fools!… Here’s to the 65th and 50th of superfast!!!… Made 125 miles from Norfolk… Now celebrated 6000 miles away!!! A great company which set examples of what TOYS should be still now for quality, pocket money and gave heart to the masses all over!!!… Thank you Mattel killed that in friendly fire!!…. I hope a white Knight from our castle will come to save this brand!!!..….. Total BS!!! Thank you Mattel…👏👏😁…,…., great biz planning……..👏👏😀…….,….,. RIP.
Congrats on your Super Treasure Hunt finds John! That Mustang is a nice one. And oh man is that Skyline ZAMAC error a beaut! I wish they were all clean like that.
As for me, I’m still searching for the latest round of ZAMACs as well as a few others you dug through in that bin. Notably that Porsche Carrera.
As for Supers, I have accepted the fact that they are unobtainable rarities. For all my years of searching, I’ve yet to have one in my collection. And I just can’t bring myself to pay 50 times retail price to buy one on eBay.