I’ve been surprised to hear a few of you complaining that the Fast & Furious Premium set is a little played out. What is more surprising is that I am going to be the one countering, especially considering my opinion on Fast & Furious.
I don’t hate the Fast & Furious movies. I actually have enjoyed a few, but for all the wrong reasons. They are goofy, over-the-top, and absurd. That is actually a good way to spend a couple of hours. But I definitely don’t care enough about them to get excited about a specific line of Fast & Furious toys, like Star Wars figures or whatever.
And even as a car guy, the movies don’t do much for me. Obviously there are a ton of cool cars, and it has been cool to see a mainstream audience exposed to some cool elements of car culture. But when the movies were actually about cars – they aren’t anymore – the cars featured were not necessarily my cup of tea.
Now the movies are essentially superhero heist movies, and cool cars do show up, which is nice, not enough to supersede what I think about the movies.
But there is one huge reason I am happy they exist. Because the brand is so valuable, and because it is such an important relationship that Mattel has, they are putting a lot into Fast & Furious. That means replicas of the cars from the movies, whether featured prominently like Brian’s R34, or obscurely, like the the R32 that Dom essentially walks by once.
Mattel is justified no matter what the car, and even if I don’t like the deco on some of the releases, like the S14 in Original Fast, at least we now have the S14. Same with the Jetta, and cool new Chevelle, and now, an amazing group of Off-Road vehicles.
The new Fast Premium Off-Road set is fantastic. I can’t remember when most of these vehicles showed up in the movies, but I do know that Hot Wheels just released in incredibly cool matte black Defender 110 and olive green G-Wagon. The Defender is sitting next to me, with no reference to the movies out of the package, and it is one of my favorite releases of the year.
So by golly Hot Wheels needs to keep pushing the Fast & Furious, not because I want more Fast & Furious shit, but because it leads to some fantastic Hot Wheels models. The more the merrier.
I think this opinion subconsciously shows up in my approach to this set. Four new castings, plus the Subaru in a very FnF-centric deco. I totally forgot to take a photo of the Subie. The other models had all my attention.
Please upload pics of the Subaru. It deserves attention. I know you don’t like it as much as the others because its the most F&F centric livery of the lot but the livery on the movie car itself was loosely based on the 2008 Impreza WRC rally car (one more reason why I like this one so much).
Yeah, not my cup of tea. I “put up with” Fast & Furious because, like Lamley said, it creates another opportunity for new casting of cool cars to be made. And also, as a wholly separate line from Car Culture, its an additional opportunity for premium models to be on store pegs. So although I may not care about 85% of what’s released in this line, there are those occasional gems – clean models without the over the top F&F modifications or gaudy paint schemes – that grab my attention.
I’m by no means a truck or off-roader guy, so this case makes for mostly* a pass from me, just as does the upcoming Desert Rally Car Culture case. I would love to complain about these types of models taking valuable spots from what I do love; Euro & Japanese imports, sports cars, exotics and race cars. But let’s be realistic, we see far fewer waves of trucks than we do of those cars I mention.
OK, I admit I do have a few Toyota trucks in my collection, some Mercedes and my weakness for Land Rovers. *So yes, I will be hunting for that beautiful, clean, unadorned, free from any F&F molestation, Defender.
I’m not so sure this version of the Geländewagen is for me. The olive paint I could possibly live with, but I’m not that into the 2-door with open back and roll bar.
The Subaru casting is great, but unless I’m willing to drill it and do a full body repaint, it’s not one I’d want to have.
The other 2, I have zero interest in.
Some sets haven’t been my thing but these sure are .
Not being a fan of the movies, I love the FnF releases that lack the FnF-specific decos, so this mix is mostly a hit for me. I’m least enthused about the Impreza (obviously), but I really think I’ll pick up the other four if I find them. The G-Wagen and the Defender are just absolutely fabulous, and as John said in the post, when they’re removed from the packaging, they don’t have to have any association whatsoever with the movies, and these stand on their own, especially that gorgeous Defender. Even the Camaro is cool, because FnF aside, the whole “making a street car into a mudder” idea is something that’s really happening in a subset of real life car culture. Love these.
Is this the first time out for these off-road wheels? They look great.
“Goofy, over-the-top, and absurd.”
Yup that about covers it! lol
Confused by this comment “But when the movies were actually about cars – they aren’t anymore – the cars featured were not necessarily my cup of tea“.
When FnF focused on cars wasn’t it mostly about JDM which you are a huge fan of?
For me, as the focus went from the cars to a “plot”, I lost interest in the movie franchise. The Subaru is the only one I really want to buy. Probably will pick up one of the others just because I’ve purchased all the other Fast and Furious cars to date.
I like set. Nice to see the Land Rivers in the mix. The Subaru is nice as well and is see number of other releases like the Rally series.
The detailing and execution of the Land Rover, G-Wagon, and Hummer are just fantastic! They look amazing! Now the fun part which is trying to find them! I still haven’t found the Street Tuners set from last but still trying to be optimistic on that one. Maybe in a couple more weeks?
I just realized the Street Tuners set is part of Car Culture, not Fast and Furious but you can’t blame me right? They’re essentially the same series.
I’ve only seen the Street Tuners once myself. And even then it was only the RX-7 and S2000. Fortunately my friend in Ohio has seen them all several times over, so I’ve got the other 3 from this set headed my way. I may have to ask him to keep an eye out for the F&F Defender for me too.
Hey connor, they are everywhere here. Do you want them all or just some? Let me know. Ptsd83@gmail.com
Does anyone have any xtra cars? I’m missing #3 and #4. Ptsd83@gmail.com thank you
Okay, it turns out that goodly chunk of Hot Wheels’ efforts here are wrong, at least in the naming department. In Furious 6, the G-Klasse is a 1979 according to IMCDb, not a 1991. And the Hummer from Furious 7 wasn’t an H1. It was a pre-H1 1997 model. Between this and calling the obvious CJ-5 a CJ-7 for the Matchbox Jeep series, Mattel is really slipping up.
I don’t think the G-class was done with the intention of releasing it as a Fast and Furious model, they just did a G that looks like the one from the movie while keeping it relevant for non-Fast and Furious stuff. That’s my theory at least. As for the Hummer, the one that Hot Wheels has done is not listed on imcdb, you’re looking at the wrong one (but I’m not sure about that one being an H1 either because there is literally only 1 photo available so it’s hard to identify).
Well, I hit 20 stores and literally found only 1 of this wave. A single Subaru WRX. I passed on it. Several stores still had the last wave, 1/4 Mile Muscle, on the pegs, so than may be holding things up.