2020 Hot Wheels: VW ID R

The prototype was shown at the recent Hot Wheels convention in Los Angeles, as can be seen from some websites...  and while no one AFAIK was able to identify it, it clearly is the Volkswagen ID R.

The VW ID R was initially some prototype test bed of VW’s electric car technology in racing form, and later (2018) it raced at Pikes Peak, where it easily won and shattered the record…

With the real ID R appearing in different colors already, this is a great opportunity for Mattel to milk the casting...

HW 2019 Ford Ranger Raptor: New Color (white)

The Hot Wheels 2019 Ford Ranger Raptor was first released earlier this year in yellow, later in blue, but with unsightly and large "Hot Wheels" tampo with checked-flag background... nice casting, but details and finishing leaves a lot to be desired...

This one is slightly improved, but hopefully it will have a tampo-less version in the near future… good thing they kept the nice "BAJA5" wheels on this one.

December 2019 Tomica

Tomica series

No.22 Volvo XC60
Scheduled to be released in December 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 450 yen (excluding tax)

• Suspension, rear door opening and closing

No.93 McLaren Speedtail
Scheduled to be released in December 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 450 yen (excluding tax)

No.136 Komatsu Harvester 931XC
Scheduled to be released in December 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 900 yen (excluding tax)

• Main body left / right movable / arm movable / cab rotation / wood removal


Tomica gift set

Call out! Emergency vehicle set
Scheduled to be released in December 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 2,000 yen (excluding tax)

• “Get out! Emergency vehicle set” is now available from Tomica Gift Set!

• Toyota Estima Patrol Car
• Toyota Hiace Cause Investigation Car
• Nissan Caravan Ambulance
• Kawasaki Heavy Industries BK117 C-2 Police Helicopter

Dream Tomica

Dream Tomica
No.159 Shaun the sheep
Scheduled to be released in December 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 700 yen (excluding tax)

• The popular character "Shaun the sheep" has appeared as Dream Tomica!
• Suspension
• Product is an image. Some final products may differ.

Greenlight VW Golf (CALTEX)

Coming soon, just another run-of-the-mill VW Golf (gen 1), but with the appeal (to some) of a “CALTEX with Techron” tampo.  Is it worth it?  Depends on the collectors’ desires…  The wheels are nice, very much like typical steel rims of the 1970s.

Maybe they should make this a promotional car at CALTEX gas stations.  Not very likely, though.

2020 Hot Wheels: Formula E

It's confirmed, next year Hot Wheels will be releasing a 1/64sh version of the Jaguar Formula E Gen 2 race car...

You can see it here amongst a lot of cars in a Mattel show, top row, middle car...

This is awesome news for open wheel race car collectors... this decade (2010s) there are very few F1 cars done in 1/64sh scale, after a lot were done the past couple of decades.  In the 2000s (2000-2009) Mattel routinely released F1 cars of 5, sometimes 6, teams every year - even if they were using the same casting.  This isn't F1, but being purpose-built for the race track, I'd say it's close enough, at least in terms of appearance.  Hopefully Mattel will release other "teams" as well, especially with big carmakers like BMW, Audi, Porsche, and Mercedes also in the series.

The sample shown shows the colors of the Jaguar Formula E team, and it's no coincidence that LEGO just announced that the first 2020 set its own Speed Champions line will also feature the Jaguar Formula E racer, along with an I-Pace E-Trophy...

New Hot Wheels Road Bandit (Philippine Jeepney) color

The 2nd color for the new Hot Wheels casting called “Road Bandit”, obviously a Philippine Jeepney, is red, and for me it looks even better than the initial yellow offering… The decoration (tampo) appears to be the same.

While I haven't seen a Jeepney with an engine that large and popping out of the hood, the chrome in the engine somewhat replaces the roosters and horses seen above the hood of old Sarao Jeepneys...

Clearly this “Road Bandit” is a superior Jeepney copy compared to Tomica’s “Jamboree”… The proportions are much closer too, compared to the real thing…

New Tomica: Toys R Us Exclusive Honda Civic TYPE R British color specification

It's going to be released only on November 16, in Japan, but this is something Tomica and Civic fans will surely be excited about...  MSRP is ¥700.  Expect it to cost a lot more in the "black market"...

It has working suspension, but no opening features.

New Matchbox: Ghe-O Predator

As an encore to the unusual off-road bruiser called Ghe-O Rescue, Matchbox has released the Romanian carmaker’s 2nd vehicle, the Predator… and just like the Matchbox Rescue, the Matchbox Predator looks very much like the real thing…

Here is the Rescue again, released about 4 years ago...

September 2019 Toy Con Hauls

Went to the Toy Convention at the Megamall earlier today... got some vintage Playmobils, at bargain prices...

The one with the bicycle (leftmost) was for P100 (bicycle+girl) and it’s the only one with rotating wrists, but it’s still vintage since that hair hasn’t been used for quite some time now… the other 4 playmobil minifigures are for P50 each, and all of them have fixed wrists, so they are most definitely vintage...

In front of the Playmobil minifigures are Simpsons minifigures – Ive been seeing these for quite some time, usually around P150 each… now I got these 7 for P300, so that translates to P42.86 per character, not bad considering they come with a “display case”… best of all, they’re made by TOMY… never knew that until today… These Simpsons minifigures are 1/64sh in scale, at least the adult ones (excluding Ralph Wiggum and Millhouse van Houten in this batch).  So they can be side-by-side with my 1/64sh Simpsons diecast...

Of course I also got some diecast hauls...

L-R, front row: Majorette Toyota Lite Ace (P83), Majorette France Mercedes Airport Fire Truck (P83), Majorette France Pontiac Fiero (P83), Ertl/Lintoy Hong Kong Mercedes 350SL (P83), Impy Lone Star UK Merryweather Fire Engine (P83), Lintoy Hong Kong Mercedes-Benz C111 (P83)… it’s from one seller, 6 cars for P500…

Back Row: Matchbox Porsche 911 Rally (P120) – finally got this one, even if the card is bad, at least the car is mint – and it’s still below SRP… Below is an image comparing the Matchbox with the 1984 Paris–Dakar Rally winning car driven by Frenchman René Metge..

Tonka Vintage Tilt

Recently, Tonka has released a 1:55-scale line of vehicles, mostly of the construction variety, but with "civilian" cars as well, such as a Jeep CJ7...

One of those caught my eye, a blue vintage Ford Dump Truck, called "Vintage Tilt"... it looked familiar, and that's because we used to have one, albeit of the large scale (1:18sh) variety...  here is a picture showing the new one (left) and the vintage one (right), not according to scale, however.  The new, smaller one even had the same "Hydraulic" markings on the doors...

Here is an old 1974 picture of my 3rd birthday, with the Tonka dump truck accidentally caught in the background...

2020 Playmobil - Back to the Future, Scooby Doo!

2020 looks like something special for German toy maker Playmobil... They will make their own "version" of the always popular Scooby Doo TV cartoon, plus the classic Back to the Future De Lorean Time Machine

The De Lorean has foldable wheels, for "Hover Mode"... then there are versions in which Marty and Doc Brown are wearing their 1955 outfits... certainly a must-have for fans of the Movie Trilogy...

The Mystery Machine is also very nice... though with the Van being a front-engined vehicle, this one is from the 2002 Movie, not the cartoon series on TV, which has been on the air since 1969.

Notice that there is a minifigure series for the Scooby Doo characters - apparently all 12 will be ghosts seen in the series through the years...

Darda Cizeta Moroder V16T

Top of my list amongst Darda must-haves is the Cizeta Moroder V16T (yes, it has 16 cylinders).  If it looks like a Lamborghini Diablo, it is because it was based heavily on it – including development from ex-Lamborghini employees, with none other than Marcelo Gandini (he of the Countach and Diablo fame) also involved.  

The “Moroder” name may also be familiar – it’s because musician Giorgio Moroder – he of the big 1985 hit “Together in Electric Dreams” fame – was also into the project.  

No other toymaker has done the Moroder in 1:64sh scale, AFAIK

November 2019 Tomica

November 2019 Tomica

No.39 Mitsubishi Delica D: 5

Scheduled to be released in November 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 450 yen (excluding tax)

- With Working Suspension

No.70 Lamborghini Aventador SVJ

Scheduled to be released in November 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 450 yen (excluding tax)

- With Working Suspension

October 2019 Dream Tomica

October 2019 Dream Tomica 
Dream Tomica Ride On Toy Story
TS-08 Slinky Dog & Cardboard Toy Box

Manufacturer's suggested retail price 1,000 yen (excluding tax)

Dream Tomica Ride On Toy Story
TS-09 Ham & Andy's Chair

Scheduled to be released in October 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 1,000 yen (excluding tax)

Dream Tomica Ride on Toy Story
TS-10 Rex & Skateboard

Scheduled to be released in October 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 1,000 yen (excluding tax)

        

Dream Tomica Ride on Turn into a Toy Story
shop! Pizza Planet Truck

Scheduled to be released in October 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 3,200 yen (excluding tax)

new Hot Wheels Porsche 917 Variant - Psychedelic!

This is awesome and exciting… saw some grainy shots of the latest color variation of the Hot Wheels Porsche 917 LH, and it looks just like the Willi Kauhsen/Gerhard Larrousse car the finished 2^nd in the 1970 Le Mans 24-hour race…

April 2019 Tomica

Tomica series

No.14 Suzuki Jimny

Scheduled to be released in April 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 450 yen (excluding tax)

·       Suzuki Jimny appears as Tomica!

·       suspension

No.28 Isuzu signer

Scheduled to be released in April 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 450 yen (excluding tax)

      Isuzu signer appeared as Tomica!

·       Suspension / bulletin board rotation, up and down

Tomica World!

Transformed to big! Deca patrol car

Scheduled to be released in April 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 6,200 yen (excluding tax)

·       

·       ·       Dodeca deforms to the police station! A large patrol car that can load up to 12 Tomica appears! 

【Patrol car mode】

o   When you press the button, the patright lights and the voice or siren sounds. Up to 12 Tomica can be loaded. 

·       【Police base mode】

o   Open the front, bonnet, press the transformation button and transform it into a big police station with the sound! Tomica who was waiting was deformed at the same time as deformation! Tomica, who was waiting in the central command room when pressing the exit button, is a powerful emergency dispatch with sound!
Besides, it has a base gimmick such as departure garage, maintenance garage and refueling garage. 

·       【Merge with deformed fire station further! 】

o   By linking the rear hatch of the deca patrol car from the spiral slope of the deformed fire station which is sold separately, it is possible to play with playing up to 10 Tomica or more at once. 

·       * Combined slope attached to deformed fire station (sold separately).

·       Alkaline dry cell batteries used (4 separately)

Store in the bag! Doki Doki Athletic Safari

Scheduled to be released in April 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 4,800 yen (excluding tax)

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·      ·       To the map! To athletic! And safari map full of animals! 　

(1) Kirin's long seesaw! 　
(2) Bathing elephant Mr. Slide! 　
(3) Lion Mountain! 　
(4) Crocodile gabbul tunnel! 

Let's enjoy these four athletic attractions with Tomica! 　

Also, by collapsing the map, you can store it as a bag, it is also a nice specification for mama!

·      No batteries required

Tomica Gift Set

110th! Police Vehicle & DVD Set

Scheduled to be released in April 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 2,000 yen (excluding tax)

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**********

·       <Set contents>
· Toyota Land Cruiser on-site command car (DJ police car)
· Toyota Crown athlete patrol car
· Subaru Impreza mask patrol car
· Tomica special DVD

Tomica Premium

No.08 Nissan Sylvia

Scheduled to be released in April 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 800 yen (excluding tax)

·       Nissan Silvia appears at Tomica Premium!

·       Suspension / left and right door opening and closing

No.15 Lamborghini Diablo SV

Scheduled to be released in April 2019 Manufacturer's suggested retail price 800 yen (excluding tax)

·       Lamborghini Diablo SV appeared at Tomica Premium!

·       Light deployment, storage / left and right door opening and closing

December 2018 Swap Meet Hauls

Left Column, Front-Back: Tomy AFX (Slot car) Williams FW11-Honda P90, Hot Wheels Sizzlers (Redline) Chevrolet Corvette 4-Rotor P90

Middle Column, Front-Back: Kyosho Ferrari F430 GT P100, Corgi London Taxi London Olympics exclusive P100, Hot Wheels Redline Python P90

Right Column, Front-Back: Corgi Jrs Gt Britain Porsche 935 #74 P50, Zylmex Chaparral 2 P90, Tomica Japan Dynapac CC21 P90

The 2 redlines were the biggest bargain at less than $2 each...