Hot Wheels dropped a nice surprise on us today.
They announced the lineup of what might be the final run of Retro Entertainment, and there are a couple of nice surprises.
Retro Entertainment has been a very interesting series to watch. Mattel has clearly moved to more and more entertainment tie-ins, with special Marvel and Star Wars lines, plus movie cars in the mainline, and of course the collector-geared Retro Entertainment. We have no idea how this push has performed for Mattel, but it isn't going away. The question is whether making a car that kind of looks like Darth Vader is better than making a replica of a car that was actually from a movie. Time will tell, but based on how the final batch of Retro is being distributed, character cars seem to be winning.
Frankly, we are all for the replicas, not because they remind us of the movies, but because they might be cool cars. We have harped on this enough, but what movie the model is from doesn't matter, as long as it is a cool replica of a cool car. So character cars like the Ecto-1, BTTF Time Machine, and anything Batmobile don't strike our fancy. But other models from the series, like the Ferrari 250 California and Dodge Macho Power Wagon most certainly do.
And looking at 2015, there are a few that qualify, but maybe not enough. Here is what to look forward to:
Mix 1 (June 2015):
’58 Plymouth – Christine
’83 Chevy Silverado – Friday Night Lights
Ford F–250 – Close Encounters of the Third Kind (New Casting)
Rapid Responder – Emergency!
Mix 2 (August 2015):
’67 Camaro – Christine
’70 Dodge Charger R/T – The Fast & The Furious
BTTF Time Machine – Hover Mode – Back to the Future II (New Casting)
BTTF Time Machine – Mr. Fusion – Back to the Future
Toyota 2000GT Roadster – James Bond “You Only Live Twice” (New Casting)
Mix 3 (October 2015):
’56 Chevy – The Brady Bunch (New Casting)
’74 Checker Taxi Cab/Checker Marathon Cab – Taxi (New Casting)
’80s Corvette – James Bond “A View To A Kill”
The Dark Knight Batmobile – The Dark Knight trilogy (New Die-cast Chassis)
Kawasaki GPZ 900R – Top Gun (New Casting)
Mix 4 (October 2015 – available only at select hobby retailers):
’76 Ford Grand Torino – Starsky & Hutch (New Casting)
Back To The Future – 1955 – Back to the Future III
The Bat – The Dark Knight Rises (New Die-cast Chassis)
Ghostbusters Ecto–1 Cartoon Car – The Real Ghostbusters (animated) (New Casting)
Lotus Esprit S1 – James Bond “The Spy Who Loved Me” (New Die-cast Chassis)
Mattel has already previewed the first batch, two of which are definitely on our must-have list:
And there are others that grab our attention, none more than that last one in Mix 2. Yeah, the Toyota 2000GT Roadster isn't an actual Toyota release, it was made solely for the James Bond movie, but this should be a very cool addition to the collections of JDM fans, us included.
As far as other new castings in the series, the '76 Gran Torino should be a winner, and we will wait and see if the '56 Chevy is a beat-up Greg Brady version, or something that would look good anywhere.
Lastly, we have no idea why the distribution of the final batch will be to hobby dealers. Our only guess is this ensures the series will be completed with or without the support of the big box stores. If that is the case, kudos to Mattel for not leaving us one batch short as they have in too many other lines.
What are you looking forward to?