5 Weirdly Exciting Hot Wheels Series You've Never Heard Of

"Bring me everyone!" his character, Stansfield, yells out, desperate to capture Leon. "Dragos, where are you going with this?" you might ask. I've been studying Hot Wheels castings and iterations for years now. It still feels like I've barely scratched the surface. But then again, that's what you get when navigating through over 50 years of diecast history.

Seeing the sheer diversity of designs, I imagine the discussion at Mattel's HQ in Segundo resembles Oldman's line. "What should we design next, sir?" the answer may have sounded like this: "Everything!" I may or may not be exaggerating when I say that you'll see a lot of stuff in the Hot Wheels catalog: cars, motorcycles, trikes, trucks, buses, trains, skateboards, airplanes, helicopters, spaceships, shopping karts, mobile toilets, dinosaurs, and God knows how many more weird stuff I haven't discovered yet.

I've unintentionally found a lot of odd castings that are unexpectedly fun to look at. And that's the purpose of today's story. Is this the definitive list of strange Hot Wheels cars that look quirky but fun? No. Will it enrich your knowledge of Mattel's tiny collectibles? I would hope so. While I've selected five series for this list, I have a few honorable mentions.

Take, for instance, the 1997 Undersea Adventure Action Pack. It featured three items, neither of which ever had a second variation. Thinking of Hot Wheels, a Submarine isn't the first thing that comes to mind. It's my favorite machine in this set. The Mini Submarine reminds me of those swamp-ready airboats.

Meanwhile, the Micro Submarine is more of an underwater personal submersible kit and won't provide any protection against the dreaded deep-sea pressure. But if you want a more extensive collection, look for the Rapid Transit Series. It included over 20 pairs of vehicles: buses, trains, trucks and trolleys. I'm sure train enthusiasts will love these, given they can connect. But it's not nearly as odd as the Dino Riders collection.

I imagine the design department went like this: "What if we put wheels on dinosaurs and give them crazy names in the process?" Castings like the Dragon Blaster, Tricera-Truck, and T-Rextroyer will also be fun for your kids. By comparison, the Flinstones Flintmobile, which is part of the same series, makes more sense despite running on rocky cylinders. But let's move on with the story and see some collections that could be exciting to some of you.

Fatbax (2004)

When you look at photos of the Fatbax series, you might as well play "Baby Got Back" by Sir-Mix-a-Lot in the background. The concept was to create Cartoon versions of several castings with extra-wide wheels on the rear axle.

Someone must have thought the "fat backs" concept would be a hit; otherwise, why would they have tried it? It may have been too ahead of its time and didn't work out for Mattel. The company created ten castings for the line, including the 2004 Mustang GT, the 2005 Corvette, a Plymouth Barracuda, a Shelby Cobra 427 S/C, and a Toyota Supra. Several designers were "called to arms":

• Phil Riehlman handled the Barracuda.
• Eric Tscherne made the Supra.
• Mike Nuttall drew up the Mustang GT.

Some cars featured a ZAMAC release; only a few had another iteration in 2005. Given the shape of these items, Mattel had to adjust the packaging, as you'll note in the photos. You can kickstart a Fatbax collection for $100, which will get you a lot of 40 collectibles. It only includes five castings, so you must dig for the rest.

Blings (2004)

Here is an easy one. The diecast manufacturer unveiled the Blings series in 2004, with some vehicles coming out in 2005. A line-up of cars like these makes complete sense in an age when most young people were ecstatic about Lil' Jon & The East Side Boyz.

King of Crunk had been on the market since 2002, and Crunk Juice came out in November 2004. Mattel again tried a 'Tooned approach, with boxy bodies and oversized wheels. Speaking of which, several of these collectibles featured a specific rim BLING rim design. In hindsight, it looked fun, and I wouldn't mind having a few on display. There are 20 castings in the series, and I previously reviewed the Mercedes-Benz G500 for G-Wagen Month.

The Hummer H2 even has a Toy Fair variation, and I have only ever seen one auction for this model online. Seeing vehicles like the Lotus Esprit, Plymouth Barracuda, and the '67 Chevy II in this style is odd. But other castings like the Dodge Ram Pickup, Cadillac Escalade, and Hummer H3 fit right in. Good luck finding all the variations!

X-Raycers (2005)

After two Cartoonish series, it's time for a different approach. "Keep it simple, stupid" is always a good rule to live by. And you can tell from the name what X-Raycers is all about. That's right, Mattel made cars with transparent bodies.

The company tested the idea with the 1997 Phantom Racer Series and then got back to it in 2005. Did it work? Well, you do the math: X-Raycers appeared on Mainline cards and inside 5-packs almost yearly between 2005 and 2021.

Interestingly enough, the Ferrari 360 Modena was one of the first castings in the series. It was an attractive appearance for Hot Wheels with a Clear Dark Red finish, but many more would follow suit. The Scion xB looked fantastic in both transparent red and transparent blue. X-Raycers was the debut series for the Poison Arrow aircraft, and here's one last exciting information: you'll find eight X-Raycers machines in the Treasure Hunt series! Someone has even been brave enough to ask for more than $2,000 for the Arrow Dynamic TH.

Star Wars Carships (2016)

Star Wars is one of the biggest media franchises ever and has expanded far beyond the initial trilogy that wowed the world 40 years ago. There are video games, TV Series, toys of all shapes and sizes, amusement parks, and costumes you can experience if you're a fan of the Force. Naturally, Mattel wanted in on the action. And you might get lost inside the Hot Wheels Universe of Star Wars collectibles.

A complete collection includes Starships, Character cars, Battle Rollers, and the Planets Series; it doesn't stop there. I currently own two Character Cars, R2-D2, and C-3PO, but I was still surprised to discover the Carships series. Because who doesn't want a Millennium Falcon on wheels? The whole thing debuted with single cards in 2016.

Looking at the early models, the designs I like best are the X-Wing Fighter and the TIE Fighter. 2017 came with even more collectibles, including the Rebel U-Wing Fighter and the Y-Wing Fighter, to name a few. Mattel even released a few playsets, but I've never seen one in any store around me. Try the San Diego Comic-Con Trench Run 4-pack release if you want something special. There's one for sale at $150 on eBay.

World's Smallest Hot Wheels (2017)

Most of us think of Hot Wheels as some of the most fantastic 1/64th-scale cars. But don't think Mattel hasn't tried moving into other territories. The bigger ones follow the 1/12th scale.

But the smallest will go down to 1:125. And yet, there might be something smaller than that. The World's Smallest Hot Wheels series debuted in 2017 with six variations of three popular castings: Bone Shaker, Rodger Dodger, and Twin Mill. I've seen a lot of 19 of these tiny vehicles going for $300, and they're so unbelievably small.

While an average 1/64th car is about 3 inches long, the tiny ones are only about a third as long but a lot smaller overall. You should hand these over to kids younger than eight; that's how small they are. I'll return with more quirky Hot Wheels castings as I discover them myself.