Photo: Mattel
Everyone is raving about the Oscars these days. I only care about the topic because Godzilla: Minus One won an award for the first time in history. Other than that, Hollywood has been disappointing for several years.
But every empire has ups and downs, regardless of size or nature. Recently, Mattel has been sending mixed signals to the community. On the one hand, we've seen a lot of new castings which are fantastic. However, several topics drive devoted collectors crazy. One of the reasons I have almost completely given up on buying mainline or basic cars is that scalpers always buy them all off the shelf before anyone else.
Sometimes, certain products won't even leave the storage area, as most have connected with store managers. So stores will then end up with all the "peg-warmers." Then, there's the recent issue of the exclusive Red Line Club. For a few weeks now, products in this line-up have only been available to US clients. While that's an important market for the El Segundo-based manufacturer, it only represents less than 5% of the global population.
I've seen how pissed off collectors in Europe are by the current situation, and most of them are talking about looking towards other manufacturers. But I'll stop the rant here and let you decide whether things are turning for the worse or if it's just a small hiccup that will work itself out.
Meanwhile, US residents can be happy about the upcoming Red Line Club exclusive model. Despite not being a new casting, it does come with a highly attractive selling point. But I'll get to that in a moment. Brendon Vetuskey designed this collectible, one of several Hot Wheels Hakosukas you can buy today. This model debuted in 2021, and we've seen five variations.
Looking at the market, getting all of them will cost between $390 to $1,250. Mattel developed two rare items: one for the 36th Annual Hot Wheels Collectors Convention in 2022 (6,000 units), and one for the Hot Wheels Collectors Japan Convention in 2023 (7,000 units). Besides these two, the only other iteration to have had a limited run was the First Edition Hakosuka in Spectraflame Shadowchrome (30,000 units).
As expected, these three items are some of the most expensive. The 2023 sELECTIONs variation in Spectraflame Dark Purple is probably still in the factory, but some people will try to sell one to you anyway. Looking back, it wasn't very pleasant, but Mattel is ready to make amends with the new Yokohama Advan design. In a previous story, I discussed the most popular liveries, so you might already know how popular the black-and-red color combo is.
I would dare to say that this is the perfect iteration of the tiny Hakosuka, but that may be too hasty. Even though Mattel has limited orders to one unit per customer (people will still find a way to bypass this), it doesn't look like this will be a numbered collectible. Despite going live on March 13 at 9 AM PT, you'll find several listings for it on eBay already.
Some are asking for $65 for it, while others are braver in going up to $150. If it will suffer the same fate as some of its predecessors, you might find it for less than $40 in 12 to 24 months from now. Are you going to get it?
Sometimes, certain products won't even leave the storage area, as most have connected with store managers. So stores will then end up with all the "peg-warmers." Then, there's the recent issue of the exclusive Red Line Club. For a few weeks now, products in this line-up have only been available to US clients. While that's an important market for the El Segundo-based manufacturer, it only represents less than 5% of the global population.
I've seen how pissed off collectors in Europe are by the current situation, and most of them are talking about looking towards other manufacturers. But I'll stop the rant here and let you decide whether things are turning for the worse or if it's just a small hiccup that will work itself out.
Meanwhile, US residents can be happy about the upcoming Red Line Club exclusive model. Despite not being a new casting, it does come with a highly attractive selling point. But I'll get to that in a moment. Brendon Vetuskey designed this collectible, one of several Hot Wheels Hakosukas you can buy today. This model debuted in 2021, and we've seen five variations.
Looking at the market, getting all of them will cost between $390 to $1,250. Mattel developed two rare items: one for the 36th Annual Hot Wheels Collectors Convention in 2022 (6,000 units), and one for the Hot Wheels Collectors Japan Convention in 2023 (7,000 units). Besides these two, the only other iteration to have had a limited run was the First Edition Hakosuka in Spectraflame Shadowchrome (30,000 units).
As expected, these three items are some of the most expensive. The 2023 sELECTIONs variation in Spectraflame Dark Purple is probably still in the factory, but some people will try to sell one to you anyway. Looking back, it wasn't very pleasant, but Mattel is ready to make amends with the new Yokohama Advan design. In a previous story, I discussed the most popular liveries, so you might already know how popular the black-and-red color combo is.
I would dare to say that this is the perfect iteration of the tiny Hakosuka, but that may be too hasty. Even though Mattel has limited orders to one unit per customer (people will still find a way to bypass this), it doesn't look like this will be a numbered collectible. Despite going live on March 13 at 9 AM PT, you'll find several listings for it on eBay already.
Some are asking for $65 for it, while others are braver in going up to $150. If it will suffer the same fate as some of its predecessors, you might find it for less than $40 in 12 to 24 months from now. Are you going to get it?
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