Toy OTD: Disney Store Plastic Cars Toys: Mater, Red, Sarge, 'Chewall' Tractor, Chick Hicks, Lightning McQueen (2006 - 2008)

The movie Cars has proven to be a merchandising bonanza, spawning myriad lines of toys and other products. Like any other franchise, there's a range of quality within them - some items are excellent, some are fine, and others are functional but not much more. The primary line of Cars vehicles sold at the Disney Store are decent toys. They're mostly of a mid-range quality: in general the Mattel diecasts are far better, but this plastic, talking series is better than the smaller PVC cars, pullback items or plushes.

For one thing, they're fairly big - much bigger than any of the diecasts. If your kids need something larger to play with, this line is literally a better fit. The details aren't quite as lavish as those of the diecasts, but they're still good. Because of this, I'm assuming that these toys weren't cast from digital data but interpreted through traditional sculpting or other means (it's hard to know for certain). The construction is reasonably solid, but they do feel a little flimsy in places.

The biggest design detraction is the choice to make the pupils movable - they 'look' back and forth when pushed along a surface. In order to do this, the eyes are mounted on clear plastic stalks in front of an open 'windshield'. They're not all that intrusive on some of the cars, but on others it looks rather awkward and unattractive.

The other play feature included in the line is a motion-activated voice chip. This is a bit of a mixed blessing since they've got hair triggers, and chat away at the slightest movement. Other than that, the lines feel like dialogue from the film and have a decent feel for the characters' personalities (although it sounds to me like many of them were recorded by soundalikes).

The paint work here is minimal - the main body color is provided by the plastic itself. Most of the detailing is the cast plastic color as well, which in general I like as a cost-effective toy strategy. Colors tend to be a little more durable, and manufacturers don't have to be as precise about the few paint passes they do have.

The heaviest paint use is on the 'rusty' characters, and while the "Chewall" tractor looks significantly better than its diecast counterpart, Mater is only moderately successful - still looking more like paint than a rust texture.

Unfortunately, the other paint substitutes used here are decals - and they're another notable minus. They're particularly weak on heavily decorated characters like Wingo or Chick Hicks. I decided not to buy the Wingo from this series at all because I couldn't find one without stickers that weren't already bubbling up or tearing in the package. Chick's decals are better, but it doesn't look like it would take much play to badly damage them.

These toy cars by their very nature have no real posing capability or balance issues, so articulation and display stands are moot points here. Scale could be a display issue in the sense that collecting this line can eat up a sizable chunk of shelf estate. Fortunately, there's not nearly as many characters in this format as have been made in, say, the diecast line.

The packaging, on the other hand, is rather nice. The designers came up with a large clamshell, and turned it into an environment straight from the film! The branding is covered with the 'metal flake' base, and the toy itself rests on a short stretch of 'highway' backed with a rich panorama of Radiator Springs. The signs are built to create a 3D effect, and perform double duty describing play features. It's nice that there's so few stickers on the blister itself! On the other hand, it's a shame that they use so much plastic and take up so much space - but the shelf presence is pretty impressive considering the price point (originally $10-$15).

I imagine these toys are still available at the Disney Store, but since there's very few actual stores left, you'll probably need to get them online. You can get Doc Hudson and Sally on eBay for $23.74 + shipping, Lightning McQueen for $14.50 + shipping, Red for $27.63 + shipping, Luigi & Guido are packed together for $18.63 + shipping, Sarge is $12.93 + shipping, Fillmore is $17.63 + shipping, and Wingo goes for $14.50. There may be more toys in this line, but that's all I've been able to find. Compare prices, watch that shipping, and have fun!