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!

Toy OTD: Bounty Hunter Plush Doll: Pete (2007)

Bounty Hunter has always been at the forefront of art toys - they arguably created the first designer toy, Kid Hunter (an appropriation/steal/homage of "Dave" from the Cap'n Crunch commercials) in 1997. Ten years later (well, twelve now), they're still at it!

I don't know if this plush is a licensed Disney product or not, but it's very nicely done. Often art toys portray a lascivious or scatological side of a cute character, but rather than repeat themselves, BxH decided to make a toy of Pete (aka 'Pegleg Pete', 'Black Pete', etc.) 'disguised' as his nemesis Mickey Mouse. Since Pete's a villain already, the take is a lighter touch, more mischievous. It's a really appealing design with loads of nice touches.

First of all, Pete's sculpted likeness is great - not simply a cold, technically accurate mimicry, but a sweet, retro-interpretation of the character... in other words, what Pete would look like as an old-school toy. The scale is a good call - a medium-sized toy that won't eat up too much space, but big enough to feel like a substantial teddy bear.

The use of materials is especially good here, with vinyl head, hands and feet - straight from the '50s plush playbook. The furry body gives Pete cuddliness, texture and volume. The fabric pants are just the right weight to make them seem baggy and ill-fitting.

BxH didn't throw anything into the packaging - they usually bag their toys, and Pete is no exception. I opened mine some time ago, but if I remember correctly, it was in an undecorated bag.

The only real minus is the balance issue - it won't stand reliably on its own, though it has a better center of gravity (not to mention the vinyl shoes) than many plushes. You'll still need to lean Pete against something in your display case, but he'll at least pose well in the process.

These plushes sold out some time ago, and I can't find any for sale online. I paid about $80-$100 for it originally, and I imagine it'll cost more than that now. Jump on that eBay favorite search, and good luck!

Toy OTD: Mattel DJ Rockin' Ride (2008)

There's another great line of Cars toys to collect, though I don't think many people do. I understand swearing off from them - these large, talking versions are real space gobblers and much more expensive than the standard diecasts. Plus, well, they're not diecast, which I'm sure is a deal-breaker for the majority of Cars collectors. Still, these are super-cool toys, especially when you get into the secondary characters!

DJ is a particularly good character for this format. He's a smaller vehicle, so he scales up well without becoming unmanageable. The big line's also good for tucking in plenty of nifty features!

Since DJ is a musical character in Cars, Mattel made the toy musical, too. As with all of the Mattel items, DJ is spot-on model - but they've integrated his play functions very nicely as well! You can choose between a variety of short beat-box loops that are triggered when you roll him across the floor. The beat selector is right were it should be - the huge knob in the middle of DJ's sound system. Nice!

There's some great lighting effects, too - undercarriage 'neon' and a glowing rear spoiler. The designers built part of the foil out of translucent plastic to make it look even cooler. The eyes move back and forth (I can't remember if the eyelids do) as DJ is pushed along. It's really neat in low light!

There's some speech clips as well, but I think it's just a couple of phrases. I don't think they're film-specific, but it's not a big minus for me.

The packaging is the half-box style that's currently common with these larger toys. Big points, though, go to Mattel for designing a special key-type pair of mounts to hold the toy in place. Rather than struggle with dozens of tough-to-cut, spun-a-million-times wire twist-ties, the key-mounts simply turn and unlock. Very cool!

This hasn't been out for all that long, and in general the larger toys are much easier to find than their diecast counterparts. You can get one for $14.99 + shipping at shop.com. Have fun!