Toy OTD: 1:18 Scale Johnny Lightning Diecast: The Mystery Machine

It's always great to see a company move outside of its core audience to reach others. While I loved tiny die-cast cars as a kid (mainly Matchboxes), in general I've left that interest behind. Anyone who's trying to keep their Hot Wheels collection complete in the face of the latest enormous wave will know what I mean! Not that I have anything against them, there's just too damn many to collect, unless that's all you collect, and even then you're in for a rough ride.

So I need to narrow my focus when I collect diecast vehicles, and that generally means gathering up only the examples that jab at my animation/nostalgia lobes deeply enough to override my better judgement. I tend to stick with 1/18 scale too, as they gobble up space quickly enough to keep me from getting too carried away.

This is one of the first toy cars I bought, and it's a pip. It sports a great paint job - one that's nicely on-model, from the original awkwardly-drawn logo right down to the 'flower power' hubcaps. This toy is clearly made for younger children, as it doesn't have steerable wheels or opening doors. Minuses to be sure, but the thing that bothers me the most is that there's no characters riding inside at all.

I'm assuming that this is a taste thing with the majority of diecast car collectors - they want the car, dammit, and they don't want things ruined with the presence of some figurines symbolizing much of what they didn't like about the show anyway. I'm not one of those folks, but if the manufacturers aren't sufficiently motivated, I do prefer no passengers to badly-cast or -painted ones, so I'll give it a pass.

I picked this up some time ago, but it's still easy to get on eBay. The price seems to range between roughly twenty-five and fifty dollars. Good luck!

As Summer Fades

It's been busy the last week or so, even apart from storyboarding - Anita and Tim wrapped up their last performance of the season, and have moved on to booking Swazzle's holiday show. Anita re-injured her knee on a recent break with her family in Las Vegas, so we need to check with the doctor and see how severe the damage is. Her knee had been steadly improving for a while, so this is a bit of setback.

Last weekend, I went to the toy show in San Jose with my buddies Bob, Bill and Jerome. It was a small show again, but still very good, so everyone had fun. Jerome had never been to a toy show before, and I was worried that it wouldn't be enjoyable enough for non-addicts. Fortunately, that wasn't the case!

I picked up some of the new Cars die-cast releases, mainly because the local stores were pulling all of the cars off the shelves due to the lead-paint scare (that's happily not persisting, but it didn't instill me with a lot of confidence that I'd be able to find the new ones). If you've been keeping an eye on my Flickr site, you already know that I finally found the Abominable Snowplow, Bob Cutlass and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (and an extra for my dad). They weren't cheap, but I've got them now. Of course, they'll show up in stores at Christmastime for $3.00 each, and I'll bang my head against the wall then. Must... have... more... patience...

I also picked up a few Funkovision sets from a guy I'd seen there before - he always has Funko stuff for a little less than retail (plus I don't have to pay shipping), so I snapped 'em up! I found the Dick Dastardly & Muttley set, the Peter Pottamus & So-So set, and the Yosemite Sam & Dragon set for my dad as well(he loves those cartoons). The TV set packages are awesome, but I'm not even sure I'll keep one of them - they're serious space gobblers.

I weakened further and bought an old Yogi Bear plush from the late fifties. I don't think I'll beat that price, so I don't have any buyer's remorse about it.

Yesterday I had my first "Happy Beaver" toy sale at work. There were two competing events, so between those and work, I was limited to about fifty minutes. I sold eleven in that amount of time, so I was very pleased! Scott Morse is going to sell his new sketchbook at work sometime soon, so I'll probably try again at that point, when the event schedule is less crowded.

Last night, Ken Mitchroney, his wife Beth, Anita and I hit the Oakland Coliseum for Anita's first local ballgame. I go to basebally games so rarely that I knew no one would believe the I went (hence Ken's cel phone photo)! The weather was great (I didn't need a jacket all night), the game was a good one for the unconverted - quick innings, some great plays, some awful ones, a couple of home runs, and loads of fireworks - one of the best pyro shows I've ever seen (even compared to Disneyland), with a spectacular view of everything! Thanks, Ken!

PS - When I returned home, I had a package waiting for me! I had sent John Landis one of my figures (I thought he'd like one, since it feels a little like an old M-G-M cartoon character), and in gratitude, he sent me a thank you gift - a Blues Brothers card, a DVD of one of his favorite movies, and both sets of the Killer Panda Monster Theater toys! Cool! So I nerded out big time over that.

Cars Toy Info

If you're interested in keeping up with what new Cars diecasts are being released, look here and here on exboard.com! I never know when anything's coming out, so hopefully this'll help!

Thanks to Roger Colton for the tip.