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: Monsters On Ice Toy: Mike's New Car

The Kenneth Feld Disney-themed ice shows are yet another source for Disney/Pixar merchandise. Some items have never been offered in any other venue!

For example, when the Monsters On Ice show was touring, a moderately-sized, plastic version of the vehicle featured in Mike's New Car was sold at the concession stand. As far as I know, this toy was exclusive to the event, although a much smaller version was made separately from the show and sold elsewhere.

This is a good toy, but its primary virtue is obscurity. The sculpt, paint work, and construction are above average, but not anything that would grab your eye if the subject were a more common vehicle. It's sturdy enough, but there's really no other special features or embellishments other than free-rolling wheels. I don't remember any packaging to speak of (maybe a tag for branding), but if you don't want this particular car as a toy in the first place, it probably isn't going to convince you otherwise.

This item isn't for sale online right now, so yet another eBay favorite search might in the cards for you. Good luck!

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!

Toy OTD: Ahi/Azrak-Hamway Int'l Flintmobile (1974)

I love me some Flintmobile! It's one of the neatest looking cartoon vehicles, and it beat the Wacky Races cars by roughly ten years. I love the design, I love the sound effect it makes when it drives away, and I love that's it's the only car where driving it's about a million times harder than walking! You can't even turn it around without picking the whole damn thing up into the air. Fred may be overweight, but he's no weakling. One 'wheel' alone probably weighs as much as he does!

Anyway, here's a motorized version from the early seventies. This one's broken, so I have no idea how mobile it would be. This design preserves almost everything I like about the car - nice, simple shapes and appealing colors. The toy's proportions are also really nice - ofttimes the car gets too wide in order to accommodate all of the characters. That being said, it's too bad that Wilma and Betty got bumped, but you see Fred and Barney carpooling on the show a lot, so it makes sense (though if you follow that line of reasoning, Dino shouldn't be there). I wish Dino was poking through the soft top like he does in the opening sequence, but the designer's solution is still pretty appealing.

I bought this on eBay - since it wasn't working and not very old, I don't think it was all that expensive. On the other hand, it doesn't seem all that common, either - I can't find another one online anywhere. I think an eBay Favorite Search is in order, if you want this car!

UPDATE (08/05/09): Here's some added info from bfentworld@verizon.net:
"The car was meant for a table - when it got to an edge, a rod dropped down to trigger a turn/rotate in another direction, towards another edge of the table."

Toy OTD: Tomy Richard Scarry Vehicle: Lowly Worm's Apple Car (1995)

Given how incredibly appealing Richard Scarry's books are, I'm always surprised that there isn't a constant flood of merchandise based on his drawings! Tomy did one of the best Scarry licenses, and it's been quite a while since it happened.

This is just a great little toy! Press down on the apple leaf, and the car scoots across the floor. there's very little paint on it - most of the colors come from the plastic parts themselves, which you know I like. Lowly's treatment is a little bland, but Tomy gets BIG points for making him removeable - I always took characters out of their cars, whether they were supposed to or not!

There was a bigger line of Richard Scarry toys and figures, but I mainly remember an Officer Murphy toy with him riding his motorcycle, and Bananas Gorilla in his Bananamobile. All of them were cool, but I prioritized and bought just Lowly and Officer Murphy.

I don't remember how much this cost back in the day, but I'm confident that it wasn't expensive. Even now, you can get one in an auction starting at $9.99 on eBay.