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The retail situation in my area allows me to
'keep tabs' on three Targets, three K-Marts a Wal-Mart, two Kay-Bees and one
(no comment) Toys-R-Us. I feel that gives me more of a sense in the sales
trend, than those with more limited retail resources might have.
It's certainly been a groundbreaking year for the diecast industry and it's
only half over. I can't
wait to see what's still in the pipeline.
We might as well start with the Big Dawg. It's been a hit or miss year for
Mattel. They got off
to a fantastic start with the Charger, Nova and Fleetline FE's. Those
castings seemed to be
flying off the pegs. As you know, several new styles were introduced this
year. Most of them
work. Some will say that the 'Tooned' line is a blatant ripoff of Muscle
Machines. I'd invite them to take a look at the pic of the Matchbox Charger
shown here. The copyright date on the
base is 1972. Ed Roth's t-shirts and bubblegum cards pre-date that.
I admit, I like them. The 'Tooned' Deora never fails to bring a smile to my
face. That big engine sure spices up what has become kind of a plain body
style. Mattel scores in my book, by selling this style for a buck, when I
wouldn't spend four dollars for this style by another company.
The Hardnoze line is another story. It's my opinion, that when Mattel checks
the SKU numbers
for sales of each casting, we may not see these again. I can count the number
of cases the
stores in my area have put out, by counting the Hardnoze FE's and dividing by
two.
The Auto Affinity seems to be the success Mattel was hoping for with the Hall
of Fame line.
Everything seems to move quite well, except the Caddy Cien. It seems destined
to be a peg warmer no matter what they try. The So-Cal Sooo Fine and the
Mickey Weise Dodge Dart are paint schemes that are worthy of the Showcase/100%
line. Here's hoping they make more along this theme. The Whips line has
contributed two new wheel styles for the customizing crowd, but seem to need
more detailing on both the interior and exterior to really earn that 'Team
Baurtwell' name.
The Showcase line itself, is a bit of an enigma. I'm not sure if it's the new
packaging or
the dollar hike in price, but it hasn't been all that difficult to get a hold
of each new casting
as it comes out. I can't figure out why the '59 Caddy convertible is
languishing on the shelves. The paint is fantastic, the chrome trimmings look
fine and the wheel choice is quite realistic, but I could lay my hands on nine
or ten of them at three different stores.
Jada is growing on me by leaps and bounds. The Series 6 Dub City line and
what I've seen
of Series 7, are fine, fine castings. They once again are offering new styles
of rims. Good
to see they're not content to sit back and wait. The Road Rat line is
fantastic as well. I'm tempted to buy the lavender '51 Merc every time I see
it and I already own three of them. The Salt Shaker '40 Ford is another
excellent 'period' piece. Jada's only misstep would be the PT Cruiser in the
Road Rat line. I like it personally, but it's clogging the pegs in record
numbers.
That brings me to my gripe. I agree with the philosophy of buying only what I
like. It's just that castings like that PT Cruiser and the Hardnoze cars keep
hogging all the space. I may not get a chance at the ones I really want at
this rate.
Lastly, Johnny Lightning. They still do some of the better paint and detail
work out there. But the line seems a bit stagnant. The Toronado and Dodge
A-100 castings are great additions. Good to see them picking up models no one
else has done. But Street Freaks doesn't seem to be much of a response to
what the others are doing. It's just another repeat of that theme mentioned
above.
Collect what you like. If you can find it.
---Shelby23 |
