Disney FROZEN Character Car 3-Pack

Well well, it seems we’ve seen it all! With the release of this domestic 3-pack, Hot Wheels has covered the gamut. Obviously there are the singles we see everyday, then the 2-packs that used to be common (such as Wonder Woman and Ares, Tactical Suit Batman & Aquaman, the 3 early pairs with short comics, etc.), at least one 4-pack in the form of Captain America’s 70th Anniversary (only ever saw this at Kohl’s), the multitude of 5-packs that used to live on shelves (Civil War, Age of Ultron, Batman, and so on), and at least one 6-pack with the new Star Wars – Light vs. Dark Side set. The 3-packs have existed somewhere – we know this because of the 2 Infinity War sets seemingly available only from overseas vendors – yet now we have a confirmed North American 3-pack in the form of the Frozen 3-Pack celebrating the release of Frozen II.

The trio includes Elsa, Olaf, & Anna. Not surprisingly, this is the same Elsa that we saw back in Series 1. However, Olaf and Anna are brand-spankin’ new. There is one tiny hitch though…

…Olaf & Anna are also slated to be part of the Series 5 release, which has just started popping up on eBay a couple of days ago. Of course the good news is that even if you do get the 3-pack you can just skip over Olaf and Anna when they’re released singly.

Honestly that’s kind of a bummer. I was really hoping there’d be something exclusive to this 3-pack to give it some heft and significance, but unfortunately it’ll just be an inobtrusive footnote in the Character Car annuls.

Anna is a great looking car…I don’t know how much of a “character” it looks like but the colors are great.’ The pale blue is a sharp contrast to the deep, metalflake purple, and the darker blue interior and sides give it some depth. The focal point is the black hood with the delicate, colorful rose pattern. I’m not overly familiar with the Frozen franchise, but this car, based on Anna’s typical attire, comes together very well.

Olaf leans a little more whimsical. The snowman becomes…an ice truck. Not even ice cream, just ice. Everything here seems pretty standard, although Olaf’s carrot / nose seems to be in the wrong place (above his eyes rather than under them). I guess that’s about all I’ve got…sure they stuck Olaf’s face on the front of a van (sort of), but I would’ve liked to have seen more “snowman-y-ness” and maybe some stick arms or something.

Elsa is a fantastic car that I go into more detail about in the Disney Series 1 piece. In a nutshell, the multiple blues and the differing opacities really capture that icy feel, and the sleek, flowing design is a perfect match for Elsa’s femininity.

Overall I think the Frozen 3-Pack is a good idea, but I ain’t so sure that Hot Wheels made the most of it. First of all, I’ve only been able to find this at Kohl’s. Now that’s not a deal breaker, but it is weird. And get this: if you walk from the front of the store and down the right (or left) hand side down to the toys at the back, you’ll encounter no less than 4 display’s for Frozen / Frozen II before even getting to the toys. One of these is not in the aisle and sort of carves out a small spot to the side. If you go over and squeeze between the shelf and the wall and look up at the top shelf, you might be able to spot about 2/3 of 3 or 4 3-packs. It’s fucking weird. (The only reason I found these was because I happened to be searching for “character cars” while wandering around my closest Kohl’s and there was a little Google Shopping noticed that there was one of these 3-packs in store a mere 0.0 miles away!)

Like I said earlier though, I think it’d be better if there was more significance attached to it. When you can (or will shortly be able to) procure all of these cars elsewhere, what’s the point…? Even if Hot Wheels wanted to be lazy and use the same 3 characters, they could’ve given the folks in the 3-pack a special paint job or some other minor flourish, just enough of something to keep the cars distinguishable. What strikes me as totally bizarre about it all is that it’s a) not particularly easy to find and b) it’s not really necessary for completing / keeping one’s collection up to date.

So that’s that – let me know if you find or see this at any other brick-n-mortar locations aside from Kohl’s. I’m also pretty sure the Elsa is the same but I’ll also pay close attention to the other Series 5 cars when they come out just to make sure!

A Better Look at the Upcoming DISNEY CHARACTER CARS from Hot Wheels

Wondering just when in the hell these were gonna come out, I started doing just a little more digging online. (If you have no clue what I’m talking about, you can click here and scroll down to the bit about the Disney Character Cars.) It looks like these photos were snapped quite a while back at a toy fair earlier in the year, but hey, I’ll take when I can get considering before this we only had one group shot of the cars and the rest was concept art.

Empty packages…? I guess they gotta start somewhere!

Here we have Mickey Mouse, Elsa, & Winnie the Pooh. I love the shimmer and shades of blue on Elsa – can’t wait to see this one in the real!

And here is Maleficent, Jack Skellington, & Mike (Wachowski?). Maleficent also looks great…not sure if her or Elsa will be my favorite. Hot Wheels also did a great job of turning Jack into a car. I wish Mike’s slot had gone to someone a little more iconic (I guess I’m just a little too old to have been impacted by Monsters, Inc.), maybe Simba (or Scar?), or Ariel (better yet Ursula!), or really anyone from that golden period of the late 80’s through early 2000’s. Like so many of these limited runs, this is one of those series that I’d love to see pop up once or twice a year with a few new entries each time. And why not? Disney’s got everything from memorable protagonists and antagonists to choose from as well as a whole slew of secondary and/or supporting characters like the Genie or Timon & Pumba or some talking dinnerware from Beauty and the Beast.

So there you go, a slightly better look at what we’ve got to look forward to…at some point this year! I suspect these will be a little more sought after than the typical Character Car run, but who knows! If anyone has any additional info (like a release date!), as always, please let me know!