Hot Wheels Retro Entertainment 2021 – Marvel

To be fair, this set has been around for a minute now but I didn’t want to leave it uncovered since we haven’t seen this sort of thing nearly as much in the last couple of years as we did before. Not really sure how (or even if) this set connects to anything happening in the MCU currently but it does seem to gravitate towards S.H.I.E.L.D. and the areas where government officials and superheroes work closely together.

Here’s what we’re working with:

• Volkswagen T1 Drag Bus
• MBK Van
• Combat Medic
• Hiway Hauler 2
• Land Rover Defender 110 Hardtop

The VW Drag Bus, a staple of these “Retro Entertainment” series, features Captain America. This vehicle is well-suited to this symbol of America…it might’ve worked even better if the entire paint job was stylized as an American flag. I like that it looks like it’s always in motion, pushing forward, with Cap ready to go. It’s also a “funny car,” with a hinge at the front where you can lift the frame and take a look at the chrome “guts.”

The MBK Van shows us a rather spastic looking Red Skull with an added surprise on the back: some lady in green! It took a little digging, but I finally deduced that this was none other than Viper, a.k.a. Madame Hydra, a.k.a. Ophelia Sarkissian. She’s actually the second of 3 villains to use “viper” but certainly the most well-known. Looks like she’s primarily a thorn in Captain America’s side as well as the Avengers as a whole.

Next up is the Combat Medic and boy oh boy is this a familiar sight. I guess part of the reason it pops up so often is ’cause of those big ol’ side panels, just itchin’ for some art. This time we’re looking at Falcon…looking pretty much like Falcon…is there anything else…?

Moving on to the Hiway Hauler 2, I love the fact that nearly the whole rig is covered in purple. Our featured player this time around is Taskmasker, known for little more than playing villain to Black Widow. He’s actually a pretty cool looking dude, with some Crusade-inspired armor.

The Land Rover Defender features Nick Fury, old white Nick Fury to be clear, not less-old black Nick Fury. The industrial, raw metal exterior and the stark, utilitarian nature of the vehicle make it perfect for Fury’s cigar-chomping self. But if you flip it around…you get a S.H.I.E.L.D. chick with a quintessentially late 70’s to early 80’s hairdo. Now I’m not as 100% as I was back on Viper, but I think this is just Agent 13.

Another one for the vaults! Overall I feel this was a pretty average set. There’s no mind-blowing artwork to behold but I can appreciate the loosely connected Avengers angle. Until next time!

PIXAR “Tribute” Cars

Wow, ok, I have been sitting on these for a while, so it’s high time to bust ’em out, snap some photos, and give you fine folks the skinny on this small set of celebratory cars with regards to some of Pixar’s biggest films.

• 1 / 5 – Toy Story – Combat Medic
• 2 / 5 – Monsters, Inc. – Altered Ego
• 3 / 5 – Finding Nemo – Path Beater
• 4 / 5 – The Incredibles – Fish’d & Chip’d
• 5 / 5 – Cars – Hiway Hauler

It seems a little strange to get these in the wake of so many Disney Character Cars, but it’s all good. The artwork on some of these is very much worth taking a gander at.

And so we first land on the Combat Medic, a staple of these celebratory sets due to all that blank space on the sides, just begging for some clear, uninterrupted artwork. Paying homage to the Toy Story franchise, one side is filled with Buzz Lightyear and a stark, modern background. The other side shows us Woody & Jessie with the “Woody’s Roundup” title card. They’re riding atop BullsEye with a big, layered sunset in the background.

Altered Ego is a very strange car, and I guess it’s appropriate enough for Mike & Sulley from Monsters, Inc. The metalflake gray is a nice look, and both sides feature Mike & Sulley fresh out of a closet door.

The Path Beater looks to be a rough and tumble 4WD pickup truck. It’s a bit basic and “everyman,” much like Nemo’s fairly ordinary father who beat extraordinary odds to find his kid.

I hate to say it, but I just don’t know anything much about The Incredibles. The Fish’d & Chip’d’s classic design leads to a lot of horizontal space to show off artwork of the family and it’s a very nice red color…

And bringing up the rear we have the eye-catchingly large but surprisingly lightweight Hiway Hauler, lending its space to the one and only Cars. The chrome windows are a very cool choice we don’t see too often. Other than that we’ve just got a big ol’ money shot of Lightning McQueen himself on the trailer. The artwork, instead of having the sort of CG-gloss we’re all used to when it comes to Cars, has that sort of retro-look to it, like what you’d see on a vintage lunchbox or something.

That’ll do it when it comes to this small Pixar collection. The subject matter may not be completely in my wheelhouse but it is nice to see some artwork on some cars again – it feels like the trend all but died over the course of 2019 and 2020. Stick around, ‘cuz we got at least 2 more of these “tribute” sets to cover in this giant backlog…!

Hot Wheels – 20 Years of SpongeBob Squarepants

I’ve been sittin’ on this set for a while now and I reckon I need to go ahead and address it before I get into some of the more recent things I have. This is a nice little tribute set celebrating a whole 20 years of SpongeBob Squarepants…not a bad run for any show although fans can be very vocal about how much of the show has actually been “good.” And then there are those that say “Nickelodeon” became synonymous with “SpongeBob” which is what ultimately led to Disney taking the lead…a position that I mostly agree with. But hell, 20 years is 20 years so let’s take a quick gander at these boys.

• 1 / 6 – SpongeBob Squarepants – Combat Medic
• 2 / 6 – Gary – Carbonic
• 3 / 6 – Plankton – Circle Trucker
• 4 / 6 – Squidward – Bedlam
• 5 / 6 – Patrick – Monster Dairy Delivery
• 6 / 6 – Mr. Krabs – Ultra Rage

SpongeBob comes to us in the form of the Combat Medic, a model that most of us are very familiar with by now. The sides are nice and big and square and leave plenty of room for detailed, uninterrupted artwork. It’s pretty much just SpongeBob with an “Order’s Up!” exclamation on the driver’s side. I’m a little surprised they didn’t stick his iconic pineapple in the background somewhere.

Next up is Gary in the sleek and slightly futuristic roadster known as Carbonic. There’s not a lot of free space here, but the hood makes a good showcase for Gary the Snail, in the rare act of smiling no less. Each side is plastered with a, “MEOW,” ever the reminder that Gary is a cat. Er whatever.

Then we have Plankton in the Circle Trucker, a design I haven’t seen in a while. (It’s always nice to see different designs in this context since the same ones are used again and again.) Plankton is his usual angry self on each side, looking vaguely demonic and spouting, “Curse you Krabs!” and “I WIN! I WIN!” Not sure what he won, but ok.

Squidward is fourth in Bedlam, which kinda resembles a more stripped down, race-ready version of the previous Circle Trucker. With his head on each side, he’s accompanied by a, “Oh Please!” and a “What ever.” I guess these work as catchphrases but they’re almost too generic. Besides, where’s his clarinet?

This next one might just be my favorite of the bunch – Patrick in the Monster Dairy Delivery. I love the slightly sparkly purple and the clear orange wheels. It’s a little bit cartoonish, which is befitting of both the show and Patrick himself. We’ve got a couple of utterances on the sides – a “You Wumbo?” and an “I Wumbo!” I dunno what it means, but Patrick looks pretty f#@!$*& excited either way.

Finally we’ve got Mr. Krabs rolling in on his Ultra Rage…and wow, what a fantastic name for a car with Mr. Krabs behind the wheel. The Ultra Rage itself also has the general look of one of those super-pricey, deliberately ostentatious hypercars that you might picture a money-hungry mogul cruising around in. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of wide open space for any graphics. We get a very tiny headshot on each door, one with the phrase, “Me Money” on one side and, “Sweet Mother of Pearl” on the other. I also appreciate the fact that the vehicle is orangey red…why isn’t SpongeBob yellow? Why isn’t Plankton’s vehicle painted dark green/teal?

All in all this is an OK set of cars and artwork, though I feel it to be a bit on the rushed side. Not much to speak of in the way of backgrounds, straight up text taking up the available space, somewhat random design choices…I think a little more care would’ve gone a long way, although I do think they did well with a 6 character limit. I feel like Sandy ought to be in there somewhere, but it wouldn’t make much sense to bump anyone else except perhaps Gary…I could see arguments made either way. SpongeBob and Patrick are the strongest entries but even then I wouldn’t mind seeing them adorned with the surreal aspects of the show’s backdrops. Sometimes some hot Wheels’ risk the chance of looking too toyetic or cartoony, and this would’ve been an opportune moment to embrace such choices.

Lastly I want to mention that I had trouble finding all of these. Long story short, some Walmarts seem to be positively inundated with these cars while others remain particularly void of them. This isn’t the first set that this has happened with, but it is somewhat unusual.

Hot Wheels X-MEN RealRiders Series

It was pretty cool seeing Street Fighter make its way to the RealRiders collection of premium Hot Wheels vehicles, and now it looks like they’ve chosen to honor the X-Men with the latest collection.

As usual, the artwork on these things is amazing, extending to the thicker-than-average card back itself. I wish – as I wish with most of these RealRiders sets – I could also procure a set of unadulterated cards to accompany the vehicles themselves. The really interesting bit about them is that each car is dedicated towards a particular iteration of the X-Men, i.e. The Uncanny X-Men or The Astonishing X-Men as opposed to celebrating separate factions or even individual characters. It ultimately cuts down on overall variety, but what I like about it is that you get to see this core idea of “the X-Men” through the lens of several different interpretations and adaptations.

Today’s youth are much more in tune with The Avengers when it comes to Marvel properties (and rightfully so) but those of us a little bit older can remember when the premiere Marvel property was that of the X-Men.

• 1 / 5 – X-Men – ’64 Chevy Nova Delivery
• 2 / 5 – Astonishing X-Men – ’71 Plymouth Satellite
• 3 / 5 – Ultimate X-Men -’49 Ford COE
• 4 / 5 – Uncanny X-Men – Combat Medic
• 5 / 5 – All-New X-Men – Nissan Skyline Van

I’m not a comics expert nor an X-Men X-pert, but if I had to guess, I’d say this first vehicle celebrates the old X-Men cartoon. This is what the X-Men ought to look like if you’re roughly my age. There is some slight uniform cohesion with the yellow and blue going on but nothing as concrete as the earlier comics. However, after a bit of digging, the artworks appears to be from the X-Men Annual #1, 1992. The card art features Beast, Gambit, Cyclops, Rogue, Psylocke, and Wolverine.

The artwork is further extended on the ’64 Chevy Nova Delivery, with that same vibrant color scheme and attention to detail. One side features Storm and Magneto, the other Cyclops and Wolverine, taken from the cover of X-Men Vol. 2 #1. I wish bigger empty spots – namely the hood and roof – had been utilized for artwork as well, but for some reason this didn’t seem to be much of a consideration for any of the vehicles in the set.

Astonishing X-Men can refer to a few different series of comics, though this vehicle appears to pay tribute to the Joss Whedon led continuation of New Mutants. Essentially it was Whedon’s desire to keep the X-Men in their own continuity, unaffected by and untangled from other major events in the Marvel Universe. He wanted to move away from what he saw as a hectic and confusing continuity for the X-Men and keep them a bit more self-contained.

The artwork is a little darker and grittier than the animated show. The card art showcases many of the staple members from the period, including co-leaders Cyclops and Emma Frost (previously the villainous White Queen), Wolverine, Colossus, Lockheed, Kitty Pryde, and Beast. It appears to be from Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2: Dangerous. The ’71 Plymouth Satellite is painted a bright yellow with blue text, a fine match for the blue-and-yellow suited Wolverine featured on either side.

Next we move into Ultimate X-Men, itself part of a larger Ultimate Marvel series that aimed to reimagine and update popular characters for an edgier and more morally ambiguous world. I believe that over time it’s been officially recognized as a separate universe in the Marvel Multiverse. The overall darker tone is evident in the artwork and added realism.

On the card we see Cable, Rogue, Colossus, Cyclops, Storm, Iceman, and Jean Gray (Ms. Marvel), taken from the cover for Ultimate X-Men Volume 1, Issue 75. The cargo area of the ’49 Ford COE is decorated with more of the same, mainly focused on Cable and Colossus.

Uncanny X-Men is basically the original series of X-Men comics on which pretty much every other version was based upon. Depending where in the publication history you are, the Uncanny X-Men can appear drastically different. However, this card simply features a battle-worn Colossus, taken from Uncanny X-Men #507.

The ol’ Combat Medic brings with it plenty of room to show off more artwork, including a shot of Angel and Beast from Issue 506 and then on the other side shots of Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Emma Frost, which doesn’t appear to be all from the same source.

Finally we land on All-New X-Men, an interesting premise based on the idea that the 5 original X-Men from the past are brought to the future to see just what the X-Men have become. The idea of “past X-Men” is evident in their identical suits and the ol’ team consists of a pre-Beast Beast (i.e. Hank McCoy), Angel (note – not yet Archangel), Jean Grey (Ms. Marvel), Cyclops, and Iceman. The art, appropriately enough, is lifted from the cover of All-New X-Men #1.

We also get our third station wagon in the lot, a cherry red Nissan Skyline Van. It features artwork from the “current” X-Men teams, with Wolverine on one side and the team of Cyclops, Magneto, Emma Frost, and Magik on the other.

I know that was a lot of geeky comic shit to take in and no, I didn’t even know half of that stuff without doing a bit of research over the last few days. It’s not a complete picture but I think there’s enough context there to see just how different the X-Men are to different writers. It’s also fun to watch the artwork change with the tone. If I had one complaint it would be that the artwork feels a bit scarce on the vehicles themselves, and I kinda wish they’d shot for actual scenes rather than just covers or pieces thereof. Maybe now that the Avengers have their big orgiastic blowout we’ll see even more Marvel properties get this treatment…? In fact, I wouldn’t mind seeing the X-Men make a comeback in general. I’d really love to see a new take on the franchise…I think a non-Fox-driven, post-Endgame X-Men could be pretty amazing….