The meat of this story goes back a couple of weeks but hey, this is the best I could do. As soon as I started seeing them pop up online I began scouring stores for these guys because I’m guessing these might be at least a tad more collectible than most. I won’t get into a tedious store-by-store account of my journey, though I do want to point out a couple of things.
One, back then and even up until as recently as yesterday, I’ve only seen these cars at Walmarts. When I first spotted them I found everyone except for Maleficent. They had the remaining 5 plus 2 more Mickeys on the rack. Looks like the contents of a case to me. One day and several Walmarts later I did find Maleficent alongside a healthy selection of the rest of ’em.
Since then though, these things have been very spotty around here, and when I do see them, I tend not to see complete sets. (For this reason I’m thinking about picking up a second set to keep unopened.) Target is too busy stocking the protracted versions of Despicable Me, Super Mario, and SpongeBob “sets” to make room for much else – hell, I haven’t even spotted all the new DC stuff (Ivy, Martian Manhunter, Sketched Series) aside from the Teen Titans Go! stuff.
Update: GameStop appears to be carrying these now as well, so give them a check if you’re having trouble elsewhere!
I could certainly be wrong, but if you want my advice, go ahead and grab these when you see ’em (if you want ’em), and keep in mind that Mickey Mouse is likely the most common (highest production numbers), Maleficent followed by Elsa seem to be the fan favorites, and if anyone at all is getting passed over more than the others it’s got to be Mike Wazowski.
I’m almost ready to take a good long look at these new thingamajigs, however I want to quickly draw attention to a blurb of text on both the front and back of each package: Series 1. Is this to suggest that we’ll see more Disney Character Cars in the near-ish future? There are other lines I’d rather see extended but I’d be on board with a virtually limitless supply of Disney Character Cars. It’d be even better if they’d theme each series – not something as restrictive as a single movie – but more like a series of princesses, a series of villains, kings, “sidekicks,” and soon.
However I feel like there was another set that teased us with a “Series 1” and still hasn’t delivered on a Series 2…am I imagining this…? I don’t feel like digging through my backs to confirm but I swear the idea of multiple series was already floating around in my head.
Whatever, let’s break into ’em and see what we’ve got:
- 1 / 6 – Mickey Mouse
- 2 / 6 – Elsa
- 3 / 6 – Winnie the Pooh
- 4 / 6 – Maleficent
- 5 / 6 – Jack Skellington
- 6 / 6 – Mike Wazowski
You can immediately tell that a great deal of care and creativity went into each of these Character Cars as a distinct entity. Via the use of paint types, color schemes, body shapes, and decorations, each of these cars really feels like it comes from a completely different universe than any of the others. This cuts down on any kind of cohesive look, but that’s cool considering all the different “stuff” that makes Disney Disney.
As far as the actual character selection goes, my only real gripe is Mike. He feels a little too contemporary for this lot. (And yes, I know Elsa is “newer” than Monsters, Inc. but Frozen has been regarded as an instant classic since its release so its inclusion is understandable.) I guess I would’ve preferred someone more iconic – Ariel or Ursula (The Little Mermaid), maybe Simba or Scar (The Lion King), or maybe “The Beast” – but Mike Wazowski seems a bit weak considering his company.
Winnie the Pooh tends to stick out a bit as well, probably because he’s much more closely associated with younger children than the rest, but he is a massive, very well-known property under Disney, so I really can’t fault Pooh’s inclusion even if I’d personally prefer other characters.
Let’s take a quick look at each of these:
Mickey Mouse, emblematic of Disney itself, is simply and elegantly represented by a classic sports car. The basic elements are accounted for – ears, red-and-black color scheme, and his oversized white eyes. I think pretty much anyone can identify this as Mickey Mouse or at least strongly tied to the character. Gotta love that the wheels feature the iconic silhouette!
Elsa might be my favorite of the bunch…all the various blues from transparent, to the matte finish on the front, and the gradient with snowflake graphics really give it a special look. And the slim feminine shape is a plus as well. Elsa’s long braid is carried over via a sort of decoration running down the back half.
I remember Winnie the Pooh fairly well, even though the show struck me as oddly dark… (Pooh’s obsession – borderline addiction – to honey (hunny?), Piglet’s overly worrisome nature, Tigger’s boundless and oftentimes reckless exuberance, Rabbit’s seemingly unfounded status as the old curmudgeon, and Eyore’s blatant perpetually depressive state) …and it’s because of this that I don’t necessarily associate the same happy fuzzy memories with it like other preschool and early childhood fare. Regardless, I think Hot Wheels latched on a pretty clever design for this car, giving it the outward appearance of a cement mixer.m/;featured on Pooh’s pots of the stuff.
Maleficent comes in at a very close second in terms what I find both aesthetically pleasing and the overall connection to / representation of the characters at hand. Besides being a straight up badass sorceress – and yes, we’re gonna call her a sorceress and elevate her beyond a simple “witch” – she also possess a totally evil, nigh demonic flying dragon as her final form! The green-black-purple color scheme is used to great effect and the devilish horns frame a sort of sinister face along with the green-tinted windshield. The long hood contributes to the car’s ominous presence and pays homage to Maleficent’s slender frame.
Jack Skellington is another nicely done car and a great use of the typical hot rod “digger” type of frame. The shape is perfectly suited to Jack’s literally skeletal figure, made even more lanky through Burton’s exaggerated and ultimately unnerving art style. We’ve got a clear view of his head and having his “fingers” curl up to form the exhaust pipes was a very clever adaptation of character parts to car parts. I don’t think you could ask for much more out of a Jack Skellington Character Car without compromising some of what makes it look like a “real” car.
And finally we’re at Mike Wazowski, the clear black sheep of the family. Now don’t get it twisted; I don’t hate Mike, I have nothing really against Monsters, Inc., and I don’t dislike the car itself: I just wish Hot Wheels had chosen someone a little more culturally ingrained. Despite my hang-ups, the car itself is well done and I think Hot Wheels did a pretty good job of turning a one-eyed green blob with arms and legs into a car without compromising too much in either direction. It’s quite unique and it looks like something that might be at home on The Jetsons.
And there we have it! All in all a very creative selection of cars and with so many different styles of animation under Disney’s umbrella it proves to be a great mine for Character Cars in general. Each design is inspired and none of them feel rushed or lazy.
I do hope these make enough of a splash for Hot Wheels to roll out a Series 2 in another few months. From Snow White to Pinocchio, from The Jungle Book to Hercules, there’s a virtually limitless pool from which to draw from. However, there are a few characters or movies that make my short list, including:
- anything from The Little Mermaid, particularly Ariel, Ursula, Sebastian, and even King Triton
- Simba and/or Scar from The Lion King
- Ralph (of Wreck-It Ralph) as far as very recent characters go
- pretty much everyone from Big Hero 6; this would make a great subset
- The Genie from Aladdin
- pretty much anything notable from Alice in Wonderland (probably a little too old for current audiences)
- Cruella deVille from 101 Dalmatians
Like I said, short list. There are tons of great characters over more than half a dozen decades that could be made into expressive and desirable Character Cars. When you can draw upon everything from the techie/futuristic vibe of WALL-E to the rustic, medieval setting of The Hunchback of Notre Dame it’s tough to go wrong.
Anyway, I’ma quit wracking my brain for Disney movies before I go crazy. Lemme know what you think – like the new cars? What’s your favorite? And what do you think of a possible Series 2? Who would you like to see?
Alright pimps and pimpettes, that’ll do for now. I’m still a little behind on detailing most of my recent finds but I am catching up, so hang around and you should notice these articles dropping fairly regularly. Until then!
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