Alright everyone, it's time for another edition of My Want List. This time, it's the releases from this year's Hot Wheels case K. As you can see from the title, I was unable to find everything I wanted from this case. I'm actually quite surprised that I found anything at all. I don't know how it's been for you, but it hasn't been easy for me to find any Hot Wheels products as of late. The diecast rows at most of the stores in my area are just about empty, and it seems like the managers have no interest in how their stores look. This is the main reason why I don't do Heads-Up post anymore. Anyway, that's enough with that little rant. Now it's time for me to share my thoughts on the releases I was able to get.
The Formula E Gen 2 Car, is the first release I want to talk about. I really like the design choice that was made for this year's second one. Instead of making it an actual recolor, they decided to give it an entirely different livery. And once again, it's based off of an actual one. Like the card says, it's based on the Tag Heuer Porsche sponsored car. Vodafone, a British telecommunications company, is one of the other sponsors that's seen on this and the real car. I never thought I see their logo on a Hot Wheels car.
I think it's kind of interesting how this is one of the cars that's always left behind when the stock comes in. Personally, I have no issue with that, because it makes it easier for me to find these. I just think folks are missing out on getting a very collectible car. Sometimes, to spot a gem, you have to look past all the hyped up releases, as well as the JDMs. Just look at all of the details that were applied to this and the previous releases of it. There are some premiums that don't have as many decals as this mainline car.
Checked off of my list next, is the recolor of the 2020 Koenigsegg Jesko. As you know, the Hot Wheels designers chose to finish the debut release in silver. At the time, I felt that it was an okay color choice, but it wasn't quite the color I wanted to see on it. After I acquired that release, I took to the internet to do some homework on the real car. While searching, I came across a few articles that talked about the paint that was used. Supposedly, the company used thirty-four layers of paint for it's exterior. Based on the pictures I've seen, the color looks white, and that's the color that was chosen for this release.
To be fair, silver is an okay color for any exotic car, so I don't hate the debut release. I just happen to like this one a little more. In fact, it's now my favorite release of this casting. Of course, that could change with a future release, but they'd have to use a color that makes me say wow. Although... even if they did, I'd probably still like this one more anyway. I really like how the thirty-four layered paint looked. So obviously, I'm going to really like a release that's finished in a color that looks just like it.
As you all know, last year's mainline featured the debut release of the McLaren Speedtail, and it wasn't released again after that. Obviously, this is because it was released toward the end of the 2020 mainline. Earlier this year, Hot Wheels gave us a second release, and I though that was going to be it. Thankfully, I don't have to wait till next year for another one, because they've decided to give us a nice recolor. As I've already said, silver is an okay color for any exotic car, and the Speedtail definitely looks nice finished in the color. There's nothing else I can really say about this release. Basically, it's flawless.
The next release I got, is the recolor of the Gumball 3000 Ford GT-40. This is actually the third color of this release. The second one, which I don't have, is a Walmart exclusive Zamac. Some of you might like that one the most, since it is a store exclusive, but I think this one is just as good. The decision was made to use metallic black, white, and gold for this third release's color scheme. These three color will always go great together, and the combination is perfect for the Gumball livery featured on it.
Personally, this one is a little better than the Zamac one because of the stripe design's colors. Like the first color, the Zamac release's stripe is red. I know the other sections of the design are a different color, but it's not enough of a color change for me to care about trying to get it off of the secondary.
The wheels are the last thing I want to talk about. As you can see, the designers chose to give this release gold 5SPs. The first release as well as the Zamac release, were both given wheels that are black with a colored rim. While there's nothing wrong with that, it is nice to see this Gumball 3000 themed release with a wheel that's one color.
The Formula E Gen 2 Car and the GT-40 aren't the only cars racing around the boulevard today. The recolor of the 2018 Bentley Continental GT3 is setting the fastest lap times in today's 1:64 Scale GT group three race. In all seriousness, this is truly another great release, and I was surprised to see that it was finish it in matte white. Initially, I thought they chose to use gloss white, and that would have been fine. But I happen to think this was the better choice. After all, matte paints aren't used as much as the other paints.
As for the livery, the lower half of it is still black, which is absolutely fine. Personally, it's the perfect color to go with the acid green that was used for the other section of the livery.
Now, when it comes to recolors of race cars from Hot Wheels, there's one detail that I've started to pay more attention to. That detail, is none other than the racing number. I know some of you won't mind, but when they do a recolor of a race car, I feel they should change the number. They could have change it to 101, or they could have made it a double digit number. At the end of the day, this is still a cool release.
So... do you also like when Hot Wheels decides to add a premium casting to their mainline? Well, I most certainly do! And that's the case with the next release checked off of my want list. The casting in question, is the Chevy Silverado Off Road. This is also one of those castings that hasn't been used as much. So hopefully there'll be more releases of it now that it's in the mainline.
This is actually not the first one of these in my collection. The 2017 Pop Culture release, was the only one I had before this one. But I never really liked it like that. In case you didn't know, I used to only get Pop Culture releases because of the castings used. I wasn't really into the artwork applied to them. So I'm glad to finally have a one that I actually like.
Overall, the stripe design on this release is pretty cool. I, for one, would put this stripe design on a real Silverado. The one critical opinion I have of it, is with the choice to apply the BFGoodrich decal. Although it doesn't ruin the look of this release, I do feel it wasn't really needed. By itself, the stripe design would have been good enough for this casting's mainline debut. My issue aside, this is one hot Chevy Silverado.
Today, you decided to go and relax at the BLVD's best coffee shop. Everything is quiet until a car suddenly shows up and starts revving. Well, sorry to ruin your quiet time, but I'm enjoying the sound of my newly acquired '85 Camaro IROC-Z. Actually... I'm not sorry! It's your fault for moving to the only boulevard where racing is legal. Okay, on a serious note, this is a very nice release of this casting. It was finished in a beautiful shade of red, and it features a gold and white stripe design. I also like how they decided to decorate the top as well.
Although this is a nice release, I do feel there is one thing they could have done to make it even better. If you look at the card art, you'll notice how it shows the car with details on it's front end. I know this is a $1 mainline, so I really can't complain. But I wish they would have added details to the front and rear of this release. Even just a white stripe would have been better than nothing.
Alright, I think seven releases is good enough for this first part. So I'm going to end it here. Do stay tuned for part two, as it will cover the rest of what I was able to find. Till tomorrow, happy collecting.
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