Today On The Boulevard: Hot Wheels Racing Circuit Series - The Other Ones

Hello, and welcome to another edition of Today On The Boulevard. Last month, Hot Wheels released a racing themed set called "Racing Circuit," and I was only able to find two of the releases from it. That's why I decided to look up the rest of the set to see if I'd want the other three. Remember, this is a Walmart set, so I wouldn't have bothered trying to find them if I didn't like them. After I saw how the other releases looked, I made the decision to not go out of my way to find them. I mean, they're not terrible looking releases, but they do kind of look like something you'd see in the mainline. And it's just way too stressful trying to find Walmart exclusive sets. So I decided to only get more if I chanced upon them hanging on the pegs. And to my surprise, it didn't take too long for that to happen.

In last month's post, I made mention of how I was only interested in getting one or two of the releases from this set. Well, the whole set was there, but I decided to only get two of the three. So to start this post off, I'm going to talk about the '71 Porsche 911 first, since it's the one I really wanted to find. After that, I'll get to the other one I chose to get.

The various Porsche castings from Hot Wheels seem to have the same amount of "hype" as the various Volkswagen castings. And I'm sure that's why this was one of the releases I could find last month. But the hype behind this casting is not the reason why I wanted this particular release. 

As you all know, this casting made its debut back in 2018, and it featured an Urban Outlaw theme. Now, even though I didn't have a problem with it, I do have to admit that I couldn't wait to see one that was either plain or featured a different theme. 

Hot Wheels decided to use this casting again in 2019, and I didn't get it because I didn't want one of these with a police theme. They then used it for a Car Culture assortment, and even though I got the release, it was basically the same as the debut release. The next release looked okay, but I couldn't get it because that particular Orange and Blue assortment never made it to the floor at any of my local stores. The next one was a mail-in car, and I couldn't get that one either. At the time, there were way too many good mainline releases, and I never found enough extras open. So the Urban Outlaw themed releases were the only two I had. That's why I was overcome with joy when I found this one.

I can honestly say that this is the release I was waiting for, and it's definitely my favorite one thanks to all of the design choices that were made for it. And it might just be my favorite one for many years to come. Of course, that could change with a future release, but it'd have to either be plain or feature a design that's better than this one's design. Even then I could still like this one more due to it not being overly decorated. 

Back in 2017, Hot Wheels put together a Car Culture assortment called "Cars & Donuts," and the McLaren P1 was one of the castings they picked for it. Now, this was before the boulevard, so you wouldn't have known that I didn't get the aforementioned release. Long story short, I absolutely hated the design they gave it, and to this day, I think it's one of the worst releases of the P1. At the time, I was very disappointed because I wanted to have an orange McLaren P1. And orange isn't a frequently used color for licensed castings, so I didn't know if there'd ever be another one. Well, as luck would have it, I'd have another chance at one in a few years, and I think its finished in a much better looking orange.

Now, the top of this release does has a design that's similar to the design that was applied to the top of the 2017 release. But I don't mind. At the end of the day, I would have still gotten this release even if I didn't completely like the design they gave it. For all we know, this could be the last time orange is used for this casting. So I wasn't going to miss my chance to finally have one of these finished in orange. 

The one thing I don't like is how this release was packaged. Thanks to its wing, all of the plastics were cracked. This is actually not the first time I've seen a bunch of P1s with cracked plastics. In my opinion, this casting needs an extra plastic piece around it to stop its wing from hitting and cracking the main plastic. 

Well, those are the two releases I chose to get. The Acura NSX is the one release I chose to leave behind. Sure, it was finished in my favorite color, but I already have a blue one. And its racing theme isn't that cool, so I didn't feel the need to add it to my collection. 

So what was your favorite release from this racing themed set? Go ahead and let me know down in the comments section. Alright, that's all for this edition of Today On The Boulevard. Until next time, thanks for reading, and happy collecting. And remember, these are just toys.