2022 Hot Wheels Car Culture: Mountain Drifters "Itasha" Styled AE86

Hello, and welcome to another additional feature here on the Star Boulevard of Speed. Collecting diecast cars can either be fun or an absolute headache. And I've decided to keep things fun by ignoring certain castings and the various releases of them. Most of the times it's just the various premium releases from Hot Wheels and Matchbox. But there are some basic releases that I'll ignore too. Now, does that mean I won't keep an eye out for them when I go to the store? No, it doesn't. It just means I won't add them to my want list.

Now then, this year's Car Culture series has a JDM themed assortment that's called "Mountain Drifters," and none of the releases from it were added to my want list. But as you might already know, I did manage to find four out of the five releases. The only one I couldn't find was the AE86, but there was no surprise there. I was just happy to have four new awesome premium releases that I thought I'd never see. 

Since I was satisfied with my finds, I decided to move on from the assortment and focus my attention back to looking for new mainline releases. Of course, I'd still look in the direction of the premium pegs like I always do. So one day, while searching for the latest mainlines, I turned to look at the premium pegs, and that's when I spotted the "Itasha" styled AE86. I honestly stood there in disbelief because I never thought I'd see one hanging on the pegs.

I love unique diecast releases, and this "Itasha" styled drift car is as unique as it gets when it comes to a release of a casting that's not a vehicle from a comic book or cartoon. I mean, it's not every day that we see a diecast version of an AE86 that's decorated like this. Usually, you'd expect to see one of these with either a tire or a performance part livery. So I'm very pleased with their decision to do something new.

The livery created for this release is very detailed, and the three additional sponsor decals were a nice touch. It's also great how they added the character to this release's hood and rear bumper. The only thing that's missing from this release is a Falken Tire window banner. Having one would have complemented the overall appearance of this release, but there's no denying that it looks just fine without one. At the end of the day, that's just something I would have added.

Now, a license plate might be one of the smaller details, but I think it makes these 1:64 scale cars look even better than they already do. That's why I thought three of the other releases should have had one. As for this release, the designers chose to take things a step further by giving it a Japanese license plate. 

The other premium releases of this casting might be cool, but the wheels are the one thing they have in common. I mean, it does look nice with the 4-spoke wheels, and I do hope to eventually own an example of this casting with them. But it's nice to finally see how it looks with a different wheel, and I think we can all agree that it looks fantastic with the 6-spoke wheels.

Ultimately, I feel this is one of the greatest releases of this casting. Sure, the plain or "Panda" releases are nice, but this "Itasha" styled one really stands out. It's absolutely a ten out of ten release, and I can now see why many would have consider this to be the highlight from the assortment.

So do you also think this is one of the greatest releases of this casting, or do you like one of the other releases more? Go ahead and let me know down in the comments section. Alright, that's all for this additional feature. Until next time, thanks for reading, and happy collecting.