Looking At: 2022 Hot Wheels Car Culture Mountain Drifters & A Team Transport

Hello, and welcome to a new edition of Looking At here on the Star Boulevard Of Speed. Today's Looking At post is going to be a little different from the usual ones. In case you didn't know, these particular post are made when I'm able to find all of the releases from an assortment. But I decided to make an exception this time because I already knew I wasn't going to find a specific release from the latest Car Culture assortment. So I decided to only count the other four as the entire assortment. I was also able to find the release I wanted from the new Team Transport assortment. So I made the decision to include it in this post too. So without further ado, let's get this post started. 

As you all know, the latest Car Culture assortment is called "Mountain Drifters," and as you'd expect, it's a JDM themed assortment. Now, most collectors will probably have their sights set on trying to get the "Itasha" styled AE86, and I will admit that it looks nice, but the thought of wanting it never crossed my mind. I mean, obviously no store employee will ever let a premium AE86 come to the floor, so I'm choosing to ignore any and all premium releases of the casting. Although... I will get one if I ever happen to find one.

Now, everyone will have their own opinion on what the highlight of this assortment is, and I'm sure the aforementioned release is going to be considered the highlight by many in the diecast community. But for me, there's two, and they are new castings. 

The first one is a replica of the Liberty Walk Nissan ER34 Skyline, and I can honestly say that it's a very stunning diecast model like the rest of the Liberty Walk castings. It even features a roll cage.

I'm so glad Mattel and their Hot Wheels brand are able to legally use Liberty Walk's name. Back when the Liberty Walk R35 was released, I had high hopes that we'd see more castings designed with the company's kits. And Hot Wheels has completely exceeded my expectations with the addition of this casting. Hopefully it gets more many more releases going forward. It'd truly be disappointing if it was a one-and-done thing like the "Silhouettes" release of the R30.

The second new casting is the '95 Toyota Celica GT-Four, and it's a casting I've been waiting for. Many years ago, Hot Wheels had a casting called "Pikes Peak Cellica." That casting was a replica of a 90s Celica hill climb car driven by Rod Millen. At the time, I'm sure most collectors were satisfied with it because that was the only 90s Celica. But I always wondered why they never made a stock version of the car. Fortunately, the wait is over. Now we just need Matchbox to make the ST185 with its headlights flipped up.

I'm going to assume that at some point in the future this casting is going to have a rally livery. Why would I make an assumption like that? Well, it's because this casting was designed with a roof scoop, and from what I can gather, the actual stock ST205 GT-Four doesn't have one. So one of the reasons why I'm happy to have this release is because it's plain. I know there's a chance we could see a few more plain releases going forward, but you never know. 

Besides being plain, I really like how they chose to finish it in yellow, and the chrome 5-spoke wheels do nothing but complement its overall appearance. In my opinion, this is truly a ten out of ten release like the R34. Now I just have to decide which one I'm going to pick for this month edition of Best On The Block. 

So what about the other two releases? Well, I might not consider them to be the highlights from this assortment, but I think they are both fantastic releases. So with that being said, let me start with the '03 Honda NSX Type-R.  

This casting made its debut in the "Quick Shifters" Fast and Furious assortment, and that was two years ago. So I was starting to think there weren't going to be any additional releases of it. Now, I'm sure you all thought otherwise, but the '95 Mitsubish Eclipse is a perfect example of why I'd think that. Like this NSX, it too was made for a Fast and Furious assortment, and it has yet to have a different release. So that's why I was delighted to see this latest release. 

Now, it might not have been finished in a flashy color, but I think this car look perfect finished in Honda's "Championship White." And I'm sure you all will agree. I also like how they chose to give it matching colored 10-spoke wheels. 

The Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 is the last one, and it's truly the release I've been waiting for. I mean, I still very much like the red one, but I was definitely waiting for a blue one. And I'm really glad it didn't take them as long as I thought it would just to use the color.

I have to say, they picked a very beautiful version of blue, and I think it's great how they went with a metallic paint. Using a different type paint definitely helped to make this release stand out from the first one.

There's been a few times where multiple premium releases of a casting have had the same wheels, and the Skyline H/T 2000GT-X is a perfect example of that. Now, even though there's nothing wrong with that, I do think it's nice to see some variety among the various premium releases. So that's why I'm happy with their decision to give this release dark grey 10-spoke wheels. These wheels also help to give this release the look of being somewhat modified, and that makes it fit right in with this assortment's street racing theme. 

A license plate is the only thing that's missing from the last three releases. I know it's not that big of a deal, but giving them the aforementioned detail would have made them look a little better than they already do. But most Hot Wheels releases don't have a license plate, so I can accept these for how they are. Ultimately, these four releases are perfect. Alright, now it's time to talk about the Team Transport release I got.  

I was actually able to find the entire assortment hanging on the pegs, but there was only one that piqued my interest, and it was the Lancia Startos Group 5. The other two releases are okay, but I just didn't feel the need to have them. The Gulf Porsche 917 LH looks fine, but I have the mainline Gulf 917 LH. I also have the Gulf themed 917 K from the "Iconic Racers" box set. As for the AMC Rebel Machine, well... I feel its livery isn't that great.

When looking at the overall design of the livery and the placement of the Bilstein decal, I get the impression that this release is based on the Marlboro sponsored Group 5 Startos. Now, for obvious reasons, they're not going to promote certain products. But that hasn't stopped the designers from re-creating certain liveries. And I feel they do a fantastic job at making re-created liveries look just as nice as the ones they are based on.

I do think it would have been nice if this release had red wheels like the real Marlboro Stratos, but I don't mind their decision to give it gold 6-spoke wheels instead. And I guess they do help to make it stand out from the first release, which has red 4-spoke wheels.

At the end of the day, I'm very happy with what I was able to get. It's almost impossible to find full premium pegs nowadays, so I'm always overcome with joy when I'm able to find at least one premium release. And I'm even happier when I find as many as I did.

So how do you feel about the releases I talked about today? Go ahead and let me know down in the comments section. Alright, that's all for this edition of Looking At. Until next time, thanks for reading, and happy collecting.