First Look at Dedicated Transformers Hotwheels Line

william-james88 wrote:

I really want a transforming deluxe Bee that would have that exact vehicle mode.

Not a fan of the packaging, but it's super cool to see movie alt modes in Hot Wheels! RPMs are kinda back xD

Will definitely try and track down the Bayverse ones!

The Transforming diecast Optimus Prime we got a few weeks ago was really cool, but all of these seem really low effort. These are diecast molds Mattel already had, painted in movie colors and stuck to generic evergreen packaging. They didn't even bother to put the character name on the card.

They look nice!

I like seeing Crosshairs here, I kinda hoped that he would become the standard version of the character, like how Barricade became a recurring Decepticon.

We need someone to make custom blister cards featuring thr actual character art for Crosshairs, Drift, Barricade, and Stinger. That Bee looks weird, though.

Hotwheels Bumblebee is supposed to be out soon in the US (if not already out). The toy has been found in Canada. It was found at Maxi/Real Canadian Superstore in Quebec. It is packed one per case of 72.

We also got wind of an upcoming variant meant to come out later in the year, thanks to an ebay listing. This is a gold variant. This is not a chase or rarer release. It will be a regular release within the same year in a later case.

I think I've seen that wave at Target, or at least I'd seen that wheelchair and blue truck, not sure if they're part of that wave. My local Walmart hasn't stocked the Hot Wheels in months.

I said before that there was no way they were only doing one Bumblebee and I'm glad I'm right. Not sure why the one everyone would want is the chase and Goldbug is the regular release, that feels like a major oversight.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:I think I've seen that wave at Target, or at least I'd seen that wheelchair and blue truck, not sure if they're part of that wave. My local Walmart hasn't stocked the Hot Wheels in months.

I said before that there was no way they were only doing one Bumblebee and I'm glad I'm right. Not sure why the one everyone would want is the chase and Goldbug is the regular release, that feels like a major oversight.

Emerje

Neither are chase, both are regular releases found in more than one wave/case

Also cases always repeat new cars from the previous case so its not a sure thing that you got this BB case or the previous one.

I have not found info on this BB case found at US retail yet. Just specialty stores at a markup

william-james88 wrote:Neither are chase, both are regular releases found in more than one wave/case

How ridiculous are Hot Wheels packouts if 1 out of every 72 isn't considered a chase? That sounds like anything but "regular".

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Neither are chase, both are regular releases found in more than one wave/case

How ridiculous are Hot Wheels packouts if 1 out of every 72 isn't considered a chase? That sounds like anything but "regular".

Emerje

Chase is 1 out of every 72 and only found in one case. Both these Bumblebees will be featured in more than one case. So those arent chase, they are regular releases.

What's chase is this car for instance. It's in the first case of 2024, only packed one per case and won't be found in any other case after that, even though you need it to complete the 2024 set (it's numbered 8 out of 250). So that's a chase.



These Bumblebees will get repacked in the following case. So even if they are 1 out of 72 in each of their two cases, they are at least two times more easy to find than any of the chase releases this year (below is a list):

https://hotwheels.fandom.com/wiki/2024_ ... nts_Series

I don't know, it sounds insane to me that 1 out of 72 is a chase, but 2 out of 144 isn't. It makes even less sense when a particular store could put out one of the two Bumblebee cases and two of the police car case and your own odds are exactly the same regardless. Their benchmark for what is a chase and what isn't razor thin because it assumes every store gets every case when some stores go many months without restocking. I've been watching the Hot Wheels aisle at Walmart since these were first announced and they haven't put any new stock out since and the selection was already very thin.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:I don't know, it sounds insane to me that 1 out of 72 is a chase, but 2 out of 144 isn't. It makes even less sense when a particular store could put out one of the two Bumblebee cases and two of the police car case and your own odds are exactly the same regardless. Their benchmark for what is a chase and what isn't razor thin because it assumes every store gets every case when some stores go many months without restocking. I've been watching the Hot Wheels aisle at Walmart since these were first announced and they haven't put any new stock out since and the selection was already very thin.

Emerje

Your math isnt right there. When looking at 2 consecutive cases as you are doing, a chase is 1/144 since it wont repeat while BB (a non chase) is 2/144. So a chase remains twice more rare in the grand scheme of things.
Looking at your Walmart example, if they dont stock one of the cases with BB, then you still have a chance they stock the other case he’s in while you have absolutely no chance of getting the chase since they skipped that one case, and thus must buy it on the secondary market at whatever markup.

In an entire year’s assortment, BB in standard yellow will appear 2/1080 cars while a chase like that police car will appear only 1/1080. He remains the rarest non chase, but he’s still not a chase.

Again that sounds like pure insanity to me. Both are unbelievably rare and that doesn't really change the chances of the average person finding one in stores at all, the 6am crowd will make sure of it.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:Again that sounds like pure insanity to me. Both are unbelievably rare and that doesn't really change the chances of the average person finding one in stores at all, the 6am crowd will make sure of it.

Emerje

I agree with that. I just wanted to show why one was labelled chase and the other one wasn't.
And you know, there's also super chase ones which are only found in one out of 4 of the same case.

So Bumblebee is 2 out of 1080
Any given Chase is 1 out of 1080
And a Super chase is 0.25 out of 1080
When looking at a year's output.


I was able to find the chase (and Bumblebee) in stores, no need for 6 am but I have yet to ever find a super chase.

You know. I read somewhere that stores like Tuesday Morning get the rare Hot Wheels because major retailers send the cases to them when they don't have the shelf space. If you're nice they let you open them and stock the shelves, you can keep what you want.

Here's the normal state of the HW aisle at my local Walmart as of Friday morning. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll put two Bumblebee cases up, but I'm not holding my breath.



Emerje

Emerje wrote:Here's the normal state of the HW aisle at my local Walmart as of Friday morning. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll put two Bumblebee cases up, but I'm not holding my breath.

20240809_073651.jpg

Emerje

That's not a lot. Are the rest in bins nearby?

william-james88 wrote:

Emerje wrote:Here's the normal state of the HW aisle at my local Walmart as of Friday morning. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll put two Bumblebee cases up, but I'm not holding my breath.

20240809_073651.jpg

Emerje

That's not a lot. Are the rest in bins nearby?

Nope, that's the entirety of the singles. By contrast, here's Target Saturday morning.



And that's how I usually see it, they're always restocking.

Incidentally I saw the Transformers HW Skateboards for the first time over in the TFOne display.

Emerje

chuckdawg1999 wrote:You know. I read somewhere that stores like Tuesday Morning get the rare Hot Wheels because major retailers send the cases to them when they don't have the shelf space. If you're nice they let you open them and stock the shelves, you can keep what you want.

Good luck finding anything at a Tuesday Morning

ScottyP wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:You know. I read somewhere that stores like Tuesday Morning get the rare Hot Wheels because major retailers send the cases to them when they don't have the shelf space. If you're nice they let you open them and stock the shelves, you can keep what you want.

Good luck finding anything at a Tuesday Morning

Maaaaan, I remember when that place would get some crazy expensive collectible figures for like $20. That was around 20 years ago...

Anyway, my local Walmart not only finally restocked their Hot Wheels but also put a massive display in the main aisle (one side was all cars and playset, I think the other side was Barbie or something). Unfortunately both were pretty well picked over already.

Emerje

So I got extremely lucky and found Bumblebee at a local flea market store. There was two in the case and only for $6.00. I know that is more than retail but definitely cheaper than what I've seen in other places on line.

SGM

SGMLordMirage wrote:So I got extremely lucky and found Bumblebee at a local flea market store. There was two in the case and only for $6.00. I know that is more than retail but definitely cheaper than what I've seen in other places on line.

SGM

Ya did good at $6, outside of getting lucky at retail that's the cheapest anyone will ever pay for it.

Oh yes, I don't take that lightly. The booth seller actually had two on the shelf. Assuming that was both out of the case. It was tempting to buy both but I didn't.

It appears a Hot Wheels Track Fleet Ultra Magnus has bee revealed at the 38th Hot Wheels convention.

Credit goes to eltonlin98 over at tfw2005 for the news and the photo.

Overcracker wrote:It appears a Hot Wheels Track Fleet Ultra Magnus has bee revealed at the 38th Hot Wheels convention.

Credit goes to eltonlin98 over at tfw2005 for the news and the photo.

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That looks sweet.

Overcracker wrote:It appears a Hot Wheels Track Fleet Ultra Magnus has bee revealed at the 38th Hot Wheels convention.

Credit goes to eltonlin98 over at tfw2005 for the news and the photo.

1000002426.jpg

I'll still give you the credit for reporting it to us

william-james88 wrote:

Overcracker wrote:It appears a Hot Wheels Track Fleet Ultra Magnus has bee revealed at the 38th Hot Wheels convention.

Credit goes to eltonlin98 over at tfw2005 for the news and the photo.

1000002426.jpg

I'll still give you the credit for reporting it to us

Thanks.

The 38th Hot Wheels Collectors Convention revealed the upcoming Ultra Magnus Track Fleet toy. This non transforming die cast toy truck was designed by Eric Han, who revealed it at the event. We also have images of the official package art render done by artist Ralph Benitez. The images are from eltonlin98.

This looks great, but I really wish they had done these in their larger truck+car sets. None of my Walmarts or Targets are carrying these smaller track performance semis in stores that I can find. Give me Optimus and Bumblebee as a set, or if you want to leave Bee as an assortment use one of the Porsche models and make a Jazz. I don’t know who you bundle with Magnus but there are several “good” choices

Flashwave wrote:This looks great, but I really wish they had done these in their larger truck+car sets. None of my Walmarts or Targets are carrying these smaller track performance semis in stores that I can find. Give me Optimus and Bumblebee as a set, or if you want to leave Bee as an assortment use one of the Porsche models and make a Jazz. I don’t know who you bundle with Magnus but there are several “good” choices

Yeah, I've only seen the Super Rigs in stores, never seen the Track Fleet trucks. I found listings for Prime on Walmart.com and Target.com, but both are sold out, priced at $5.50 while BBTS has bumped it up to $10.

Emerje

Will buy. Love these.

Have you all found your Hotwheels Bumblebees yet? It appeared in 2 cases which have come and are now gone, with later 2024 cases now being used for restocking the Hotwheels bins/shelves. If you didnt find one, the gold « repaint » will be coming shortly and in better supply. Not only is demand for this variant less than the original (as the original is also the very first time we had a Hasbro transformers car in the Hotwheels mainline in history), it will also be in better supply. While the gold variant is only one per case in the Q case (the final case of 2024) it appears twice in the A case of 2025 as a default. This is a big improvement on the original color which appeared only one per case in multiple markets, with only some markets ever getting 2 per case.

So yes, the variant will be less rare than the original.

You can see the case breakdown of the 2024 Q case and 2025 A case in the videos below. The gold variant should be hitting stores in the holiday season.

Hot Wheels is recalling their release of Transformers Barricade. We have word from suppliers that their shipments arrived with Barricade missing from the set of Hot Wheels Transformers cars and a sticker has been placed over the back, hiding Barricade where we see the full set. While the recall is true, the reason is just a rumour, and that rumour is that it's been recalled due to the words "punish and enslave".

Western retailers are now selling the complete set as a pack of 4 and not 5. However, not all retailers are sending theirs back to Mattel, with certain Asian based sellers still selling Barricade online, albeit at higher prices.

We don't know if this toy will be rereleased (with out without the words on the side) but right now this toy has the potential to become a really hot Hot Wheels collectible.

https://www.instagram.com/kenbotbot/reel/DBO1X4ZgFxr/

They're barricading us from getting this awesome toy.

Oh for cryin' oot loud - are we all THAT hypersensitive? Is this to become the new "S" word that nobody dares to use, either in print or by voice? Clutch at thine pearls, mortal insects! Reel to thine fainting couches!

How did this shit circle all the way back to not being able to criticize the cops like it's the 50's?

He's being recalled because BARRICADE IS NOT A FORD MUSTANG (he's a Saleen Mustang). They do not have permission to use the Ford Mustang trademark in this way, and that's why they've blanked out the words "Ford Mustang" on all the other packages in addition to removing Barricade from the assortment.

If it had anything to do with "punish and enslave" or consumer sensitivity, they'd just do a running change to stop printing it on the car.

Poor Barricade is still being bullied by the strange coalition of catholic soccer moms and "progressive" purple-haired wokesters.

I'm glad i got one, kinda wish i gotten the rest of the barricades available at that time.

Good gag, will. One misleading rumor = instant bizarro-bubble thread. Funniest thing I've seen all week.

Hot Wheels collecting is logically TF-adjacent, but every glimpse I get at HW distribution and scarcity makes it seem almost as alien to me as limited edition sneaker fandom. Well, here's hoping they do Barricade in the correct model next year.

Bumblevivisector wrote:Good gag, will. One misleading rumor = instant bizarro-bubble thread. Funniest thing I've seen all week.

Hot Wheels collecting is logically TF-adjacent, but every glimpse I get at HW distribution and scarcity makes it seem almost as alien to me as limited edition sneaker fandom. Well, here's hoping they do Barricade in the correct model next year.

I'd agree if it weren't for the deco change they did to both Studio Series Barricade rereleases. You might be underestimating how dumb corporations can be about this stuff.

Rtron wrote:You might be underestimating how dumb corporations can be about this stuff.

Oh don't worry, no Seibertronian is making that mistake anytime soon, thanks to the thread four news posts after this one.

Whether Barricade's been blanked for both, either, or neither reason, there's a second layer of misdirection that immediately cropped up, which I saw coming thanks in part to, of all things, the Scopes Monkey Trial almost a century ago...and I'll leave it at that. Don't wanna' derail this thread, no sir, just wait for 'em to come down the track, and see if any more magic happens. Place your faith in the orange extensions...

Bumblevivisector wrote:Good gag, will. One misleading rumor = instant bizarro-bubble thread. Funniest thing I've seen all week.

Hot Wheels collecting is logically TF-adjacent, but every glimpse I get at HW distribution and scarcity makes it seem almost as alien to me as limited edition sneaker fandom. Well, here's hoping they do Barricade in the correct model next year.

My source was the instagram video I linked which showed how the cards are being altered. And that was the rumor in the video. Didn't mean to spark anything here, just sharing what's reported and making sure fans get him while they can. But yes, I did have fun with the headline, though I would not have written it if I didn't believe it.

bbird wrote:He's being recalled because BARRICADE IS NOT A FORD MUSTANG (he's a Saleen Mustang). They do not have permission to use the Ford Mustang trademark in this way, and that's why they've blanked out the words "Ford Mustang" on all the other packages in addition to removing Barricade from the assortment.

If it had anything to do with "punish and enslave" or consumer sensitivity, they'd just do a running change to stop printing it on the car.

Thanks, but does this mean he'll just be rereleased with a new card that writes it properly?

I have had no interest in any of the hot wheels bots yet, so why does Magnus intrigue me

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:I have had no interest in any of the hot wheels bots yet, so why does Magnus intrigue me

Because he's pretty damn cool. Dammit, this extension into Hotwheels has made me start collecting Hotwheels. I just bought a whole case to see the kind of stuff I get inside.

DeathReviews wrote:Oh for cryin' oot loud - are we all THAT hypersensitive?

The cops? They get pretty defensive at times.

It's a sure thing now, the Hot Wheels world has got themselves a new chase figure. We now know that Barricade has gotten a revised version which will be what is sent out to retailers from here on out and indeed, the words "to punish and enslave" are no longer written on the side. This was also confirmed through an instagram shared below, along with an image of the change in livery.

It's a feeding frenzy on e-bay for those that want the early version, with a current e-bay auction already being over $300 : https://www.ebay.ca/itm/286127721558?_s&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&siteid=0&campid=5336631220&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1 ... R86ApL_cZA

https://www.instagram.com/p/DBykmnHv5ec/

It's the nature of the collecting beast. I guess I should be happy that some lucky Hotwheels/TF collectors got this unexpected windfall (if they're willing to sell oc). But who knows how much this "October Surprise" benefits scalpers than collectors though.

Would be evil funny if Toyhax comes out with a sticker set to bring back the "To punish and enslave" slogan and charge $299 for it, and another sticker with the screen accurate "643" for the roof for $1 to even out things.... all in the Halloween spirit!

Truly though, Toyhax should take up the 1st idea and charge a reasonable price for the hassle and call it a day to make everyone happy. Scalpers be damned!

cloudballoon wrote:It's the nature of the collecting beast. I guess I should be happy that some lucky Hotwheels/TF collectors got this unexpected windfall (if they're willing to sell oc). But who knows how much this "October Surprise" benefits scalpers than collectors though.

Would be evil funny if Toyhax comes out with a sticker set to bring back the "To punish and enslave" slogan and charge $299 for it, and another sticker with the screen accurate "643" for the roof for $1 to even out things.... all in the Halloween spirit!

Truly though, Toyhax should take up the 1st idea and charge a reasonable price for the hassle and call it a day to make everyone happy. Scalpers be damned!

I dont really see how the word scalper can be used in this scenario.

william-james88 wrote:

cloudballoon wrote:It's the nature of the collecting beast. I guess I should be happy that some lucky Hotwheels/TF collectors got this unexpected windfall (if they're willing to sell oc). But who knows how much this "October Surprise" benefits scalpers than collectors though.

Would be evil funny if Toyhax comes out with a sticker set to bring back the "To punish and enslave" slogan and charge $299 for it, and another sticker with the screen accurate "643" for the roof for $1 to even out things.... all in the Halloween spirit!

Truly though, Toyhax should take up the 1st idea and charge a reasonable price for the hassle and call it a day to make everyone happy. Scalpers be damned!

I dont really see how the word scalper can be used in this scenario.

This is not a normal case, true, but they always look for rare and/or popular but shortpacked figures and snapped them up for resale immediately on eBay upon news of first sightings. They don't buy with intent to keep but to sell & profit. There ought to have some scalpers got means to get their hands on the initial batch minutes after the recall news/rumours broke.

In 1988, Fleer Baseball Cards made a card of a player named Billy Ripken (Cal's little brother). It eventually became an error card because at the end of his baseball bat, who's cap was clearly visible as he held it over his shoulder, were the words "F**k Face". That very quickly was replaced by 4 variants as they covered up the profanity. I remember that error card pricing at $200 in the late 80's and early 90's. I actually still have that card (along with 4 Barry Bonds Topps rookie cards). Isn't collecting weird?

I still can't believe that they are so overly sensitive that they had to take it off. It's supposed to be movie accurate.