Disney Pixar Cars - Card Back Change O Rama

Marketing ploy or just a fresh look? Since Cars die cast toys came out in early June of 2006, we've seen five major changes to the single Car card backs. The Original Design was the simple "Desert" background. Nothing ornate or busy, just a plain design that focused on the character. The name plate was not numbered, color coded or anything but simple red.

A number of months later we started seeing the New "Super Charged" backer with a bit more flash and pizazz! This backer had spotlights shooting toward the night sky with Radiator Springs businesses brilliantly lit with Neon signs behind the character on the card. This time the nameplate was changed to blue, and was still relatively simple being devoid of any numbering.

The third design was called "The World of Cars" version. Here the town of Radiator Springs was in the background in a daylight view. You can see Ramone's in the right corner and Luigi's in the left corner as we look up the main street. The nameplate became a sort of plum color with screws and numbering. I never gave a cared about the silly numbering, but other collectors have tried to keep a checklist based on it.

Sometime later Mattel came out with a short card back that has apparently only been sold at Kmarts. It stayed with "The World of Cars" design, but was about as half as tall. The only other subtle change was that the short cards don't have any numbering on the nameplate.

Finally, we come to the latest design they decided to come up with. The "Race O Rama" design came out in the last week. It has a bit more color and flare. The background is the racetrack with the Dinoco sponsor tent and fans. The nameplate was changed to a colored raffle ticket design, with a numbering that I can't say is the same or different. They are also packed with a little foldout flyer that shows the different ticket colors and icons to collecting. This is certainly a colorful backer and ties in with the New WorldOfCars.com website that will officially launch in 2009.

Other Variations include a Shield with NEW on it, and a Shield with CHASE on it. The people who are crazy completists buy every version with every design. I just can't personally justify owning the same toy five, six, seven times! So, why does Mattel do this? To make you feel you need to buy them all? To freshen up the line? To make you nuts?! I haven't asked them. The way I've approached collecting the Cars "Mainline" is to just buy the Newest release as soon as I can find it. I get whatever card back it is on, and that is the end of my search for that character. I move on to the next "New" release. We'll see how long they stay with the Race O Rama design before they change the card back again.

http://CarsDieCastToys.Blogspot.com