Meet The Man Behind The Cars Die-Cast Toys

While at Comic-Con I met Mattel Senior Manager of Product Design, Martin Arriola. From the moment I met Martin, I knew I met a live wire! He was incredibly enthusiastic about Lightning Storm McQueen, and was as proud as a kid who drew that masterpiece that hangs on a parent's refrigerator. We hit it off as we talked passionately about the Cars toys he and his team have designed. Martin has been with Mattel for 26 years, so you can imagine how much he has worked on over his career. Martin is on the left and Ben Butcher of Pixar is on the right.

Martin gave me the low down on all the upcoming releases. He mentioned how happy he was that John Lasseter approved of the Trailer designs and how they'd be die-cast. Martin told me he worked for two years to make them become a reality at a price point Mattel would finally approve. We as collectors owe him and his team our appreciation, because we'll soon be able to add these great characters to our collections!

We talked about the Chase Cars that will be released. There will be 20,000 of each Chase Car inserted in cases distributed throughout the country. We can expect to see One (1) New Chase release/month starting very soon. These are the Chase Cars we can expect as of today...Stickers McQueen, Stickers Fred, Denver Boots on Lightning, Wingo, Boost, Snot Rod and DJ. Piston Cup Trophy with Lightning, Chick and the King. And, the Wrecked King. I asked Martin if "Chase Cars" would ever be re-released as part of the "Mainline" series. I loved the answer he gave me. He said that John Lasseter coined a phrase called, "Lizzie's Law!" What Lizzie's Law says is important to collectors, "Once you go Chase, you can't go Mainline." So, once Chase Cars have been released, don't expect to see them a second time.

Martin told me about improving Barney Stormin' by making him die-cast instead of plastic. This lead into discussion about the "Oversized" line. I've told you about Elvis the RV, Al Oft the Blimp, Marco the Jet and Lightning Storm as an "Oversized" release. We talked about Mattel "Getting it Right," by creating the "Oversized" characters. This keeps things in proper scale and believe me, Martin made it clear to me that John Lasseter wanted this to be done. We can also expect to see the Security Vans at the Motor Speedway to be done as "Oversized." We can speculate that if Bessie, Lightning's Biggest Fan and even a die-cast version of the Banshee are released, that they will also be done as "Oversized" versions. Expect the long-awaited Frank the Combine to be part of the line once he's released! I firmly believe these will be some of the most highly prized Cars characters in the line.

The key thing I came away with from my time talking with Martin, was that John Lasseter is developing the Cars Die-Cast Toys line as we the fans would! You have to understand how much of a fan of these toys John Lasseter is, once you realize that John is as passionate about these toys as you and I are as collectors, it becomes very clear why he cares so much about their detail and workmanship!

My time at Comic-Con was a lot more fun and interesting because I became friends with Martin! He is not only a Senior Manager of Product Design at Mattel, but he is also an artist who creates Original Paintings in Oil, Pastel and Watercolor. These are tough mediums to work in and can be truly beautiful when mastered. Here's one of my favorites Martin did called the "Pavilion, Balboa Island." It is an Oil on Panel, and makes me want to head there today. I urge you to learn more about Martin's art at this link...MartinArriola.com

By the way, remember this incredible Display Case?! Guess who designed it? Yup! Martin did. I told him how much collectors are dying for a truly fine Display Case that can hold a large number of our Cars. We talked about it at length, and I also discussed it with the Brand Manager in detail. If we are lucky, we may see one available on MattyCollector.com in the future!

I'm not only working to bring you the best info, but working passionately to convey what collectors want to the makers of these great toys! They are listening and want to see the Disney Pixar Cars line go strong for years to come!

Still more to talk about from Comic-Con! My next entry will focus on Fan Cars.

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