Disney Pixar Cars - Kmart Collectors Day Round-Up Report

I had expectations about the Kmart Collectors Day and they all held fairly true. Admittedly, I had no idea how many people would turn out. I figured that the numbers would be similar to Hot Wheels events, and they were. The turn out at three stores myself and my two reporters were at, came in at a count of seven, ten, and ten.

The three stores all managed things differently. The store I was at, allowed people to open cases on a First Come, First Served basis. The other two stores chose people to open cases by pulling their number out of a hat raffle style. The stores setup things differently as well. The store I attended setup a table at the front entrance of the store. The store Reporter One was at, setup near the courtesy desk, while the store Reporter Two was at, setup the table in the back of the store.

The store I was at got six cases of "Mainline" Cars, and three cases of "Minis!" The first six people got to open a case each and choose five Cars. Then, the last two went through all six cases and picked their first five choices. We then came back a second time to pick five more, and then it was a free for all the third time around. The one poster was grabbed by a guy who just took it, and no one cared about the Minis. At the store where I had Reporter One, he was the second person there, but that store went the raffle way and he was picked last to choose. The difference at his store was that most of the people just showed up and got involved because there was a table setup. This actually helped him because they didn't know what to look for when picking their Cars. He also won the poster as they raffled it off and he was chosen. Reporter Two was annoyed by the way the manager ran things. She told me she didn't know what the hell she was doing! Some people tried to cheat by taking more than one raffle ticket. Others tried to manipulate the manager into letting them open more than one case. Reporter Two had been briefed on the rules by me and put a stop to a lot of the nonsense.

Both Reporters were disgusted by the way a number of the adults conducted themselves. They felt they were very immature and selfish. They both indicated they wouldn't want to do it again. The crowd at the store I was at, had a number of dirty, bummy looking people. Beyond people's behavior and hygiene, the thing to come away with is that you can do well in spite of the size of the crowd. In my case, I had the fewest people, but the setup drew more last minute people and the majority knew what to look for. So, you could say that made for a more competitive situation. Reporter One was at an advantage because he knew what to look for, while the other last minute stragglers didn't. And, even though he was drawn last to pick, he still got all the best Cars due to his preparation! Finally, Reporter Two had to deal with taking control of a more devious group and a manager who didn't have a clue. She made things stay fair and knew what to do to get what she wanted.

The one difficult Car to get was Edwin Kranks. There was only one in every other case. So, the day yielded a total of Seven New Cars released...Sputter Stop, View Zeen, Shiny Wax, Transberry Juice, Spare Mint, Edwin Kranks and Small Fred. It was very exciting to add this many Cars to my collection in one fell swoop! I hope you all did as well as I did!

Finally, I hope those of you who followed us on Twitter got some insight, and it helped you do better as you got to your Kmart later in the morning.

http://www.CarsDieCastToys.Blogspot.com

Disney Pixar Cars - How Do You Collect?

A friend who also collects Cars die cast toys called me and asked me how I collect. Basically, she wanted to know if I collect EVERY variation and anything that comes out. Personally, I follow a very simple strategy. As new Cars come out, I simply add them to my collection. I am not a collector who will buy every Desert backed character, then buy every World of Cars backed variation, and now the soon to be released Race Track backed variation. Why buy the same Car three times? To get the different packaging. Nah! It is still the same Car. Others would say getting every packaging variation is cool to them. I say it gets to be impractical and too expensive. But, as the saying goes, "To each his own."

I am collecting like a large number of collectors...I am building two sets, one to keep Mint On Card, and one to eventually open and display as part of a Radiator Springs diorama. I also collect Movie Moments that have unique characters. For example Flik and Flea, Sully and Mike, or Dinoco Blue Mia and Tia. I won't get Movie Moments such as Cruisin' McQueen and Sally because they've been released individually. The same holds true for triple packs such as Al Oft, Tow and Race Official Tom. They've all been released individually. Gold Mia and Tia with Bling Bling McQueen however, have not all been released individually, so I bought that triple pack.

I buy all the Limited Edition or Limited Release Cars such as Blu-Ray McQueen, Lightning Storm McQueen, Chase McQueen with Bumper Stickers and Chase Fred with Bumper Stickers. I also get the Promotional Cars such as the recently released Sidewall Shine in a display case.

One area of Cars collecting I'd like to get a few of are Error Cars. Cars with the wrong wheels or missing an obvious element. Fred without his license plate comes to mind. Would Kori Turbowitz be considered an Error? She has no side view mirrors. How about Mario Andretti's rims being the wrong color? Packaging errors are fun, but not really an error in the Car itself. A lot of those have been found. A yellow Ramone in a Lightning McQueen package, or a Doc Hudson in a Mater package for example.

Finally, I've been collecting Cars that have been autographed. I have Darryl Waltrip's and Mario Andretti's signatures on their respective Cars characters. I'm bummed I'll never be able to get George Carlin's signature due to his passing. I'll keep working on the rest of the characters and see where I end up.

So, how to you collect ? Are you similar to me? Are you a crazed completest? Do you only collect one character? There's no "Right" way! There's the way that makes you happy!

http://www.CarsDieCastToys.Blogspot.com

Disney Pixar Cars - Big Fred & Little (Chase) Fred

I went to Saint Pete last night to see my Red Sox play the Devil Rays and witnessed some of the biggest idiots at a sporting event ever! Two rows of thirty-somethings that were drunk, obnoxious and inconsiderate. The entire night was spent trying to watch the game as the buffoons stood up and blocked everyone's view while acting like morons. What's this got to do with Fred?! Well, I'm not going to tell you the entire night's events because it is just too long to go into. What I'll tell you is that the night was a mess until I decided to go into a Wal-Mart on the way home. I went to the toy department and saw pallets stacked all over the place. I looked, and to my amazement found a T-Case! For the first time ever, I was lucky enough to get to a coveted case before the Ebay Hogs! I asked an associate if I could open it and get what I wanted. He pulled out his razor knife and cut it open for me. There inside was Fred with Bumper Stickers and Axel Accelerator!! I was elated and shocked to make the find. I decided to see if there were any other Cars cases. I saw a few E Cases and an M Case, all were already opened and picked over. Then, I spied one last Case and it had the letter T on it! How could they have missed it? I opened it and got my second Fred! So, my night finished up with a positive and unexpected bang!

So, how does Big Fred compare to the New Little Fred? To start, Big Fred is 2-5/8 inches long, while Little Fred is 1-7/8 inches long. Little Fred has bumper stickers on him, while Big Fred is sans stickers. They are the same otherwise. The packaging is slightly different. Big Fred has the World of Cars backer with NEW Shield, and the #44 for the collector's checklist. Little Fred has the Chase Shield, with the #87 and a fancier white name plate. I like both, and want to actually take a look at the film to see which is more in scale with the rest of the characters. As some have pointed out, the New Fred almost looks like a Mini. Either way, I scored for once and as any of you know, that's a great feeling! Good luck finding your Fred with Bumper Stickers.

http://www.CarsDieCastToys.Blogspot.com

My First Disney Pixar Cars Die Cast Toy

Things are a bit slow while we await the release of the R Cases in full force. The Comic-Con ended about a month ago and most have obtained a Lightning Storm McQueen. T Cases will be coming out soon containing Fred with Bumper Stickers, and people have been waiting for Toys R Us to stock their shelves for the Sidewall Shine promotion.

With it being slow, I started thinking about the very first Cars die cast toy I got. The very first was Lightning, quickly followed by Mater! I looked and the Disney price was $6.99 back then! Wal-Mart is a bargain at $3.47 even now. I started collecting before the toys were even in the stores. I obtained my first two as gifts from a friend who is a Cast Member at Disney World. Disney quickly sold out in a few days and the insane chase began! I'm going to guess that the majority of collectors started off with Lightning or Mater!

I remember early on how hard it was to find Lizzie and Sarge. The hoarding by Ebayers started right away. Ebay is going to have some major changes come October and I think a lot of small sellers are going to disappear. We'll see if the expected changes will make things less profitable and drive people out. Hopefully, this will be better for collectors.

It is fun to look at your collection and see how in just two years the packaging has changed. Here my original Lightning came on the Desert backer and had the hang tag that does not fold over. You also notice the angled bubble holding Lightning, and finally the non-numbered name plate.

I wonder which character will be the last added to my collection? I guess I'll find out around 2015! Stay tuned to find out.

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