Procrastinating...

...and I changed my mind about posting my ancient C-case grabs, because this week's hauls turned out to be much more interesting. First, I started off at Wal-Mart, where I found the same 2012 mix of cars sold at different chain stores. Picked out a Furai for my friend and a 2013 SRT Viper for myself.

Just as I was about leave, a bright blue vehicle with yellow bits caught my eye among the sea of beat up 2012'ers...and it was the new blue Mad Manga, which was one of a quite a few cars that I'm wanting to pick up from the 2013 D-case. In my area they're just coming out now.

Several days later at another Wal-Mart, I found another on a worse condition card. Naturally this is what happened:

Based loosely off of a C230 Laurel, the Mad Manga shows off the staples of a typical Zokusha build: sharknose front, external oil cooler, cat eyes, bolt-on overfenders, ducktail spoiler, and some crazy paintjob to top it all off. Speaking of which, it seems like the designers went with a 90's Dayglo theme for this release, as opposed to the stars and lightning bolts on the original.

Can't forget the brightly-coloured takeyari exhaust either.

This car is easily my favorite one ever made by Hot Wheels. It's cool to see this large part of Japanese car culture included in the lineup, and I can't wait for more recolors or even...a Mad Manga II?

Dear readers,

Happy New Year! Hope everyone will enjoy the hauls and releases that 2013 and beyond has in store.

(I have some serious writer’s block right now, so I’ll just let this picture serve as the transition into the rest of the post)

Jada versus Hot Wheels

I am so glad to finally have the AE86 Corolla in my possession, all thanks to my friend who found it on a wall of rummaged pegs at a Toys R Us about 3 weeks ago. I didn't have much luck finding the Corolla until about a week after, when I stumbled upon a couple of C-cases set up at a supermarket.

Although I was never a big fan of Hot Wheel’s casting for this car, I couldn't pass up one with the “Hi-Tech Two Tone” paint scheme. There’s just some sort of charm or novelty in seeing Hot Wheels release an import presented with such authenticity.

Aside from its slightly-off proportions, I’m not particularly fond of the painting method either. Using tampos to simulate the two-tone and panel lines hasn't worked out for most of the AE86s I've seen on- and offline. It’s incredibly difficult to find one with the white paint even remotely aligned to the rest of the car.

I suppose Mattel runs their tampo equipment quickly and doesn't calibrate them very often, but this is understandable seeing as they have to maintain a decent profit margin on an item meant to be sold at a dollar apiece. Time is money!

Also, I came across this recolor of the car. It seems like a quick and easy job for a more realistic two-tone; just remove the black tampo paint while leaving the white basecoat intact, and then repaint the lower half of the car and the bolt-on flares yourself.

That's it for now! Next post I will put up some pictures of C-case cars I got from the supermarket mentioned earlier. Feel free to check out my Instagram (blistercards) in the meantime. Thanks for reading!