I can understand front loading McQueen’s in the first few boxes of 2009 (aka: holiday 2008)  to make sure he was on the store shelves for the holiday season … but at the rate they are going, there is going to be imbalance and we can only hope it does NOT look like this on the store shelves for Race O Rama CARS in the next few weeks and months …

It’s also puzzling not to place more new CARS in each case instead of many more McQueen’s … for instance, here is the F CASE which preceeds the G CASE, of course …

Why have they gone away from 3 of each new one? Once you have paid for the mold and begun production – the bulk of the money has been spent already so why not include 3?  And the problem isn’t necessarily CASE F which is not a terrible case –

Let’s go a rundown …

LIGHTNING McQUEEN – personally, I have enough but I can’t quibble that we should always have collector starter” McQueen.

WHITE WALLS McQUEEN – Pretty new – only one in CASE C so a good return.

TONGUE LIGHTNING McQUEEN – While some are warming the pegs, an interesting McQueen that looks good on the shelf.

CACTUS LIGHTNING McQUEEN – More warming the pegs but visually an interesting McQueen.

CRUSIN’/DINOCO & RADIATOR SPRINGS – Not necessary.

FAB HUDSON HORNET – Already in CASE D.

So, that’s 3 McQueen’s and 1 Hornet that should’ve been replaced by more Nitroade Pitty’s – no one would have quibbled if there were 4 Nitroade Pitty’s and EVERYONE wins. Pitty’s are a lot cheaper to make than any of the McQueen’s & Hornet (lot less metal) plus even if you wanted to cheap, you could’ve repeated a few other small CARS like a Pitty …

Because what’s coming in CASE G?

MORE Crusin’ McQueen, MORE Dinoco McQueen, MORE Radiator Springs McQueen, another Doc Hudson, Bling Bling McQueen and Spinout McQueen (third release in 3 months) … AND only ONE Milton Claypeer? Again, once production begins, why not more?

The problem with this case is that the 1 Milton is going to get picked clean pretty quickly so even if a store gets 4 cases, guess what CAR is going on eBay faster than you can say eBay? Leaving TWENTY “extra” McQueen’s on the shelf (Crusin’, Dinoco, Radiator, Bling Bling & Spinout) and of course, the “Chase” CAR will also be gone …

We know that EVERY NEW CAR sells out IMMEDIATELY and the rest eventually sell but it creates the allusion that the line is just a few CARS.

It’s not really good for anyone since Mattel is not really saving any money. Once the molds are done and production begins, running an extra Bling Bling McQueen costs the same or maybe even more than ANDREA so why not pack 4 Andrea’s in a case so the store has more to sell, people don’t have to resort to ebay and the store shelf does NOT look like above?

Clearly we know if one store is short on McQueen’s, there are other stores that can pick up that slack?

But in January, after 2 months of stuffing McQueen’s into the channel?

This is how some toy lines get killed – not just because toy buyers think they can’t find anything but when retailers have the above situation as their example to back up their numbers that this line is not selling all that well … meanwhile, eBay & PayPal are doing a brisk business but not TRU, Target or WM … that is definitely a strategy that will come back to haunt you.

Mattel has to be very careful here. Yes, McQueen is the reason new collectors come on board but there has to be a balance. The singles are called “mainline” for a reason, they are the foundation for this line … you create cracks in the foundation, you know what happens to a house …

Again, I have no quibble with each case containing 4 McQueen’s but beyond that, it should be 3-4 of each new CAR plus a mix of the “repeats.”Or as in some cases, 2 of each CAR but 1-2 more included in the next box …

I also think it’s time to bring back Sarge … so instead of the H case containing MORE McQueen repeats, how about a case with 6 Sarge’s … plus the other CARS, that will make everyone happy. Retailers will see SARGE fly off the shelves and there are plenty of McQueen’s left over from CASES A, B , C, D, E, F & G …