Mattel Disney Pixar Diecast CARS: The Wait State
How patient can you be?
Elvis RV arrived to resellers around March 5th …
On May 17, 2009, I saw the first one a shelf in NorCal …
@73 Days or 10 weeks or 2 months and 12 days …
Dustin Mellows arrived around December 28, 2008 to resellers …
I spotted the first one on the shelf in NorCal on may 17, 2009 …
Or about 140 Days …
20 weeks
Or 4 months and 19 Days …
Um, good things come to those who wait?
Anyone still waiting?
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metroxing
19 May 2009
Advertising, collecting, diecast, Film, Internet, Marketing, Mattel Disney Pixar CARS, Retail, Toys, TV
61 Comments
I actually finally found one today in a Target in metro Detroit. I usually shop 5+ days a week hitting different stores. It looks like it may have shown up a month ago in some stores because the RPM Cab was hanging around in some stores. It’s the first new car I’ve found in awhile. The Lenticulars have made it the Walmarts and I saw them in Toys r us. No luck finding Sarge though.
Here’s an auction for Sven with some “actual” photos of Sven, better than looking at the promotional shot that we keep seeing:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Disney-Pixar-SVEN-NEW-the-green-way-to-buy-CARS_W0QQitemZ300316256591QQihZ020QQcategoryZ19224QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I have seen exactly 2 Elvi here in West Metro Minneapolis MN, about 3 or 4 weeks ago. I bought one and left the other for some other lucky sole. I am not expecting Frank to appear any time soon.
The singles have hit a wall at case F at my standard 4 to 6 Targets. I have yet to see a Milton on the peg. I found an Andrea at an out of the way KMart just before Easter. So I wait for Todd and Patti.
And the new launchers are nowhere to be found. Chick, Vitoline and Shifty Drug are easy to come by. I passed on a Tank Coat a month or so ago because the paint was messed up, and now kick myself because I have yet to see another.
i have yet to see a Elvis in MA (my area at least) but luckily i already have an elvis from toywiz
im still waiting!
but im very very exited cause 2 days ago i finaly found tank coat launcher,ron hover and GREY hauler!!
now i have 6 launchers 4 haulers and a billion cars!
No kidding, I finally picked up Elvis last night…
Good grief Charlie Brown!
I found Elvis all by his lonesome in Target late last week, and he’s been the only one I’ve seen thus far here in Maryland. I’ve had Dustin Mellows for several months. I’ve seen him all over the place.
Still haven’t seen Elvis in my part of the O.C. Finally saw a few RPM haulers which suggest that Elvis was there, but left the building. Haven’t given in to Ebay as I know he’s a regular release, so sooner or later, I’ll get him.
What is your email address? I will sell you one for actual cost + actual shipping.
Dustin has been a peg warmer in El Paso for months now; Elvis I’ve only seen once about a month ago. No sign of Frank and I think it’ll be awhile too; there are so many Cars just sitting on the shelves that nothing is being restocked.
Gotta ditto collectormom. Dustin has been a pegwarmer at most of the WM’s and Tgts that I shop for quite some time (East Valley, Phoenix). I found Elvis for the first time about 2 weeks ago at the best Tgt I shop at. Haven’t seen him at any of the other 10 Tgts, nor again where I bought him or at any of the W.M.’s. The Pegs are full of Cactus LM’s, Ferrari’s, Bling Bling LM’s and assorted others, including Hank, Gretta, Andrea and Chuck. All Pegwarmers. Ah, and Chase Chuki. This past Monday morning I visited 6 W.M.’s and 4 of them had just stocked the chase chuki case. Wow, 4 chase chuki’s. Left them all. I was happy however to find the 4 Miltons.
What I have NEVER seen is Jerry. About 7 of the 13 W.M.’s around me restocked their hauler section with 3 cases of Mack, chick and Grey haulers. Some still have Leak Less and Octain Gain haulers mixed in. Also haven’t seen the W.M. hauler in a long time. I actually returned 6 of them after I didn’t get any bites on the trading forum. Dooooh.
But the patience award has to go to our friends in Canada. At least for some they can make a trip across the border but still, it’s been far to long since they’ve seen anything new. And considering the distribution plant is in Ontario, ouch. That’s a slap in the face.
You are very lucky — I’m not sure if there are 10 Target’s in all of Missouri, let alone my area! And to get to my 6 nearest Wal-Mart’s would require maybe a 7-hour round trip!
I know. Within a 15 mile radius of my house, there are 11 Targets and 13 W.M.’s. For some reason, the retail world thinks this area of Arizona is in need of multiple retail stores. It’s actually kind of gross. Makes you wonder how they make any money. I’ve also never seen so many banks, grocery stores, pizza joints or fast food places. Just about 1 on every corner, 4 per intersection and our intersections are spaced 1 mile apart (we’re built on a grid system like Portland, OR). Maybe because it gets so hot here in the summer months they figure no one is going to travel more than 1 mile to get anything.
How many 7-Eleven’s are there? I miss them!! The closest one is in St. Louis, although our HyVee Grocery Store has a gas station in front with some of the best non-Slurpee Slurpee’s around.
Where in MO are you?
Jefferson City. (This is my 3rd time typing this, but it keeps getting deleted.)
I’m in Des Moines. Wonder if all the Midwest trucks keep getting lost somewhere!
I think they all go to Samuel’s Wal-Mart in South Dakota, and then all the other Wal-Mart’s have to place orders with that store. It sounds preposterous, I know, but it might make the most sense!
Well, lets see. Within 5 miles of my house in every direction I think there’s about 16. I might be missing a couple though. 7-11 has a lot of competition out here. Circle K, QT, Mobile One and Chevron mini marts. There’s 1 or 2 of each near or on every corner it seems.
Actually though, I’ve found the best slurpee’s at QT.
QT = Quik Trip? They have those in St. Louis and Kansas City.
Dustin Mellows is pretty easy to come by in J’ville. Elvis I have yet to see in the wild. Dustin was not readily available until about 3 or 4 weeks ago.
No sign of Frank yet.
Saw my first Elvis today with his RPM Cab buddies. I bought the case from a small reseller (not ebay), so I left the cool guys for some other unsuspecting child to find! 🙂
that’s funny, are you calling yourself a child?
LOL!! I picture him walking around the aisle and then coming back to find what he just left himself.
Found loads of Elvis and a couple of Dustins at Disney Store bluewater about a week ago, but yesterday all they had left were kings and chicks cabs.
Found one Dustin Mellows mid March on the way back from SeaTac airport at Federal Way (WA) Target. Found Elvis several weeks ago in Tacoma. The problem with the mega sized vehicles is the lousy case assortment on the initial shipments and the price point. Retailers such as Fred Meyer have a ‘nice’ assortment of WOC launchers and mega size peg warmers. Today I encountered haulers 1 through 6 stacked up at the Lakewood (WA) Wal*Mart. Of course, the latest cases of singles are non existent. The backroom appear to be unloaded the cases floundering behind the pallets of last year’s birdseed. 🙂
I’m very sorry to say that many of you Collectors are just adding fuel to the fire by not waiting till they arrive at retail and NOT pay inflated prices for these Characters.
However, if you have the flow then fine, purchase these at inflated prices. I would wait until they become available/peg warmers.
That’s just my two cents, what do I know 😉
Sober reasoning from one who knows first hand: this stuff ain’t limited edition, kids.
I buy very little at full price; mostly on clearance or on sale.
MMMMMMMMMMM Target clearance.
I think that my collection rocks.
I can wait to be totally up to date.
Sorry Martin (I KNOW you’re not talking about the International situation in your post), but if I had to wait for ROR singles to be released here, I’d be missing out on a BOATLOAD of fantastic CARS. Mattel’s International Marketing/Distribution leaves us here in Canada no choice. Not YOUR fault, I know…
Ditto Edge
I know this is not your fault and not intended as a slur on you Martin. But if I waited for ROR or even WOC to be released at retail here in Australia I’d likely be a grandfather and given that my oldest is 6 years old, I don’t want to wait that long.
Thankfully Elvis RV hit the grey nomad route and came to Australia. The Megasize has been good but given that we got Impound LMQ about 3 weeks ago and never saw retail in Australia WOC Chase LMQ Stickers, Chase Fred Stickers, or Sally Cone well the options are limited.
But look I think it is tremendous that Mattel is making its International divsion a special project for employing the less fortunte or challenged. It is a great community service they provide giving jobs to people that have no ability to reason or think and would otherwise never be employed. Instead of getting on the back of International Mattel we should be commending them.
Right you are, Jeaks! It IS commendable. Now, in order to maximize the amount of experience that these poor, lesser-gifted souls so desperately need, I propose a job-rotation, whereby the International Marketing/Distribution department switches with their US counterparts for, oh I dunno, the next three years or so? 🙂
I agree, or perhaps to save money, just job share…fire all the US Marketing people and let the Intl Ones run Intl Tues Thurs but Mon WEd Fri they run US…and then switch the next week!
I was able to find an Elvis on the rack at Meijer in Westerville, Ohio. The WalMart near my house has had a steady stock of CARS & Haulers the last few months, but we have tons of the old Mega-Size ones on the racks. Thankfully I had to go to the Doctor out of town and finally scored one!
Washington state seems to be on the NorCal schedule. Case B launchers have been appearing at Target. I did find evidence of Case D yesterday. Looks like it’s going to be a long wait for Fiber Fuel and/or Frank.
I wish I could wait… but I haven’t been able too… Sigh…
It was around May 5 that I first found Elvis at 2 Walmart stores… by that time I’d bought several from eBay, board members, and in cases from an online reseller. Dustin is now a pegwarmer in eastern Indiana, but it was early March before I saw him for the first time in stores…
We didn’t see the singles C cases around here until Aldi stores got them in – was it early April??? I’ve only seen 1 Impound Wingo, and have yet to see H singles cases… The haulers D cases arrived at Meijer of all places 2 weeks before the online resellers got them in…
Haven’t see Frank yet but he’s on his way… No sign of C or D case launchers but I’m good on those… B case launchers are still fairly common at Walmart stores… Meijer hasn’t had them in for 4 to 6 weeks…
No matter how much I can’t find here, we are better off than southern Indiana, and much better off than our friends in Canada…
I saw Dustin for the first time on a store shelf around March.
I saw Elvis for the first time on a shelf during the month of April, though I purchased him through a person on Take5 a week before I saw him on the shelf.
In regards to regular car cases, it takes 1-1 1/2 months to appear on shelves, with the exception of the cases that included ‘Chase Boost’ and ‘Chase Snot Rod.’
For launchers…that’s where my ire really is roused. I remember hearing back in Nov/Dec, that they were being found, but I didn’t find them until this month.
Saw Elvis in the second week of May. Dustin was back in February, but not before I bought him on eBay.
if anyone needs elvis, takcoat, shiftydrug, vitoline, mack hauler, king hauler, chick hauler or octaingain hauler they seem to be peg warmers in my area.
email me if interested i would be glad to help: rmp15@psu.edu
Dustin Mellows I actually got right away through a reseller on Ebay that had the case reasonably priced. I was interested in the rest of the case anyways as “seconds” so I went for it and was quite happy with my purchase. It was not until 2 months later when I finally saw him on pegs at local Targets and WalMarts. Elvis, I found about a week or two when he was released. One of the local WalMarts got 2 cases and I bought 2 Elvis of the 4 that were there. One I kept, the other I passed it out to a local couple, friends of mine that collect them. Called other friends to pick up the other 2. Never saw him since then until last week when I was looking for a second Grey Semi. Could not find him anywhere. Finally found him at KMart with 2 Elvis. Ended up buying all 3. The pegwarmers here are Al Oft and Barney Stormin. The rest do sell quite a bit. Mostly I think it’s because of the Mexico shoppers that come to town and pick up the rest of what we leave behind. I am in South Texas by the way. Little Nicky voice “The Deep South hehehe”.
A quick Note for all the UK collectors- StoryTellers are now available in Tescos
Because England is SOOOO much CloSER than Canada!! FRICK!!!!!!!
I just found Yellow Mellow!
Dustin Mellows.. Yelo Molo is a great band down here! 🙂
Still waiting to find Mr. vis!
The BAY area.
I saw elvis for the first time on may 5th. Dustin I saw for the first time around the last week in March, at which point I had already given in to ebay and picked him up for 9 bucks.
Strangely enough though. I found tons of Todd and Pattis just a couple of days after their release. It must have been direct shipped to my local Walmart. Haven’t seen them since.
I finally found two Elvis (Elvi?) at Walmart in Portsmouth, NH today! Yay!
I finally found an Elvis in a WM about 2 weeks ago. I just went again 2 days ago and Elvis and RPM Semi are the new peg warmers, about 6 of each!
Elvis a Pegwarmer? Are you sure the stock clerk didn’t just put them out?
Nope because I was there today and there was stil Elvis sitting on peg. My WM stocks maybe once every couple of weeks-if I am lucky.
Strangely enough I was waiting to fill a prescription one night and happened upon the toy aisle where there were 2 very dusty Elvis’s waiting behind a bunch of Grey Semi’s. I didn’t even know they had Cars, let alone oversized Cars. This was at a Hyvee in KC.
My HyVee had the triple-stack of Hot Wheels display cases that Met posted the picture of a few weeks back. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Cars there, but I will look around more the next time I go there.
Dustin Mellows is a borderline pegwarmer in mid-Missouri.
Never saw Elvis until the other day at a Gerbes (Krogers) grocery store.
Others I’ve never seen in the wild:
• Impound Wingo
• Tank Coat Launcher (or any of the 3 newest launchers)
The new launchers haven’t shown up here either. Target just started putting out the Case B launchers.
Truckloads of Elvis in Australia. Although depends where look, ,loads at Kmart, Big W and Myer. Sweet FA at Target and TRU.
Plenty of haulers at Target though as well as Myer and Toyworld.
Here’s hoping this trend on the Megasize and Haulers continues and we see Frank and Trunk Fresh arrive soon.
Elvis must be on his World Tour 2009!!!
We’re still waiting for ROR singles here. First case was released in October of 2008, it’s now May 2009, so that’s 7 months and counting.
AMEN!
+ last case we got was K case back in August 2008, and just recently Daniel found a SPLENDID brand new case D at WM ..
.. OF course it was an CASE D WOC WOC WOC… not ROR ROR ROR..
WE Dan and I .. think that if we ever get new stuff, it will not be regular ROR VERSION, but the brand new Lenticular version at the end of JUNE.
Check that..they had 2 D-cases…a second was put out a few days after the first. Managed to score an “oversized” Fred…YAY!
I have never seen either yet.
I want elvis