Mattel Disney Pixar Diecast CARS: Mater Tall Tales 4-Pack News
Well, the good news is that there are more Mater Tall Tales 4-packs coming …
But this might explain why there’s an information black hole … or red hole …
Yes, it looks like Mater Tall Tales 4-packs will only be available at Target going forward.
So, the 4-packs for Tokyo Mater, & UFO Mater & Mater Wrestling will be Target only.
Happy hunting.
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17 March 2010
40 Comments
OK…is it just me, or, is anybody else here asking;, What the…?
Has anybody seen any, and I mean, any of the Tokyo Mater or El Materdor singles, multi-packs at Target, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc? I have been going to all three here in South Fla (it’s all we have that sells Cars) and have seen “0”. What gives? They are out? Right?
And, so long as I’m ranting…where are the new Crew sets, and new Team Hauler sets? The last pieces I found were FL Vern, Jay Limo, wrecked Mood Springs, Wet McQueen, and “Chase” Ransburg King.
Must have Octane Gain Pit Crew, knees getting weak, all around me is a blur!
Thornton, CO 3/18/2010
visited two Targets and one Walmart this morning-nothing new. In the afternoon, I went to another Target and found fianl lap, wet McQueen. My dry spell,that has been going on for the last couple of months or so, has brought forth a new and exciting find. I did my “found a new car” at Target dance as I left the store.
I feel bad for the people not near Targets, but in truth, the Targets around me haven’t had ANYTHING as of late, and I check on at least a weekly basis.
I actually had a nightmare that Mattel lost it’s collective mind even more and decided to release the fixed eyes versions only through the Whataburger chain of hamburger restaurants.
It’s bizarre, I wonder if ANY other collecting hobby causes as much stress as Cars does. I mean I love, I hate, I LOVE it, I HATE it… SOMEONE SLAP ME!!!
just to let you all know, toys r us .com has the new mater 4 packs
Long live Target!
I second that, if not for Target – I would not be the proud owner of The King with Metallic Finish, he is not being sold anywhere else in the center of Ohio as of this morning!
WHY DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO GO TO TARGET????!!!! WHAT ABOUT US CANADIANS???!!!!! ALL WE GET ARE LENTICULARS, OUT OF DATE 3 PACKS AND HAULERS THAT COST $25!!!!!!!! IF IT WERE NOT FOR THIS SITE I WOULD GO MAD!!!!!!!
We’ll trade you a group of Target stores for the Men’s & Women’s Hockey Gold Medals! That would be a fair trade, eh? 😉
you are absolutely correct. We may have one the medals, but crap out on good cars stuff!
bill
I thought these went clearance when the Storytellers went clearance… hmn… might be back from clearance… 😀
We don’t have any more Story Tellers on the pegs at Target here but I saw Smell Swell McQueen on Target.com at the bargain basement price of $19.99 USD just last night, top that!
(MET: There is actually a large plastic Smell Swell which presumably that is but maybe not the right photo).
Thanks Met, that would make the price fit the product! I thought perhaps it was a price mis-print.
hmmmm…. sounds like the TV series “LOST”. So many unanswered questions…. When you think you have solved one piece of the puzzle, there is a new enigma… We don’t know how well oragnized Mattel are or just poor and neglected marketing they have… but we, collectors, are watching every episodes scratching our heads hoping the conclusion will make sense and satisfy all of us…
Disney Stores now have Doc Hudson as the Hudson Hornet with stickers etc…………Disney store will expand their die cast line to 29 cars by this Christmas
Maybe this is a special deal struck between Target and Mattel to at least get the Toon products moving out of the Mattel warehouses and on to Target shelves. With product moving very slow off the shelves everywhere, this may be a strategic move to get things going along the lines of very few stores are ordering anything especially Toon assortments. Meijer was ordering Toon 4-packs here in Central Ohio but have stopped and their shelves are empty.
In response to I-am-speed, talking with several store managers about how they order new product, there is not a selection of what they can choose from to order, for instance, when ordering haulers. Their screen just states Cars Character Hauler Assortment and they order ? amount of cases, so them getting No Stall/RPM haulers in this week is possibly because we had seen so few of them ordered before the 09 holiday season and the Mattel warehouses have over-stock, so when the stores do place an order these are what are shipped. Although this explanation doesn’t fit with how Target had very few No Stall/RPM haulers for sale before the holidays and Target.com after the holidays had Sidewall Shine haulers available which is where I purchased mine and Mood Springs was available on eBay which is where I purchased mine, but none of these two has been available in Target or any other stores. There are still alot of previously released haulers stocked in stores (especially Gil) which means those stores aren’t ordering any new releases.
Mind us that supposedly a select group of people decided that they wanted to get rich quick and this bombed the global economy in the process.
This economy is still in super slow recovery (with alot of consumers still worried about getting jobs and/or putting food on the table instead of buying toys) so we probably won’t see an abundance of them on the shelves when the stores do order them which means a) a longer time period before the warehouses clear old stock, or b) if Mattel cut production in response to the economy then we will deal with limited availability/very hard to find inventory. If b) has happened then that would be the reason why we are not seeing new haulers but also the new Toon characters, Final Lap, lenticulars with Chase, etc. and when we do there are very limited quantities (1 or 2 cases per store).
Such would be the case then, when and if Sidewall Shine and Mood Springs start to show up in stores, then Vinyl Toupee and Shiny Wax. Even though Target.com shows Shiny Wax hauler listed it may or may not be some considerable time before we can actually order one from them.
It just doesn’t look good for us collectors or maybe Mattel is trying to force all of us dedicated Cars collectors into re-habilitation. I already knew my boy and I needed re-hab, but I’m hanging on for dear life like all collectors do. Once you get started collecting something, it’s truly hard to stop.
dumb question from canada
are the sidewall shine haulers hard to find in the states?
if so, I have seen at least 10 up here in Ontario….
they are 19.99 plus 2.26 tax. so about 21.25 as the CAD and USD are close to par….
if there is a need, I will put some on the trading board for cost plus shipping only
bill
grobee at sentex.net
We waited for weeks, looking at an empty shelf every week, for Target to get new haulers, especially Mood Springs Haulers.
What case did they get this week?
No Stall/RPM Haulers case on the ROR background! Great system, went from Sidewall Shine case backwards to No Stall.
Great distribution system!
So what does this mean about TRU? Are they cutting back on what they carry? In my area the only place that carried the 4 packs was TRU. We don’t have any other stores that carry the 4 packs. Only singles at Walmart and Target. The toons singles all end up as pegwarmers in short time spans after they are released.
Mattel’s old Matty promise of exclusives at Matty, what ever happened there? The racers, Ransburg paint in plastic stackable presentation cases for the 1:55 line that Martin talked about coming? Matty was supposed to put ebay out of business, and Cars were going to be available at Matty.
My grandson and I talked about how cool it would be if Mattel made a 4 pack or 5 pack of Ransburg race cars, like the recent Rans King, Cartrip, DJ and Ramone. How about a 5 pack of Movie Moments with Guido and Luigi fallen over with the Ferrari, and Maseratis, a diorama of them inside the Tire Shop. There is so much that can be done that isn’t.
Circus Cars, Sparkplug Monster, RV’s. All things talked about by Martin.
why would Mattel do this, it’s not like they are in BUSINESS to make money, oh wait . . .??
why would TRU not carry these items, they’re not in business to SELL toys, oh wait . . .??
so many logical questions, so few answers??
I think Mattel’s philosophy is: “If you don’t see what you came lookin’ for, there’s always plenty of other things on the shelves. You can also pick up a couple dozen Hot Wheels or a few Barbie dolls. We got plenty of other products to choose from.”
It’s a bakery mentality: they want me to pick up the oatmeal raisin cookie even though I want the M&M cookie (which they are out of!!).
ultimately that philosophy cannot be sustained b/c eventually the customer will say, “this bakery never has what I want, I’m going somewhere else.”
by the way have you found case E yet??
On a personal level to sell these at Targets only would be fine, since Targets are the most convienent for me. I have seen the Cars Toons 4 packs at Target but they didn’t stock many. The 4 packs were cheaper at Target also, at either 17.99 or 19.99. I don’t recall. However to not only continue to distribute certain Cars lines as Target exclusives but to also add on more lines is just so unfair to so many Cars collectors. As I said it works out really well for me but I just can’t help sympathize with those that this distribution method makes the Cars immpossible to ever find in a store. Perhaps if Target would addreess their horrible website supply that would be a big help to many. Target’e website itself is fine but they never have anything in stock. They put the pretty little picture up of what you could buy if they actually had them but they don’t have any, but hey you can sign up to be alerted if they ever do get some and1 out of 5 times you may actually be alerted that they have Cars you want for a half a day. I don’t know why but for some reason Mattel loves Target. I am sur they have their reasons to distribute the Cars this way. I know one thing, that those of us that do live near Targets have been visiting plenty of Targets pretty often in the lately. I am sure Targets are benefiting from having so many Cars exclusives. I bet you Target credit cards applications are up as well. Hey maybe some big Mattel people bought stock in Target before the exclusives were “officially announced” you never know.
I knew there was a reason I was going to stop collecting the Toon line… and the ironic thing is that I’ve never seen a Cars Toon 4 pack at any Target store I’ve been to. I’ve tried to get them at Meijer whenever possible at $19.99 as opposed to the TRU price of $24.99.
Now if only Target were going to go exclusive on the Toon 4 packs and the previous Target exclusives were going to be available everywhere.
Target distribution is not good… and when you contact them on their website via e-mail all you get are grammatically incorrect form letter reply e-mails.
The best thing at Meijer was during the holidays, just before Christmas, when they had the Santa Bucks coupons, including one for $4.00 off $19.99 or more! I got MTT 4-packs for $15.99.
Actually..im happy.. since target is where i get most of my cars stuff… walmart and TRU are usually horrible…
Maybe it’s just me but it would be just peachy if Target were to get it’s collective s**t together and concentrate on stocking the stuff that’s already been announced and stop getting our hopes up with new releases, just saying.
To second John’s comment, where.the.H!LL.are.the.El.Materdor.items????
Or just give us Chuy, at least (and not the cheap plastic version that comes with the playset, either)!
To third John’s comment, where is El Materdor? Do they exist?
Disney/Pixar probably thought that the racy Tokyo Drift character Cars would be better received by collectors than the bull-fighting El Materdor character Cars.
By rights, the El Materdor Cars should have been out first! What happened there, I wonder?
why are we blaming TGT, maybe it’s WMT or TRU who don’t want to carry the line and/or are too stupid to know that it sells? at least TGT wants the items.
we never see the 4 packs in the uk anyway,mattel doesnt seem to think cars is that big in the uk in my opinion,i would love to have a shop like target over here that stocked exclusives,or just the normal cars. same as final laps,i love them but we cant get them,mattel sort your selves out
Well, I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Target …. but their stock distribution is HORRIBLE ……. does this mean the END ….. a slow passing into the light …. I cannot believe that OTHER stores do not want these items …. and I CERTAINLY cannot believe TARGET has SOOOOOOO much pull that they can make THESE a Target exclusive as well …. I want them all …. but its a sad day …. 🙁
I am with you Jeff!
Well, that certainly is exciting news for ebay sellers!
(MET: 😆 ).
This is pretty cool for me because I have 6 in my area plus 3 by my folks that I can get checked out.
Ah man!!!!! I have a Wal-Mart, but not Target. Soon, they will have Car Toon singles and Mega Size will be only at Target. I always thought Car Toons are at every store. I’m going to kill myself. BAM!!!! There, I did it. Oh wait, i’m not dead yet. BBAAMM!!!!!!!!!! Gosh, i’m not dead yet! BBBBAAAAMMMM!!!!
NOW c’mon MATTEL .. KILL the international market .. YOU $?$$%?$..
NOW what about giving every DISNEY cars :
Mega, Mini, Single, Story Tellers, Lenticulars, Movie Moment, launcher, Toons, 4 Packs, 3 Packs, exclusive …
TO TARGET … or should we say TARGET IN CALIFORNIA!
Mattel Canada is written at the back of each cardback .. Well Mattel Canada my A$$.
Where oh where are the El Materdor items?
I saw one of the playsets with Chuy at several Wal-Marts.
I just meant diecast.