Interesting feature in BusinessWeek: Mattel’s Mom Issue: They Really Don’t Get Hot Wheels “In town for a toy fair, Matt Petersen, a Mattel vice president … had invited the women to discuss one of the great mysteries of modern life: why moms don’t know how to play Hot Wheels with their sons.” Besides reaching out […]

The first Target Canada stores are opening – some are unofficial soft launches in Ontario first … The first stores are opening in in Guelph, Milton and Fergus, Ontario – ultimately opening 124 stores throughout Canada. You can read more at CTVNews or at CBCNews. Or the Target Store locater is here. So, I guess […]

The Unrated version of CARS … Murder at the Speedway, Tonight … Are his brains still rattling around in the box or was that stolen by Moriarty Muffler? Or, man – those ceramic brakes are really, really good. A football player can get de-cleated, is this the racing equivalent of being de-riveted? Or clearly in […]

Yes, it’s a 5 month old case but if you’ve been holding out or you want to restock, Kmart.com has a 15% off coupon for the next 48 hours. I have no idea how many cases are left but good luck! The 24-Pack of CARS is $95.76 so you will need to buy another $5 […]

One more PLANES toy from Mattel … Pull & Fly Buddies – I think we can guess how it works, I’m presuming there’s some rubber band and hook – sadly in this day and age, my guess is also it’s some foam or very soft plastic … (no propeller either) … otherwise, it’s the march […]

Disney Toon Studios has offered up a new PLANES screen shot … You can also spot an RV in the back … The green CAR in the back looks like the old timer Fuel Truck and Dusty’s/Skipper’s Pitty.

While the Themes 2013 US singles cases near the case codes Y0471-999 with the letter of the case assortment at the end (in this case Y0471-999C), Europe singles are W1938-997 – (or in this case W1938-997Q) … generally the letter codes are close but I guess not anymore. NiftyNigel reports that Europe has gotten the US […]

Miles Axelrod was also upgraded to a one-piece unibody last Autumn along with another production change – his top & window “solar panels” have been changed to a blue from light gray … but Miles variant release was essentially bungled for four reasons: He was only shipped in the Q case which appeared only sporadically […]

Labyrinth Designs came up with the pallet coasters, now, you can man up yor salt & pepper shakers, traffic cone style! Very cool! I think about 7.5 cm tall – about 3″ tall? In scale for Sally’s Cozy Cone? Who’s up for a diorama build? 🙂 You can pick one up at DesignBoom in the US. […]

What is the difference between a “version” and a “variant?” Part of the confusion comes in that there are dictionary definitions of the two words and there is a definition that only pertains to collecting “mass produced” collector items. Which one here is the variant and which one here is another version of Acer? In […]