Have a fun weekend – hope it’s not cold and you’re not snowbound (and down).

The age-old ripstick technology has been upgraded to the 21 century – it’s not a corkscrew and you can launch more than one vehicle at a time. Called “Riplash Racers,” this is the big playset for it – Rip Start Challenge Loop. This is the plastic Lightning McQueen you get with the set. The vehicles […]

As “Momoe” has discovered, at CVS, you can double sales by just doubling the price … well, technically, it’s about 250% of wholesale … The CVS price tag “YOU PAY …” would be more effective if they listed a much larger price like $19.99 and then “YOU PAY” but without it, it simply sounds like […]

The Hydro line goes Deluxe. These are the only two listed – thanks for the nice photos, “John H.” “Mariela M.” sends us this pic of them on the shelves at the Mattel Store (meaning regular retailers didn’t order enough …) … and from this photo, it doesn’t look like there will be a shortage […]

As some of you may have noticed, a whole slew of PLANES random playsets have been released. While these now fall under the Action Shifters lineup, they don’t really differ much from the last series of PLANES playsets. You get a plastic PLANE and a guide rail to slide the PLANE along it. In theory, […]

“Quercy” sends along a note he received … Basically saying the CARS magazine is no longer published and for you to select another magazine. Thanks for the heads up, “Quercy.”  

As you may have noticed, a whole slew of playsets have just been released – it is strange that they did not arrive before the holiday selling season but arriving now? The Action Shifters are a strange line extension – as Mattel has always tried to supplement the metal diecast with a plastic line about […]

A lot of CARS make the prototype stage but then disappear before an actual release. It’s rare when something actually makes it into a box and then does not appear at retail – clearly a bunch were produced for a final signoff before full production begins. Mack transporter with a vinyl “tarp.” No, it’s not […]

Latin Review is reporting that Pixar will join the Disney family in creating a “Pixar” Star Wars project … what it actually will be is not revealed … Illustration by James Hance.  

Thanks John H. for sending along photos of “Carla with Flames.” Not a CHASE so it’ll be back again later in the year. Carla is a unibody now but because the decorative wrap does not over the front and the metal color is not a match, Carla the unibody is actually worse looking than the […]