Mattel Disney Pixar CARS 2 Diecast: Kmart Cars Day #6 – Your Thoughts
It seems to have gone smoothly – it seems most people who wanted cases got them and everyone went to stores relatively uncrowded – except for those bordering Canada or Mexico where KM CARS don’t get distribution there so time for a day trip.
“Celso” & family got everything they wanted …
This is the lenticular poster with $25 purchase.
And the big poster – listing on the top right the rubber tire CARS for Kmart CARS Day #7 …
Poster photos courtesy of Jose C. – he also sends along a Jeff Gorvette without a nameplate …
And the final three CARS of the “Night Skyline” CARS 1 series …
The three CARS that (almost) completes your Piston Cup rubber tire collection – or at least, you’re well on your way!™ 😉
Lee C. sends us a nice error also.
The “What is happening?!!! Francesco” …
And “Wraukn” might have the best error find … after a long hard day … Ramone’s all jacked up but sleepy …
So, we know what’s in KM Day 7 cases but what would you like to see for 8 or 9? What do you like, what do you not like? How would you jazz it up? Or do like being able to order cases? Do you want to see “CARS” days at WM? Target? TRU? Walgreen’s?
And Beaunchristy’s son reminds us the REAL REASON for KM CARS Day … WooHoo … the enemy of my friend Lightning is … MINE, MINE, MINE! 🙂
| « Mattel Disney Pixar CARS 2 Diecasts: Toys R Us Free Car & Sale | Disney Pixar CARS 2: Monica at El Capitan Mini CARS Land » |
26 June 2011
85 Comments
Went back to Kmart for some more of these…and for my surprised the guy brought out 7 master cases!! Yes 7…we couldn’t believe it, neither could he, because they never got so many and sold so little! 😕
After seeing Cars 2 twice already, I asked my son what Car would he like. He mentioned “Francesco Bernoulli’s Mom”!! So If KMart Day 7 has that then we are in.
After a week, I still haven’t gotten around to checking out KMart. I became involved with Cars around KMart Day3
as it was the first thing my special needs son and I really enjoyed. We had a great time at Day 4 and 5, especially since there were so many of the Piston Cup racers that we didn’t have. For weeks before the event, he would say ‘I need Creme Filled Gaskits”. Since we had other plans for this past weekend, I didn’t mention to him. He doesn’t know the difference between rubber tires and plastic tires, but he does know he needs a Spare O Mint Pitty.
With the deluge of Cars 2 available, which IMO, has also lessened the thrill of the hunt, it just was a poorly planned and timed event.
How cool is that last kid’s picture in this post? Haven’t mentioned this yet on the board but I have a special needs daughter. Her little brother got her interested in Cars and now it is one of her favorite things to watch and she really enjoys playing with her brother’s cars. Officially her brother has determined that Chuki, Kyandee, and Cho belong to his big sister and he will not let his little sister touch them. I have convinced him to allow his little sister to play with them as long as she doesn’t try to eat them.(Little one is not 2 yet.) I am so happy my kids have something like this they can share together. BTW, that last kid in the post is BobbyJack.
my precious son died in 1993 due to dr error. He was a very special child with an extremely rare chromosome anamoly.
In 1996 I was trying to figure out what to do for his 13th birthday when I saw these cars hanging on the shelf in walmart. I was hooked.
And been buying cars every since. For the last 4 years I’ve taken them out to the cemetary on his birthday even putting the cars on top of his cake.
His grandpa died shortly before tex came out and that is his name, fauxwheel is very similiar to my last name and charlie is my mum’s nickname.
I make items for children and alot for special needs kids and you wont believe how many kids want the item with cars on it. Weighted blankets with cars fleece is a huge hit.
I love that other children with specail needs are also enjoying these cars.
If your son needs a certain car or cars item let me know and I’ll do my best to help out.
toyboxjunkie@aol.com
You know what would get me there, MOOD SPRINGS AND N2O COLA PITTY!
Now that the race cars are “complete”, they could start doing all the Pitties with synthetic rubber tires!
Today (Tuesday) my Kmart still had the table set up with lots of cars. I had gone back to get a product poster, which I didn’t know existed till I saw this post (I had to wait till Sunday to buy the cars I wanted). A very nice electronics clerk opened a new case and gave me the poster. Thrilled!
Got to Kmart day an hour late and there was still 4 cases not opened. They guy running it said there was only 2 people before it started and maybe 5 people that came before i did. He said sales wise it was a disappointment but since I got there late it was great got 2 posters and a set minus mcqueen and 3 extra ramones.
I have a question. I went to the take 5 event this past weekend at K-Mart in California. I picked my 5. when I got home I saw that my Francesco Bernoulli had no name in the packaging. It had everything else including the K-Mart Sticker indicating that it was exclusive to K-Mart. I went to E-bay and asked around and no one has heard of any more. Does this raise the value? How do I find out? Thank you for any help you can give me.
It’s probably worth around $10 tops.
And I think you just solved Kmart’s problems with marketing this event — make it a Take 5 Event!
pit crew mater and a deluxe
He shoots… he scores!
We in Evansville IN have no K Mart-nearset is 15 miles away in Henderson KY. At 11 AM there was no KMart personal, finally at 5 after a guy and gal come out with 8 cartons in a shopping cart and hand out tickets-no posters and no mention of the promo poster- I spent over the 25 required and no mention at register. Not a very good time !
We had 6 adults, 1 of them with 3 kids, and 8 cases, so each adult got one case.
Plenty of posters to go around.
Ramone was the most popular by far, no surprise there. One woman only took a Hydraulic Ramone and she was done, on her way to check out.
One thing we found out:
It seemed that EVERYONE knew about TFAD!!! 🙂
Clutchegoneski?
And I fear, he may be the iCar of Cars 2.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/movies/news/article.cfm?c_id=200&objectid=10733135
RIP, hopes of Rip diecast if Disney loses.
I’m just hoping that they release Rip with plastic tires along with the rubber tires.
Bahh, just repaint a Francesco in Clutchgonski colors, my kid won’t know the difference.
Let me guess…. Couple months after all “ten” plastic and synthetic tires racers will be released there will be a special edition set of 11 racers featuring an exclusive CAR!!! 😉
It will be so special that it will only be available online, sell out in 20 minutes, and we will never see this 11th car again!
The assortment stunk and was hardly deserving of a day and to the few Kmart sympathizers or look on the bright side types out there- the proof is in the pudding.
These cars will still be on the shelves until Kmart is forced to shutter their doors due to how terrible their stores have become.
No amount of advertising and promotion could make up for no new Cars or true exclusives.
At some point you have to put your personal feelings aside and look at it for what it is. A gimmick to sell the same castings with different tires that most Collectors could care less about.
We have every darn car ever made and have been doing this a long time. So it’s not as if we are out of touch with the majority of collectors.
Kmart day 1 and 2 were great because we got new cars. Even day 5 with Tachomint was ok but this is the pits. Next one will be too. By then most people will have had every car for months. I know my son isn’t going to be happy to get nothing new. Throw in a mama Topolino and band pitty or something and it would be good enough.
Had the assortment and day been better there would not be so many leftovers. It’s just that simple. To argue otherwise is to ignore reality and let personal feelings get in the way of the majority who want new characters-Period.
I bet if I made the assortment most people would have liked it much better.
I said it before but will keep saying it. To MOST collectors and casual buyers different tire material is not a big enough difference to care about. MOST people just want the different characters and if anything prefer the better rolling plastic tires.
However I don’t completely blame Kmart for the assortment. I believe their biggest problem is they are simply lower on the pecking order of the billionaire corporate elite.
Walmart, Target and TRU have the better connections and therefore get the better support and products.
Kmart just gets a bone here and there if they are good boys but nothing too special.
Now the one good product, the crew chief sets they were supposed to have are being delayed. That figures. I wonder what the hold up is?
“Dont Drink the Koolaid” huh Jack?
Put your money where your mouth is and make the suggestion for the next assortment or exclusives you would buy.
I made the Poll above to offer anyone the chance to make that suggestion
I “shudder” to think Kmart will have to “shut their doors”. Way to many job lost.
Well the time to worry about jobs being lost is when under the NAFTA and GAT treaties the American taxpayers actually paid the giant global billion dollar corporations to move most of the factories out of America to the UN set up communist China.
Americans should not have allowed the politicians to sell us out and keep buying products from overseas. You can’t keep sending your money away and wonder later why there isn’t any left.
However this wasn’t publicized on the same billionaire corporate controlled media so not many knew or paid attention, if its not on TV it really didn’t happen. LOL. Hey but at least the news was telling you important things like who won the game and which actors were dating who.
Once the factories were gone and America stop producing you can count on the economy going south. It will only get worse. We are a service economy now and that never lasts.
As for Kmart day it’s pretty simple. Any new characters will work. Repeats of some sought after ones like Lizzie, Todd or Mini thrown in would help also.
Cars already available with different wheel material only doesn’t get it done.
Let Kmart have at least a couple of exclusive cars not available anywhere else and you will see a better turnout and higher sales.
I’m glad you stuck it to the man and boycotted this event and didn’t buy any of the KMart Day 6 products. Hooray Jack!
Mattel does not force any retailer to jump on the band wagon of Cars products. The retailer and Mattel negotiate on what will be offered. The retailer also has to agree to take a minimal number of cases. Frankly, I have no idea what the K-Mart buyer for die cast expects from these events. The early K-Mart events were attended by new collectors and casual buyers for a relatively new toy line. The attendees also had the customary hoarders, scalpers and secondary market sellers. Maybe K-Mart is paying too much attention to the collector sites and not looking at the stagnant inventory from prior K-Mart days. I thought I read many posters on this site asking for completion of the rubber tire line for their favorite racers? No? For toy buying I do not go to K-Mart because their prices are higher than most other retailers. There’s just so many $$$ in the family budget to go around. Many casual buyers (read-parents) do not buy secondary minor characters of any toy line. It’s usually the hardcore collector who was buying the Final Lap castings at Target. The goal or the big box retailer is NOT to buy in quantities that will produce stagnant inventory continually marked down, i.e., no or minimal profit. If I was K-Mart, I’d abandon these promotions.
PS: The best thing from these events has been the big posters. It would be nice if the Mattel site offered these like they do for the Hot Wheels line of annual castings.
THE PROBLEM W/ THESE EVENTS IS THE CASE ASSORTMENT, PERIOD. IF MATTEL OFFERED MORE NEW CASTINGS THESE EVENTS WOULD BE WIDELY ATTENDED.
I guess if K-Mart ran a promotion with ONE APPLE CAR per case, there would be riots in the aisles. In my neck of the woods ever since K-Mart 3 there has been a lack of interest by the general public. Again, collectors wanted rubber tires for the three offered at this event, and, now people complain. Collectors and casual buyers get turned off by special/exclusive promotions, limited editions and riots in the store aisles. Plus, there are other toy alternatives for the toy buying public. The toy market is geared to what will sell, and, not what collectors want. Retailers are not interested in stocking up on peg warmers. I’m fairly sure Mattel decided to swamp the marketplace with Cars 2 toys in the summer because there is absolutely no new competition for the toy $$$’s during the summer. I think Mattel and Hasbro and the retailers have learned the public has a short attention span when it comes to toys. The window of opportunity for the mass market is extremely narrow.
Mattel never produced every hauler the collectors wanted because the retailers would not commit to ordering it. That’s why it was so difficult to locate the last four.
I’m not against collecting Cars or any toy, but, it is what it is-toys
Kmart reply about the 2 pack sets:
Thanks for forwarding Kevin.
Our online team is working on removing these types of items from our .com. The stores are not set up to handle these types of assortments – there is no way for hem to pull what the customer specifically ordered as they do not manage inventory at UPC level.
They get told to pick a certain KSN (our Kmart Stock number) not the specific UPC to pick. They might not even have that specific UPC to pick because they manage inventory at KSN level, not UPC level.
I forwarded this on to online team so they understand the issues they are causing for Kmart customers.
Well guys im from Laredo Texas and here we only have one Kmart they had 11 boxes that contained 80 cars per box, there were like 40 people that were only collectors, we got to get a free poster each one of us I got two one for my office and one for my sons room.
But the Hard thing about Laredo is that we live here like very south Texas next to the border to Mexico and we get a lot people that are Re-salers that buy by 100´s of cars to take to Mexico, but the good thing was that I was able to get my collection 2 of each and some extra ones to open for my son, that day we went to Wal Mart afterwards and found Miles Axelrod, and Carla Veloso which was in the process of being an excellent day, then we went to Disney Store and got our Puzzle which was very awsome! my Son loved it and to make it a perfect day we went to see the movie which my son probably enjoyed the first one more than this one.
Just to let you guys know I´m totally new to this if you all have any information that you could share with me to complete our collection of Cars 2 would totally appreciated, I wanted to know if you any of you guys had Nigel Gearsly not the exclusive one but the normal one I will pay the shipping and the cost of the car please let me know chuy_9v@hotmail.com and if any of you guys need any car send me and e-mail I will make my best to help you since here in Laredo we have the Mattel warehouse that sends of all the toys to other stores and they have an outlet store which some times they get Cars toys and much more shipper.
Not rocket science fellas, promote the event, make it an actual event with decorations and cool give aways, maybe set up a few TVs with C1 playing on them, do something like Target did yesterday, they had all the local public safety vehicles and cops,firefighters, EMTs, etc. in a roped off area of their parking lot with free pop and Chik-Fil-A give aways. My son had a ball. OTOH, the Kmart I went to smelled musty and was hotter than a two-tailed dog inside,despite the people working there were all top-notch. That, Kmart is your best resource. Please don’t squander them.
Then again Target is the mac dad of discount retail, no?
Oh and one more minor detail, have a good selection of legitimately COOL exclusive Cars, the impact you could have on the “youts” will pay back exponential dividends if you offer them (and collectors) really cool, unforgettable product!
Then again, who are we kidding, you bought Kmart figuring if your half-hearted efforts fail you still have the real estate assets you got for pennies on the dollar as your hedge.
Poll:
I would buy a Kmart Exclusive if it were:
You can add features like clear coated Gold, Ransberg finish, special working suspension, clear display box, like those we are familiar with at SDCC for hot wheels and Toys R Us., Series of Exclusives such as Ransberg Radiator Springs cars released say one at 4 times a year,
Reply Example:
Poll:
I would buy a Kmart Exclusive if it were:
A series of 4 cars a year ( one car every 3 months) such as Lightning Mcqueen, then King and Chick Hicks, Doc Hudson in a clear coated gold painted finish with correct tampos and its own clear case.
( yea we know you want Apple cars redone but we have been over this before lets stick with whats out and what NON Apple cars you would want to see as Kmart Exclusives)
NascarFan,
Here is an excerpt from my post couple days ago on the KMart Day who may be added to your poll.
“The only difference with this event and any other stores is the “release date” in known. There is nothing special more. No video (CARS 1 or CARS 2 trailers, balloons,coloring sheets or card games for kids, or little gift like they do at TRU to promote new toys like Chuggington, etc… I am disappoint in that sense. Otherwise I am please to get them all in once. Of course as a “collector day” there was no sign of new 2-pack crew chief…”
to add…
For me KMart should take the opportunity to release the unfinished cars from line 1 such as the Haulers and RVs (remember the survey we did last year, I thought it was all about this). There is so much more characters they can do. I don’t care to have Ramone Hi-Lo as, “First-To-Market” when it will be cheaper at Walmart within a month and be all over the place. Is it not supposed to be a “COLLECTOR DAY” ????? When I show my collection to someone who don’t know nothing about CARS they sometime ask me why to do have these one twice? Oh, because those have synthetic rubber tires!!! They laugh with reason. Give me real exclusives please…
PS. I sincerely do not want Apple Car come back. This is what make a collection… a collection. You should always have few items VERY difficult to get. I have to spend lots of money on a rare item to see it few years later and have your diamond turn into a stone…
Thank you quercy.
Finish the haulers and Rvs and Final Laps is already on My and Bmw’s list, but the subject of special paints has come up a few times too.
Thank you for answering
Send this off to your buddies at KMart. Tell them to grow a pair, stand up to Mattel and tell them to let Mattel know that Disney Cars is not the red-headed step child of Hot Wheels. It is a completely different demographic of people who collect for totally different reasons, and therefore the events should not be similar in any way whatsoever.
Forget special paints! THIS IS NOT HOT WHEELS!!! Collectors of Disney Cars are not going to flock to Kmart just because there is a Yellow Mr. The King or a Spectraflame/Ransburg Nitroade. 1st to markets and repaints are for Hot Wheels collectors. Disney Cars collectors want new characters, not new colors, and we want those characters to be exclusive to Kmart Day. We want more Cars like Transberry Juice which was only released with fixed eyes and plastic tires at KMart Day 1. We want more exclusives like Mini from KMart Day 2.
Consider it done. Thank you jake
These are some of the things I would like to see
1. Exclusive cars
No silly paint or tire gimmicks. I mean Cars that didnt make it to market like the last supposed Final Lap cases, the crew chiefs and pitties, RVs, Sarge w/ Trailer, Shiny Wax hauler, PI Mater, etc.
if that is not feasible, then
2. “Collector’s Choice” cases
Take a poll or vote of any of the Cars that have been previously released and put the top 4 or 5 vote-getters in a case. Showstoppers? Polly Puddlejumper? Dexter Hoover w/ checkered flag? Green Ramone? whoever. Even deluxe cases – Frank, Bessie, etc. would be fine
3. Preview Trailer cars
if they want to continue doing the racers, then make #57 Corrosion Seal and his buddies from the Incredibles DVD trailer – http://www.takefiveaday.com/2009/06/28/mattel-disney-pixar-diecast-cars-early-cars-trailer-not-so-canon-except-that/
4. Video Game and book cars
definitely the least likely, but plenty of options. Count Spatula, The Crippler, Sonny, Vince, Phillip, ‘I love radiator Springs’ Al Oft, Pinstripe McQueen, Brave the Winnebago, etc. – http://www.igcd.net/movie.php?id=10000233&width=1024
I haven’t seen Cars 2 yet(this weekend), so really don’t know what to add from that movie.
This is what I am talking about…. THAT will be cool at KMart 8, 9 10, 11, 12, etc…
http://www.takefiveaday.com/2010/07/01/mattel-disney-pixar-diecast-cars-last-cars-roundup-vote-your-top-10/
I definitely second that notion, Quercy! Matty should continue to take us to the bank for a web-only RV series.
I’d like to cheer on the idea that new characters would be KMArts’ best sales strategy following or concurrent with the COMPLETION of the Cars 2 rubber tire racers. The secondary market thrives on new characters that are short-shipped and/or are exclusive to multipacks and/or stores, but neither the primary retailer nor Mattel ever sees any of those big bucks that releases like Frank and the Apple car go for on eBay. They should just fill a whole case with singles of NEW characters and make a well-advertised, well-organized, well-executed KMArt sales event out of that completely amazing case. They’ll make money on the volume of units sold. This would be a case whose characters will never be available at TRU, Target, or Walmart; Walmart, Target, and TRU already have Cars 2 characters that are exclusive to their stores. You could make sure each character is one that has a line or two or some good screen time (a few seconds will do) in the movie, as kids will want a toy of the characters they see on the screen, and it definitely it wouldn’t be a desire limited to main characters (for many kids); these would sell.
I’d love to see KMart concentrate on making truly exclusive Cars 2 characters available, like the crew chiefs and the rusty Fred-like townie character Mater tows at the beginning and end of the new movie, with one or two exclusive classic Cars 1 characters per assortment (like say the unfinished group of Final Lap cars. They could do like 5 truly exclusive Cars 2 characters with a re-release of 1 classic, hard to find Cars 1 character, like Lizzie, and 1 never before released Cars 1 character, like Race Damaged Hudson Hornet, Kit Revster or Mildred Bylane, per assortment. That way, they could pull in the Cars 2 product consumers and draw in the Cars 1 fans who are not going for the Cars 2 product.
My son loves the synthetic rubber tire versions of the racers the best, loves the free poster, and we will definitely anticipate the next event and hopefully the COMPLETE set of the Cars 2 racers in KMart-tires! Now for this next KMart Cars Day, pleeeeease surprise us with Rip Clutchgonski, please KMArt/Matty.
Thanks Kevin Nascarfan and BMW, for your incredible efforts!
If you haven’t heard enough from me already here’s my $.02 ;-P
Speaking as a collector who collects for his son primarily and himself secondarily. Strictly speaking of 1:55 die-casts here.
First, keep the twice a year format, but make it better by promoting it more, maybe having refreshments, balloons, more in-store eye-candy (a la Target), invite the local car clubs to put on a car show in the Kmart parking lot, or have a public safety day with fire trucks, cop cars, ambulances, etc. (kids LOVE that stuff). Make the day something kids will remember for the rest of their lives, it can make them lifelong customers, a real opportunity for brand-association. Also, with that type of thing you will get people who never bought a Cars toy or haven’t been to a Kmart in years in the store, heck, they may even buy some dish soap or a lawn chair while they are there! Also, make sure the clerks know exactly how it is supposed to happen, or even have T5ers volunteer to help out. The clerks at the Kmart we went to yesterday even commented that they should have had us helping out because we knew more about it than they did.
Second, the product. I think different paints look nice, but my son doesn’t really care and it looks like TRU already has that niche locked with the metallic racers, so I don’t think there is much Kmart could offer that would differentiate them (not that I wouldn’t buy them).
I know many adult collectors don’t want this because they think it will somehow “cheapen” their collections, but as a new guy to the game I would really like to see a “throwback” series including many of the now expensive, “HTF” Cars. I have a hard time shelling out $15-$30 on Fleabay for a Mini, Todd, Lizzie or Milton to give it to my boy to play with as he has no concept of why those Cars are up to ten times more valuable than Finn McMissile. Or MTT Apollo 13 Cars, PI Mater Cars. Especially with the new movie out there are going to be families with kids that weren’t even born yet back in 2006 who are going to see C1 for the first time this year that will create a whole new market for the C1 Cars.
Also, anything from C2 that is truly exclusive, band pitties, the Northwestern crab boat, pigeon planes, the attack boats, lemons, Tokyo Cars, London Cars, Porto Corsa Cars (maybe one K Day for each of the three races).
Most importantly, I hope these suggestions you have asked for (not necessarily mine) are taken into account and acted upon, or this will be an exercise in futility and will really prove what we have been discussing here all along.
Totally agree with you. My kid has no idea why he has to be careful with Lizzie and Dexter Hoover’s checkered flag, but can have demolition derbys with his lenticular cars. With the release of Cars 2, Mattel now has an excuse to break out all those old molds, because 2-4 year old kids will be watching Cars for the first time and they are going to want all those old diecasts! The collector’s cars will still hold their value. (as long as they are in the original packages!) My kid just opened Finish Line McQueen last night, and wanted to watch Cars 1…again.
Tom, I have a bad feeling that the Kmart Exec’s will input all these suggestions into the same portal that houses Kmart.com, triggering the following actions:
• combining the Cars and Hot Wheels events into one fun-filled pandemonius event — Chase Cars and Treasure Hunts all in one case;
• holding family activities like “Hey kids — under 7 years of age only — we hid 10 Apple iCars around the store, now go find them! Hot Wheels Collectors, you just stay here at the tables until they’re all done.”
• providing food at Kmart Day 7: hot dog buns with no hot dogs, pop corn kernels but no popping machines, soda with no ice, and chocolate bars and ice cream out in the hot parking lot;
• revising the rules a smidge: You have 15 minutes to pull one car from the case, and then you must leave the store accompanied by a security guard;
• unboxing 2Pac Shakur action figures rather than the desired 2-pack Crew Chiefs
In addition, in an effort to “Go Green”, before the master cartons are shipped to retail stores, Kmart will let volunteers de-card & de-bubble all the Cars, so that all that cardboard and plastic can be recycled. This will also allow Kmart to just dump all the Cars into boxes to save on overall shipping costs to each location.
John,
That is why I said
“Most importantly, I hope these suggestions you have asked for (not necessarily mine) are taken into account and acted upon, or this will be an exercise in futility and will really prove what we have been discussing here all along.”
For real-real, these guys will lose any remaining shred of credibility if they take the input from Kevin and do NOTHING.
Mark my words — they will do nothing.
Oh, you might see the word come down from corporate, but good luck getting all the stores to participate in a uniform manner. How many people have posted on here over the years about “the cashier was clueless” or “the manager told me to come back in two weeks”, etc.?
In Kmart’s case, it is all about Down-Top inaction versus Top-Down communication.
Tom and others.
Thank you for your .02
I like your valid opinions / suggestions and take it to heart.
They are reading this forum as you are reading this.
I have warned them of some of the sarcastic nature, but we are collectors and we do get mad about things and I am sure they understand this.
Ideas for Kmart Collector Days
1. Improve the quality. These have been going down hill since Kmart 4.
2. Bring back event free bees for the kids, and advertise this.
popcorn, hot dogs, a little toy etc,
3. True exclusives. The RT racers worked for Cars 1 because most people did not have the MSOTS set, and wanted the race cars as singles. Times have changed. What will drive people into Kmart are true exclusives. crew chief and pitty sets from Cars 2 for instance. With hundreds of possible characters in Cars 2, this should be paramount.
The quality issue has nothing to do with Kmart, or any other store. Mattel just needs to use better materials and apply a little 6 Sigma in their factories.
My family could care less about hot dogs and pop, and there are probably food safety law implications that would make it more trouble than it is worth, but something to take home would be nice, posters, key chains, that kind of thing. Making it an event instead of milling around at a folding table in a quite corner of the store. My son had more fun sitting on the mini-bike than anything while we were there (didn’t know they still sold those death-traps).
Exclusives, like crew chiefs. Oh wait, aren’t we supposed to have those already? Seriously, what is the hold-up on these? Is it a Mattel problem or a Kmart problem?
Heard that Mattel was the hold up. But that is no excuse for why they are still up on Kmart’s website.
I <3 these events, but think that Kmart needs to advertise them better. I recall hearing radio commercials for the first one here in Canada. Now they barely even put posters up. I had to ask and then re-ask for the 3D poster that they were giving away with $25 purchase
As far as what wood draw people in….obviously truly exclusive Cars wood help dramatically, but I also think that they need to MAKE it an event. Promotion posters, balloons, and staff that KNOW that the event is happening!
I drive more than an hour each way and cross a border that could take hours to cross depending on the day, and I still feel that this is worth going to. The FREE posters are a HUGE bonus and obviously we all LOVE getting them, so they should have more of that type of thing!!!
I agree wholeheartedly — our event had just three families in attendance: my family, a rookie family, and another collector who regularly attends the Hot Wheels AND Cars events, but he hadn’t even heard of yesterday’s event until the morning of!
I agree PD and John, I have been pushing for hotdogs and sodas. Dev the main main man asked BMW and myself at the get go a few years ago on emails and he even called me directly one day we talked for 4 hours about icecream bars too.
I hope I personally can get things offered into the future events as those above and even special paints and accessories with cars.
I have stated several times that:
Change is Good
Kmart and other retailers need to change the way Mattel thinks they need assortments sent.
This would eliminate misorders from Kmart/Gopher and Target and Toys R Us.
Although a revamp of the use of the UPC code as it was intended would help, it also needs a complete overhaul for order things online, since we as a global community DO order things online alot.
wood – hmmm, is that Canadian wood?
saw this and thought of t5ad:
http://geeks.thedailywh.at/2011/06/26/pixar-style-pop-culture-cars-of-the-day/#more-19756
Wow, those are really good! Someone on eBay used to customize the General Lee out of The King (sans his tail wing).
The only other car I wish they’d included would be The Bluesmobile.
The landspeeder is hilarious!
there should also be the ateam van, ron weasles car from harry potter, little miss sunshine vw camper, the italian job, starsky and hutch, etc…
Was that 3D poster to be given out everywhere if you spent $25 or more???? They didn’t give me one 🙁 I bought two sets of the cars, so I spent over $50….
(MET: Most stores did not get a lot so you had to ask for it … if they had any left).
There were only three of us there….
My Kmart has had them for a while on the corner of an endcap, but it sounds like some stores had the good sense to place them at the registers. I spent a little over $100 before sales tax, but they only let me have one, as opposed to four I thought I might get for spending that much.
For me, except for an erroneous anticipation, this was not the most exciting K-Mart Cars event. Hydraulic Ramone (a misnomer?) was the highlight, since I had already found the others with regular tires. I had high hopes to the extent that I ordered them online (for store pickup) that the “exclusive” racer/crew chief 2- packs would be in the stores. However, on Saturdey I recieved an email from Sears/K-Mart that the order had been cancelled. When I called back to discuss the order, I found out that they were not available for pickup at my store as the website had indicated and that I could reorder as a ship direct order, but that one of the sets was out of stock. They did offer free shipping on the other 3 since I had asked for store pickup. It remains to be seen what I actually recieve in about 2 weeks.
Seriously, why haven’t those incompetent morons removed these items from their website? Isn’t there some FTC regulation for bait and switch marketing?
I will always love Cars! The K-mart event was ok, 2 people showed up including myself. The other guy owns a toy store in the local Mall. I admit the thrill was not there for me. Ramone has always been a peg warmer, hydraulics or not.
I bought about $113.00 worth only to get the free lenticular picture/poster that require a purchase. The cashier gave me 6 anyway and did not make me buy things separate to get them. That was nice!
The thrill for me was getting the big in store ad poster(Cars event June 25th) I have them all now except the first event poster with McQueen/Chick/King.
I bought 3 each of King, McQ and Chick to complete my 1st series Cars sets, then one each to open. Four Shu and one each of the other 2 to open and display in my glass case.
I will continue to buy one each on the RT cars for display purposes but the days of buying extras for trading or whatever are gone I feel. I may even return a few of the ones I bought already. I’m guessing these will be on clearance soon.
The quality has indeed gone downhill tremendously therefore I feel the series one Cars will rise in demand and value considerably 🙂
would you want to sell one of those lenticular posters. No kmart near me and I think its a cool poster.
My nearest Kmart is about 15 miles away so I really don’t get out there too often. When I went to the Cars event yesterday I took the wrong off-ramp so I arrived about ten minutes after 11:00, and there was nobody else there. Maybe I just missed the crowd, but it seemed strange. There was a table set up in their furniture department and about half the shipping cases had been opened, but it really didn’t look like that many had been sold yet.
I grabbed a couple of the Hydraulic Ramones (one for The Collection with a capital “C” and one to tinker with) and Lightning McQueen since I collect different versions of him. My three-year-old son is also a fan so we went to the “regular” Cars section and finally bought him Red and a new Mater to replace his broken one. He also got a nice, big poster for his bedroom so he can remind me on a daily basis which toys he doesn’t have. Heh.
All in all (no joke intended), the assortment that Mattel put together was kind of disappointing. In the past, they’ve produced characters that I wasn’t able to get anywhere else, like the Piston Cup racers. These were all the same characters that you can find elsewhere, so where’s the draw? I honestly don’t care whether my cars have rubber tires or not.
Ramone was clearly the best of the lot. I’ve been waiting for this particular version of him for a long time…at one point I know that Mattel solicited him to retailers as a Mega size toy but must have changed their minds, perhaps so they could neuter the hydraulic gimmick. I’m guessing that the toy was originally designed with working pistons but that the finished version has blocks of plastic in place to prevent their movement. I’m going to disassemble one later and see if there isn’t a way to restore the gimmick somehow.
Well, anyway.
I have one pet peeve with Kmart…
when they announce over the store PA system that the Cars auction will be held in X minutes. Go to electronics (or where ever it’s being held) to get your ticket for the Cars raffle. There are always people coming up to get tickets for what they think is a “free” giveaway. Now, the employee knows these people are thinking they are going to win something for free but doesn’t say a word.
Well… KMart day or not, all CARS 2 product seems to going down… Poor quality, several chips, dirty, absence of details under the car and way too many errors, also several cars have a very thin coat of paint, we can even see the bare metal. Especially true with the white Shu Todoroki. I am really concern by the interest of serious collectors… For all others customers I guess the price will be a huge factor. Nobody want to paid $4 and up for toys looks like a $1 value product ! I believe it is just matter of time before the demand is going down… Conclusion: Too many exclusive cars in packs forcing the buyer to buy everything, too many cars released in a too short time frame and an obvious degradation of the quality… Hopefully Mattel will listen the complaints and will review the QC level up. But at this time they are probably too preoccupy to watch the bank account going up at a Lightning speed…
I think there are always going to be quality control issues. What I always do is when I buy a character, I try to find at least several examples on the shelf and do a quick once-over of his paint job to cherry-pick the best one. I’m sure Mattel does reject a lot of toys that have really obvious painting errors but they’re never going to catch all of them, and collectors like you and me are going to be a lot more discerning than your average factory employee.
Interestingly enough, the Cars 2 version of Mater actually has MORE paint applications than the Cars 1 version (he’s got one blue hubcap and one yellow hubcap now, where the original version had all rusty brown) so Mattel is actually spending just a little bit more money on him now than before. Food for thought.
Also, I’m sure you know this already, but nobody is “forcing” collectors to buy anything. Loose cars show up on eBay all the time if you don’t want to shell out the cash for an exclusive set with six other cars you already own.
Zobovor, this is not a negative reply to your comment but to rectify and/or add to my previous comment.
I have only noticed like, many many others, the quality in general is a lot worst than line 1 and TOONs. Of course I always try to get the best quality but when you have only few on the peg you end up taking the less worst… I have found only two Ronnie so far and I still cannot decide which one I will keep since they are both not very nice. I hope I will find a better one within 90 days from the day I bought it. What is more “insulting” for collectors is the reduction of metal and addition of plastic. Okay I didn’t use the right word by using “forcing” but you know what I mean. To put an exclusive in a multi pack here and there, I’m okay with that but how many time this practice have been applied to line 2 so far? And this line is not even 2 months old!!! I’m agree with you with getting a loose edition of the exclusive on eBay but: I-The fun to buy it at the store chasing it is lost, 2-The unit price is still too high, 3-It is okay if you are an opener, which I am not, and 4-You can’t really evaluate the quality of the vehicle until you receive it.
I’m sure I am not the only one thinking this way…
got all the ones i wanted but showed up late and couldnt get a check list poster ='( sniffle
Give us real exclusives. Rubber tires…ho hum…something really unique would be great. DO NOT MOVE IT! Kmart at least knows what it is doing now. They have it all down pat, so let’s not mess with switching to any new retailer.
Other giveaways. The time they had the cereal cars was cool. It is just too boring now.
I have been asked to input these to Kmart reps too at SDCC this year when I will get the chance to meet the Kmart reps face to face.
I would love to pass things on to them at this meeting.
Pashaw! Hard to believe Kmart gives a hoot. These reps presumably have computers and know how to access the interwebs. They can read the posts here just as easily as the next guy if they want our input. Kinda gives me chills whenever I see a post re. someone is going to pass a word to Kmart reps, execs, etc. as though they are some priests of discount retail up on high who occasionally see fit to receive a message from the unwashed passed on by an intermediary.
Tom,
I know you do not care for me much, but I do try to help us collectors here in the past with canceled orders / lost orders getting them restored. A few didn’t get restored for whatever reason, but do not take it out on me.
I have respect for Kmart as they are the ONLY retailer that even tries let alone keeps trying. Yes they do read as Bmw and myself send them comments posted on our respective forums on a regular basis.
Not that I don’t care for you, Kevin. I see what you do to help other collectors and kids, and that is cool. You don’t have to go out of your way like that. I’ve never ordered anything from Kmart and never been burned by Kmart. But, like Jack said, as far as Kmart is concerned, the proof is in the pudding. It is unfortunate that orders to get screwed up, it is too bad that the crew chief sets still have not made their way to the stores, it is a bummer that the there are too many missed opportunities at K Day regarding promotion, exclusives, decoration, etc. As a matter of fact, I appreciate that Kmart is the only one of the major retailers that appears to have any presence vis-a-vis collectors on T5 and CTC, that is not unnoticed! However I will stand by my assertion that the tone of the back-channel is one of detachment and aloofness. Kmart may be listening to us via you & BMW, which is great, but I don’t see them acting on what we are saying. I also know there is probably only so much your contacts can do within the corporate structure. Certainly you have seen the huge, colorful, inviting, well stocked displays, exclusives like charge-ups, and almost endless cross-merchandising at Target and the large, front-of-store displays and exclusives at TRU just like me, so I think it is unfair to say these guys aren’t trying also. I am no fan of WM for various and sundry reasons, but they are “too big to fail”. It would be a pleasant surprise to see Kmart become a phoenix, but it is hard for me to put much faith in people like Eddie Lampert. Two things in the final analysis. First, it cannot be denied that Kmart has their work cut out for them to correct the deficiencies and we are waiting patiently to see if they will get to it. Second, we are talking about toys here and it is all GOOD, cool?
Thank you Tom.
I have practically begged to get that job that puts me in front of the part of the warehouse where the Cars and hotwheels are received with a laptop, pot of coffee, or jar of iced tea and start in doing it RIGHT.
Back to Basics / Change is Good
Use the UPC as it was intended and OPEN the assortments and LOOK tag them on the front edge of the shelf and photo graph the actual item, sort them, and count them and sell them. Take your hard earned monies and send the correct items.
I know I hated getting the wrong Paul Valdez haulers and drove 9 hours to a clearing house in Wyoming to find out why.
I have pointed out that the software needs to be thrown out. They have changed some of the ways they list things and to those that see things with the wrong items on Kmart let me know I will forward it to Stephen
My son found a Francesco whose right front tire reads “PAS” and that is it. Normally they read “PASTA POTENZA” / “ROTELLI TIRES”. The stamper must have gone haywire because it’s at the wrong angle too.
I also found a King with a loose nametag floating around inside the bubble. You can play a game where you try to shake it back into its slot.
This was the first Kmart Day that we did not (a) go home with the store poster and (b) find a sleeping Car like Francesco and Ramone above.
Speaking of Hydraulic Ramone, it was nice to finally see him it in person, but this is apparently the version that let the Factory Warranty lapse, as the hydraulics no longer work. For another 65 cents in parts they could have easily made this thing with spring-loaded “hydraulics”. Also, I had to carefully pull it out of the package for fear of all the cheap plastic snapping off. Cheap, cheap, CHEAP!
I just got back from my nearest Kmart (Sunday afternoon)…I wasn’t able to get there yesterday, and I’m not really into the race cars, but I just had to run by after reading so much about it here. There was a table with several of all the cars sitting on it…I picked up a Francesco (who I couldn’t believe I hadn’t gotten yet in a set…I will enjoy having him with rubber tires) and a Ramone (there were several but only one didn’t have his hood stripe all up in his eyes), both of which I wouldn’t have bought except for the buzz I’ve gotten here at T5. I have to say I was very impressed by Kmart’s Cars 2 showing…lots of product everywhere, posters up in the front, that great sale magazine (and I was so glad the sale was still on and didn’t end yesterday), and just an overall feeling that Kmart was really all about Cars 2.
I only wish I had seen this post before I went…what a great product poster!! I will have to go back and see if they have extras!!
My hopes were up for the Hydraulic Ramone. But I was sadly disappointed by its quality. The paint job is shoddy. They have replaced the cool metal front grille with cheap plastic. The quality of the CARS diecast is what interested me first in collecting. I am having a little bit hard time staying motivated to collect due to poorer quality and higher plastic content.
Agree. Hydraulic Ramone had the most issues of any of the Kmart 6 Cars.
A friend spent hours going through cases at Kmart to find a few with the least problems. Several Cars he found had fingerprints in the paint!
The Ramones were horrible. The back end around his fins was terrible. Hard to find good ones. In fact, I couldn’t find a perfect one in the bunch. I also had a tough time finding a good McQueen that didn’t have paint peeling from around the rear wheel wells. Most had this problem.
I liked thier sales and all but i never make it at 11:00 cause the nearest kmart is an hour away, and my dad workd at night so i got there at like 7 and they didnt have any posters. mabee they had the free one but i didnt see them. i did get some of the advertisising pictures at the front (not the big cardboard sign) just those things saying about the $25 poster on one side and a small poster like on the back. it was a good time for siddely. 🙂
No complaints here. Started right on time and plenty to go around. During the movie yesterday though, whenever Rip Clutchgonski was on the screen, my son would say,”…I don’t have him yet.”
Attendance was down at the 3 stores I went to… at the first store, it was just me and family that I remember from Kmart 5… 3 master cartons which arrived at 10:45 am (for an 11 am start nothing like waiting until the last minute)… at the second one I went to (arriving at 1 pm), I couldn’t find any evidence of the event other than the store poster… I asked the manager and because no one had shown up, they didn’t even open the 2 master cartons… he said I could help myself… I arrived at a 3rd Kmart at 3 pm… they’d gotten in 2 master cartons, opened all 8 cases, stacked them neatly on the table… 6 of 8 cases were still there… I was able to get the store poster at the 3rd store…
And I was able to open a case and purchase the verified case… so even though I didn’t get a chance to purchase at pre-sale, I did have a case on the day of the event…
I like the Kmart 7 selection but don’t think a lot of the casual collectors are going to purchase Cars they already have with plastic tires.
Give us some exclusives. The rubber tires gimmick is ok I guess… but I want to see something I can only get by going to the event. Give me the Italian pitty band from the new movie… that is what I want to see.
I just wish that it had a better selection in this case. I am looking forward to Kmart 7 in October. 🙂