Best Motorcycle 2014: Treasure Hunts

Showing posts with label Treasure Hunts. Show all posts

2013 Lamley Awards: Readers & Lamley Choices for Worst Hot Wheels Super Treasure Hunt...

Thought the Lamleys were going away? They tried, but we brought them back. After all that voting, we are sure you want to know the results, right?

Well, we have already revealed the Reader's and Lamley selections for the Best Super TH of 2013 (the very deserving Toyota 2000GT), so now for the fun stuff. How about your choice for the Worst?

The results are a bit surprising. On one hand, choosing the only non-licensed model of the 15 is predictable, especially with the 1:1 auto enthusiasm many of you readers share with us. On the other hand, the one non-licensed model in the Super TH line this year is a collector fave, and frankly it looked good. But you voted, and your choice for Worst Super TH of 2013 is...

...the Bone Shaker!

Well, maybe instead of dubbing this the Worst Super of 2013, maybe we should call it the "Least-Liked Super of 2013". When it was released, the only complaint we heard was that the Bone Shaker had been a Super a few years ago, and collectors have some phobia of repeats apparently. Let's be honest, this is a good-looking model, as far as models like this go.

But yes, we prefer the licensed models as well, and it takes a lot for a non-licensed model to surpass a licensed model on a list of our faves, unless it looks as bland as the Dodge Demon Super. (We will get to that in a bit.) So logically, if you look at the list of 15, and see one non-licensed, it has a good shot of being selected Worst, and the Bone Shaker did, taking just over 16% of the vote.

Based on the response we saw when it was released, we thought the Buick Riviera Super would win this poll. There seemed to be more venom aimed at that one, but at the end of the year it didn't even crack the Top 3. What were the others in the Top 3, you might ask? Well, let us tell you:

#2, with 14% of the vote, the Dodge Demon:

and #3, with just under 12%, the Toyota Tundra:

We will let you guys explain why you chose these two, and we welcome any comments below. Our guess? The Demon is bland (we agree), and the Toyota is not a Mustang. Random guesses, but that is all we can come up with. Maybe the Toyota because it is not a car. Who knows? You tell us.

But we agree on the Demon, and that is why the Dodge Demon Super is the Lamley choice for Worst Super of 2013:

Again, "Least-Liked" is more appropriate, but of all 15, this one was the most underwhelming. And it is too bad, because Mopar was badly underrepresented among the Supers in 2013. Corvettes, Camaros, Mustangs, and (surprisingly) Toyotas made up the majority of the lot, with one lonely Dodge taking up the 15th slot. Sadly, it is shaping up to be more of the same in 2014, at least so far. We have yet to see one at all in the Super lineup.

So considering Hot Wheels threw only one Mopar in, we wish another casting was used. Superbird? Charger? Challenger? Power Wagon? Lots of good choices. But they chose instead the Demon, and made it look essentially just like the basic version. Flames don't do it for us as well, so it had a bit going against it in the Lamley camp.

After that, we were least enthralled by the Falcon, '69 Camaro, and Riviera. But seriously, not enough to hate them. Just to like them a little less. The Supers have been great, and Hot Wheels is on a bit of a hot streak with them. (As long as a JDM Super pops up in 2014.)

So give us your thoughts. What do you think of the Reader's Choice? The Lamley Choice?

In case you are wondering, the results on all 15:



'72 Ford Gran Torino Sport		6.63%
'09 Corvette ZR1		3.57%
'73 Ford Falcon XB		5.23%
'71 El Camino		2.96%
'10 Ford Shelby GT-500 Super Snake		3.4%
’64 Buick Riviera		10.46%
Bone Shaker		16.22%
’62 Corvette		2.7%
Toyota 2000GT		6.63%
’72 Ford Ranchero		5.14%
’69 Camaro		4.36%
’67 Camaro		4.1%
’10 Toyota Tundra		11.6%
’07 Ford Mustang		3.05%
’71 Dodge Demon		13.95%

More Lamley Awards to come...

Who is in?!? Time to leave the Regular Treasure Hunts behind...

Can you do it?

Last week, as we completed the Worst Regular TH poll, and as we saw the reaction from all collectors to the new Fangster Treasure Hunt, we got to thinking.

Shouldn't we leave them?

We are more convinced than ever that Mattel's hope with the regular Treasure Hunts is that collectors leave them behind. Some things to consider about Regulars:

Generally there is one Reg TH in every case, including Kday cases, making them fairly common, but still considered limited.
Unlike Super TH's, there is an explanation on the card telling the lucky owner that the flame symbol signifies this is a limited edition special model and they are lucky to have found it.
With a few exceptions (Mazda RX-7, Dodge Challenger Drift), the choices of castings and colors/designs of the Regular TH's are very kid-focused.

And some things to consider about Supers:

There is only one Super in every few cases, making them much more rare than other basic models.
A Super is almost always a collector-oriented model (Mustangs, Camaros, Mopar, JDM, exotics).
There is no way a non-collector would know what they have if they happened to be lucky enough to pick one up.
Since last year, Supers are enhanced versions of standard mainline releases, which allows anyone who likes the casting to still get a basic version.

What do these points tell us?

Mainly one thing. Regular TH's are there to create new collectors. A kid picks up a Regular, opens it, sees what he has, gets a little excited, and now wants to find another one. That kid goes online to learn about these chase cars, hits the Hot Wheels website, learns about the hobby, and if Mattel plays their cards right, is now transitioning from the kid who plays with a few cars to a kid who collects a lot of them.

So the point? Mattel wants us collectors to see the Fangster TH and LEAVE IT. You might pick one up if you are a completist, but that would be it. Now it is there for the next kid who passes by.

Of course there are exceptions. I will admit to picking up more than one RX-7, for obvious JDM reasons, and the same goes for muscle car and other collector-types with several Regulars. But if 2013 and what we have seen so far in 2014 are any indications, the Regulars will continue to get more kid-friendly and collector-unfriendly. And that is a good thing!

So as a collector-aimed website, we say leave them! Nothing is more amusing and disappointing than watching a collector complain about how he hates a specific Regular TH, and then proceed to pick up every one he sees afterwards.

Of course, our admonition to leave the Regulars is not ground-breaking. It looks like it is happening. In just the last week, we have seen these all left in well picked-over pegs and bins:

And we left them too.

So as we move into the holiday shopping season, and as the Hot Wheels cases flow from truck to pallet to peg on a daily basis, grab all the Supers you find. We surely will.

But leave the Regulars. If you do anything with the Regulars you come across, put them right on the front of the pegs. You will tell the next collector who wanders by that they have been left deliberately, and it increases the likelihood of a kid picking it up.

Let's make this fun. If you leave a Regular, snap a picture of its place on the pegs, and email it to us (lamleygroup@gmail.com), post it on our Facebook page, or post it on Instagram under the hashtag #lamleyleavebehinds, and tell us what city it was left in. We will post all of these pics on our Facebook and Instagram pages for all to see. Should be fun.

The day of the peg-warming Treasure Hunt is here, and that is a great thing...

Lamley Awards Poll: What was the WORST Hot Wheels Regular Treasure Hunt in 2013?

We have voted on the BEST Hot Wheels Regular Treasure Hunt, so now it is time for something a little more fun.

What was the WORST Hot Wheels Regular Treasure Hunt in 2013?

There seems to be a lot of strong opinions on the regular TH's. Our thought? That the regulars are for kids, and the Supers for collectors.

Look at it this way: Typically (not always), most cases have one regular Treasure Hunt. The castings vary quite a bit, from real cars to full-on fantasy cars. Some collectors like, some they don't. To be honest, the variety of the regulars is far greater than the Supers. BUT Mattel knows that collectors love their real cars, so they make the Supers harder to find, make them licensed models, and have them mirror a regular release.

So a collector knows what to look for when it comes to Supers, while a kid can still find everything to fill his checklist, without coming across a Super, and be surprised that a few of his or her finds are special. Supers are known by real riders, spectra flame paint, and a little TH somewhere on the models. Outside of the card art, there is nothing that signifies whether the model is a Super or not. It is different on a regular. There is a symbol, and that symbol is explained on the card if the model is opened. It tells the lucky kid that they found something special.

So, if you haven't figured it out...

Supers are for you, the collector. SILLY RABBIT, REGULARS ARE FOR KIDS!!!

Hot Wheels mixes in the fantasy models because it hopes us collectors will leave them. Maybe pick up one for our collections, but leave the others. That is why we at Lamley LOVE the regular TH line. We see collector after collector complain about these, completely oblivious to what their purpose is. Both the collector and the kid (the real target) are acknowledged by Hot Wheels with the Super/Regular set-up.

MATTEL WANTS YOU TO DISLIKE THEM, SO YOU WILL LEAVE THEM!! Then a kid will inadvertently pick one up, open it, find out it is special, and the little joy associated with that might move him or her in the direction of collecting.

We hope more and more collectors get this. We never thought it important to spell it out, but after seeing the reaction to the Fangster TH this week, we thought we would share our thoughts.

So, do us all a favor, leave the Regulars on the pegs, and show Mattel that you get it by voting for your least favorite. Mattel needs to know this is working...

Follow the link below to the poll, or just look to your top right on the screen to cast your vote:

http://poll.fm/4ices

As a reminder, here they are, in order of release:

Bread Box

Carbonator

'10 Camaro SS

Fast Fish

Circle Trucker

'64 Lincoln Continental Convertible

Sting Rod II

Prototype H-24

Custom '77 Dodge Van

Dodge Challenger Drift Car

Ford Mustang GT Concept

Fire Eater

'12 Ford Fiesta

Mazda RX-7

Bad to the Blade

Lamley News: Porsche 993 GT2 in the 2014 Hot Wheels Mainline, the latest HW regular TH, and the Matchbox BMW 1M at Dollar Trees...

Not a ton of news to report.

Well, that could change. HWC member nickjames87 discovered that the Hot Wheels 2014 Batch C Treasure Hunt is the Fangster, which means we may be reporting the death of many HW collectors by heart attack or riot. Run for the hills, folks. There is nothing more dangerous than 57-year-old collector in an ill-fitted Hot Wheels t-shirt complaining out a TH. Hide your families! We will make it through this together...

For your info, the monstrosity:

Yeah, we are not fans, but then again Hot Wheels can choose whatever they want. We will always be about the cars, whether they are TH's or not. Let the Beanie Babie types complain, and then you sit back and laugh as they still buy them all.

Back to the cars. We are sure many of you were as excited as we were about the news that the Porsche 993 GT2 was making its way to the Hot Wheels mainline. The yellow Boulevard version is one of our favorite models of 2013, and we have been curious to know where it will appear next. The mainline it is. Based on the initial photos, it was hard to get any details on the deco, but now we know. We came across this beautiful pic of the mainline version:

It looks great in red, the J5's work, and it appears that the tampo design pays homage to the classic 911 Carrera design:

Not exact, just a tribute. And we love it. We cannot wait to get this model in hand and do some comparison pics. And for those of you interested, the mainline version sports a plastic base.

Lastly, the hunt is on for many of you for the Matchbox BMW 1M. Word has come of several Lamley friends that these are appearing a US Dollar Tree stores. It might be a great way to avoid the large Walmart collector crowds and get your hands on this hot little Matchbox. We are looking ourselves...

2013 Lamley Awards Poll: What was the BEST Regular Treasure Hunt of 2013?

Two votes down, a few more to go...

We have already voted on Best and Worst Super Treasure Hunts of 2013, now lets move on to the regular Treasure Hunts.

This was an interesting year for regular Treasure Hunts, as Mattel surprised collectors by removing all indicators except for a hidden message behind the model on the card, and adding a small circular design on each TH. It was quite amusing last year to see the scramble as collectors flew back to Kmart to gobble up the Bread Box Treasure Hunts that were all left behind after learning what they were.

So were we are with 15 "secret" regular Treasure Hunts. There were a lot of opinions expressed about these during the year, but now we will see what collectors feel are the best and worst of the lot.

We start with:

What was the BEST Regular Treasure Hunt of 2013?

There are many ways to think about this one. Maybe you really like the casting. Maybe you really like the deco. Maybe the one that surprised you the most. Look them over below, and decide your favorite, and then vote.

You can vote two ways: