Why I Ditched Hot Wheels: The 2019 F-Case 1960s TV Batmobile, In Gray (RANT ALERT!)

I posted this tale to my Instagram a couple weeks back and lost subscribers for it -- For which I am sorry, and it's almost a sure bet that if I'd lived anywhere else on the lower 48 states other than Central New York the issue would not have been a problem. But in March - early April I literally spent three consecutive weekends in a row patrolling the six Walmarts & Targets in our Central New York landscape, plus additional trips to any other local brick/mortar stores close enough to home known to carry new releases, trying to find this fucking car. 

F-case release, most major US retailers had it in their back rooms by late January 2019 and on their pegs by mid February. First saw it as a "case unboxing" video by Racegrooves and yes, I HAD TO HAVE THIS!!! It was different than the armored rocket-powered gizmo cars being passed off as the Batmobile to the current generation of consumers. I have one of them -- just because it has a gun mounted on it, which is cool -- and am not interested in the others. Because this is what the Batmobile is supposed to look like, with a totally sexy gray paint job + red trim which was startlingly unexpected. Mattel got it right.

North American "Long Card" packaging.

Literally almost staked out the Walmarts within a quick drive of the charming CNY cities I was wintering in to try and find it On the Pegs, which is supposed to be fun. Not ordered online, but found on standard retail sales displays or chucked in a dump bin, which is what "new releases" are all about. Mattel issues new Hot Wheels cars every month. The fun in pursuing them as gotta have it goodies diminishes over time, especially if one's online awareness is flooded with other collectors or vendors going on about how cool the thing is. I'd already concluded that on my own! and tried to make a sort of game out of going out to try and find it "locally", presuming that the retailers I visit do their best to keep up on current releases. We are trusting them to do so by not just turning to the intarwebs in the first place. Hell I have Prime and *hate* shopping on Amazon for anything but clothes, shoes or electronics.

Maybe collectors anywhere else could find it as new release product, but by my eyes all of March and enough of April went by without an F-case sighting to get fed up. It wasn't that the retail outlets I was relying on were sold out of the F-case Batmobile, they weren't stocking anything from its case, or the one before, the code letter for which is the last character in the text at the very top of the card. They got up to D-cases at one Walmart I may still wander into again someday, so I got my blue Unimog 1300, goddammit. But after a month of frustrated gas money consuming quests just to find a stupid $.94 cent diecast car I got annoyed enough to ask a known toy dept. associate at one of the Walmarts I frequented if they maybe had the case out back? Would buy the whole damn thing! And was told flat-out (with an apologetic tone: the guy was trying to be helpful) that "We can only order new stock from our warehouses after what's already on the shelves has sold." Uhhhh ... 

Understandable from the store's perspective, and trust me that I thanked him, got the groceries I was allegedly there for. But such a policy completely defeats the purpose of a "new release" no matter what the pop culture product. What if it was a new King Crimson album we were talking about?? And decided on the drive home, Why bother with any of it anymore, then?

The revelation wrecked my Peg Hunting fun -- What was I going to do, drive to Connecticut? Or Canada? All we have to choose from, where I currently reside, are picked through leftovers, dead stock nobody wanted in the first place, and year-old Treasure Hunts surfacing when a stock manager decides it's time to bust into older sealed cases for a reduced price endcap -- Which is how I found mine. While wallowing in the disappointment over not having that Batmobile (sorry, I am still a kid about certain things) the appeal of Vintage Space Toys as subjects really sunk in & I went with it; The space forms which look like stuff I had as a kid are where the real inspiration lies. And that I might as well just stay at home to shop online because those stores won't have a scrap of it, vintage or new. Save the gas money for shipping costs. Plenty of other places to get groceries. Ffff' that corporate noise.

No. Walmart won't have em. Target either.

The Batmobile shown was ultimately found way after I'd stopped looking, scored in late June at the Walgreen's by mom's house while shopping for air fresheners. It's even a US card. Facepalmed, bought it with the Glade sticks, and am pretty sure it is the last piece of newly manufactured Mattel product I will likely purchase. Unless maybe another turns up while grocery shopping so I can have one to open; Will keep this unit sealed, pinned to the studio wall as a reminder of the dead zone which is Central New York's retail environment. Would rather spend what little money I have on collecting cruddy 50 year old plastic astronauts and their broken rockets then reward our local retailers for being unforgivably lame & outright wrecking our fun ... Which in my neck of the woods is the worst thing someone can be accused of: Being a Fun Wrecker .... Mehh.

THE END.

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