Hot Wheels holiday exclusives are not models that are high on my "anticipation" list. Of course I am always curious to see what models are being used, but normally they are not models I collect. There are obvious exceptions, like last year's Easter VW SP2
, and the Christmas set from 2011
that featured a Focus RS, Cadillac CTS, Lamborghini Gallardo, and a Datsun 240Z.While the carded exclusives continue, Hot Wheels has changed their strategy on holiday multipacks. Gone are the holiday-themed models, and in are a slew of models used elsewhere. Last year it was all mainlines, with a vari or two thrown in. This year it looks like a mixture of mainlines and multipack exclusives. When the Target packs arrived, several of the models had not been seen previously, so there was an assumption that some were exclusive. It appears that none of them are. Those models that haven't been seen will probably show up either in the mainline or in multipacks.
Which leads to a mix of convoluted thoughts:
Hot Wheels appears to be doing more multipack exclusives - models that appear only in 3-packs, 9-packs in the US, and 10-packs internationally. And now apparently holiday 5-packs. It does make acquiring these models a little easier, that is if they don't show up in 3-packs.
While the past two years have featured these exclusives, this year is slightly different. Previously the exclusives were castings used solely for the multipacks. This year it appears to be mainline models that have been used the last couple of years, only recolored. Some might not be terribly happy with that, wanting instead separate castings. Me? I like it. Many of these models were New Models that got one or two recolors only, and for the castings I collect the more models the merrier.
It looks like the approach to the Easter 5-packs is similar to what we see in the 9- and 10-packs. There is no exact pattern, like with normal 5-packs. I have been to several Targets, and each store had a different mix of packs, and there were different models in many of them. For example, I only found the Ford Falcon Race Car at one store.
Here the packs I came across:
Target #1:
Target #2:
Target #3:
And I bet you noticed a couple of things in that pack:
Variation alert?
Nope. Just an error alert:
Another error alert:
So we bought a handful of packs, in order to get these exclusives:
Ford Falcon Race Car, recolor of 2012 New Model:
COPO Camaro, recolor of the 2012 version:
Corvette Z06, recolor of the 2012 version:
Infiniti G37, recolor of any previous version of the Infiniti:
Ford Ranchero, recolor of the 2011 version:
Mercury Cougar, recolor of the 2012 version:
And in case you were wondering, the green Vette is a mainline recolor of the 2013 version:
And one very minor variation. Glossy black Aventador vs flat black:
We will show a few of these models in more detail in the coming days...
So, will you pick these up for the multipack exclusives?
