Review – Hot Wheels The Wolfman
Yesterday, in a comment to my review of the Hot Wheels Frankenstein toy car, battlegrip.com reader Wolf (website) posted:
“Love the artwork and look of the car. Did they do a Gillman or Wolfman one? If so, I may need to do some eBaying…”
Yes and yes! I reviewed the Creature from the Black Lagoon car back in June (review here) and had already snapped pics of Hot Wheels Wolfman* . . . so it’s time to get that sucker under the microscope and take a closer look at it!
A Relatively New Car
The Volkswagen T1 Panel Bus that Mattel used for this Hot Wheels Wolfman* toy car is actually a fairly new design, with the South Texas Diecast site only showing a total of four uses of the tooling. I was a little shocked at first — I’m used to most of the cars have six, eight, a dozen, or more previous uses — but it makes sense that newer models would have been used fewer times. Give this one another three or four years and I’m sure it will see more action.
Lots of Space for Art
One of the really nice things about using vans and big trucks for these pop culture series cars is that Mattel gets a lot of space to decorate, and with the Hot Wheels Wolfman* toy car they don’t waste any space at all. Logo on the sides, giant piece of art across the top, the toy fits in wonderfully with the rest of the Hot Wheels Universal Monsters series (Amazon.com search*) and really demonstrates why vans make great canvases for art. It looks as fantastic in person as it does in the pics!
An Incredible Line
I believe that the artwork and quality of the Hot Wheels Wolfman* toy car only proves just how amazing the entire Hot Wheels Universal Monsters series (Amazon.com search*) really is. With most of the pop culture sublines I pick one or two cars, but when it comes to this one I ended up buying four of the six . . . and I really should have grabbed those last two when I saw them.
When it comes to any of the Real Riders cars (Amazon.com search*) it seems to me that most people fall into one of two camps:
- Those who don’t follow Hot Wheels all that closely, spot a car that interests them, and then get stunned that the car is about $5 instead of $1.
- People (like me) who have several of the Real Riders cars and totally get that the extra metal and real rubber tires add to the quality of the toy and make it worth the $5.
It’s not often I see someone fall outside of one of these two camps.
Which one do you belong to?
As a casual (Batmobile and pop culture retro series) collector, I’d be perfectly fine with these being made without the rubber tires and sold for a buck. I’ve passed these up many times solely because of the price, but the Creature car has tempted me often.
@Brian – You should take a chance on one of the Real Riders series cars. The quality is immediately noticed once you’ve got the car in your hands.
Man.. that VW bus… so awesome.. I just looked up the rest of this line. Such great looking classic cars… must.. resist…
Thanks mate! As soon as I saw a pic of the Gillman one on Amazon, I remembered reading your review — and this Wolfman one is INCREDIBLY cool! Well, I might just have to put in a request with Mrs Wolf for a stocking-stuffer this Christmas 🙂
Group 1, definitely Group 1. $5 for a Hot Wheels car?
Yup, these are awesome and I love the artwork on them by Jason Goad (http://instagram.com/vincentvangoad) Was able to pick up this set for $1.50 a piece last year on sale and they’re hanging on the wall of Branded HQ…