Great Britain & Northern Ireland Finds (Part 1)

[Lozzi31]

It was nothing! Thanks! xx

[jestrjef]

I do my best to help everyone I can, as often as I can and it just so happens that I have a big ole box of U.S cars goodies just about ready to go across the pond to Mrs.Lozzi! Still have a few more things that she would like me to track down, and I am doing my best on them. Lozzi, thanks for helping my family and others with the cars you were able to find today!!

[Lozzi31]

No Problem Jeff and thanks to you for the heads up on the info Nigel was kind enough to post for us - he's helped us all out! I always appreciate Nigels guiding info! We had a great time finding these today!

[Enzo]

I agree and I have never done it before either - take what I need and leave the others for others - I don't ebay cars. But as these were the first of what I thought (and hope) would be many deliveries of these beauty's I thought I would share with others over the pond that can't get to them yet. As I say - I had a large trade going on with Jeff and I'm friendly with Bubba so thought I would share with them!

What about leaving some first for those of us THIS side of the pond that never had a chance to get to those before you?!

So not purely altruistic just you saw an opportunity to bag the 2 Time Travel sets, which is of course fair enough. If it were me, I'd try to bag the Comvoy Bros. too whilst you're at it.

As yuffie says though, it does indeed grate when it's a lot more than a couple of extras that's all, ruins the fun of collecting for others, especially on new cars.

[Lozzi31]

Alright, I promise I've finished!!! Unless you want me to find some for you! LOL! some of this is staying this side of the pond - Jon's having some too.

- Just swapping what I could find for them instead of just buying their stuff straight out....

No more hauls for me! I don't think they suit me. Honest!

I guess sharing doesn't go down well.

[niftynigel]

I wouldn't worry in the UK, there are going to be plenty of these cars to go around. If you include the 2,000 Cars 2 (996Y) cases that were sent to supermarkets (as we can now see as a stopgap), approximately 12,000 - 12,500 cases have been sold in the UK so far in 2013, based on the usual order for cases (2,000 average).

This means there are over 4,500 cases (997W, 997Y and now 994B) for shops to order and people to buy, collect, hoard, resell or whatever.

As there are no Chase cars (where is Ichigo?) in the case 994B, it's a safe bet, these will be everywhere before too long. With reports that Sainsburys have now got their hands on 997W along with 997Y that means someone is needed to take 994B cases. Morrisons have recently followed/partnered Sainsburys, so can we expect them at Tesco? Very likely. If you remember the Cars 2 case 998G, which appeared first at Toymaster, after a couple of weeks was at Tesco, then everywhere a couple of weeks later!

Mattel likes to rotate stock across all major retailers. Quite understandable really. Keep them all interested.

Toy Barnhaus was actually born out of the ashes of Woolworths. Ex employees of Woolworths set the company up, with a specific brief to fill the toy gap in the market. They recently won an award for great customer service, now you can all see why!

There's one very satisfied customer in the Portsmouth area as a testament to that!

[Lozzi31]

Thanks so much Nigel - your posts are always so informative and I for one appreciate every one of your postings! Please don't stop I love your insights!

[madbob]

From previous experience with Mattel, there is never enough cars to go around or released into the wild. We only see heaps of Finn, Mater, McQueen and Francesco these days. Its great that we post our finds here though as at least it gives collectors a chance of success. Good luck to everyone and thanks Nigel for the info so far, who knows these new cars may turn up around Mattel's home ground sooner or later as I have been looking for a few days now with not a sniff of anything new so far...

[daul_p]

From previous experience with Mattel, there is never enough cars to go around or released into the wild. We only see heaps of Finn, Mater, McQueen and Francesco these days. Its great that we post our finds here though as at least it gives collectors a chance of success. Good luck to everyone and thanks Nigel for the info so far, who knows these new cars may turn up around Mattel's home ground sooner or later as I have been looking for a few days now with not a sniff of anything new so far...

Apologies MB, I did see the Maurice case in Sainsbury's taplow last Sunday and didn't get chance to post. I grabbed a Mama T and Victor H but left the rest for others to snap up. Just been in again today and all are gone, just a Francesco and Finn on old card backs left so that was hoovered up pretty fast.

[Enzo]

From previous experience with Mattel, there is never enough cars to go around or released into the wild. We only see heaps of Finn, Mater, McQueen and Francesco these days. Its great that we post our finds here though as at least it gives collectors a chance of success. Good luck to everyone and thanks Nigel for the info so far, who knows these new cars may turn up around Mattel's home ground sooner or later as I have been looking for a few days now with not a sniff of anything new so far...

Exactly. It's all very well hearing "be patient, lots to go round" (especially from those who already got lucky) but experience suggests otherwise. Until cars are actually on the shelf, rather than in warehouses or still at Mattel, they can be recalled or cancelled at any point. Where's that "exclusive" DS case now? Not in stores (after that 1 week) that's for sure, probably sitting in their warehouse about to be sent back as Planes and MU are Disney's priorities now.

Usually happens when retailers refuse to take as they're overstocked with old crap (foisted on them by Mattel ironically) which is the sorry state both Tesco and Smyths find themselves in. As for Sainsburys, the few branches I've been to also have a glut of old PC 2012 cards still.

Sorry but the "grab 'em whilst you can" mentality is clearly the most realistic and sensible approach especially here in the UK. Disagree? Well how many of you have an El Materdor for example?

[daul_p]

Exactly. It's all very well hearing "be patient, lots to go round" (especially from those who already got lucky) but experience suggests otherwise. Until cars are actually on the shelf, rather than in warehouses or still at Mattel, they can be recalled or cancelled at any point. Where's that "exclusive" DS case now? Not in stores (after that 1 week) that's for sure, probably sitting in their warehouse about to be sent back as Planes and MU are Disney's priorities now.

Usually happens when retailers refuse to take as they're overstocked with old crap (foisted on them by Mattel ironically) which is the sorry state both Tesco and Smyths find themselves in. As for Sainsburys, the few branches I've been to also have a glut of old PC 2012 cards still.

Sorry but the "grab 'em whilst you can" mentality is clearly the most realistic and sensible approach especially here in the UK. Disagree? Well how many of you have an El Materdor for example?

Interesting debate here. Must admit the few times i've seen multiples of new stuff, I usually only nab one of each I need. The only exception to that was grabbing two GGG's in Sainsbury's a few weeks ago and now the extra one is stuffed in a drawer gathering dust

[niftynigel]

I've just been to my local Sainsburys to do some shopping. I thought I'd have a glance at the Cars section as this 'superstore' has been without any cars for weeks.

Only last week, I was told that the reason there were no cars nad had been no cars for weeks is because the line had been discontinued.

Today, there was the remnants of two cases, quite unmistakably 996Y and 997Y. I find that quite ironic!

Mattel will feel quite justified sending anything to stores, with the exception of overdosing on McQueens, Finns and Francescos, just about everything else sells very well.

If the stop-gap case 996Y hadn't come along, and we'd had the full compliment of 997W, 997Y and 994B by now (and probably sold out), we'd be quickly onto the last two cases, only for them to sell out in August. We'd have the full set of 80 singles and some would still complain, we've completed the set, we want Mattel to release another series! Whatever the scenario, some will always complain, that's a fact of life!

[boogity]

the thing is when a photo appears like that it p.... off people that dont have or have no chance of getting the stuff

was in tescos today and spoke to a lady with her nephew, the little lad got wingo with flames and I persuaded her to get chick for him too

the little lad had just been back from disneyland in florida where he met mcq and mater, it gets better cos his uncle is heading to callforneyea and we all know whats there.... carsland,,,grrrr

[boogity]

im sick of mattels games and i,m sick of chasing round after their product and i,m sick of certain national retailers too and also of sales staff and their management who have not a baldy notion what they are talking about

if the product shows up locally then i,ll get it, if , not, well thats the sacrifice i,ll have to pay

[niftynigel]

Exactly. It's all very well hearing "be patient, lots to go round" (especially from those who already got lucky) but experience suggests otherwise. Until cars are actually on the shelf, rather than in warehouses or still at Mattel, they can be recalled or cancelled at any point. Where's that "exclusive" DS case now? Not in stores (after that 1 week) that's for sure, probably sitting in their warehouse about to be sent back as Planes and MU are Disney's priorities now.

Usually happens when retailers refuse to take as they're overstocked with old crap (foisted on them by Mattel ironically) which is the sorry state both Tesco and Smyths find themselves in. As for Sainsburys, the few branches I've been to also have a glut of old PC 2012 cards still.

Sorry but the "grab 'em whilst you can" mentality is clearly the most realistic and sensible approach especially here in the UK. Disagree? Well how many of you have an El Materdor for example?

In September of last year, Yuffie and Mr. Brownstone were finding many Prince Wheeliam's and Bindo cases on their local Disney Stores. My local Disney Stores were getting Officer Murakarmi cases instead. I lost my patience and purchased my from Europe. I thought that was the end of it, then one visit to Disney Store Oxford Street, there were 15 Prince Wheeliam's all in a row! Knowing he was hot property, I couldn't resist or help myself!

I purchased one extra Prince Wheeliam for my wife. I left the other 14. I told a few others what I'd done and almost without exception, they all said they'd have bought all 15! I would like to think that all 14 ended up with genuine collectors or kids, without any of them paying over the odds, but that's more wishful thinking on my behalf.

On another visit, a woman was about to buy the six Becky Wheelin's, but lucky I appealed to her better nature and she kindly let me have one!

For ages, we were fretting over getting Galloping Geargrinder and Suki, to name but a few. Now, most if not all of us have probably seen loads of them on our travels. There are very few, if any non-Chase cars that are genuinely rare. Rip Clutchgoneski probably is one of the rarest non-Chase cars in the last couple of years and there may turn out to be 3,000 currently in circulation in the UK. That's more than a regular Chase car!

How many stores really care what they are getting. Mattel may dump stuff on them, occasionally, maybe frequently, but they sell and turn in a profit, so it's just unit sales that count.

It's a kick in the mush for collectors, but hand on heart, part of the fun is having to hunt around to get what you want, without having to resort to eBay or Amazon! It would be boring just getting each new release on-demand when and where you wanted it!