Great Britain and Northern Ireland 2014 Finds - Part 2

[VANDANCE]

Ta.

There was maybe a second or two where I was tempted to grab them all but no more than that. The only one I bought was Snot Rod w/flames as the boy wanted that one and at £4.11 I said yes.

Fair play - You have more will power than I! No matter how many Todd's I amass, it still feels like I would be committing a Cars related crime to leave one behind on the pegs. Either I am running a diecast sanctuary without knowing it or I must need therapy. Not sure which!

[niftynigel]

I was out and about on the road today. Early start, early finish!

Plenty of ASDA, Morrisons, Sainsburys and Tesco en route!

ASDA - Just had few remnants of the 998B case. The odd Tokyo Mater (TM) single also. That said the date stamps on the TMs were a lot later, so maybe the TM 'B' case is out?

Morrisons - One store told me they had dropped the Cars line. They said they didn't know if that was a permanent thing or not!

Sainsburys - Same story, loads of remnants of the Louie Larue case.

Tesco - Very low stocks, just a few usual common shelf warmers.

All in all, a very sad state of affairs for mid-December. Unless things change significantly, the future looks very bleak for Cars in the UK.


Note: It's up to Mattel to sell double packs (or whatever) to stores.

[Ferris]

Fair play - You have more will power than I! No matter how many Todd's I amass, it still feels like I would be committing a Cars related crime to leave one behind on the pegs. Either I am running a diecast sanctuary without knowing it or I must need therapy. Not sure which!

I was in 3 Target stores last weekend and I found a Todd at each. I purchased the first 2, but there were VERY long lines at the third one, so I actually left a Todd on the Pegs. It is not one that was all that close, so I'm not planning on going back for it. It was very difficult to leave him there.

[VANDANCE]

I was out and about on the road today. Early start, early finish!

Plenty of ASDA, Morrisons, Sainsburys and Tesco en route!

ASDA - Just had few remnants of the 998B case. The odd Tokyo Mater (TM) single also. That said the date stamps on the TMs were a lot later, so maybe the TM 'B' case is out?

Morrisons - One store told me they had dropped the Cars line. They said they didn't know if that was a permanent thing or not!

Sainsburys - Same story, loads of remnants of the Louie Larue case.

Tesco - Very low stocks, just a few usual common shelf warmers.

All in all, a very sad state of affairs for mid-December. Unless things change significantly, the future looks very bleak for Cars in the UK.


Note: It's up to Mattel to sell double packs (or whatever) to stores.

Nigel, so you do drive a car? I wondered how anyone gets anywhere on time relying on public transport alone? Much easier hunting for Cars in a car I find.

It is a sad state for the time of the year but look at it this way...there may be more to look forward to for next year! 2014 has seen a big resurgence of the brand Cars and I hope 2015 continues in the same fashion. We already know of the new 2015 card design and the nice new models due out so unless Mattel make a right royal balls up (like that hasn't happened before!) then we should be sitting pretty. Look on the bright side, no new cars stock means less hunting and spending more time with the family! I will leave it to you to determine if that last comment was sarcastic or not, depends on your family I suppose! Cheers

[VANDANCE]

I was in 3 Target stores last weekend and I found a Todd at each. I purchased the first 2, but there were VERY long lines at the third one, so I actually left a Todd on the Pegs. It is not one that was all that close, so I'm not planning on going back for it. It was very difficult to leave him there.

Ferris knows what I'm talkin' about! I am comforted by the fact I am not alone. Cheers Ferris

[niftynigel]

Nigel, so you do drive a car? I wondered how anyone gets anywhere on time relying on public transport alone? Much easier hunting for Cars in a car I find.

It is a sad state for the time of the year but look at it this way...there may be more to look forward to for next year! 2014 has seen a big resurgence of the brand Cars and I hope 2015 continues in the same fashion. We already know of the new 2015 card design and the nice new models due out so unless Mattel make a right royal balls up (like that hasn't happened before!) then we should be sitting pretty. Look on the bright side, no new cars stock means less hunting and spending more time with the family! I will leave it to you to determine if that last comment was sarcastic or not, depends on your family I suppose! Cheers

My preferred mode of travel is train. City to city, it's much quicker than car travel and you don't have the rip off parking charges too!

However, it's a condition of my contract that I supply a car for my official duties. With the exception of three years, when I leased a car, I have owned a car since 1982. Having so many supermarkets within a 20 mile radius has it's advantages, but the downside of living and working on the boundary of Greater London is traffic levels (and packed trains and buses too!).

My local Toymaster reported that there will be no more deliveries from Mattel until well into the new year. Their last delivery was early December. Unlike Sainsburys and Tesco, their Cars sell, even at £5.99. They can see a point where they may not have any Cars in stock. Mattel UK shuts down on Friday and reopens on Monday 5 January, so there may not be anything sinister going on?

As explained before, there haven't been many of the last few cases, probably due to over-orders and overstocks of the Louie Larue case?

I agree that 2014 started to be a good year, but has deteriorated in the last few weeks and months. It doesn't actually fill me with optimism for 2015. What if Sainsburys and Tesco follow Morrisons and drop Cars?

Without a huge price hike, could the Cars market be sustained at just ASDA, Wilko, Toymaster and a few minor players? Probably not!

There are so many more toys to buy and collect. Some may have had their fill of the usual perennial repeats.

It wouldn't come as a complete shock if the UK just got special editions like the Ice Racers, Radiator Springs Classics etc.

Not having double packs is the least of our worries, we may not get anything in 2015?

[niftynigel]

After football, I did some late night shopping last night.

I visited four ASDA superstores. The situation was different in each one.

A couple of stores just has a few 995B singles and a few Tokyo Mater singles.

One store only a had a couple of new Ice Racer cases, the first report of these outside TRU? I didn't buy any of them, but as they had only just been put out, I asked how much they were. They didn't scan, so they were going to sell them for £5.97.

The last store had a overdose of the Radiator Springs 500 1/2 3-Car packs at £20. They also had the Ice Racers. Again I asked how much they were. They offered to sell them for £5, the same as Tokyo Mater singles as this stores doesn't generally don't sell standard singles!

[VANDANCE]

Excellent! Thanks for the information on the Ice racers. I am glad I held back from purchasing the lot from TRU. The blisters are nicely sculpted and the cars themselves look half decent so will hope to pick these up soon, plus it's another expanded universe to explore! The big Asda Walmart superstore I visit also has about 10 pieces of the RS500 3 car box sets. I expect they will be warming the shelf for a while at £20 a pop. Hopefully they may get discounted in the New Year.

[Lozzi31]

a friend of mine recently found Timothy Twostroke in Smyths, has he been released in a recent box? I know we missed him earlier in the year but wondering if he's been included in another case. She said there was nothing else to note just timothy and a bunch of LMQ! xx

[BirchTiger]

Timothy was in a recent box with Sally tattoo and Alberto I think...

[djjd21]

found planes pit row gift sets today in home bargains priced at £6.99,they had Arturo,bulldog and el chupacabra

[niftynigel]

I went to two Sainsburys today.

The first one had the remnants of the 995B 'repeats' case.

The second one had a number of clipstrips out with what looked like the 998Y case (with Timothy Twostroke).

It's good that Sainsburys have finally got the 995B case, so there's still hope that the final case (995C?) will come to the UK!

[BirchTiger]

I saw two Timothy on 2 clipstrips in a sainsburys today, plus another Alberto. The clipstrips were marked at 4.99, the shelf at 5.49 and at the bigger sainsburys near it, they are 4.11 - I have no idea what they would actually ring up at!

[boogity]

if memory serves me , the clip strips are us and are 4.99, the shelf stuff, int, is 5.49 or visa versa, the difference is that the price checker never bothered his fat lazy a... to change them, this was before the price went down to 4.11 and there were no clipstrips by then!!!

I saw two Timothy on 2 clipstrips in a sainsburys today, plus another Alberto. The clipstrips were marked at 4.99, the shelf at 5.49 and at the bigger sainsburys near it, they are 4.11 - I have no idea what they would actually ring up at!

[BirchTiger]

The clipstrips in this particular store were international so I assume they are the same barcode as they all are. I think sainsburys are just terrible at changing price labels in some stores (a bit like TRU!)