Great Britain and Northern Ireland 2018/19/20/21/22/23 Finds

[niftynigel]

I can confirm that Smyths Toy Superstores have the 96AK case in stock. Initially, it looks like each store has one case, but more will be distributed in due course.

I picked up Nick Shift, Racing Red Dinoco Cruz Ramirez, Dewey Conerod and Rich Hurry.

There also appeared to be loads of the Winter singles too! I'm not sure about buying all of them, but I like the look of Ramone and maybe Doc Hudson and Lightning McQueen?

[VANDANCE]

Congrats on the finds and thanks for the update. I’ll check the Smyths website before I head out. Last week I found a new clip strip in Asda. Clutch aid racing tractor, hot rod Steve Herseshall, Nick Shift , Ron Hover and Jimmy Lugwrench. Sadly restocks of clip strips gone back to the previous racing red Jackson Storm mix. Managed to fill a few gaps though!

[rossibutton]

One of the Smyths near me had 3 AK cases on Saturday along with lots of the holiday singles, has there been any sign of the AB or AH case over here?

[cac1959]

One of the Smyths near me had 3 AK cases on Saturday along with lots of the holiday singles, has there been any sign of the AB or AH case over here?

Great finds on case AK and holiday singles, rossibutton! Congratulations! I am impatiently waiting for those...

Great finds on case AK at Smyth's as well, niftynigel! As far as the holiday singles, the Snowmobile (Reindeer) is new... Ramone is a new paint job... the present in the Luigi/Guido is a new color... the others are first time Vietnam variants.

Great finds on the case AJ singles, VANDANCE!

[rossibutton]

Also last weekend I found this promotion in Toytown, spend £12 and get the golf McQueen free! First time I’ve seen a promotion in the UK in about 12 years!

[cac1959]

Great news about the Golden McQueen promo, rossibutton! Hopefully you and our other members can take advantage of that.

[niftynigel]

Something I forgot to say about the Winter / Holiday singles is that they are on really sturdy cards!

They are made in Vietnam and are far superior to the Thailand cards.

[cac1959]

Great news about the quality of the winter/holiday singles, niftynigel... I'm looking forward to those.

[VANDANCE]

Found Dewey Conerod and Rich Hurry in Asda at the weekend.

[cac1959]

Awesome finds on Dewey Conerod and Rich Hurry, VANDANCE... I am looking forward to adding those.to my collection.

[niftynigel]

One of the Smyths near me had 3 AK cases on Saturday along with lots of the holiday singles, has there been any sign of the AB or AH case over here?

Sorry for the slight delay in replying. It looked like Disney Stores were going to get the AB case. In the end they got AA and AC together and then AE. I guess that probably means that the UK and Ireland missed the AB case?

AA - Disney, Tesco and ASDA
AB - ?
AC - Disney. Clipstrip version - ASDA
AD - Sainsburys, Toymaster (some)
AE - Smyths, Disney
AF - ASDA, Smyths
AG - ASDA, Sainsburys
AH - ?
AJ - ASDA
AK - Smyths, ASDA

Planned

AL
AM

I haven't been to Morrisons or Tesco for ages, so I don't know what they've had. Smyths are showing quite a few new cars, some repeated from cases that the UK/Ireland haven't had. That said, they were showing some from AH/AJ but they appeared to be cancelled when the 'Wintertime Cruisers' singles appeared on the Smyths' site.

I think someone reported that AH/AJ had appeared at ASDA on clipstrips? Maybe more will appear or maybe at Sainsburys in due course?

[boogity]

nigel, think youll find tesco be doing/getting buggar all, well that the word on the street

[VANDANCE]

Got a phone call from the local Toymaster this afternoon as they had a new case of cars in today, I have been going in regularly since July and every order they placed has been unfulfilled. The lady that called said they ordered in 2 cases but only one arrived. It was the 96 AK case or 1621A2. Happy to get another Dewey Conerod, Nick Swift, Stirling and Racing Red Cruz.

[cac1959]

Congratulations on your case AK additions, VANDANCE... I still don't have Dewey Conerod, Racing Red Cruz, or Rich Hurry.

[niftynigel]

I've been out and about hunting for new cars, nothing since Smyths got the Wintertime Cruisers.

At the moment, it would appear that both Morrisons and Tesco have given up on Disney Cars, although it could be that there are just not enough cases / demand for all the main UK supermarkets to stock them? With the demise of Disney Stores, that's going to leave a gaping hole in the Cars market.

Sainsburys

They still have loads of AG cases.

ASDA

They had a few AG cases, then they got quite a few AJ cases, so far the only place to get them. Strangely, the stores that got them (most that I have visited) appeared to get two cases, but other stores didn't get any - even stores with bigger toy sections! Go figure ...

Smyths

They previously got the AF case and lots of them. This was followed by the Metallic Snot Rod case from 2020. They then get a 'first to market' Wintertime Cruisers case. Will anyone else want to stock this series, knowing that Smyths have lots of them, with sales now slowing? Smyths' website is showing a new assortment - given the amount of new cars, it could be a hybrid of AJ/AL/AM?

Toymaster

Most stores just stock previous years overstocks at sale prices, e.g. Rocket Racers etc. A few stores stock new mainline singles / deluxe.

The Entertainer

They are very similar to Toymaster - selling only old stuff at sale prices. They occasionally have new stuff in - the had 2021 double packs in at £12.50 each.

Hamleys

They are currently reassessing their stock offering. Nothing from Mattel for ages, even Hot Wheels!

[VANDANCE]

I was greeted by 3 new clip strips in Asda this week. I had a momentary rush as I focused in on the clip strips at the end of the toy isle. Sadly, the moment soon passed as I got close enough to see it was a repeat of the previous assortment. Caleb Worley, Will Rusch, Easy Idle racing tractor were the highlights from this assortment. I picked one of each up just because!! I think the racing tractors are quite tough to get? And I love the look of Caleb Worley, and Will Rusch is no 76 and that’s my birth year so he came home with me. I look for any excuse to buy cars haha!

[boogity]

good stuff lads

[VANDANCE]

Went into Smyths toy superstore and saw a couple of new cars, although the website says they were out of stock. Managed to get Mummy costume Luigi and Ghost Guido. Also some repeat releases Floyd Morgan and Bob Cutlass. No other boxes on the top of the shelf so hopefully when next delivery arrives it will be new stuff. Have to say, they are completely overstocked on the Christmas cars singles. Must have been 50+ cars on the shelf. I’m sure they will sell before Christmas.

[cac1959]

Great finds, VANDANCE! Congratulations!

[niftynigel]

Great finds, VANDANCE.

A member of staff told me that Smyths had ordered an initial 600 cases of Wintertime Cruiser singles, but looking at the number stores have been getting and the numbers on the website, I'm guessing that they got more like 1,000 cases - nearly ten per store on average!

This looks like the 96AL case contents:

2 Mummy Costume Luigi and Guido
2 Rust Eze Lightning McQueen
2 Tom W.
2 Bob Cutlass
1 Jim Reverick aka Carbon Cyber
1 J D McPillar
1 Rusty Cornfuel
1 Chisaki
1 Derek Wheeliams
1 Jeff Gorvette
1 Brian Sparks
1 Doc Hudson
1 Fabulous Lightning McQueen
1 Sara Wheelson
1 Pat Traxson
1 Cartney Carsper
1 Floyd Morgan
1 Marlon Clutches McKay
1 Murray Clutchburn
1 Hot Rod Junior Moon

I was hoping that Smyths might get the 96AH/AJ case that had been at ASDA, but as they now have AL after having had AK, then probably not?

[cac1959]

Thank you so much for the case AL case contents, niftynigel... Much appreciated... I had guessed based on the limited photos I've seen... I have only been to 2 Target stores in the last 2 months and Get Me Collectibles hasn't received their AL case order yet so I've been unable to verify... the quantity 2 of Mummy Luigi & Ghost Guido is good news... I'm assuming Jeff Gorvette is the Cars 2 version but it would be great if it were the Cars 3 version which was only released in a 2 pack.