What's in those stores....UK

[Junior]

I'm one of those people who likes to support local businesses as much as is possible. As the 2013 range is likely to be the swansong of Cars, I was intent on collecting the lot (standard singles, deluxe and movie moments) over the course of the year.

To put it mildly, I'm devastated. I like to plan ahead, but not knowing what is coming out has thrown it all into confusion. It's so nice collecting a whole set of something, but we've had so many 'unfinished' sets in the UK, you begin to wonder as a UK 'card' collector, why you bother! We had Race O Rama cut short and now Cars 2, Radiator Springs Classic, Cars 2 silver racers etc. I'm sure that many long term collectors have other stories to add.

If we knew all the NEW cars were being released, that would at least be something, but there are no guarantees that'll happen now. Europe may also be in the same boat, as there were four cars released in the US A case, that haven't as yet got a repeat release in the US beyond case G. As Europe case P is the same as US case B, then those four cars may not make it to Europe, let alone the UK.

If it's bad enough for us old ones to 'get over it' think about the disappointment and heartbreak for the kids who love to 'Collect Them All' as Mattel puts it.

How difficult is to release about 80 cars, ten Movie Moments and ten deluxe over a year? That said, Mattel failed to release 'only' 25 new cars in the UK last year, so we shouldn't be surprised they can't get 80 or so out!

I'm sure our kids could do a better job of planning and distribution than Mattel.

I dont know much about the politics of it all but if mattel uk had a website where you could just go on and buy the cars direct from them (and they just made them all available), all collectors would be able to complete their collections and Mattel would rake in a fortune. simple really!

[niftynigel]

I'm one of those people who likes to support local businesses as much as is possible. As the 2013 range is likely to be the swansong of Cars, I was intent on collecting the lot (standard singles, deluxe and movie moments) over the course of the year.

To put it mildly, I'm devastated. I like to plan ahead, but not knowing what is coming out has thrown it all into confusion. It's so nice collecting a whole set of something, but we've had so many 'unfinished' sets in the UK, you begin to wonder as a UK 'card' collector, why you bother! We had Race O Rama cut short and now Cars 2, Radiator Springs Classic, Cars 2 silver racers etc. I'm sure that many long term collectors have other stories to add.

If we knew all the NEW cars were being released, that would at least be something, but there are no guarantees that'll happen now. Europe may also be in the same boat, as there were four cars released in the US A case, that haven't as yet got a repeat release in the US beyond case G. As Europe case P is the same as US case B, then those four cars may not make it to Europe, let alone the UK.

If it's bad enough for us old ones to 'get over it' think about the disappointment and heartbreak for the kids who love to 'Collect Them All' as Mattel puts it.

How difficult is to release about 80 cars, ten Movie Moments and ten deluxe over a year? That said, Mattel failed to release 'only' 25 new cars in the UK last year, so we shouldn't be surprised they can't get 80 or so out!

I'm sure our kids could do a better job of planning and distribution than Mattel.

[boogity]

yep, might have to rejig my buying strategy

[yuffie]

must admit i'm not surprised - having resisted buying US cases in the hope that the 2013 cars would start appearing over here i think i'll give up now as it will defeat the object if the complete range is not available in the UK

[boogity]

well what can I say, this is utterly pathethic mattel
thanks for the info nig

[niftynigel]

I had a very lengthy conversation with Mattel UK today. I won't post everything they told me, but to be fair none of it is good news for UK based collectors.

Cars 2

The current case (998H) is really a continuation of the previous 998G case. There are no new cars in it, just a few changes here and there. At least Mel Dorado and Holley Shiftwell are in there. This will be the last case assortment and will continue to be sold until stocks run dry. This means that 39 - Cartney Brakin, 47 - Fabrizio, 48 - Alexander Hugo, 49 - Mary Esgocar and 50 - Sir Harley Gassup will not be officially available in the UK, although Cartney Brakin has been available though an internet only retailer. They may still be available in Europe as Mattel UK and Mattel Europe are totally independent of each other.

Cars 2013

Due to a general lack of demand, possibly due in part to recent price rises from around £4.50 to £6.00 for singles, and around £8.50 to £10 for deluxe and Movie Moments, the launch of the mainline 2013 ranges won't happen to at least March. This means that some (or all) shops won't get them in store for sale until April. Many retailers are just not interested at those price levels.

I asked about the list of cars due to come out as part of the 2013 range. I said there were 101 so far announced (if you include Uncle Topolino's Band as a single release). They said that many of those listed for US release would NOT be released into the UK, but as previous experience has shown us, they may be released in mainland Europe. I'm going to keep badgering them for at least a list of releases, if not a revised / target case release schedule. They couldn't confirm if and what deluxe and Movie Moments would be released into the UK.

It's likely that the UK case assortments may vary from the European contents.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

[jonj]

Had a case g delivered in at work yesterday, happy to say I was the first to it, as Nigel has posted the contents are correct, I brought the GGG and kabuto and let a colleague have the other new cars,

Happy to get international cards of these cars

[alexlnufc]

20130119_155115.jpg
Micro Drifters singles available from Wilkinsons (£2 each) - technically blind bag, although you can see through them enough to see which car it is.
The 'mini poster' shows the 12 available drifters, these 8 new ones, plus WGP Lightning, Jeff Gorvette, Professor Z and Grem.
Might be a problem that they only picked 1/2 drifters from certain 3 packs.. we'll see.
These were the only Cars toys that this Wilkinsons had though, save for a Sub Finn reduced to £1.75.

[cac1959]

Welcome, Popester... Please post an introduction in the new members section at:

http://www.pixarcarsdiecast.com/foru...-Introductions

Almost every store in every country has a poor selection of Cars2 stock which includes the main characters only... it's been that way since the first Cars2 toys went on sale (May 26, 2011 in the US, June 24, 2011 in the UK (if I remember that date correctly).

[Popester]

Hi all, my first post! Have only really started collecting Cars for my little boy (my wife is not convinced..ahem),anyway this has been a really informative forum. I work in central London so visit the Disney Store on Oxford St on and off as well as Covent Garden. Was in both yesterday and CG seems to have massively scaled back it's selection - now moved to the back corner and is the standard Cars 2 1:53s and a handful of 1:43 double packs. Oxford street had changed its stock since Xmas and is predominantly silver Cars 2 racers, lots of new 1:43 double packs - 'classics' and 'world racing'.picked up DJ and Dinoco LMcQ 1:43 double and a Rip/Carla 1:43 double yesterday. I saved the back of one of the packs and 'series 4' at 1:43 includes:

LMQ/Rip
Raoul/Nigel
Jeff/Carla
Max/Materhosen
Hobbscap/GTI
Francesco/Shu
LMQ/funny car mater
Taco truck mater/John lassetire

All priced at £10.

The must be other sets as I also saw

Rip/Carla
Francesco/Shu
DJ/Dinoco LMQ
Nigel/Raul

Anyway, hope that helps a little.

We also have a Smythes nearby and they are still stocking the mattel cars 2 set, poor selection of the main characters only.

[yuffie]

great find

looked in tesco home at cribbs causeway and despite them charging £5 all they had was finn, francesco, mater and a few lm's

on the plus side got lego star wars jabba's palace for £57

[MALDWYNJOHN]

Hi all,
Found 2 Pope Deluxe and Popemobile in Home Bargains for "wait for it " £4
I coulden't belive it,after months of getting outbid on Ebay for these,I must have looked like a cheshire cat at the tills
Gareth

[niftynigel]

Summary of the UK position - 15 December 2012

STANDARD SINGLES (International W1938-???)

Argos

Has recently had cases 996U and 997J. May not get any new cases until the 2013 range is launched, as it is one of the launch partners. Expect current stocks to dwindle or be sold of cheap after Christmas.

Tesco

Has recently had cases 996U, 997J and some 998G. Has ordered some 5,000 cases over the past two-three months. Probably the biggest seller of cars in the UK, although the summer was very very lean and looked like Tesco were going to drop the range. Would expect them to get a fair proportion of the new case!

Sainsburys

Has recently had 996U and 997J. Continuing to stock 997J from warehouse stock. Will probably get some of the new cases as 997J stocks must be drying up soon.

Morrisons

Most of the stores I've been to have stocked the clipstrip versions, although one or two bigger stores (Norwich) had the 997J case. No stores near me or big enough to comment.

Wilkinsons

They had plenty of 996U cases, which sold well. They got impatient with Mattel UK and ordered from Mattel US and promptly got loads of old V2796-998F cases from July 2011. Surprisingly they are selling, but keep restocking with this old case!

Toymaster (Franchises)

After a gap of some months, they got a few 997J and a UK exclusive case 998G in November. They continued to restock with this until recently. Not expecting any more deliveries before Christmas! Tesco took over the options for the remaining 998G cases.

Disney Stores

They are the official licencees of the product and as such they get first choice of what comes out! They have recently had cases 996S, 996T and 996V exclusive in the UK. They will be getting case 996W by the end of next week, which will be their last of Cars 2 cases. Some stores have said that 36 - Rip Clutchgoneski is in that case along with 40 - Cartney Brakin'! Maybe Rip was supposed to that case originally, not as a Chase car? That case originally came out in September which is when cars of those sort of numbers in the series were coming out. Were there manufacturing problems? Disney Stores, not surprisingly, are a launch partner for Cars 2013 range! DS Oxford Street had about 15 Bindo today!

Hamleys

If you can afford to shop there, it's only been interesting recently. They got case 996U and 997J like most other retailers. They had the remnants of five 997J today!

DELUXE AND DOUBLES

The year 2012 will got down as a bad year! The last deluxe was 8 - Pope Pinion IV until The Queen, Kimura Kaiso and Funny Car Mater appeared in B&M Bargains last week. Retailers have been receiving US versions of the first eight in recent months! Why? That must mean that the international versions had sold out and new Deluxe cars could have been sold to stores! As for Doubles, only the first three 2012 were on sale on Amazon in very limited quantities, months ago! Still loads of Mater/Zen and McQueen/Francesco first release in stores!

[niftynigel]

Prince Wheeliam was in case 996V along with Bindo. Becky Wheelin' was in case 996T.

Mattel said that that the 2013 range would be launched around the beginning of February. This actually depends on a number of factors. The international cardbacks have to be designed and agreed with all the various Mattel HQs that they apply to. They have to agree case contents and start manufacturing them.

From a UK point of view, Mattel have been doing the hard sell in recent weeks. Many shops have told me that they will be stocking the 2013 range. This was in doubt a few weeks ago, but decent assortments, new cars and the Christmas market has seen a dramatic upturn in sales, so it's all positive.

In order to get some 'waverers' on board, there is the prospect of 'exclusive' cases.

Disney will get an exclusive launch case. It's their product after all said and done. They've had 996S, 996T, 996V and one more to come from Cars 2, so that's a given.

Mattel will want TRU back on board after the Radiator Springs Classic series has been completed. I guess they'll get an exclusive launch case too?

I guess there will be one 'general' release case.

Timing will depend on when Cars 2 stocks run out. If sales are still bouyant, they won't want to leave a big gap. I think late January maybe on the cards (no pun intended).

[yuffie]

if the oxford street disney store had the same case it was prince wheeliam - was he in case T (i lose track!) ?