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Respect the Classics: 2012 Cars 2 Movie Moments

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  • Respect the Classics: 2012 Cars 2 Movie Moments



    Many of us who had been collecting since the release of Cars were excited about the launch of Cars 2 toys in advance of the Cars 2 movie... I know that I scheduled a vacation day for Monday May 16, 2011... and through finding Cars 2 singles at Family Dollar stores in advance of the movie and buying a case (each) of singles, movie moments, and deluxe from a friend who is a Mattel distributor I had almost all Cars 2 diecast toys before they went on sale that day... every retailer wanted a piece of the Cars 2 toy revenue... however, other than store exclusives every retailer got the same Cars 2 merchandise... and too much of it... to say that Mattel and retailers made mistakes with the Cars 2 product launch would be an understatement... and the saying those who don't learn from their mistakes are destined to repeat them is more than just a cliche... Due to the over-saturation of 2011 Cars 2 merchandise retailers didn't order as much 2012 product... many stores in Indiana and Ohio still have Cars 2 merchandise from the May 2011 product launch on pegs and shelves over 3 years later...

    In my opinion Mattel came close to killing off the Cars product line due to their case assortment and distribution strategy... 2012 was a very bleak time for Cars-a-holics and collectors... there was very little new product turning up in stores for us to purchase... product was being announced but retailers weren't buying it because customers weren't buying existing Cars 2 inventory.

    The Mattel year runs from November through the following October... The 2012 Mattel year was not a good time for Cars collectors... retailers need to sell merchandise their customers want... retailers need to order merchandise customers want... It wasn't that Deluxe Cars weren't selling - it was Submarine Finn McMissile wasn't (and still isn't) selling... it wasn't that Movie Moments weren't selling - it was Race Team Mater/Zen Master Pitty without mustache and Finn/Tomber weren't (and still aren't) selling.

    With the launch of the 2012 Mattel year Mattel had a chance to breathe new life into the Cars 2 product lines... they were not nearly as successful as they could have been... not with singles... not with Deluxe... not with Movie Moments... In this installment of Respect the Classics we'll take a look at the 2012 Movie Moments product line.


    2012 Movie Moments First Case


    Pictured above is the first 2012 Movie Moments case... There were 3 different 2 packs in the case of 12 Movie Moments... I believe the case assortment was 6 Francesco/Ka-Ciao McQueen, 3 Darrell Cartrip/Brent Mustangburger, and 3 Acer with Helmet/Professor Z... if we look at that case in detail:

    6 McQueen with a bumper sticker on the back that said Ka-Ciao... if Francesco was a variant it wasn't much of one.
    3 Acer with a helmet accessory - I don't remember if Professor Z was a variant and neither did a lot of people.

    The only thing different about the Darrell/Brent 2 pack was the cardback... the 2012 product line featured a Tokyo background on the cardback.

    So the only thing new in that case were 9 accessories - 6 bumper stickers and 3 helmets... no wonder that case didn't sell.

    Acer with Helmet/Professor Z:


    Cardback (featuring Professor Z):


    Francesco Bernoulli/Ka-Ciao McQueen:


    Darrell Cartrip/Brent Mustangburger:


    Just a new cardback... not even unibody diecasts... I bought one because up until recently I had Darrell Cartrip as a single or Movie Moment on every cardback.

    Again it's no wonder that this case didn't sell and that no US retailers ordered more... Mattel canceled the second case in the US...So why I am writing a Respect the Classics article about these Movie Moments if the first case was very poor and there were no more cases released in the US?


    2012 Movie Moments Second Case


    Not exactly sure about case contents... but I received the 3 Movie Moments from my UK friend and PCD member djjd21 in March 2013... the "missing" second case 2012 Movie Moments turned up in the UK at TK Maxx stores... TK Maxx is the UK equivalent of US stores TJ Maxx and Marshalls... all part of the TJX chain... let's look at these 3 2 packs:

    Mama Topolino/Uncle Topolino - while these were released in the US on the 2011 cardback, these were unibody Cars... and the one piece looks so much better... these were released as singles during the 2013 Mattel year so I never opened this 2 pack... no need to.



    Here's the back of the card:


    Miguel Camino/Petro Cartalina:


    Here's the back of the card:


    While we had more Miguel Camino than we needed or wanted, we didn't have his crew chief Petro Cartalina... and we wanted Petro.

    Miles with Cleaning Pittys:


    While Miles was fairly much a pegwarmer, the 2 cleaning pittys were new... and Cars-a-holics like new Cars.

    Notice that these Movie Moments are on International cardback... these second case 2012 Movie Moments were never released on US cardback... and until June 2014 they were never released in the US at all... but one day that changed.

    People reported finding the second case Movie Moments on International cardback at TJ Maxx or Marshalls stores in the US... 15 months after they showed up at TK Maxx, they arrived on a very limited basis in the US... I believe they showed up in New England first, followed by the upper Mid-Atlantic and California areas... I made a few trips to Cincinnati and Dayton but found only the former Walmart exclusive Lights and Sounds Spy Mater... but on my way home from the Cincinnati area I stopped at an Oxford Ohio TJ Maxx and found 1 Miguel/Petro, 1 Mama/Uncle Topolino, and 2 2011 International Movie Moments... and a few days later found Miles/Cleaning Pittys at our local TJ Maxx... I can finally open Miles and the Cleaning Pittys... Miles will go in the play collection, and the pittys will go in a display case.

    Last Thursday, July 3, I headed down to the Cincinnati area for an all day Cars and Planes hunt... I found remnants at many TJ Maxx and Marshalls stores, but did get lucky at 2 of them.

    There's no difference between the ones I got from djjd21 and found in stores on the front...


    Can you spot the difference on the back of the cardback?


    A Marshalls or TJ Maxx price sticker... these were $5.99 plus tax in the US - I think I paid about $15 or $16 for the ones from the UK (and I think I have 2 more of each coming from the UK one of these days)...

    Here are production codes on the second case of 2012 Movie Moments:
    Miles/Cleaning Pittys:
    from djjd21: 1522EAA
    from Marshalls: 1772EAA

    Miguel/Petro:
    from djjd21: 1782EAA
    from Marshalls: 1782EAA

    Mama/Uncle Topolino: 1532EAA

    They were all made during a 26 day time frame... it just took 15 months for them to arrive in the US after they turned up in the UK... did TJX ship them to the US after they didn't all sell in the UK? What took them so long to arrive?

    Many friends that I've traded with over the years didn't have Petro Cartalina or Miles/Cleaning pittys... I will pay extra to get something from an overseas friend to have it in my collection - others do not... but I'm glad that others are now able to add these to their collections... I'm grateful that friends Micky, All4Mase, and Ferris have helped me out with these Movie Moments when they found them - I wasn't sure that they'd turn up in the midwest at a time I could find them so I could help out others... making several out of town trips to TJ Maxx and Marshalls stores and coming up empty is frustrating... finally finding them is a great feeling for me... and I hope that more of you will be able to find them.

    I'll add photos of Petro and the cleaning pittys opened... I have an opened Petro in a box somewhere with other opened/display Cars... I've not yet opened a Miles/Cleaning pittys but I will soon.

    There are still more Cars that we are waiting for... we've seen loose versions of Otto Bonn, the Max Schnell crew chief... The John Lassetire/Jeff Gorvette Movie Moment that was originally a Kmart exclusive has been re-released in the 2014 series... supposedly we'll see re-releases of the Francesco/Francesco Crew Chief and the Carla/Carla Crew Chief 2 pack... we just saw the release of Shu's crew chief Mach in the 2014 series... but I'd like the rest of the Cars 2 crew chiefs... and the Cars crew chiefs... but that's another story.

    Thanks for reading... As always, I appreciate your comments.


    I am cac1959... I am a Cars-a-holic... and a proud supporter of Nathan's Playroom

  • #2
    Great article chris

    At the time when we were finding these in the UK at TK Maxx stores the few stores that had these had so few of them, as the cases were shared out between stores.I was only finding one,maybe two at a time,sometimes it was the Miguel/crew chief pack that would be there instead,it was so hit and miss.the price of these if you found them at store was £5.99 (I think)maybe even £4.99.
    the only other outlets were ebay and amazon which were both hitting £10, upwards toward £20.

    to add to your pics though,there were variants to both the mama topolino and miles axlerod twin packs.both were available in 2-piece and unibody formats.
    here's pics of the 2 of them for you.







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    • #3
      I was finally able to open a Miles w/ pitties last week. I had already traded for them over a year ago, but found an opener in TJ Maxx last Thursday.

      signature courtesy of BomBom77
      http://www.pixarcarsdiecast.com/foru...ars-for-trades

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      • #4
        Great article!
        Kenny, age 13

        Visit our diecast Pixar Cars and Planes priceguide and checklist:

        http://pixarcarspriceguide.com

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        • #5
          very nice! I'm still hoping to one day find a miguel pack up here in Canada lol...or buy one for close to retail. I'd take a Miles pack as well...but want that crew chief. Great article and great pics.

          Transformers for Trade
          Feedback: pixarcarsdiecast.com; cybertron.ca; tfw2005.com; ebay.ca

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          • #6
            Originally posted by DeceptiCog72283 View Post
            very nice! I'm still hoping to one day find a miguel pack up here in Canada lol...or buy one for close to retail. I'd take a Miles pack as well...but want that crew chief. Great article and great pics.
            PM Sent!

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            • #7
              Great Article! I liked the pictures.

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