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One of the scariest scenes in Cars is shortly after Mater talks Lightning McQueen into going tractor tippin'... Mater chides McQueen into going... calling him a chicken... to prove to Mater that he's not a chicken, Lightning McQueen goes tractor tippin' with Mater... just don't let Frank get you...
After seeing it a few dozen times with my grandson, we no longer found the scene scary... and when my grandson told me "Papaw, you need to buy Frank", I knew that I had to... but we had to wait for Mattel to release the Mega Size character... seems like we've had to do that a lot... anyway...
In this article, we'll take a look at Frank.
Race O Rama Frank
The first release of Frank came in the Race O Rama series... it came in case H and was released approximately May 1, 2009... The case contained 3 Frank, 1 RPM Semi (cab), 1 Marco, and 1 Lightning Storm McQueen... it seems that we had waited forever for Frank to be released... a large reason for that was that Mattel had released case after case in the Mega (Deluxe) size product line with way too many semis... the same cabs that had already been released as haulers... when we finally learned Mattel had released a case with Frank, I ordered several cases that I split with friends... We each paid for 1/3 the cost of the case and got 1 Frank and 1 repeat... I'm sure I sent some of the Franks over to the UK as well as to other countries.
I don't think I ever left a ROR Frank on the pegs during the initial release at the stores... I opened 1, kept a few carded for future trades, and sent one home with my grandson.
In July 2009 Mattel released case M which contained Octane Gain Semi (x3) and 1 each of Mack, Gray (the Dinoco Semi), and Frank... only one of those 6 Mega size Cars sold well... can you guess which one?
Within a month of being released on the ROR cardback, Frank was gone... Mattel had moved on to the Night Skyline cardback.
Night Skyline Frank
In February 2010 Mattel released Deluxe case P... This case came with 2 of the Deluxe size TJ the Hummer, 2 Lightning Storm McQueen, 1 Chick Hicks Semi, and 1 Frank... this was a harder case to split - no one wanted (or needed) the Chick Hicks Semi... The 2 TJ and the Frank sold quickly... the other 3 did not... stores did not order the cases that followed because they were stuck with half the inventory of this and previous cases.
In May 2010, Mattel released a repack case which consisted of 2 each of Frank, Chick Hicks Semi, and TJ... By this time, everyone who wanted TJ had TJ... no one still wanted the the Chick Hicks Semi... and Frank sold quickly... I think this case was released straight to close out stores such as Big Lots... the big US retailers (Target, Walmart, Toys R US, and Kmart) were stuck with non-selling product and didn't order new Deluxe cases... Big Lots sold a lot of Frank... it took a lot longer for them to get rid of the Chick Hicks Semi and TJ... and where these had sold for $8 in cases and at the big stores, they sold for $6 at Big Lots.
Here's a photo which shows the cardbacks for both the ROR Frank and Night Skyline Frank:
At one time Mattel was releasing a new Mega (Deluxe) Size case almost monthly... due to poor case assortments (5 of 6 Mega size Cars in a case are Cabs - really?) and getting stuck with non-selling inventory (i.e. Semis), stores quit carrying the Deluxe cases.
The last time I saw Frank in a store was at a Toys R Us in Florence, Kentucky on April 1, 2011... yes that's April Fool's Day but it's not a joke... I'd taken the day off work to go see the Cars 2 State Farm Agents on A Mission world tour in Florence (which is a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio)... I went to the TRU after spending an hour at the event (taking photos) and low and behold... I found 2 Night Skyline Frank and 1 each of the Chase Cars Dinoco McQueen with Celebrity Signature and Chase Yeti with Snow Cones... the totally unexpected finds are often the best ones.
Frank is expensive today... I believe it's $85 plus tax at the local flea market... and it is expensive on eBay... even the plastic Frank from the Tractor Tippin' game is expensive.
Disney Store Frank
A huge Frank was released as a diecast by the Disney Store... I can't remember if the retail price was $19.99 or $29.99, but I did buy 2 at the store and sent one to the UK... this item weighed over 2.5 pounds... I've never opened mine up... I got it because my grandchildren and I really liked Frank, and the Mattel version just doesn't seem to be in scale with the 1:55 scale Cars.
Here's the cardback:
Most of the Disney Store Cars I've bought are not as well made as the Mattel items... however, if the Disney Store ever releases Bessie in this scale, I'll definitely buy one.
EDIT - Here are a couple of photos showing the Mattel Frank and the Disney Store Frank; this gives you an idea how large the Disney Store version is:
Tractor Tippin' Track Set
I'd resisted buying this track set at it's regular price of $19.99... the plastic versions of the Cars were not nearly as well made... but when it went on clearance for $5.00, I had one of my friends in California buy it for me... the package came with several other Cars items, so it wasn't too bad... I've never opened this up...
Here's the cardback:
If my grandchildren were to see this set, I'm sure they'd want me to open it up... I'd assemble it... we'd play it for about 10 minutes... and then they'd move onto something else... I may open it up and take pictures of it assembled one day.
Cars - the video game
Being the true Cars-a-holic that I am as well as a video game player, I bought the Cars video games... I originally bought them for my PS/2... and then bought them for either the PS/3 or Xbox 360 after I'd bought those consoles... The first Cars game on the Xbox 360 is probably our favorite... in addition to competing in races, you could just drive around Radiator Springs and Ornament Valley... there were also some mini games you could play... tractor tippin' was one of them.
In Conclusion
Here are some photos showing the opened Frank (and some other Cars):
We like to play/stage the Tractor tippin' scene from the movie:
Forgive me if I've taken liberties with the scene from the movie...
McQueen: How do you play tractor tippin?
Mater: It's easy... you just sneak up on them and... HONK!
McQueen: But I don't have a horn... I can't play
Mater: Chicken
McQueen: I'm not a chicken... I'll think of something...
Later...
Mater: Sneaks up on a tractor and honks his horn... a tractor tips over and then toots (that cracks us up every time).
McQueen: Sneaks up on a tractor and revs his engine loudly for a long period of time...
Every tractor tips and toots... and all of a sudden... we hear a loud roar that sounds almost like a wild animal in pain...
Mater: Uh oh... that'd be Frank... Frank's gonna get you!
Mater and McQueen take off as fast as they can... McQueen looks like he's going to leave oil spots under his engine he's so scared... but in the movie, he gets away... (it doesn't always happen in the video game)... can you imagine Cars if Frank would have gotten McQueen and he hadn't be able to get to California to compete in the special tie-breaker to determine the winner of the Piston Cup?
As always, thanks for reading... I appreciate your comments and your feedback... it can be fun to speak Frankly...
Chris
P.S... I intended to post an article last weekend, but was wiped out from the trip to Texas and back... and I was going to start on one Wednesday, but learned that a dear friend of ours who has been fighting cancer for several years, and winning, has had cancer return and it's very widespread... she's been given weeks to live... her husband was best man when my wife and I got married 19 years ago... we are godparents to their 16 year old son... Cars just aren't important right now.
Please keep our friend, her husband, their daughter and son, and their grandchildren in your prayers.
I have had a request for an article on Ramone as well as more Piston Cup racer teams and a few other Cars... I fully intend to work on those in the future.
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