Goat Toy Day 18
11Hot Wheels!
Or more precisely, the World’s Smallest Hot Wheels!
As these photos show, the package for the car is about the same size as a normal Hot Wheels.
There are 9 cars, some with alternate paint jobs, and three track sets.
Series 1 is up at the top, here’s series 2 & 3.
Here are the tracks sets: Drag Race, Hot Curves (should really be called “Curve”, there’s only one), and Stunt Action.
There’s even a mini version of the Rally Case.
There is a Super Set that includes all three track sets and the case, but it only includes 2 cars, and you’d wind up with four cars if you bought them separately.
The cars run about $7 each, which is steep compared to a dollar for the average Hot Wheels, but I guess they’re trading on the novelty value. The track sets and case are $12-15 each.
Each set includes a car, and the drag race set has two. The mini track even includes mini connectors and a mini clamp. They actually work, the cars make it around the loop just fine, if the top of the track is high enough. The track does kind of dwarf the cars though, it’s about 1.5 cars wide, while the full size track is a much closer match to the full size cars. The mini cars also don’t roll as far as the normal cars either. But they work, they’re fun, and I’m going to set up a track on my desk at work.
- 9 comments, 21 replies
- Comment
These are made under license by Super Impulse, who seem to specialize in tiny toys.
Looks like they’re also responsible for bringing back the Whizzer top.
https://superimpulse.com/our-brands/wiz-z-zer/
https://superimpulse.com/our-brands/worlds-smallest/
@blaineg I loved whizzzers! I found them at the local discount store and bought a couple. They don’t seem to be the same, or maybe I was just easily entertained as a kid.
And that pony- that’s just wrong.
@blaineg @sammydog01 what the hell pony? That’s not where the tail starts.
Micro Machines throwback!
I had dozens of them in the ‘80s. What was that slogan? Remember if it doesn’t say Micro Machines, it’s not the real thing!
@ruouttaurmind I think these are even smaller than Micro Machines. Though the only ones I have around are the Babylon 5 spaceships.
(Not my photo, and I don’t think I have the whole set.)
@ruouttaurmind I’m not sure if I had actual micro machines but I had a couple of small cars that changed color in cold and warm water. Those were fun!
@blaineg @RiotDemon All this nostalgia made me dig a couple out of storage. Quarter for scale perspective.
The thing I loved about Micro Machines is the small size allowed me to throw 5 or 6 in my pocket and take them to school and the teacher never knew.
@blaineg
Babylon 5!
@ruouttaurmind I have a couple of Star Trek and Star Wars sets still in the box. I think we donated all the cars to charity years ago.
@mfladd The Shadow vessels are one of the creepiest things ever created.
Looks like it’s pretty darned close in size to the Hot Wheels…
Superimpulse- the name is appropriate. Those cars are adorable!
Are they selling them as collectibles? That may be why they can charge more and escape the more stringent requirements of a toy (like choking hazards) at the same time.
@narfcake Their marketing seems to be a mix of toy & collectible. I don’t know if they are much of a choking hazard, the cars are so small they’d go down real easy.
Here’s a picture of the overall packaging, the tiny (reusable) car package is in turn packaged in typical horrible heat sealed clamshell package. I don’t see anything about “collectible”.
Just a “little” correction. The Rally Case also includes a car. So if you bought it, and all three track sets, you’d wind up with 5 cars.
The “super” set also shorts you on the clamps, you only get one. So unless the price is worth losing 2 clamps and 3 cars, beware of the “Super Set”.
I had Hot Wheels and just a few MircoMachines. My best friend in elementary school had all the cool MicroMachine playsets. I also had a few Matchbox cars but the Hot Wheels were always so much better.
@tnhillbillygal Hot Wheels were such a revelation when they came out. Matchbox cars were fun, but the Hot Wheels were FAST!
And the track, and all the accessories, and the wild car designs. We probably spent more time playing with Hot Wheels than anything else.
Looking back on it, my friend’s mom was amazingly tolerant. She didn’t object to us playing with Hot Wheels on and around their baby grand piano.
For anyone else who can’t live a full life without a World’s Smallest Hotwheels vehicle, Target has them for $4.
We grew up with a ton of Hot Wheels cars and tracks, including the Sizzlers and the Juice Machines. My nephews inherited most of them after my brother refurbished the motorized accessories and somewhere found repair wheels and such. They had a stairway down to the basement that allowed for some seriously impressive downhill racetracks.
It was good to see them being enjoyed as much as we had so may years before.
@duodec When I was a kid my neighbor had the Power Booster thingy which allowed you to build a circuit track and the cars would just go around and around. We would build it up to see how many loops we could add before the cars just wouldn’t make it around the circuit anymore.
Good times.
@duodec I’ll have to lookup refurbishing Sizzlers, I think I still have some. We had a set or two of the Fat Track.
Lots of photos and a video. https://hotwheelsracetracks.wordpress.com/tag/fat-track/
When we started agitating for the biggest Fat Track set, my dad steered us in the direction of slot cars instead. “Wouldn’t rather be able to control the cars?” he said.
@duodec @ruouttaurmind We had its grandaddy, the Supercharger.
The open design of the Power Booster is probably better, it wasn’t unusual to get a car wedged in the Supercharger, sometimes impressively so.
I just remembered that those antenna on the back of the Sizzlers were for a lap counter gadget.
@blaineg That is fantastic! I can’t explain what is so exciting about making toys go through buildings or tunnels. When I was building N gauge trains I would have more tunnels than open track. It’s nearly as compelling as loops in the Hot Wheels tracks. That little diner is a convergence of so many great things. (I’m totally geeking out
)
@blaineg @ruouttaurmind Thats the one we had; my brother said he disassembled it, degunked the motor (and lubed it) and replaced the perished foam on the drive wheels; the nephews were having a blast with it.
This is the only set that matters.
@mike808 Oh, there’s lots that matter, but now we’re into the gigantic 1/64 cars.
@blaineg @mike808 Heh. “Gigantic.”
@mike808 The Star Wars Character Cars are one of my current interests. The idea isn’t what a character would drive, it’s what they would look like if they WERE a car.
Chewie is fun, he’s got a Millennium Falcon guitar in his bed.
Or if you prefer, The Rebel Bass.