She Chose... Poorly

Another Kmart Hot Wheels Collectors' Event has come and gone. Presumably there won't be another until February, so this was my last chance before Christmas to get it right. I had resolved to get to the nearest Kmart earlier than I did in September, which would be no easy task for someone who regularly rolls over and asks mom for five more hours, not minutes. Under normal circumstances, I would have turned off the alarm and gone back to sleep, but not this day. This day was important! There were Treasure Hunts and exclusive color cars at stake! So it was with a certain amout of pride that I got myself together and out the door a FULL FIFTEEN MINUTES earlier than last time. Hey, that's doing good for me. It was almost all for naught, though, as Mother Nature had other plans. Frost! Oh man... Why is it that I never expect to see frost encasing my car windows? Even when conditions are right, it always takes me by surprise. Well, I wasn't going to scrape. No time. Instead I let the car's heater run on defrost for a few minutes. Impatient sigh... Glance to the clock... another impatient sigh. No time to wait for the heater to do the job either. As soon as there was a hint of melting, I pulled out, using the windshield wiper fluid every few seconds to clear a space so I could see. Of course it would freeze over again almost immediately, so I had to keep it up until the car began to warm up. I say "began" because it never fully heated up. As I drove into Kmart's parking lot, the air coming out was still only lukewarm. But by that time, the sun was shining brightly -- so brightly that I had to stop and stare at it in amazement. I couldn't remember there being so much sunlight when I arrived for the last event. Or maybe it just seemed dark because I was still half-asleep. Not this time. Nor sir. I was primed to do much better than I did then. This time, I had a plan.

My primary objective, assuming my name was drawn, was the Treasure Hunt car, whatever it was. I see them so rarely, and I've never found one at Walmart or Target, leading me to suspect that either people know exactly when those stores restock their displays or employees are nabbing them before they can ever hit the shelves. Beyond that, I had my sights set on the exclusive color cars. Last time I bought two of the four exclusives, and while all those cars were still available after the fact, there were a lot fewer of the models I bought. I suspected that some of the exclusives might disappear altogether before I got a shot at the leftovers in the bins, so I wanted to get all the ones I wanted up front. I had decided to buy three of them -- the '56 Merc in orange and white, the Ford GT LM in yellow and the Corvette Grand Sport in black and orange.

It was roughly 8:35 am. I made my way to the back of the store, signed in, and was pleased to see that there weren't a lot of people who had gotten there before me. A large number of people continued to arrive long after I had found a confortable display of doggy squeak toys to lean against. One thing I did notice as I waited was that there were only four cases of Hot Wheels in the stack. I just assumed the other was out of view somewhere. There were always supposed to be five, right? Apparently not. As the clock hit 9:00 am, I overheard one of the clerks shrug and say, "Huh. There are only four cases this time. Oh well." The rules were the same as before. Each case had eight cartons within, so 32 names would be drawn. And each person drawn would have five minutes alone with their case to lay claim to no more than five cars. I'm still a bit baffled as to why some Kmarts let those who are drawn buy their whole carton if they want to. At this Kmart, they have a rule sheet printed up, presumably from corporate, and they stick to it.

There were no posters to be given away this time, so it was straight to the boxes. By this time a large crowd had gathered. I knew not getting chosen was a possibility, but I tried to remain upbeat as I waited, regardless. Meanwhile, little tidbits about the selection at hand came trickling out. "It's the '58 Impala!" someone reported in regards to the Treasure Hunt car. Trying not to get my hopes up, I craned my neck over a few shoulders, hoping to catch a glimpse before settling back against the squeakies again. Fortunately, my waiting paid off. After watching a number of people who had arrived after me get their turns, my name was finally drawn. Of course last time, they said that there might not be a Treasure Hunt car in every box, so I'd just have to take my chances. Lo and behold, there it was. As soon as I spotted it in the middle of the carton, I pulled it out to start my pile. It was just the regular version, but I wasn't about to complain.

Though I was seeing a number of new cars that I dearly wanted, I didn't let them distract me. I merely set them aside for the time being and kept searching for the exclusive color cars on my list. Of course they were in there, every last one of them. The only one that I was still vacillating on was the turquoise Nomad. I don't particularly like turquoise cars, and I already had it in a very snazzy red. I figured I'd be able to pick it up later if I changed my mind, so I passed it up. Big mistake.

As it turned out, the Nomad and the Merc were the only two of the exclusives to disappear completely. I even checked the other Kmart on the south side of town a few days later. Nothing. So unless Hot Wheels ships them some more, they are gone baby, gone. Drat. And I thought everyone would want the Corvette Grand Sport. Obviously I still have a lot to learn.

So what did I get instead of the Nomad? I decided to grab the IROC Pontiac Firebird decorated as a police car. In my experience, city works-type vehicles are often quick to disappear, and in the off-chance they got snapped up, I wanted one. I never saw the Heat Fleet '97 Corvette or the light blue '67 Pontiac Firebird 400, but I heard people talking about them after the fact (as in, "Hey, have you seen any of those in the bins? Someone had one, and I wanted to get one too!" I defintely didn't see any of the Hummer H2 SUT decorated as a police vehicle. What is it about that car? First the 2010 "Parks Department" version got away from me, and now I can't find the new one either.

Since Kmart had fewer cases than usual, there were fourteen people left out of the drawing, including one rather vocal woman who had spent most of the event complaining non-stop that she didn't recognize half the people there and loudly disparaging anyone who had brought a child with them. Never mind that she had her own child in tow. "This event is suppposed to be for collectors!" she'd sniff indignantly, griping about how she'd wind up paying as much as $50 for any cars she missed out on via eBay because her son just had to have every release. I could understand what she was trying to say on that front. It is annoying when you get home and discover many of the most coveted cars already up for auction online. But who can blame people for trying to make a buck in this economy? She was out of line to complain about children at the event, though. Lest we forget, Hot Wheels are toys, and most of us came to love them because of our experiences playing with them as children. I would never begrudge a child for getting and playing with a Hot Wheels car, no matter how collectible it was or how much I wanted it for myself. As for new people at the events, well guess what? You were a new person once too, lady. Get over yourself.

Because there were so many people left out, everyone unanimously agreed to let those people have first crack at the bins of leftovers. They were allowed five cars each, same as everyone else. This is probably the real reason some cars completely disappeared, but who was going to say "no"? Next time, it could be any one of us who gets left out, and we would want the same opportunity. When those people were finished, the rest of us had at the remaining leftovers, and I was happy enough to find fourteen more cars to buy. Unlike last time, this was the first time I had seen most of the cars in the boxes, so there were quite a few I needed. Like the red Ferrari 308 GTS. I had reluctantly purchased it in blue back in August, wishing it were red like the Magnum P.I. car. So naturally it comes out in red now. Grumble, grumble, grumble... I was equally pleased to get the Dodge Neon, which has only been released a couple of times previously. I drive a Neon, therefore I wanted it, even though this car looks absolutely nothing like mine.

Then there are the "first to market" cars to consider. These can be deceiving. It's very exciting to get them since they are guaranteed not to have been available anywhere else before the event. Sometimes they are fast to disappear, but the key is to keep reminding yourself that you'll see boatloads of them everywhere in the weeks ahead. Buy them if you want them, but it won't be your only chance to do so. I got two of the first to market cars this time, including the Customized C3500. What can I say? I just can't get enough of cars with flames. I also got the Ferrari F430 Spider in red. I had previously found one in yellow from 2009. Ugh. Why does Hot Wheels insist on making Ferraris in yellow? The logo is already yellow, you dolts, and they look like crud when you can't see it. Needless to say, when I find an old Ferrari on the shelf, it is almost always yellow. I have to suppress my gag reflex to buy it. Of course I'm not overly fond of yellow cars of any brand. Which brings us to the F-Racer I purchased.

The one I picked out had such dark paint as to be more gold than yellow. I might not have gotten it at all, but I actually like the design, and the bright blue works well as an accent. it brings to mind sunshine on the ocean. That and the fact that this model reminds me of nothing more than Shrek with those ear-like protrusions on the sides. Hot Wheels should make it in lime green with brown and oatmeal-gray accents. I guarantee it would be a best seller.

Of course there were many others -- the Dodge Challenger Drift Car, for example. I was quite pleased to throw each and every one of them in my box. Yes, I had the good sense to ask for my carton this time around. It does make one's selections so much easier to carry around, not to mention that they are probably collectible in their own right. So it was another successful event, even if I missed out on a few things. Hopefully the weather will cooperate in February so I can make my third consecutive appearance at one of these things. Maybe then I'll be able to say with certainty that I'm not one of the people that the annoying woman doesn't recognize.