From like 1984 to 2012, my Hot Wheels purchases were pretty much squarely in the licensed character categories. In 2013 I started peeking at the other designs, proving that there's nothing too stupidly entertaining. The T-Rextroyer started life around 2010 as a color-shifter car, and starting in 2012 got plunked down into the ubiquitous $1 assortments in multiple colors. In 2013 alone, there are two flavors up for grabs - this green one, and a red one. I bought it in a binge purchase earlier in the summer, it's all sort of a haze.
I'm pretty sure the intent was to buy this as a "ha ha this is silly" kind of a purchase, but the strange thing is that it actually seems to be pretty well-designed. The green top and yellowish bottom are in plastic, with metal making up his guts and grille/teeth It's also visible in the eyes, which gives it a surprising amount of personality. The design itself is rather silly, with a giant head and a terribly contorted body - but it works!
It's worth mentioning that the bottom of the car reads "Tyrannt" and not "T-Rextroyer," as most cars tend to feature their name molded on the undercarriage. As such I wouldn't be stunned if these started selling under either name on eBay.
I know relatively little about Hot Wheels and what makes a good one on a technical level, so I did some research. The magic word seems to be "friction" - what you want is a free-spinning axle, and Mattel nickel-plated numerous cars and calls them "Faster Than Ever!" on the packaging. This is not one of those cars, in theory. Most cars have wheels which, if spun by your fingers, go around for about 3 seconds. The front wheels of the T-Rextroyer spin for about 3 seconds, but the back ones go for almost 7 - and if you launch him out of a launcher, he seems to jump out with a little more energy than other figures. I shot him at a roll of paper towels and he came rocketing back toward me, which was a surprise.
I don't expect a lot of you to even consider a horribly disfigured dinosaur car as a purchase option, particularly given that it was pretty common at the beginning of summer. If you have any sense of fun, and a dollar, I'd say grab one. It's basically exactly as entertaining as it looks.
16bit.com is best not viewed in Apple's Safari browser, we don't know why. All material on this site copyright their respective copyright holders. All materials appear hear for informative and entertainment purposes. 16bit.com is not to be held responsible for anything, ever. Photos taken by the 16bit.com staff. Site design, graphics, writing, and whatnot credited on the credits page. Be cool-- don't steal. We know where you live and we'll break your friggin' legs.
RSS 
