Mattel Hot Wheels Racer Verse Marty McFly Mattel, 2024
Day #2,793: December 11, 2024
Racer Verse Marty McFly Marty's First Power Wheels
Hot Wheels Racer Verse - Back to the Future
Item No.: Asst. HKB86 No. HRT26 Manufacturer:Mattel Includes:1 car with non-removable figure Action Feature:Rolls Retail:$5.99 Availability: October 2024 Other: Packed at one per case and selling fine
A sensible addition to Hot Wheels Racer Verse, and admittedly a little silly, is Marty McFly in Doc Brown's DeLorean Time Machine. Mattel has made many of these toys over the years - and so has Playmobil, LEGO, Ertl, Diamond Select, and yes, even McDonald's - but I think this is the first one to have its driver pop out of the roof.
As with the other RacerVerse toys, this one is a plastic chassis on a die-cast metal base, with nice spinny wheels and a painted non-removable driver. And like most recent releases, it takes a while to get to stores and costs a lot online for a while, much like the "kid toy" collector lines of the 1990s. Be patient, maybe buy a case, but do keep a lookout for him. I read there's a chase variant in the "Darth Vader" radiation suit, but I am not sure what its deal is yet. If that isn't a play for collectors, I don't know what is.
The cartoony Marty McFly doesn't look exactly like Michael J. Fox, but it's close enough for you to go "oh yeah, it's Alex Keaton." His hair is lively, with a wry smirk and a determined look on his face that says "I am actually in Mario Kart right now." The face paint is printed neatly and cleanly, with solid eyebrows and a decent amount of detail inside the car. The hands are the same color as the steering wheel, but they took the time to paint his vest orange with blue and white painted textures on his shirt. This sort of thing is increasingly normal in this and other figure lines, but it's still impressive to me. Toys are usually painted one or two colors, so a fancy pattern is not necessarily expected. He's unremovable, there's no articulation, but he looks cool and is certainly part of why this car isn't $1.25.
The car is molded in sparkly gray, rather than painting it, so you may see traces of that familiar "swirl" in the plastic that makes toy collectors flinch a bit - sometimes those don't age well. For now, at least, it looks good - the not-quite-Choro-Q car is squished and looks like the Time Machine from the movies. There's no DMC logo or OUTATIME license plate, but you'll see various time junk in the trunk, the cables running alongside the car - with painted details! - and even a painted Hot Wheels swoosh on the license plate. The brake lights are painted, as are other little details on the front and back - Mattel didn't cut too many corners here. For $6, they've got the budget for it.
The wheels have silver paint and look great. They spin well, and get the job done - the toy has a good heft to it and it feels like a nice, sturdy toy. I don't know t hat I'd say "this is something 1980s kids should have had" given the content in the movie, but as a weird movie fan I think I would've bought it back then. Well, maybe in 1989.
This series is shaping up to be one of the better pop culture toy lines out there thanks to its surprisingly wide-reaching approach to licenses. You may only get a couple of characters from a movie, but really, did you need many more? There are other variant DeLoreans (and drivers) left to do, but most fans are going to buy one from Back to the Future, or others from their other favorite TV shows or movies, and be happy. It's not something they're going to want dozens, or hundreds, from each property unless it's Mario Kart. Mattel did a nice job here, and I'll keep picking and choosing my favorites for as long as they keep pumping them out. I'd also recommend these as a last-minute gift for your office gift giving needs because while everybody probably has a Funko Pop!, something like this is cheaper and takes up less room. And you can actually race them.
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 
