16bit.com Figure of the Day Review: Mattel Hot Wheels Racer Verse Spider-Man Die-Cast Metal Vehicle

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Mattel Hot Wheels Racer Verse Spider-Man Mattel, 2023

Day #2,808: January 15, 2025

Racer Verse Spider-Man As Evergreen As It Gets Hot Wheels Racer Verse - Marvel Item No.: Asst. HKB86 No. HKB96 Manufacturer: Mattel Includes: 1 car with non-removable figure Action Feature: Rolls Retail: $5.99 Availability: 2023-2025 (and beyond?) Other: Also available in Iron Spidey and Black Spidey colorways
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For a couple of years, I've seen the Hot Wheels Racer Verse, and thought "hunh, neat." After buying a couple of Star Wars cars I picked up a case from work, including Spider-Man in a Spider-Buggy. It's a non-removable plastic figure in a die-cast metal (and plastic) vehicle, with multiple molded colors of plastic and pretty good wheels. When you see it, it looks like a cheap Happy Meal toy. When you hold it, it feels about as good as the better Hot Wheels cars you may have bought. Is it worth the six bucks? I mean, it's a stretch, and deco isn't free, but yeah it's pretty cool. If I had to buy toys for some kid I didn't know, I'd probably buy them some of these. I also think if this line continues a couple more years, it'll probably be something with a small cult collector base in 10 or 20 years. It's a distinctive format and while the line is big, it's not so big a fan couldn't get their hands around it.

This toy (or one very much like it) has been in circulation for a couple of years, sometimes in gift sets, or a redeco convention exclusive. It's good enough that you might want to give it a look if you see one in a store.

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It's not $1.25. It'd be silly to say it's worth four regular Hot Wheels cars, but you can see more going on with complex paint printing on the headlights and sparkly blue paint. The eyes and webbing are painted well, and the white on teh wheels looks good. With no silver (or metallic silver) on the wheels, it doesn't necessarily register as "Hot Wheels" visually - but it does look like it's shaped like a friendly neighborhood toy.

Most of these cars have a driver with both hands molded on the wheel - you know, for safety. Spider-Man has one hand in a "thwip" pose, not unlike your average toy reviewer eating a bag of free-dried apple chunks on a bicycle on the way home from lunch. The fingers are absolutely tiny, and you can see his index and pinky fingers extended while the other two are pointing back. At this scale, it feels like the kind of thing you don't see much. The car is round and friendly, with eye-shaped yellow headlights, painted red brake lights, and even a white license plate with a Hot Wheels swoosh on it. This is where your money is going - a typical car may leave off these details.

But wait, there's more. The red arms are a little rubbery, with black webs. The body is molded in blue with a lot of red and black paint printed on them - you can see the dots around the armpits, where it's a tiny bit imperfect - but it's still pretty excellent. The eyes have a very subtle texture to them, giving their sizable whites more than a little bit of a subtle sparkle. It could have just been flat, but no - it's impressive. This is the kind of thing they're going to probably lose with time, and if these guys are reissued in 20 years I assume will be missed completely. (Not that I'm bitter about any lost detailing on retro toys.)

It has a level of detail slightly better than the rest of these cars (that I've bought so far.) Mattel probably understands Spider-Man will be in circulation for years, so those minor design flourishes are going to be the kind of thing where your investment in time will eventually pay off. It's got some nice heft to it and feels pretty sturdy, provided you don't catch something on its arm and snap it off. This is why you want it to be flexible.

Any time someone makes a new Spider-Man toy for kids, I usually want to get a look at it. They're not all amazing, but usually this results in me seeing something interesting like Toy Biz' ongoing experiments in articulation, Hasbro's taking over the license, and so on and so forth. Seeing a decent toy Spider-Man with no articulation at all surprised me, and I'd recommend it to you, mostly for your kids. If you need a toy car for your desk at work, this is pretty worthwhile. I'd suggest getting it if the mood strikes when you're heading to the register with your batteries or ramen.

--Adam Pawlus

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