PEZ - Old and Valueable

PEZ was first marketed as a compressed peppermint sweet or candy in Vienna, Austria. It was invented in 1927 in Vienna by a confectioner named Eduard Haas III. Haas invented peppermints using family owned baking powders, and decided to serve the mints in small, hand-size containers. He manufactured a small tin to hold the mints, similar to the modern Altoids tins. The first PEZ mint dispensers, known as "regulars," were similar in shape to a cigarette lighter, and dispensed an adult breath mint marketed as an alternative to smoking. They were invented by Oscar Uxa. Haas Food Manufacturing Corporation of Vienna, Austria, was the first to sell PEZ products.

World War II slowed marketing and production. In 1945, manufacturers devised and promoted the PEZ Box Regular. In 1952 Eduard Haas introduced his product to the United States, and Curtis Allina headed PEZ's U.S. business. In 1955, the PEZ company placed heads on the dispensers and marketed them for children. Santa Claus and Mickey Mouse were among the first character dispensers. Since 1950, over 550 different PEZ dispensers, including the original character dispensers have been created.

In 1973, PEZ built their factory in Orange, Connecticut. In 1983, Scott McWhinnie became the president of the PEZ company. He would retire in 2003, transferring the presidential position to Joe Vittoria. In the 1990s the size of the plant was doubled, the PEZ dispenser was expanded, and peppermint flavored PEZ candies were reintroduced along with remakes of the 'regulars.'

In early 2006 the family of the original founder of the company bought back 32.5% of the stock from investment company PGH for €18M. They now own 67.5% of the company. The headquarters are in Traun, Austria. The PEZ candies are produced in Traun and Orange, Connecticut, while the dispensers are produced in Hungary and China.

Some PEZ dispensers can sell for large amounts as collectibles. The highest verifiable sale of PEZ dispenser was a private sale of a Mickey Mouse softhead at $7000 between an Austrian dealer and a California collector. This dispenser was never available for sale to the public, and was a factory prototype. The high prices which some PEZ items fetch has led to the manufacturing of fake PEZ items as well. The 2006 EBAY sale of a clear 50s Space Gun for $11,000 took place but according to noted PEZ author, David Welch, the dispenser was later proven by chemical testing to be a well made fake. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/PEZ-,category,1892,parent_id,categories

PEZ - More Than Just Candy

PEZ is the brand name of an Austrian confectionery and the pocket mechanical dispensers it was sold in. The confectionery itself takes the shape of pressed, dry, straight-edged blocks (15mm (5/8 inch) long, 8mm wide and 5mm high), with PEZ dispensers holding 12 PEZ pieces.

The name PEZ was derived from the letters at the start, the middle and the end of the German word for peppermint, Pfefferminz, the first PEZ flavor. PEZ was originally introduced in Austria, later exported, notably to the U.S., and eventually became available worldwide. The all-uppercase spelling of PEZ echoes the trademark's style of type on packaging and the dispensers themselves, drawn in perspective and looking as if the letters were built out of 44 brick-like PEZ confectioneries (14 bricks in the P and 15 in each of the E and Z).

Despite the widespread recognition of the PEZ dispenser, the company considers itself to be primarily a confectionery company, and says it produces over 3 billion confectionery bricks each year in the U.S. alone. PEZ Dispensers are part of popular culture in many nations. Because of the large number of dispenser designs over the years, PEZ dispensers are collected by enthusiasts. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/PEZ-,category,1892,parent_id,categories

Beanie Babies - Do you Have a Rare One?

During the Beanie Baby craze, the rarest general issue beanie, according to the Winter 2000 edition of Ty Beanie Babies, published by Collectors Value Guide, was considered to be the dark blue variation of "Peanut" the elephant. Peanut was available well into 1998 in a lighter hue, but the dark blue version that was only made accidentally in 1995 rose in value because of its scarcity. "Nana the monkey" was considered the second rarest Beanie Baby; because only a few early 3rd gen tags use that name instead of Bongo. The early wingless version of "Quackers" the duck, "Chilly" the polar bear, the earlier versions of "Nip" and "Zip" the cats, "Peking" the panda bear; a series of colored bears named "Teddy" (which are even harder to find with the earlier "old face"), and "Humphrey" the camel also command high prices. Some special edition Beanies, such as the #1 Bear or the Billionaire bears (which are only available as gifts to Ty employees), are hard to come across and highly valued. Earlier editions of common Beanie Babies (particularly with first or second generation hang tags) are often sought-after by collectors. Particular hang tag variations in mint condition continue to make record prices on eBay.

In the hysteria of the late 90s, the bears were perceived to be the most sought-after beanies, and often carried inflated price tags - however, many of the popular bears have since turned out to be fairly common.

MOST NOTABLE BEANIES

Garcia the bear

Garcia the bear was released in January 1996 and retired in May 1997. He is a tie-dyed bear that seems to be a tribute to Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead. The band used to use a set of colored dancing bears as their logo. The guitarist and the bear share a birthday, but the bear was supposedly "born" the year that Jerry died. The fast retirement for this Beanie Baby was due to an alleged lawsuit that the Garcia family filed against the Ty company, claiming that the name "Garcia" was used without permission from the family. In cooperation with the lawsuit, Garcia was retired and a similar bear named Peace was released.

The bright colors on Garcia the bear made him one of the most popular Beanie Baby styles. Many people enjoy trying to find different colors on Garcia and community of tie-dye collectors continue to make the bear's value unpredictable.

Princess the bear

Princess the bear was released in late 1997 as a charity release for the Princess, Diana of Wales Memorial Fund. All of Ty Inc's profits from the bear were donated to the fund. Many people expected the bear to become a major celebrity collectible, but the Ty company continued to make the bear well into 1999 so that they could raise more money for the charity. Princess is also notable as the first Beanie Baby to feature a special hang tag that does not clearly fit in with any particular hang tag generation.

It's also important to note that Princess the Bear was one of the very first Beanie Babies that Ty limited to stores. In its first shipment to stores, each account only received twelve of the bear to do with as they wished. Many stores auctioned it to help raise money, others kept the twelve for its store employees, yet others sold it normally. Ty manufactured the Princess Bear with two different types of "beans" within the bear itself. The PE pellets were in the original 12 to every account, and the PVC pellets came later, and is why the Princess Bear's value is really only determined by the styled of pellets inside. After the PVC pellets were introduced in Princess, Ty began to make all his Beanies with PVC pellets.

Decade the bear

Decade the bear was made in honor of Beanie Babies' tenth anniversary. Decade bears were made in white, royal blue, red, purple, orange, hot pink, green, gold, brown, and light blue. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Beannie-Babies,category,1874,parent_id,categories

Beanie Babies - Good While They Lasted

A Beanie Baby is a stuffed animal made by Ty Inc., which was founded by Ty Warner. The Ty company's famous special "posable lining" is under stuffed with plastic pellets (or "beans") rather than stuffing (see PVC and PE), giving Beanie Babies a flexible and cuddly feel. A Beanie Baby is essentially a fancy bean bag in the form of a stuffed animal.

The original nine Beanie Babies launched in 1993 were Legs the Frog, Squealer the Pig, Spot the Dog, Flash the Dolphin, Splash the Whale, Chocolate the Moose, Patti the Platypus, Brownie the Bear (later renamed "Cubbie") and Punchers the Lobster (later renamed "Pinchers"). The line became a phenomenon in the late 90s when Beanie Babies became both a fad and a collectible. Ty decided to stop making Beanies in 1999; however, consumer demand made Ty Warner change his mind. He continues to run Ty Inc. and design new Beanie Babies to this day.

Teenie Beanies, an offshoot of the Beanie Babies line, were made by additional manufacturers for a few McDonalds Happy Meal promotions.

Beanie Babies began to emerge as popular collectibles in late 1995, and became a hot toy. Ty systematically retired various designs, and many people assumed that all "retired" designs would rise in value the way that early retirees had. The craze lasted through 1999 and slowly declined after the Ty company's announcement that they would no longer be making Beanie Babies and made a bear called "The End". The line was brought back with completely new styles in early 2000 as a result of an online vote over whether more Beanies should be released. Many believe that the mass retirement and subsequent revival were a publicity stunt, but Beanie Babies had fallen out of favor with many children by the time the line was relaunched. In recent years, the popularity of Beanie Babies has continued to fade. Some of the more common styles can be found fairly cheaply. New Beanie Baby designs continue to be released, and increasingly include bears and limited edition items. On December 27, 2007, Ty made a massive retirement of its Beanie Baby line, retiring over 240 styles of Beanie Babies, leaving only licensed characters, key-clip versions of popular Beanie Baby styles, popular store exclusives and country exclusives as current. On January 2, 2008, Ty introduced a "replacement" line called Beanie Babies 2.0, the next generation of the beanbag toys. While the aforementioned current styles will continue to be produced and special Beanie Babies will be released, the remainder of future retail styles will be produced under the new line, in which collectors can purchase their Beanies and use a scratch-off code to go online and play with their new pet in a virtual world, much akin to other collectibles like Neopets and Webkinz.

The tags on Beanie Babies are considered a very important part of its value. It is widely believed by collectors that a Beanie without a tag loses half of its value. Every Beanie Baby has at least two tags: a swing tag (also known as a "hang tag", "ear tag" or "heart tag"), and a tush tag (usually attached to the Beanie's rear end). Both tags have gone through many changes over time; these changes have become known as "generations". There are currently 15 generations of swing tags and 13 generations of tush tags. Additionally, there are also extra tags for certain regions that include things like safety information to comply with the Canadian Stuffed Articles Act or the CE Mark requirements in Europe.

A few tag "generations" have become particularly noteworthy. Most Beanie Babies with first, second, or third generation hang tags have held their value (or in the case of some harder to find styles, increased in value), while fourth and fifth generation hang tags indicate Beanies that were available during the Beanie fad. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Beannie-Babies,category,1874,parent_id,categories

Barbie - Competition has Arrived

In June 2001, MGA Entertainment launched the Bratz range of dolls, a move that would give Barbie her first serious competition in the fashion doll market. In 2004 sales figures showed that Bratz dolls were outselling Barbie dolls in the United Kingdom, although Mattel maintained that in terms of the number of dolls, clothes and accessories sold, Barbie remained the leading brand. In 2005 figures showed that sales of Barbie dolls had fallen by 30% in the United States, and by 18% worldwide, with much of the drop being attributed to the popularity of Bratz dolls.

Mattel sued MGA Entertainment for $500 million alleging that Bratz creator Carter Bryant was working for Mattel when he developed the idea for Bratz. On July 17, 2008, a federal jury ruled that the Bratz line was created by Carter Bryant while he was working for Mattel. The jury also ruled that MGA and its Chief Executive Officer Isaac Larian were liable for converting Mattel property for their own use and intentionally interfering with the contractual duties owed by Bryant to Mattel. On August 26, the jury found that Mattel would have to be paid US $100 million in damages.

On December 3, 2008, U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson banned MGA from selling Bratz. He allowed the company to continue selling the dolls until the winter holiday season ended. The ruling will be in effect on February 11, 2009 at the earliest, and Mattel and MGA will meet in court on that date. According to the terms of the court order, after the end of the holiday season, MGA must remove, at its own cost, all the Bratz dolls from store shelves, including the reimbursement of the cost of the dolls and all shipping costs to its vendors and distributors. The court gave exceptions for some toys if they are packaged separately from infringing toys. MGA announced that it would be appealing against the court's ruling.

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Barbie - A True Collectors Item

Mattel estimates that there are well over 100,000 avid Barbie collectors. Ninety percent are women, at an average age of 40, purchasing more than twenty Barbie dolls each year. Forty-five percent of them spend upwards of $1000 a year.

Vintage Barbie dolls from the early years are the most valuable at auction, and while the original Barbie was sold for $3.00 in 1959, a mint boxed Barbie from 1959 sold for $3552.50 on eBay in October 2004. On September 26, 2006, a Barbie doll set a world record at auction of £9,000 sterling (US $17,000) at Christie's in London. The doll was a Barbie in Midnight Red from 1965 and was part of a private collection of 4,000 Barbie dolls being sold by two Dutch women, Ietje Raebel and her daughter Marina.

In recent years Mattel has sold a wide range of Barbie dolls aimed specifically at collectors, including porcelain versions, vintage reproductions, and depictions of Barbie as a range of characters from television series such as The Munsters and Star Trek.^[48][49] There are also collector's edition dolls depicting Barbie dolls with a range of different ethnic identities. In 2004 Mattel introduced the Color Tier system for its collector's edition Barbie dolls, ranging through pink, silver, gold and platinum depending on how many of the dolls are produced.

Barbie celebrates her 50th anniversary in 2009, and Mattel released a new reproduction of the original 1959 Barbie doll to mark the occasion. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Dolls--Barbie,category,1884,parent_id,categories

Barbie - Popularity brings Controversy

Barbie's popularity ensures that her effect on the play of children attracts a high degree of scrutiny. The criticisms leveled at her are often based on the assumption that children consider Barbie a role model and will attempt to emulate her.

One of the most common criticisms of Barbie is that she promotes an unrealistic idea of body image for a young woman, leading to a risk that girls who attempt to emulate her will become anorexic. A standard Barbie doll is 11.5 inches tall, giving a height of 5 feet 9 inches at 1/6 scale. Barbie's vital statistics have been estimated at 36 inches (chest), 18 inches (waist) and 33 inches (hips). According to research by the University Central Hospital in Helsinki, Finland, she would lack the 17 to 22 percent body fat required for a woman to menstruate. In 1965 Slumber Party Barbie came with a book entitled How to Lose Weight which advised: "Don't eat." The doll also came with pink bathroom scales reading 110 lbs., which would be around 35 lbs. underweight for a woman 5 feet 9 inches tall. In 1997 Barbie's body mold was redesigned and given a wider waist, with Mattel saying that this would make the doll better suited to contemporary fashion designs.

During Barbie's 50th anniversary, BBC did a follow-up article on what a real woman would look like with Barbie's proportions, and discovered that real-life model Libby would have a 20 in. waist and 29 in. hips with her 5'6" height, and a 28 in. waist and 40 in. hips if she was 7'6" tall.

In July 1992 Mattel released Teen Talk Barbie, which spoke a number of phrases including "Will we ever have enough clothes?", "I love shopping!", and "Wanna have a pizza party?" Each doll was programmed to say four out of 270 possible phrases, so that no two dolls were likely to be the same. One of these 270 phrases was "Math class is tough!" (often misquoted as "Math is hard"). Although only about 1.5% of all the dolls sold said the phrase, it led to criticism from the American Association of University Women. In October 1992 Mattel announced that Teen Talk Barbie would no longer say the phrase, and offered a swap to anyone who owned a doll that did.

• "Colored Francie" made her debut in 1967, and she is sometimes described as the first African American Barbie doll. However, she was produced using the existing head molds for the white Francie doll and lacked African characteristics other than a dark skin. The first African American doll in the Barbie range is usually regarded as Christie, who made her debut in 1968. Black Barbie and Hispanic Barbie were launched in 1980.
• In 1997 Mattel joined forces with Nabisco to launch a cross-promotion of Barbie with Oreo cookies. Oreo Fun Barbie was marketed as someone with whom little girls could play after class and share "America's favorite cookie." As had become the custom, Mattel manufactured both a white and a black version. Critics argued that in the African American community Oreo is a derogatory term meaning that the person is "black on the outside and white on the inside," like the chocolate sandwich cookie itself. The doll was unsuccessful and Mattel recalled the unsold stock, making it sought after by collectors.
• In May 1997 Mattel introduced Share a Smile Becky, a doll in a pink wheelchair. Kjersti Johnson, a 17-year-old high school student in Tacoma, Washington with cerebral palsy, pointed out that the doll would not fit into the elevator of Barbie's $100 Dream House. Mattel announced that it would redesign the house in the future to accommodate the doll.
• In March 2000 stories appeared in the media claiming that the hard vinyl used in vintage Barbie dolls could leak toxic chemicals, causing danger to children playing with them. The claim was rejected as false by technical experts. A modern Barbie doll has a body made from ABS plastic, while the head is made from soft PVC.
• In September 2003 the Middle Eastern country of Saudi Arabia outlawed the sale of Barbie dolls, saying that she did not conform to the ideals of Islam. The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stated "Jewish Barbie dolls, with their revealing clothes and shameful postures, accessories and tools are a symbol of decadence to the perverted West. Let us beware of her dangers and be careful." In Middle Eastern countries there is an alternative doll called Fulla which is similar to Barbie but is designed to be more acceptable to an Islamic market. Fulla is not made by the Mattel Corporation, and Barbie is still available in other Middle Eastern countries including Egypt. In Iran, Sara and Dara dolls are available as an alternative to Barbie.
• In December 2005 Dr. Agnes Nairn at the University of Bath in England published research suggesting that girls often go through a stage where they hate their Barbie dolls and subject them to a range of punishments, including decapitation and placing the doll in a microwave oven. Dr. Nairn said: "It's as though disavowing Barbie is a rite of passage and a rejection of their past."
• On February 12, 2009, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader Barbie won the inaugural TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children) Award for the worst toy of the year. The award was given by the campaign for a Commercial-free Childhood for its "...host of harmful expectations about what girls are supposed to be like."
• In March 2009, West Virginia Delegate Jeff Eldridge introduced a bill to "ban the sale of Barbie dolls and other dolls that influence girls to be beautiful" within the state of West Virginia. The bill does not provide a punishment for violation, and Delegate Eldridge admitted that the bill "doesn't have a lot of teeth."
• In April 2009, the launch of a "Totally Tattoos" Barbie with a range of tattoos that could be applied to the doll, including a tramp stamp, led to controversy. Mattel's promotional material read "Customize the fashions and apply the fun temporary tattoos on you too", but Ed Mayo, chief executive of Consumer Focus, argued that children might want to get tattooed themselves.
• The word Barbie has come to be used as a derogatory slang term for a girl or woman who is considered shallow, most notably in the 1997 pop song Barbie Girl (see Parodies and lawsuits below).
  

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Barbie - History of the Queen

Ruth Handler watched her daughter Barbara at play with paper dolls, and noticed that she often enjoyed giving them adult roles. At the time, most children's toy dolls were representations of infants. Realizing that there could be a gap in the market, Handler suggested the idea of an adult-bodied doll to her husband Elliot, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company. He was unenthusiastic about the idea, as were Mattel's directors.

During a trip to Europe in 1956 with her children Barbara and Kenneth, Ruth Handler came across German toy doll called Bild Lilli.^[1] The adult-figured doll was exactly what Handler had in mind, so she purchased three of them. She gave one to her daughter and took the others back to Mattel. The Lilli doll was based on a popular character appearing in a comic strip drawn by Reinhard Beuthin for the newspaper Die Bild-Zeitung. Lilli was a working girl who knew what she wanted and was not above using men to get it. The Lilli doll was first sold in Germany in 1955, and although it was initially sold to babies, it became popular with adults who enjoyed dressing her up in outfits that were available separately.

Upon her return to the United States, Handler reworked the design of the doll (with help from engineer Jack Ryan) and the doll was given a new name, Barbie, after Handler's daughter Barbara. The doll made its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959. This date is also used as Barbie's official birthday.

Mattel acquired the rights to the Bild Lilli doll in 1964 and production of Lilli was stopped. The first Barbie doll wore a black and white zebra striped swimsuit and signature topknot ponytail, and was available as either a blonde or brunette. The doll was marketed as a "Teen-age Fashion Model," with her clothes created by Mattel fashion designer Charlotte Johnson. The first Barbie dolls were manufactured in Japan, with their clothes hand-stitched by Japanese homeworkers. Around 350,000 Barbie dolls were sold during the first year of production.

Ruth Handler believed that it was important for Barbie to have an adult appearance, and early market research showed that some parents were unhappy about the doll's chest, which had distinct breasts. Barbie's appearance has been changed many times, most notably in 1971 when the doll's eyes were adjusted to look forwards rather than having the demure sideways glance of the original model.

Barbie was one of the first toys to have a marketing strategy based extensively on television and advertising, which has been copied widely by other toys. It is estimated that over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide in over 150 countries, with Mattel claiming that two Barbie dolls are sold every second.^[2]

The standard range of Barbie dolls and related accessories are manufactured to approximately 1/6th scale, which is also known as playscale.^[3] Barbie products include not only the range of dolls with their clothes and accessories, but also a huge range of Barbie branded goods such as books, fashion items and video games. Barbie has appeared in a series of animated films and made a brief guest appearance in the 1999 film Toy Story 2.

Barbie has become a cultural icon and has been given honors that are rare in the toy world. In 1974 a section of Times Square in New York City was renamed Barbie Boulevard for a week, In 1985 the artist Andy Warhol created a painting of Barbie. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Dolls--Barbie,category,1884,parent_id,categories

Barbie - The Queen of Dolls

Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler (1916-2002) is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration.

Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. In a series of novels published by Random House in the 1960s, her parents' names are given as George and Margaret Roberts from the fictional town of Willows, Wisconsin.^[6]

In the Random House novels, Barbie attended Willows High School, while in in the Generation Girl books published by Golden Books in 1999 she attended the fictional Manhattan International High School in New York City (based on the real-life Stuyvesant High School^[7]). She has an on-off romantic relationship with her boyfriend Ken (Ken Carson), who first appeared in 1961. Like Barbie, Ken shares his name with one of Ruth Handler's children. A news release from Mattel in February 2004 announced that Barbie and Ken had decided to split up, but in February 2006 they were back together again.

Barbie has had over forty pets including cats and dogs, horses, a panda, a lion cub, and a zebra. She has owned a wide range of vehicles, including pink Corvette convertibles, trailers and jeeps. She also holds a pilot's license, and operates commercial airliners in addition to serving as a flight attendant. Barbie's careers are designed to show that women can take on a variety of roles in life, and the doll has been sold with a wide range of titles including Miss Astronaut Barbie (1965), Doctor Barbie (1988) and Nascar Barbie (1998).^[10]

Mattel has created a range of companions for Barbie, including Hispanic Teresa, Midge, African American Christie and Steven (Christie's boyfriend). Barbie's siblings and cousins were also created including Skipper, Tutti (Todd's twin sister), Todd (Tutti's and Stacie's twin brother), Stacie (Todd's twin sister), Kelly, Krissy, Francie, and Jazzie.

Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for fifty years, and has been the subject of numerous controversies and lawsuits, often involving parody of the doll and her lifestyle. In recent years, Barbie has faced increasing competition from the Bratz range of dolls. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Dolls--Barbie,category,1884,parent_id,categories

Hot Wheels - The Sizzlers Line

The Sizzlers were a 1970s Hot Wheels spin off with a built-in motor and a tiny rechargeable battery. (The X-V racers of the 90s were similar.) They were introduced in 1970 and became an instant smash. Sizzlers run on the regular "orange" Hot Wheels track, and Mattel created special race sets with U-Turns, multi-level spirals and loops to take advantage of the cars' electric motor. Two lane race sets such as the California/8 race set were developed that allowed Sizzlers to race side-by side, until Mattel created the black Fat Track, which is three lanes wide, with steep banked curves, and designed to allow Sizzlers to run free. In action, Sizzlers display a unique, competitive "passing action" when running on the Fat Track, as if each car were piloted by an impatient driver trying to jockey ahead of the rest. The Fat Track sets included the "Big O", "California 500", and Super Circuit" race sets, and accessories such as the "Scramble Start" (a four-car starting gate), "Lap Computer" four car lap counter, and "Race-Timer" stop watch.

Six cars were made in 1970, 12 cars were made in 1971, and 4 cars were made in 1972. The "Fat Daddy" Sizzlers (oversized bodies with huge tires) were introduced in 1973. Mattel put the Sizzlers on a hiatus after that year, and in 1976 they created Sizzlers II. That next year, the Night Ridin' Sizzlers (which had headlights you could turn on or off) were created. Because of faded popularity (because of perhaps poor marketing^[4], Mattel permanently stopped Sizzlers production in 1978.

Sizzlers were (and are) charged with four or two D battery chargers called the Juice Machine and Goose Pump respectively. Later, the Power Pit was introduced--which was an electric charger that plugged into any household AC outlet and resembled a race track garage or pit stop. A 90-second charge of the tiny internal NiCad battery gives up to five minutes of frenetic run time. It has been said that the 90-second charge time was "the longest minute and a half in a kid's life"m as they waited impatiently for the car to charge sufficiently to get back into the race.

The Sizzler electric technology spun-off into the Hotline Trains, which ran on track similar to regular Hot Wheels, and the Earthshakers construction vehicles. Both lines of vehicles were charged using the Sizzler Juice Machine or Power Pit.

In the 1990s, toy company Playing Mantis re-released Sizzlers in NASCAR stock car models and reproduced the Fat Track as the "Stocker 400" and "Mach 500" track sets. The Juice machine was renamed the "Mega-Charger" and incorporated a more efficient "trickle charge" rather than the "dump charge" of the original machines. Interest in the Sizzlers line began to increase once again. They were taken off the market after Mattel filed a lawsuit against Playing Mantis. However, Sizzlers returned again in 2006, when Mattel struck an exclusive deal with Target stores to re-release Sizzlers cars, the "Big O" Fat track, Juice Machine and car carrying case--all in the original packaging from the 1970s. As of January 2009, the Sizzlers line has been discontinued by Target. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Hot-Wheels,category,1880,parent_id,categories

Hot Wheels - Classics Edition

The Hot Wheels Classics line was an immediate hit with enthusiasts everywhere. The new line focused on muscle cars, hot rods, and other offbeat vehicles (such as a go-kart, a motorhome and even an airplane), many from the company's first ten years (1968-78) of production.

Series 1 from 2005 consisted of 25 models, each with all-metal body and chassis, decked out with Spectraflame paint, in packages similar to those used from 1968–1972. Each car had a retail price of about three to four dollars (USD) and each of the 25 cars were released with 7 or 8 different colors. Models included the '57 Chevy Bel Air (pictured at the right), the '63 Ford T-Bird, and the '65 Pontiac GTO.

There were also track sets in similarly-retro packaging, and 1:18 scale Hot Wheels Classics. The Classics version of the Purple Passion was released with Real Riders tires at the San Diego Comic Con. Mattel also produced a Classics Olds 442 in Spectraflame blue for the 2005 Toy Fair.

In late 2005, Series 2 now consisted of 30 models including the '67 Camaro Convertible, the '69 Dodge Charger, and a '65 Mustang Mach 1. There was also supposed to be a separate "Mustang Funny Car" (as listed on the blisterpack rear checklist) but this was apparently charged to a Plymouth Barracuda Funny Car during production.

In 2006, a Series 3 line of Classics was introduced, again containing 30 models with multiple colors of each vehicle. Models included the '69 Pontiac Firebird, a Meyers Manx dune buggy, and the Richard Petty '70 Plymouth "Superbird".

In 2007, Series 4 debuted with just fifteen models. However, in recognition of the 40th anniversary there were two packaging versions available - models came with a collectible metal badge (featuring a portrait of the involved vehicle) or were sold alone as in the previous three series. Models included a VW Karmann Ghia, a '68 Mercury Cougar, and the "Red Baron" hot rod.

In 2009, Series 5 has 30 models. For the first time, there are chase cars in the classics series. These cars feature real rubber tires. A few models included are Copper Stopper, 1970 Pontiac GTO, and Hammer Sled. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Hot-Wheels,category,1880,parent_id,categories

Hot Wheels - Special Model Lines

Hot Wheels has also released slightly larger, more detailed models, such as the original Gran Toros (1/43rd scale) from 1970, and the Dropstars line (a model line of "blinged" cars). Also in this larger scale are the HIN (Hot Import Nights), G-Machines and Customs lines. These lines were introduced in 2004–2005.

Hot Wheels has produced many replica scale models in the industry standard 1/43rd, 1/24th and 1/18th scales. In 2004 They released a 1/12th scale replica of the C6Corvette.

Other lines from Hot Wheels include: R-R-Rumblers & Chopcycles (motorcycles introduced in 1971), Hotbirds (metal airplanes), Sizzlers, XV Racers, Hot Tunerz and Stockerz.

Over the years, Mattel has also teamed up with other retail organizations to produce special models available through those retailers. The list of retailers includes Avon, Chuck E. Cheese, Dinty Moore, FAO Schwarz, Full Grid, General Mills, Getty, HEB, Hills, Hormel, Hughes Family Markets, JC Penney, JC Whitney, Kay-Bee Toys, K-Mart, Kellogg's, Kool-Aid, Kroger, Lexmark, Liberty Promotions (contracted the series of special models for Jiffy Lube and Penske), Little Debbie Snacks, Malt-O-Meal, McDonald's, Mervyn's, Otter Pops, Rose's Discount Stores, Shell, Target, Tony's Pizza, Toys-R-Us, Union 76, Valvoline, Van de Kamp's, WalMart, and White's Guide to Collecting, as well as several Major League Baseball franchises to name a few. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Hot-Wheels,category,1880,parent_id,categories

Hot Wheels - The Elusive Treasure Hunts

The Treasure Hunt series was introduced in 1995 with 12 cars that were specially detailed and produced in limited numbers. The initial run consisted of 10,000 units worldwide. The Treasure Hunt Series was an instant hit, and as a result, production increased to 25,000 units per car in 1996 and 1997. Mattel stopped publicly releasing production numbers on the Treasure Hunt line in 1998.

Treasure Hunts are packaged and labeled as "Treasure Hunt" or "T-Hunt" in a green bar with a picture of a treasure chest. The cars are decorated with flashy designs and usually have special "rubber" wheels. While they market at the retail price of all other cars, they have a high resale price tag on the Internet and in stores specializing in collectibles when first released. The Internet price does typically stabilize once more of the cars are available on the market. Sometimes collectors will see this as the car dropping in price but empirical data strongly indicates otherwise. Instead, the high prices we see initially are the result of the Internet boom. When only a few new Treasure Hunts are available on the market and hundreds of collectors are after it, the price will skyrocket. Data collected over the past twelve years actually indicates the price on Treasure Hunts is rising quite well in general. Often when collectors quote a value, they do not take into account shipping costs and risk as negative factors in the on-line market.

Treasure Hunts are not only released as individual cars, but also in complete boxed sets through Mattel's Redline Club or through JC Penney. These sets are more rare than the Treasure Hunt cars themselves with known production numbers ranging from as low as 2,000 to 6,000 sets. The set is generally worth the combined value of each car plus the packaging it comes in that makes it a unique set and is considered to be worth even more than a loose set of the individual cars.

In 2007, Mattel changed the Treasure Hunt lineup by releasing 12 regular and 12 "Super" Treasure Hunts. The production numbers of the regular Treasure Hunts are thought to be greater than the number of Super Treasure Hunts and they feature un-modified existing Hot Wheels models in colour schemes unique to the Treasure Hunt range. The Super Treasure Hunts are often finished in the newly re-created "spectraflame" paint finish and include the more authentic "real-rider" wheels that have personified the Treasure Hunt line since its inception. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Hot-Wheels,category,1880,parent_id,categories

Hot Wheels in the New Millenium (2000's) - The Dynasty Continues....

A new generation of Hot Wheels Designers came in. Eric Tscherne and Fraser Campbell along with former designer Paul Tam's son, Alec Tam, joined the design team. Many still work for Mattel today. Tscherne's Seared Tuner (formerly Sho-Stopper) graced the mainline packaging from 2000 to 2003. The Deora II, one of only two Hot Wheels concept cars ever made into full-size, functional cars, was also released this year.

In 2001, During this year Mattel issued 240 mainline releases consisting of 12 Treasure Hunts, 36 First Editions, 12 Segment Series with 4 cars each, and 144 open stock cars. Popular models that debuted include the Hyper Mite and Fright Bike.

For 2002, the mainline the consisted of 12 Treasure Hunts, 42 First Editions, 15 segment series of 4 cars each, and 126 open stock cars. Popular new models included the `68 Cougar and the Nissan Skyline.

In 2003, Hot Wheels celebrated its 35th anniversary with a full-length computer animated Hot Wheels movie called Hot Wheels Highway 35 World Race. This movie tied into the Highway 35 line of cars that featured 35 classic Hot Wheels cars with special graphics and co-molded wheels. Another celebrating moment in the 35th anniversary was the creation of a full-sized model of the Deora II shown at the Hot Wheels Hall of Fame event at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California.

Also in commemoration of Hot Wheels' 35th anniversary, recording artist and Hot Wheels supporter Rick Tippe was commissioned by Mattel to write a song about Hot Wheels. CD singles featuring the song were given out in grab bags at the 35th Anniversary Convention in California. Also, 2003 also saw the release of five cars themed after Sega video games: Jet Set Radio Future, Space Channel 5, Shinobi, House of the Dead and Super Monkey Ball.

In 2004, Hot Wheels unveiled its "Hot 100" line, comprising 100 new models. These new models included cartoonish vehicles such as the 'Tooned (vehicles based on the larger Hot Tunerz line of Hot Wheels created by Eric Tscherne^{[citation needed]}), Blings (boxy bodies and big wheels), Hardnoze (enlarged fronts), Crooze (stretched out bodies), and Fatbax (super-wide back tires and short bodies). These vehicles did not sell as well as Mattel expected, and many could still be found in stores throughout 2005. Mattel also released 2004 First Editions cars with unpainted Zamac bodies. They were sold through Toys 'R' Us and were made in limited numbers.

In 2005, Hot Wheels continued with new "extreme" castings for the 2nd year, debuting 40 distorted cars, in addition to 20 "Realistix" models. The rest of the line included the standard 12 Treasure Hunts, 10 Track Aces, 50 Segment Series Cars, and 50 Open Stock Models. Four Volkswagen "Mystery Cars" were offered as a special mail-in promo. Each Mystery Car came with a special voucher. Upon collection of all 4 vouchers, one was able to send away for a special 13th Treasure Hunt, a VW Drag Bus. Photos: [1]

Hot Wheels also unveiled its new "Faster than Ever" line of cars, which had special nickel-plated axles, along with bronze-colored Open-Hole 5 Spoke wheels. These adjustments reduce friction dramatically, resulting in cars that are "Faster than Ever." The first run of these cars were available for a limited time only, from the beginning of October towards the end of November 2005.

Also, the continuation of the movie Hot Wheels Highway 35 World Race called Hot Wheels AcceleRacers was created, taking place two years after Vert Wheeler won the World Race. It is featured in four movies and many short segments where the drivers (old ones, gangs, like Teku, Metal Maniacs, the evil Racing Drones, and the stealthy Silencerz). All of the shorts and previews of the movies were placed on a temporary website that was deleted shortly after the last movie.

The 2006 releases consisted of 38 First Editions (all realistically proportioned), 12 Treasure Hunts, 12 Track Aces, 60 Segment Series, 96 Open Stock Models and 5 Mystery Cars. Some limited editions produced in 2006 include a Honda Civic Si sporting a Dropstars logo that was only available at the 2005 SEMA convention and the CUL8R with Faster Than Ever (FTE) wheels which was only available by mail. 2006 is also the year that Sizzlers were re-released.

In 2007, Mattel released 36 New Models (formerly First Editions), 12 Treasure Hunts (with a hard-to-find regular version and even rarer "super" version of each),^[2] 12 Teams of 4 cars each (formerly Segment Series), 24 Code Cars (codes imprinted on underside of the car that can be used to unlock web content), 12 Track Stars (formerly Track Aces), 24 Mystery Cars (packaged on a card with a blacked-out blister, so the buyer cannot see which car is inside without opening it), and 24 All Stars (formerly Open Stock). In late 2006, a new package design for 2007 was released. Some 2006 cars and all 2007 cars released so far are packaged on a blister card with the new design. Hotwheels released a series called Modifighters, which are similar to transformers except for the fact that they were originally cars and were modified into robots.

In 2008, Mattel celebrated 40 years of Hot Wheels with a cross-country road trip. Mattel released 40 new models, 12 Treasure Hunts, 12 Track Stars, 24 Web Trading Cars, 24 Mystery Cars, and 12 Teams of 4 cars. With the 2008 release of the Speed Racer movie, Mattel has released models based on the Speed Racer cars. They have also started releasing the 2009 Generation of Hotwheels cars.

In 2009, Mattel is releasing 42 New Models, 12 Treasure Hunts, 12 Track Stars, 24 Mystery Cars, and 10 Segment Series of 10 cars. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Hot-Wheels,category,1880,parent_id,categories

Hot Wheels in the 80's and 90's - The Dynasty Continues....

What happened in the 1980s for Hot Wheels sent them in the path of what they are today. In 1981, Hot Ones wheels were introduced, which had gold-painted hubs and thinner axles for speed. Ultra Hots wheels, which looked like the wheels found on a Renault Fuego or a Mazda 626, were introduced in 1984 and had other speed improvements. Hot Wheels started offering models based on 80's sports and economy cars, like the Pontiac Fiero or Dodge Omni 024. In 1983, A new style of wheel called Real Riders were introduced, which had real rubber tires. Despite the fact that they were very popular, the Real Riders line was short-lived, because of high production costs. In the late 80s, the Blue Card was introduced, which would become the basis of Hot Wheels cars still used today.

Two other innovations were introduced briefly in Hotwheels cars in the 1980s - Thermal Color Change paint, and rotating Crash Panel vehicles. The former were able to change color on exposure to hot or cold water, and there were an initial release of 20 different cars, available as sets of three vehicles. The latter were vehicles with a panel that, on contact, would rotate to reveal a flip side which appeared to be heavily dented. Variations in crash-panels included front, rear and side panels, the last of whose mechanism has proven to be the most durable.

In 1995 brought a major change to the Hot Wheels line, where the cars were split up into series. One was the 1995 Model Series, which included all of that year's new castings. In 1996, the Model Series was renamed to First Editions. 1995 also saw the introduction of the Treasure Hunt Series (see below). The rest of the series included four cars with paint schemes that followed a theme. For example, the Pearl Driver cars all had pearlescent paint. Sales for the series models soared with another program also introduced that year called the Bonus Car program, causing stores across the nation to have shortages. Purchasing the four car sets and sending in the packaging backs plus a handling fee gave you the opportunity to collect the bonus cars, 1 each released for each quarter of the year starting in 1996 through at least 2000. Several new wheel designs were also introduced in the 90s.

In 1997, Hot Wheels signed a sponsorship deal with NASCAR driver Kyle Petty, and thus began making replicas of NASCAR race cars. Hot Wheels signed another deal in 1999 with five Formula 1 teams to manufacture scale model Formula 1 cars.^[1]

In 1998, Mattel celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Hot Wheels brand by replicating various cars and individual packaging from its 30-year history and packaging these replicated vehicles in special 30th Anniversary boxes. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Hot-Wheels,category,1880,parent_id,categories

Hot Wheels in the 70's - The Dynasty Continues....

1970 was a first-rate year for Hot Wheels, so Mattel came up with a new slogan for the cars: "Go With the Winner". 43 new cars appeared this year. This was also the year that Sizzlers and Heavyweights appeared. Howard Rees, who worked with Ira Gilford, was tired of designing cars. He wanted to work on the Major Matt Mason action figure toy line-up. Rees had a good friend by the name of Larry Wood. They had worked together at Ford designing cars. When Wood found out about Hot Wheels at a party Rees was holding, Rees offered Wood the job of designing Hot Wheels. Wood agreed, and by the end of the week, Larry Wood was working at Mattel. His first design would be the Tri-Baby. After 36 years, Larry still works for Hot Wheels.

Another designer, Paul Tam, joined Larry and Ira. Paul's first design for Hot Wheels was the Whip Creamer. Tam continued to work for Mattel until 1973. Among the many futuristic designs Tam thought up for Hot Wheels, some of the collector's favorites include Evil Weevil (a Volkswagen with two engines), Open Fire (an AMC Gremlin with six wheels), Six Shooter (another six wheeled car), and the rare Double Header (co-designed with Larry Wood).

1971 was another big year for Hot Wheels. 50 new cars were made this year, 7 of which were Heavyweights and 12 were Sizzlers. The Sizzlers Fat Track, which was three lanes wide and allowed for even more exciting Sizzlers racing action, also debuted this year. 3 Fat Track racing sets were made.

However, 1972 and 1973 were slow years; only 7 new models (and 4 new Sizzlers cars) were made in 1972, but 24 models (as well as 7 Sizzlers) appeared for 1973. That year, to cut costs because of the inflation back then, most cars changed from Mattel's in house "Spectraflame" colors to less-shiny solid enamel colors, which mainline Hot Wheels cars still use today. Due to low sales, and the fact that many of the castings were not re-used in later years, the 1972-3 models are known to be very collectible.

In 1974, Hot Wheels introduced its Flying Colors line, and added flashy decals and tampo-printed paint designs which helped revitalize sales. As with the low-friction wheels in 1968, this innovation was revolutionary in the industry, and — although far less effective in terms of sales impact than in 1968 — was copied by the competition, who did not want to be outmaneuvered again by Mattel product strategists.

In 1977, the Redline Wheel was phased out, with the red lines being erased from the wheels. This also cut costs, but also reflected that the red lines popularized during the era of muscle cars and Polyglas tires were no longer current. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Hot-Wheels,category,1880,parent_id,categories

Hot Wheels in 1969 - The Dynasty Continues....

As it turned out, the Hot Wheels brand was a staggering success. The series "re-wrote the book" for small die-cast car models from 1968 onwards, forcing the competition at Matchbox and elsewhere to completely rethink their concepts, and to scamper to try to recover lost ground. Harry Bentley Bradley did not think that would be the case and had quit Mattel to go back to the car industry. When the company asked him back, he recommended a good friend, Ira Gilford. Gilford, who had just left Chrysler, quickly accepted the job of designing the next Hot Wheels models. Some of Hot Wheels' greatest cars, such as the Twin Mill and Splittin' Image, came from Ira Gilford's drawing board.

The success of the 1968 line was solidified and consolidated with the 1969 releases, with which Hot Wheels effectively established itself as the hottest brand of small toy car models in the USA.

The Splittin' Image, Torero, Turbofire, and Twin Mill were part of the "Show & Go" series and are the very first original in-house designs by Hot Wheels.

The initial prototypes of the Beach Bomb were faithful to a real VW Bus's shape, and had two surfboards sticking out the back window. During the fledgling Hot Wheels era, Mattel wanted to make sure that each of the cars could be used with any of the play sets and stunt track sets. Unfortunately, testing showed that this early version (now known as Rear-Loader Beach Bomb, or RLBB) was too narrow to roll effectively on Hot Wheels track or be powered by the Super Charger, and was too top-heavy to negotiate high-speed corners.

Hot Wheels Designers Howard Rees and Larry Wood modified the casting, extending the side fenders to accommodate the track width, as well as providing a new place on the vehicle to store each of the plastic surfboards. The roof was also cut away and replaced by a full-length sunroof, to lower the center of gravity. Nicknamed "Side-loader" by collectors, this was the production version of the Beach Bomb.

The Rear-Loader Beach Bomb is widely considered the "Holy Grail" of any Hot Wheels collection. An unknown number were made as test subjects and given to Mattel employees, and today there are only about 25 known to exist. A regular production Beach Bomb may be worth up to $600, depending on condition. Market prices on RLBBs however, have easily reached the five-figure plateau. Within the last decade, one of two existing hot pink RLBBs sold for reportedly above $70,000 to a well-respected and widely known Hot Wheels collector. The Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles had a pink RLBB in its Hot Wheels exhibit. It was displayed on a single rotating platform, much like the kind used to showcase precious gems. The Hot Wheels Collectors Club released a new, updated version of the rear loading Beach Bomb in 2002 as a limited edition. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Hot-Wheels,category,1880,parent_id,categories

Hot Wheels in 1968 - The Dynasty Begins.... Continued

Before Hot Wheels, the huge market for small car models was dominated at that time by the British company Lesney with their Matchbox cars. Elliot Handler, co-founder of Mattel, decided to produce a line of die-cast toy cars for boys. Although his executives thought it was a bad idea, he was able to capture much of this market by introducing a number of revolutionary features, including low-friction wheels suitable for racing on a track, and styling in tune with the times of customized, racing and show cars coming out of places like California.

There were sixteen castings released in 1968, eleven of them designed by Harry Bentley Bradley, with the first one produced being a dark blue Custom Camaro. Although Bradley was from the car industry, he had not designed the full-functioning versions of the real cars, except the Dodge Deora concept car, which had been built by Mike and Larry Alexander. Another of his notable designs was the Custom Fleetside, which was based on his own heavily-customized '64 El Camino.

Of the first 16 cars (sometimes called the "Sweet 16" by collectors), 10 were based upon customized versions of regular production automobiles of the era, and 6 were based upon real show cars and cars designed and built for track racing. All of the cars featured "Spectraflame" paintwork, bearings, redline wheels, and working suspension.

There was one notable difference in the first run production cars and that was a lack of "Door Cuts" in the molded cars. This was thought to be more accurate to the scale as door openings would be nearly invisible at that scale. Also, the sharp edges of the cuts in the molds would quickly wear away from the process of injection. Later they were brought back due to public opinion and toy testing on children.

The metallic "Spectraflame" paintwork also marked out these models from drab enamel of Matchbox cars. The attractive finishes were achieved by firstly polishing the bare metal of the bodyshells and then coating them in a clear colored lacquer, and featured such exotic colors as "Antifreeze", 'Magenta' and "Hot Pink". Because "Hot Pink" was considered a "girls color", it was not used very much on Hot Wheels cars. For most castings, it is the hardest color to find, and today can command prices ten times as high as more common colors.

In order for the cars to go fast on the plastic track, Mattel chose a cheap, durable, low-friction plastic called Delrin to use as a white bushing between the axle and wheel. The result was cars that could go up to scale 200 mph. The bushings were phased out in 1970, and replaced with flush black inner wheels with outer caps. The early years of Hot Wheels are known as the Redline Era as until 1977 the wheels had a red line etched around the tire rim, popular on muscle cars at the time.

The "Torsion Bar" suspension was simple, but flawed. Inside the car, the axles followed a "C"-like shape that was connected to the chassis. When pushed down, the axles would bend like a real car. However the axles were hard to install on the chassis while being assembled and would become detached from the lugs on the baseplate if very hard pressure was applied. Well played with cars would develop an obvious "sag" to the wheels. The suspension was redesigned in 1970 with solid axles mounted on a bar of plastic acting as a spring. Packaged along with the cars were metal badges showing an image of the car so fellow collectors could identify each other and compare collections.

Most importantly, there were designed to run on orange plastic track, which could be placed to make interesting jumps and loops. Motive power was by means of gravity, by attaching the starting point of a course to a table or chair via an included C clamp. A two-lane starting gate was available, allowing two lengths of track to be set up for racing. Later sets had both the starting gate and a finishing flag which would be tripped by the first car. One of the most famous sets was the 1970 Mongoose & Snake Drag Race Set, which reached values as high as $500 during the 1990s, but has since been produced in modified replica form. It featured yellow Plymouth Barracuda and red Plymouth Duster funny cars, loops, jumps, and even an apparatus that would deploy drag chutes after they crossed the finish line, all in a box showing Don Prudhomme and Tom McEwen.

Other sets included a Supercharger that had an electric motor and foam covered wheels that propelled the car around a loop of track as the cars passed through. Accessories included a lap counter and a speedometer. It was the combination of all of these ingredients — speed via the low-friction wheel/axle assembly and racing tires, looks due to Spectraflame paint and mag wheels, plus the inclusion of very American themes such as hot-rod designs based on true American prototypes not seen in great numbers in the competition's product lines — that laid the groundwork for the incredible success story Hot Wheels were to become. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Hot-Wheels,category,1880,parent_id,categories

Hot Wheels in 1968 - The Dynasty Begins

Hot Wheels is a brand of die cast toy car, introduced by American toymaker Mattel on September 7, 1968. It was the primary competitor of Johnny Lightning and Matchbox until 1996, when Mattel acquired rights to the Matchbox brand from Tyco.

Hot Wheels are die-cast model vehicles manufactured by Mattel and were introduced on September 7, 1968. Originally the cars and trucks were manufactured to approximately 1:64 scale and designed to be used on associated Hot Wheels track sets, but by 1970 a series of 1:43 scale "Gran Toros" were introduced and more recently a range of highly detailed adult collector vehicles, including replicas of Formula One and NASCAR cars, have found success. However the brand remains most famous for the small scale free-rolling models of custom hot rods and muscle cars it has produced since the range first appeared. Today, there are roughly 10,000 different models of Hot Wheel Cars.

Hot Wheel Vehicles are authorized by the car makers of General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Motors and other car makers like Ferrari, Mazda, and Toyota have licenses with Hot Wheels to make a scale model of their cars.

To make current model car of a Hot Wheel, Mattel works with the car maker to look at design blueprints of the car. Example of this is the Chrysler 300 Hot Wheel car. First the Hot Wheel Team and Mattel went to Chrysler to look at the design of 300 and an actual car. Chrysler and Mattel legal departments license the blueprints to the Hot Wheel Team. Chrysler protects the blueprint and Mattel had to return the blueprint after the Hot Wheel team looked at them.

At Mattel's Hot Wheel design center, the blueprint becomes scaled down to a 1/64 scale car. Then a mock up of the car is done and studied. After this process, the mock up becomes a die cast mock up. After these processes, the car is then manufactured.

For older scale models: Example a 1968 Chevy Nova the model maker uses blueprints from General Motors and also studies car brochures of that model year.

The head of the Hot Wheels division is Larry Wood. He has been with Mattel/Hot Wheels team since 1967. He originally was from General Motors.

The Hot Wheels product line has also included various tracks, accessories, and other kinds of vehicles such as "Sizzlers" rechargeable electric cars, "Hot Line" trains, "R-R-Rumblers" motorcycles, "Hot Birds" airplanes and the comical half-human/half-machine "Farbs".

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Is it Really a Collectible?

A collectors' item is one which is made without the intention of special interest but due to rarity or uniqueness, a production fault, human error, or other events, becomes sought after due to its rarity in these circumstances^[1]. Occasionally, a series of circumstances will take place that result in an item from a collectible series becoming valuable and sometimes sold for substantial amounts of money. This could apply to an item or series of items intended to be collected, such as record albums. An example of this is the 12" vinyl LP Juju by the rock band Gass, a recording which featured a guest appearance by the guitarist Peter Green. Due to Green's prescence on this album, it was also of interest to and collectable by fans of Peter Green. The first pressing of this album was released into retail outlets, but then quickly withdrawn ^[2]. The same album was pressed once more and sent to retail outlets again, without Peter Green's credits on the album cover and simply entitled Gass. This made copies of the album entitled Juju, the original title of the same album, hard to find and a collector's item due to the unintended changes and subsequent rarity. A collectable or collectible is typically a manufactured item designed for people to collect. In this respect, they are distinguishable from other subjects of collections, which may also include natural objects (e.g., butterflies) and objects manufactured for purposes other than collecting (e.g., stamps). Some objects designed for other purposes, such as toys, become so popular among collectors that they are later marketed specifically to that audience. The high price for certain older Star Wars action figures is a good example of this phenomenon since the figures were originally intended to be purchased as toys rather than collectibles.

The earliest collectibles were included as incentives with other products, such as cigarette cards in packs of cigarettes. Popular items developed a secondary market and sometimes became the subject of "collectible crazes". Eventually many collectible items came to be sold separately, instead of being used as marketing tools to increase the appeal of other products.

To encourage collecting, manufacturers often create an entire series of a given collectible, with each item differentiated in some fashion. Examples include sports cards depicting individual players, or different designs of Beanie Babies. Enthusiasts will often try to assemble a complete set of the available variations.

The early versions of a product, manufactured in smaller quantities before its popularity as a collectible developed, sometimes command exorbitant premiums on the secondary market. Dolls and other toys made during an adult collector's childhood can command such premiums. Unless extremely rare or made as a one-of-a-kind OOAK, in a mature market, collectibles rarely prove to be a spectacular investment. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com

Comics from Around the World - Japanese Comics

The first comic books in Japan appeared during the 18th century in the form of woodblock- printed booklets containing short stories drawn from folk tales, legends, and historical accounts, told in a simple visual-verbal idiom. Known as "red books" (赤本, akahon^?), "black books" (黒本, kurobon^?), and "blue books" (青本, aohon^?), these were written primarily for less literate readers. However, with the publication in 1775 of Koikawa Harumachi's comic book Master Flashgold's Splendiferous Dream (金々先生栄花の夢, Kinkin sensei eiga no yume^?), an adult form of comic book originated, which required greater literacy and cultural sophistication. This was known as the kibyōshi (黄表紙^?, lit. yellow cover). Published in thousands (possibly tens of thousands) of copies, the kibyōshi may have been the earliest fully realized comic book for adults in world literary history. Approximately 2000 titles remain extant.

Modern comic books in Japan developed from a mixture of these earlier comic books and woodblock prints ukiyo-e (浮世絵^?) with Western styles of drawing. They took their current^[update] form shortly after World War II. They are usually published in black and white, except for the covers, which are usually printed in four colors, although occasionally, the first few pages may also be printed in full color. The term manga means "random (or whimsical) pictures", and first came into common usage in the late eighteenth century with the publication of such works as Santō Kyōden's picturebook Shiji no yukikai (四時交加^?) (1798) and Aikawa Minwa's Comic Sketches of a Hundred Women (1798).

Development of this form occurred as a result of Japan's attempts to modernize itself, a desire awakened by trade with the United States^{[citation needed]}. Western artists were brought over to teach their students such concepts as line, form, and color, things which had not been regarded as conceptually important in ukiyo-e, as the idea behind the picture was of paramount importance. Manga at this time was referred to as Ponchi-e (Punch-picture) and, like its British counterpart Punch magazine, mainly depicted humour and political satire in short one- or four-picture format.

Dr. Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989), widely acknowledged^{[by whom?]} as the father of narrative manga, further developed this form. Tezuka was inspired to become a comic artist upon seeing an animation war propaganda film, titled Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors (桃太郎 海の神兵, Momotarō Umi no Shinpei^?). Tezuka introduced episodic storytelling and character development in comic format, in which each story is part of larger story arc. The only text in Tezuka's comics was the characters' dialogue and this further lent his comics a cinematic quality. Inspired by the work of Walt Disney, Tezuka also adopted a style of drawing facial features in which a character's eyes, nose, and mouth are drawn in an extremely exaggerated manner. This style created immediately recognizable expressions using very few lines, and the simplicity of this style allowed Tezuka to be prolific. Tezuka’s work generated new interest in the ukiyo-e tradition, in which the image is a representation of an idea, rather than a depiction of reality.

Though a close equivalent to the American comic book, manga has historically held a more important place in Japanese culture than comics have in American culture. Japanese society shows a wide respect for manga: both as an art form and as a form of popular literature. Many manga become TV shows or shorter movies. As with its American counterpart, some manga has been criticized for its sexuality and violence, although in the absence of official or even industry restrictions on content, artists have been free to create manga for every age group and for every topic.

Manga magazines — also known as "anthologies", or colloquially, "phone books"^{[citation needed]} — often run several series concurrently, with approximately 20 to 40 pages allocated to each series per issue. These magazines are usually printed on low-quality newsprint and range from 200 to more than 850 pages each. Manga magazines also contain one-shot comics and a variety of four-panel yonkoma (equivalent to comic strips). Manga series may continue for many years if they are successful, with stories often collected and reprinted in book-sized volumes called tankōbon (単行本^?, lit. stand-alone book), the equivalent of the American trade paperbacks. These volumes use higher-quality paper and are useful to readers who want to be brought up to date with a series, or to readers who find the cost of the weekly or monthly publications to be prohibitive. Deluxe versions are printed, as commemorative or collectible editions. Conversely, old manga titles are also reprinted using lower-quality paper and sold for 120 ¥ (approximately $1 USD) each. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Comic-Books,category,1889,parent_id,categories