Is it Halloween in April? Weird to follow-up a post about toys based on THE MUNSTERS with this…
I’ve known about these for a bit, but now that photos for all of them have surfaced online, it’s time to discuss a forthcoming wave of the Hot Wheels “Pop Culture” cars… UNIVERSAL HORROR.
Following successful series’ (previously called “Nostalgia”) based on DC Comics, Looney Tunes, The Muppets (we actually just bought a couple of these last week), General Mills, Hanna-Barbara (just bought four of these), and more, the classic UNIVERSAL MONSTERS are getting the Hot Wheels treatment as part of a premium line with super-cool deco, and “Real Riders” tires. As a massive fan of the classic UNIVERSAL horror films (they influenced this and this) and a big fan of Mattel’s Hot Wheels line, you can bet we’ll be snagging some of these for rockin’ Addie’s orange tracks here at Rock Father HQ. Check out the full assortment below, which I’ve put in order based on when the original films were released.
*Note: These images initially appeared on the HWC: Hot Wheels Collectors website (and are watermarked as such) where they were at one point hidden behind a paywall (not a very classy idea to make consumers pay to look at pictures of toys that they might want to actually buy in non-photographic form one day) before making the rounds on the social networks in recent days. I imagine that the “horror” sites are about to be all over these…
Neet Streeter – DRACULA (1931)
Double Demon Panel – FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
1934 Chrysler Airflow – THE MUMMY (1932)
1959 Cadillac Funny Car – THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935)
Volkswagen T1 Drag Bus – THE WOLFMAN (1941)
Low Flow – THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954)
Personally, I’m really digging Dracula and the Creature. And, that Bride ‘Caddy is based on the same body style as a BATGIRL car that Addie has here at the house. It’s a great style. No word yet on the official release date for these, but Fall would sure be a prime time for them… plop ’em right into the Halloween season.
If you’ve never seen the Hot Wheels Pop Culture line, the usually come in really cool packaging (great for collectors that keep their toys sealed), but we set our toys free. Here’s the four Hanna-Barbera cars that we picked up at The Mattel Toy Store last week: THE FLINTSTONES, SCOOBY-DOO, TOM & JERRY, and THE JETSONS. They also had HONG KONG PHOOEY and YOGI BEAR, but we passed on those…
It’s a safe bet that the UNIVERSAL HORROR line of Hot Wheels will have some sweet graphics on the cardbacks. So who’s your favorite Universal Monster?
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