REVIEW: Mattel's SDCC13 Hot Wheels Exclusives

A-Team, Asteroids, Battlestar Galactica, More...

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By David Yeh

For many years now, Mattel has been offering die-cast car collectors Hot Wheels exclusives at San Diego Comic-Con. This year proved no different, with Mattel selling a total of four sweet rides. There’s just one problem I have with these: they’re just too rad to open, which is a moral dilemma for me.

The four entries this year were:

- A-Team Custom GMC Panel Van -- $20
- Atari Beach Bomb Pick-up -- $40
- Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper -- $10
- Battlestar Galactica Cylon Raider -- $10


Looking at the above prices, it kind of seems insane to pay more than $5 or so for four Hot Wheels, let alone $80! But Mattel made sure that these appealed to hardcore collectors - and not casual buyers - thanks to some really nice packaging. Let’s take a closer look at these four vehicles:

A-TEAM CUSTOM GMC PANEL VAN

If you have browsed the Hot Wheels aisles frequently you may already own the standard A-Team Van Hot Wheels car (99cents) or perhaps the retro packaging Hot wheels with more accurate paint details ($5.99)… this year’s Comic-Con exclusive takes that same van and adds some dirt and mud details that really add some flavor to it. There’s even mud deco on the front windshield where it shows that at least the windshield wipers on the van work! (clarification: there are no working windshield wipers) The detail even goes to the tires, with them even getting BF Goodrich to sign off on the car. Very attractive.

The van sits within a clear plastic box with a explosion backdrop. Definitely have to hand it over to them for style points. That’s one attractive display! And that’s not all... the box comes inside an A-Team ammo box with the name of each member of the A-Team on each side. This is one really attractive box but really seems excessive just a tad. There isn’t an easy way to display the ammo box and also show off the Hot Wheel case within. Each thing works independently of each other so keep that in mind if you aim to pick this up.

At $20, seeing the packaging that you get, it starts to make sense because the box is huge. It’s about $15 worth of packaging and then some that’s for sure.

ATARI BEACH BOMB PICK-UP

Atari nostalgia is very much alive in this Hot Wheels exclusive. I’m going to let Mattycollector explain it because there’s no better way to repeat it:
“There’s nothing better than the lights and sounds of an arcade game... except maybe a Hot Wheels car, of course. You’ll be transported back to the local video arcade with the Hot Wheels Atari Beach Bomb Pickup, finished in Red Line Club level hand polished Chrome Spectraflame and Asteroids deco! And just like the arcades of old, this awesome finish will soon be a thing of the past... this will be one of the last hand polished Chrome Spectraflame Hot Wheels car offered. Features diecast body and chassis, and Real Riders wheels.”

The $40 price tag is definitely for the deco of this car, which really is an attractive piece of work. But also there’s the Asteroids arcade game packaging with working lights and sounds with the push of a button. While I love die cast cars, I do have a love for arcade nostalgia even more and I’m a bit too afraid of destroying this packaging to pry the car out.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA CYLON RAIDER AND COLONIAL VIPER

Two Battlestar Galactica vehicles made it into this year’s Comic-Con and what makes them so special is that they feature a VUM finish on die-cast metal body and chassis but let’s be honest, it’s the 35th anniversary packaging they threw onto it. When I pre-ordered these, I was pretty much wanting to open these up but now I’ve changed my mind. The commemorative blister card recalls the look of the original packaging from 1978. Wow! Makes me really wish I ordered two of each…

If you missed any of this year’s Hot Wheels exclusives, you might be out of luck. Usually Mattycollector puts up their left over exclusives on their website but they might be completely out. But for A-Team fans, the Van is still available at retail at a far lower price and The Battlestar Galactica Retro Hot Wheels will hit retailers any minute now so keep an eye out for those.

Atari Beach Bomb and A-Team van courtesy of Mattel

Review and Packaged Photos by David Yeh

All Loose Vehicle Photos Courtesy of Mattel

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