My Newest Tomica Purchase

  I recently had received a $25 Visa gift card from my Aunt and Uncle for my birthday. I decided to use it on eBay for something. Recently I have been eyeing up a few diecasts to add to my collection. I love Tomica diecast. Although you can now buy them in the USA again at Walmart, there are still some models you cannot get here. The one I purchased is a good example of that.

Boxed

  I had been eyeing up, the Tomica JSDF High Mobility Vehicle for some time ever since I bought the Tomica JSDF LAV last year. I really needed the High Mobility Vehicle to go alongside my LAV. You see I am a huge Godzilla buff. I like the vehicles the JSDF has to try and stop Godzilla. So I like to have some JSDF vehicles to have in my collection.

  As you may have guessed I did buy the Tomica JSDF High Mobility Vehicle on eBay. I paid $6.99 for it. It was the last one the seller had. This vehicle is so cool. Unlike most Tomica cars, the JSDF High Mobility Vehicle lacks any opening doors. It does have a removable rear top, that unveils the bench seats for the troops. There are 2 variants of this High Mobility Vehicle. One has the removable top and the other doesn't. The one without the top, has little soldiers sitting down in the back. I bought the one with the removable top.

Unboxed

  Anyway the JSDF High Mobility Vehicle features the usual suspension that Tomica vehicles have. For this being a military vehicle the suspension is similar to the Komatsu LAV's. The olive drab paint is a tad bit different than the Komatsu's shade of olive drab. It's a bit darker on the High Mobility Vehicle.

The LAV Next to the High Mobility Vehicle

Stop Showing Pan and Scan Movies on Network TV

  You really want to know what grinds my gears? It's when TV channels broadcast a movie in pan and scan. It's 2019 already. There's no reason why we can't be showing movies on cable TV in their original theatrical aspect ratio. Nobody really owns a CRT TV anymore. Well classic gamers might own one to play their old systems on. Seriously practically everyone owns a 16x9 HDTV anymore.
  So if everyone pretty much owns a 16x9 HDTV, why are cable networks still showing pan and scan versions of movies? This is really unnecessary to show pan and scan movies when everyone now owns an HDTV. My best guess is that they have these shitty pan and scan edited for TV movies sitting in their library. This is mind boggling to say the least.
  Maybe these cable networks are too cheap and lazy to reinvest in a whole new tape library for their broadcasting. That's my theory, they have all of these movies stockpiled up in their libraries, which date back to whenever pan and scan movies first came in to play. I find it ironic that 99.999% of cable networks broadcast in 16x9 1080P HDTV anymore. Very few stations still broadcast in a 4:3 picture format. The networks who don't broadcast in HDTV can't afford to upgrade their picture format.
  Another reason I think they still show pan and scan versions of movies on network TV, is that they don't want to show any of the black bars that may be seen in a widescreen movie. They probably think people don't want to see black bars on their TV screen. Here's a news flash for the cable networks, people don't give a red hot minute about black bars on their TV screens anymore. This isn't 2001 when most people still had analog CRT TV's and they began to transition from VHS to DVD. Back then DVD first came out, most DVD's were introduced in widescreen. Some were anamorphic and some were in non anamorphic widescreen. Heck there were even widescreen editions of VHS tapes as well as Laserdisc. They were a niche market item in the 90s. The widescreen Laserdisc and VHS copies of movies were also non anamorphic. So when DVD's first came on the market, most of them were widescreen. So some people who first started buying DVDs when they first came out, didn't like the black bars on their screen. These people probably weren't serious movie buffs who cared about technical specifications. Actually the black bars mean there isn't anything there to display, you are still getting the whole picture between the black bars.
  Anyway, TV stations have been showing pan and scan versions of movies for decades now. It's become a bad habit of showing pan and scan movies. Heck there are some TV channels that do show movies in their original theatrical aspect ratios, such as Turner Classic Movies or Fox Movie Network.
  Network TV stations need to stop showing pan and scan versions of movies. It's not the 90s anymore, we can take seeing black bars on our TV screens. Throw away your library of pan and scan ,movies and upgrade to their original aspect ratios. For the love of GOD please do this.

Today's Surprising Walmart find

  After I got off work, I decided to stop in Walmart for a quick look in the toy dept. To my surprise, They restocked a ton of Hot Wheels cars. It was the assortment with the highly sought after Bugatti Chiron. So the display was untouched, where I was able to find, the Audi RS5 Coupe, Tesla Model S Super Treasure Hunt and the highly sought after Bugatti Chiron. I was pretty stoked to find another Super Treasure Hunt within a matter of days. I have to reorder some more protector packs for future Super Treasure Hunt cars that I might find.

The Terrific Trio.

  2019 has been a really good year for me when it comes to finding Super Treasure Hunts. I have found 7 out of 12 this year. Well I traded the Street Creeper Super for a Pizza Planet Truck. So technically I found 7 but I traded one. I don't usually get rid of Super's unless it's a double I find or it's a Hot Wheels original casting. I don't care for many Hot Wheels Fantasy castings. I have a few that I like but not many.
  I'm just glad that Mattel has the Bugatti License again. Maybe since they renewed the license, they can re-release the Veyron. I already have the 2003 First Editions Bugatti Veyron so I don't really need another one. They Veyron had skyrocketed in value since the license expired some years ago.

That Time When Ford Claimed The 1965 Galaxie Rode Quieter Than A Rolls-Royce

  I love old cars and old print ads for cars. One of my biggest obsessions in automotive marketing tactics, is when Ford Claimed the 1965 Ford Galaxie rode quieter than a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. When I first saw a picture of one of the print ads claiming this, it struck me as very odd. Why would a mainstream American car brand compare one of their cars to an ultra luxury car? Can a Ford Galaxie really ride quieter than a Rolls-Royce?
  In terms of speaking of what got the public confused about these ads was the definition of riding quieter. They weren't taking shots at the engine sound. They were comparing how the 1965 Ford Galaxie had a quieter interior ride than the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. The comparison was saying that it's less noisy inside a 1965 Ford Galaxie than it is in a Silver Cloud.

A 1965 Ford Galaxie ad.

  This may all seem silly and frivolous for a company like Ford to compare their cars to a prestigious brand such as Rolls-Royce. Price wise they aren't even in the same category. I still find it odd that Ford attacked Rolls-Royce for being the noisy one.
  The comparison test for interior noise wasn't exactly a fair test. It was more like bringing a gun to a knife fight. For instance at the time when these cars were new, the Silver Cloud's design dated back to the late 50s. Whereas the Ford Galaxie was a completely new design. The Silver Cloud's design and engineering was already 10 years old at the time of the comparison test. So Rolls-Royce was using antiquated technology. By comparing a new Ford to a Rolls-Royce that had a dated design wasn't really a fair comparison test. It was fun though.
  I wonder if the marketing people at Ford thought they could take jabs at potential Rolls-Royce buyers when they came up with this ad campaign. Seriously does a modern day Ford Fusion ride quieter than a Rolls-Royce Ghost? I would wonder how well these ads would render in today's world. You don't see car companies with print ads attacking another car brand that is out of their category doing this sort of thing anymore. Surely you see it in commercials, but they never mention the name of the competitor, they only give you the gist of what brand that car is.

The 1980 Ford LTD Vs Rolls-Royce

  I thought that the Ford Galaxie rides quieter than a Rolls-Royce ad campaign was pretty cool say to speak. It didn't just happen in 1965 either. In 1980 Ford did the same exact thing with their LTD comparing it to a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. Heck even AMC took shots at Rolls-Royce comparing their Matador against a Silver Shadow. I don't know why American car companies wanted to take shots at Rolls-Royce. Looking back it's comical to see these old ads. I think they are pretty cool.

Replacing my Dad's old Snap-on Wrench

  Back in the 1980s and 1990s my late father used to buy Snap-on Tools for his appliance repair business. However when my older brother took over my father's business, his van got broken into and all of the Snap-on Tools that my father gave him were stolen. Or were they? To tell you the truth, not all were stolen. You see there were a handful of tools that my father never gave to my brother for some reason. Somehow my father held on to them. I don't know how or why these never went to my brother. When my father got terminally ill, I decided to go into the garage and organize all of his tools into the tool chest. I knew he had some Snap-on stuff left and he never liked me to touch them since they were expensive. So I searched every tool box until I found all of the Snap-on tools that didn't go to my brother.
  These tools were nothing special, 4 wrenches, 2 ratcheting box wrenches, 4 screwdrivers, 3 chisels and some various Blue-Point tools. 2 of the wrenches I inherited was a 1/4-15/16" open end wrench and a 7/8-15/16" open end wrench. Both came from the six piece open end wrench set. The other 4 wrenches were stolen. So the one day I was looking at the VO810 1/4-15/16" wrench and noticed that the handle had a bend in the middle. So since I work at a Ford Dealership, I could get the VO810 warrantied for a new one. The Snap-on dealer comes every Friday. So I took it on the truck and asked him if this wrench looked bent. He looked at it and said it's bent. He asked me if I wanted a new one. I said yes. He asked me how it got bent, and I said tightening the bolt on the fence. Actually I think it got bent since my dad used it repairing something.
  So I waited 2 weeks for my new VO810B to come in and it is made better than my dad's old one. This wrench is thicker and heavier than the one made in the 80s. You can read the sizes on it better since they are not on the ends of the wrench anymore. The sizes are now on the handle. You could hardly make out what the sizes were on the old one. It also has a wider handle and there is a date code stamp on the handle. Somehow the one from 1982 lacked a date code for some reason.
  So in all due respect, I think my father is looking down from heaven, smiling at me for getting one of his Snap-on tools warrantied. He would love to see the new and improved version of his wrench. Even though I am not a mechanic I still like to go on the Snap-on truck since my I once went on one with my father when he had to get his magnetic hex shank replaced. I go on there to make my father proud.

A Super Saturday

  I love collecting Hot Wheels cars. Well to be exact diecast in general. So yesterday I decided to venture off to the Dollar Tree nearest my house. I didn't expect to find anything good. My two local Dollar Tree's rarely restock Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. The last time they restocked Hot Wheels cars was months ago. The exact date, I cannot remember when. So about my day and how I ended up at Dollar Tree.
  On Saturday there was a thrift store that was having a 50% off everything sale for Labor Day. They always have a 50% sale before a major holiday. I ran into my mom's friend there. I see her shopping there a lot. I looked around and was contemplating buying a Ford Mustang coffee mug for work since I work at a Ford dealership. However I decided not to buy it. I don't feel like lugging it to the parts room and risk getting broken. So I walked out empty handed. I've haven't been buying as much as I used to at thrift stores anymore since I am working again. I only have time to check them twice a week if I can get around to it. I mostly have been buying CD's or DVD's when I go to thrift stores. I haven't been seeing any good hats at The Salvation Army in a while. What's up with that?

The Lamborghini Aventador J Super Treasure Hunt

  I went to The Salvation Army later that day to look for new hats. They had nothing. It's been dry for the past few weeks. So I ventured to the Dollar General to see what they had for Hot Wheels cars. There has been reports of some Dollar General's stocking international short carded Hot Wheels cars. I haven't seen short cards since Walmart had them in the checkout lanes years ago. I've been finding Super Treasure Hunt cars at Dollar General. However they had short carded cars, but no Super Treasure Hunt cars.
  The final venture on my hunt was Dollar Tree. I didn't expect to find anything good since the last few times I've checked there they had nothing. I almost didn't stop in Dollar Tree but I gave it a shot. So I made a beeline to the toy section and to my surprise they restocked both Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. Like a madman, I searched the pegs for anything good. At first it appeared to be nothing good since I already had the first editions from that I already had. I was about to give up when I checked the second to bottom peg and saw a Lamborghini Aventador J Super Treasure Hunt Car behind a few cars.
  This marks the 6th well 5th 2019 Super Treasure Hunt I found this year. The real fifth one that I found was a Street Creeper Super Treasure Hunt, but I traded it for a Pizza Planet Truck. I don't really care for the Hot Wheels Original Designs cars so I had little attachment for it. I still can't believe I found it. I have 30 Super Treasure Hunt cars hanging on my wall. All found in the wild. I can't wait to find more.

My College Proffessor Would Be Proud of This

  Back when I was taking business classes in college, I had a professor who mentioned WWE in his lecture. He told us about how he knew Bob Backlund personally. Being a WWE fan, this had excited me. I forget the details about how he got to know him but it was cool hearing his story about him.
  As of lately I've been trying to downsize my WWE Action figure collection down to just the Women's division figures and Kane figures and some of my favorite legends. So Bob Backlund wouldn't have been a purchase for me since I was downsizing the collection. If you don't know this by now, Walmart has been having Flashback Elites as chase figures. They are a pain in the ass to find, and they are one per case. Chase figures are always shortpacked in cases.
  So I knew about the exclusive Bob Backlund for awhile now. I was on the fence about getting one since the story of my Business professor told me. I probably was never going to find this figure at retail. I never did find it at retail. Why is that? My Walmart keeps getting slammed with those Elite Top Picks. Did my Walmart get Elite 65 with Sensational Sherri? Nope. Was I able to get a Sensational Sherri? Yes I was. I didn't find either in stores. So how did I get them? I simply traded for them. Sherri will be in another story, so here's the story of how I acquired Bob Backlund. I had a basic Great Khali and the last basic David Otunga that another collector needed. Years ago I bought the 2 pack with Great Khali and Matt Hardy, and it paid off. I traded off the Matt Hardy several years ago and I kept the Great Khali for a long time. I really didn't want to let The Great Khali go, but I enjoyed him for 7 years, and it was time for him to get a new home. So we agreed to trade the Bob Backlund for Great Khali and David Otunga. If only I was still in college so I could show my old professor the action figure, he would be proud to see it.

I Finally Completed my 2018 Matchbox Collection

  Last year the distribution for Matchbox was terrible in my area. I mean really bad. I was barely able to find the new models that I needed to complete the set. 2 models have eluded me for one whole year. Those models were the 15 Cadillac Escalade and the Oshkosh M-ATV in tan. I never saw that wave at retail like ever. A few years ago Matchbox released an Oshkosh M-ATV in tan but I passed on it when I saw it in Dollar General like an idiot. Oh well. I'm still kicking myself for not buying the Hot Wheels Retro Entertainment Ferrari 250 GTO California when I saw it at Toys R Us. That one I will never get over not buying when I had the chance.

2018 is complete

  No where was I going with this again? Oh yeah, how I got the 2 Matchbox cars I was looking for. Well I acquired them in a trade. This is where buying doubles of cars has sometimes paid off. You see years ago, I started a habit of buying 2 of every Hot Wheels car that was from a movie. I didn't always buy 2, it only started a few years prior. There were several Batmobile's that I never bought 2 of. Anyway, I love the Hot Wheels Isuzu VehiCROSS. I love it so much, that I bought all 3 different ones in silver, yellow and red. I bought 2 of each. One was to open and one was to keep carded. So I had acquired a silver first edition VehiCROSS, Aston Martin DB10 and green Panoz LMP. The person who I traded with couldn't find them in his area, and I couldn't find the Escalade and M-ATV in my area. He also had a Forza AMC Rebel Machine that I wanted. I am a sucker for American Motors cars. So that's how I ended up completing my 2018 Matchbox collection.

I found my 24th Super Treasure Hunt Car today

  Today I had a hankering to go to Walmart. I just couldn't be at ease until I got there. Right now Walmart's across the country are getting in the Easter toy shippers. Usually they contain all different toys for Easter basket stuffers. Usually these seasonal shippers have 2 things I like to collect, Lego Polybag sets and Hot Wheels cars.
  So I head to the toy dept hoping they had the shipper. My luck paid off they did indeed have the shipper. First I spotted, the Lego Polybag sets, I see two new Star Wars polybags, the Naboo Star Fighter and Snowspeeder. I don't like the prequel films, since Plinkett's reviews have changed my mind on how crappy they were. I try to distance myself from anything associated with the prequels. Since I collect Lego Star Wars Polybag sets, I had to get them anyway.
  Now I went to the other side of the shipper, where the Hot Wheels cars were. It looked like the shipper was untouched. So I started to rummage through the dump bin grabbing the cars that I needed. I spotted the 96 Porsche Carrera, and the Spider Mobile. Great that's 2 cars down. I was really pressed for time, so I really didn't have time to dig for anything else. So just when I was about to give up, I dug into the middle of the Shipper and found a '92 Ford Mustang Super Treasure Hunt car! I couldn't believe it. I found my 24th Super Treasure Hunt Car! Well technically my 25th if you count the duplicate 2017 '69 Chevelle SS Super Treasure Hunt that I found a few weeks ago. I don't really count duplicates. So I was so happy that I found my 2nd Super Treasure Hunt from 2019, the first being the '90 Honda Civic EF that I found last year.

Downsizing the Collection

  I collect all types of things. Die cast cars, action figures, hats. and soundtracks. However I needed to cut back on one of my collection, my WWE figures. You see I loved to collect the Legends/Flashback figures and most importantly the Women's figures. With Mattel's horrid distribution and lack of Flashback figures, I decided that I am done collecting flashbacks. So I decided to sell off a majority of my Flashback figures. I'm still collecting the Women's figures though.
  Deciding what to keep was the hardest part. So I narrowed it down to which wrestler will I keep and which ones will I sell. It was tough to decide on who stays and who will go. I eventually decided I would keep the most iconic figures, such as DM Hulk Hogan, Legends Series 5 Macho Man Randy Savage and Andre The Giant. I also decided to keep my Kane collection. I try to collect every different incarnation of his attire going back to Dr. Issac Yankem DDS. I also decided I would keep my announcers and suited figures as well.
  Anyway, the reason I decided to downsize my collection is because, I haven't been getting a lot of figures like I used to. Partially is because I am losing interest in collecting. The Women's figures keep me going. They are the only ones that I am interested in. Other than that, It's time to get out of collecting. I need the money as well.