Mattel Disney Pixar Diecast CARS: Lenticulars State of the State + New Look
Lenticulars are the ‘reality stars’ of CARS – easy to hate but hard to look away 
Like reality TV, it’s understandable why you might hate it but it does serve a purpose.
For completists who have been collecting all along, they have crashed the party and muddied the waters.
On the logistics side, it does add undue complexity in trying to sort out that the CHASE CARS are not lenticulars in a lenticular line but that there are no non-lenticular CHASE CARS in the Final lap series which is only at Target – simplicity usually wins the day but what’s here is here.
In some ways, the production aspects have also been disappointing with the limited effects of the lenticular eye movements but like the weather, that too is changing … the newer ones are actually different than the older releases – you know, the ones from a month ago …
And the general attempt to jazz up the line is not terrible theoretically. Retailers and retail buyers are sometimes like an ADD kid in a giant rolling ball – what’s shiny and new beats out the solid and steady. So, lenticulars served to calm the ‘what else have you got that lights up’ jitters of retailers and of course, show a 2-year old kid a non-lenticular and a lenticular and they will pick the one with movement – and of course, a mini-generation has already passed who have only seen CARS on DVD – it was not a theater event deal but just another movie on disc … and it’s fine that they have a new lineup to start from … the one big problem is the poor case assortments (for all non-WM stores that dud not receive the endcap trays).
For stores that got the regular 24-pack, for example, if they received two cases of A&B, then they had @30 Lightning McQueen’s out of 96 CARS … and while Lightning McQueen is certainly important, the end result is that even if most of the other “townies” sold out – the end result generated only short term excitement as in most stores, all the non-Lightning McQueen’s are pretty much gone … so it’s back to square one.
For the WM stores that got the endcap trays … 192 total CARS? (I think).
Of course, all the CHASE CARS are gone and in the 4-5 stores where the trays are still up, sell through ranges from about 50% gone to maybe 10% gone.
So, that means out of 192 CARS, there are anywhere from 100-170 CARS left of 192. The new WM display endcap shipper will be going up in the next few days – the number is 280 more CARS (though some may be haulers, playsets or other merchandise) but at minimum, it might be another 192 CARS … Even if it ships with the Darrell Cartrip CHASE & the King Piston Cup CHASE which will clearly sell out, what will the sell through rate be for the others?
The most obvious problem is the sure-bet long time buying segment of the CARS segment is not all in on the lenticulars … unlike a natural marketplace where buyers will fall over the natural course of a product line, you hope to keep bringing in new customers to replace those moving on – and that is certainly true of the Final Lap buyers – the committed fanbase and enthused are carrying onto the Final Lap CARS – again, there is always some attrition but the dropoff outside economic uncertainty times shows no unwarranted concern. You just have to ask yourself how many Final Lap CARS are left from the first case and how many lenticulars are left on the pegs?
The problem is really simple mathematics – the cases last year contained up to 33% CARS that were new or less than a month old. Lenticular cases? 4%. CASE A contained exactly one new CAR – Salutin’ Sarge – out of 24 … 4%. And remember, because the Final Lap Series is its own entity (molds, cards, assortments, shipping), etc, they are not an apples to apples replacement in terms of revenue … but we won’t really know how lenticulars are doing until after the holiday dust settles … even in the best case scenario where there are less than 100 CARS left from the first endcap shipper per store, how will stores fair with an additional 192 or more lenticular CARS?
(from Nikko as we speak, new WM shipper arrived – more of CASE A-C, some Chick Hicks CHASE but no KING with Piston Cups … he was there as they opened).
Will a large selection serve as an enticement for newbie holiday shopping? And those 300 or so CARS on the shelf will quickly dwindle down in the next 7 weeks? Will the re-release of the Blu Ray DVD (with its two CARS) bring in tens of thousands of new kids? Of course, these CARS are also competing against Mater Tall Tales CARS (and hamsters ). Will there be a few hundred CARS left at a few thousand WM’s? (200 CARS at 1,000 WM’s is 200,000 CARS … not exactly an unlikely scenario) … Will WM stop ordering CARS for 4 months?
The test is the next 7 weeks … the lenticular line is here to stay but the big question is whether sales in the remainder of 2009 will affect the ordering scenario of the major retailers for the 4 months after in 2010 … if their computer shows 200,000 or more? It shouldn’t affect the rest of the line very much but since the lenticular is the new mainline … we shall have to wait and see … meanwhile, Dorvack1 found these on the shelf in the SF Bay Area and was nice enough to send some nice pics of the “Final Lap Lenticular” card design (unofficial name):
Very classy looking.
The new CHASE look.
Here’s CASE E in case you’re curious …
| « Mattel Disney Pixar Diecast CARS: Toys R Us Big Book 2009 – CARS | Mattel Disney Pixar Diecast CARS: What Will You Chase in 2010? » |
29 October 2009
77 Comments
Hey guys
not sure if anyones posted this at all !! but im here the UK and the new final lap series are out in disney stores!!! im well impressed with the way disney stores are finally keepin up with the US here in the UK!!! still no 3 or 4 packs though hmmm….
james xoxo
email me if ya wanna get in touch
jammywin88@hotmail.com
J xoxo
(MET: Send some pics – packaging differences?)
WOW! What Cars? Nice find!
We found some of this at Target, but Chase Darrell was gone!!
Met, I take it Pit Crew Sarge was booted out of the case E lenticulars, so the word was kept on new releases not being lenticular before the normal release.
Do we know the case B Final Lap contants yet?
(MET: Yep … so my guess is Pit Crew Sarge is in CASE B – so they can slide Lenticular Pit Crew sarge into the next lenticular CASE or two … supposedly the guideline “a month.” but of course, does that mean 30 days or if it’s the new month, it’s okay?).
I’ve been so lenticulared out lately that I actually stopped by the disney store and picked up a few of the disney store diecasts. When you really think about it most of the new stuff that came out for the mainline over the past year has really been mega size, a hauler or a gift pack with repacks of cars from years past. There really doesn’t seem to have been too many mainline singles and that has been really a downer. Now I have been purchasing the toons cars but I really not that excited about them. Really hope that the final lap cars do come out monthly and not every 3 months or something like that. Also what happened to the minis? It’s been ages since I saw any new minis – there are plenty of movie cannon releases that haven’t come out yet. For instance there are townies that still haven’t been released in their movie form. All in all the lenticular cars and all the splintered lines are starting to kill this for me.
Passed by my TRU tonight and they have 80 (yes 80) pegs of C-case Lenticulars. They are almost all full so that’s about 700 C-case Lenticulars PLUS I was told about 20 more C-cases in back! There was over a dozen Chase Chicks, none with error cups.
Can you say disaster?
DISATER .. MATTEL wake up … !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DISASTER .. better this way!
The King with Cup Chase is in the new end caps. Picked 2 up yesterday but the cards were not “MINT” as usual when they do this box end cap. Had Chick Cup Chase in there too. No Ransburgs though.
So what is new with this case?
Darrel…and…?
Which Lenticulars are new?
found these today at tru… but no darrell cartrip.. all the rest were there… 3.59 was the price so i do not think these lenticulars are target only
I would give my eye teeth to have a selection like that at one of my local stores! I don’t really care about the eyes as Alfie just goes “That Sarge just winked at me!” when we are playing with them. He even replaced Sarge in the boot camp with lenti Sarge! Frank Pinkerton said “Stop winking, you’re scaring me!”
AY AY AY LENTICULARS!! Why are they doing this?????
Our WMs seem to have end caps at every turn…not even a hint of a Chase King yet.
scored 3 kings at Kohl’s…on sale for 3.79…look beyond sprawl mart and you amy be lucky…I was!
our walmart had the end cap up again (they took it down for a week or so) We found some King w/piston cup Chase, 2 had the King cup and one had a Chick Hicks cup in the package. they also had a few of the Chick Hicks w/piston cup Chase but no Darryl Cartrip Chase yet.
Darrell is a Final Lap Chase Car, so he’s a Target-only item for now.
I thought I heard that they weren’t going to make any Final Lap (TGT Only…For NOW!) Chase Cars??? I also heard that the new Lenticular case cards are supposed to resemble the Final Lap cards without the Final Lap sign on them.
Hey, I’ve been wrong before! If so, my bad.
Final Laps don’t have chase cars. Darrell will be amongst the Lenticulars.
again Mattel continues to stub its foot with this line. how many polly puddles, skip’s or bubble maters are still on the shelf?? zero! those were 3-4 a case and they’re all gone. take a clue from this mattel and realize that you will sell more product if you give us more product. and enough of the price gouging with respect to packing 1 new car with 3 old cars. i still see a ton of the revolting 4 packs left at TGT after 2 years. this is b/c no one wants to buy another McQ, King & Chick to get 1 new car. and this MET is why we continue to see people swapping out new cars and returning the product with another McQ or Chick. obviously this is stealing and i don’t condone it, but when Mattel continues to pack product like this, they have to expect this to happen. and really Mattel is screwing they’re customers (WMT, TGT, TRU) b/c they’re the ones who have to deal w/ this shrinkage. i mean when is the last time you walked into the Gap to buy a blue sweater, and the salesperson said to you, “We’re so glad you liked the red sweater that you bought last week, and we would be happy to sell you the same sweater in blue IF you buy ANOTHER red sweater too.” pure and simple this is price gouging. yeah, yeah you can say “you don’t have to buy it or wait another 18 months and you’ll be able to buy the single.” but when you have a 5 year-old boy at home who wants a new car now, waiting 18 months is ridiculous. ok enough venting.
I could not have said that better myself!
mmmmmmm blue sweater…..
The water has been muddied so much with so many lines— again Target is the winner in selected a line that will move in the Final Lap series– this to me is the only thing worth collecting until cars 2 comes out Jay Limo will be a great addition when he is release— ohh and can we get more tractor singles— they would sell sell sell
Nice new cardback design… I really like the Ransburg Chase Cartrip… If the lenticulars stay with the eye movement design as opposed to the open and close design of the earliest ones, I may change my mind and decide to collect them.
Important to state Chase Darrell Cartrip is NOT lenticular !
Although by the looks of it, it is not very Ransburg either. I had expected to see a very shiny chrome look…
Yeah, I hope they look better in person, not really impressed by the images we’ve seen so far.
Hot Wheels(Mattel) makes a very nice CHROME pickup truck with their logo on it, so the people at Mattel are certainly capable of really impressive finishes when they put their mind to it.
The photo does not really capture the shininess. The one they showed at SDCC had a VERY shiny chrome finish. I think you will be pleased.
If not, I’ll hold Monica personally responsible for my displeasure!
I read something about lenticulars then some more words and then…..RANSBURG DARREL CARTRIP?
Forget the rest, but Sign me up for at least two of those
When does the ransburg DJ come out? I want him!
speaking of lenticulars… has anyone seen the Target lenticular 4 pack with View Zeen? I saw 4 this morning….
where??
Well none on Ebay so far.. are you sure you saw 4 Packs Lenticulars with VIEW ZEEN??
The only good thing about that many lenticulars on a shelf is Darrell has a better chance of hiding until I get to the store.
Sit tight buddy, I’m enroute!
“My oil pressure’s through the roof!”
LOL!
Awesome, can’t wait to finish finding the ones I couldn’t find the first time. I may NOT like them as much as the original but they are cars and I do like them just not as much.
In our tiny town they are selling better and faster than mater toons making some of them impossible to find. Like fabulous hudson, never seen him yet.
The end cap at the South Hill Mall area WM in Puyallup, WA is stuffed with lenticulars. They are not selling at all, and, it is no wonder since the end cap is in the rear of the toy section. Thee end cap is not an eye catcher. The three other WM in the area are not using an end cap, so it is possible a new shipment may show up with a later case, but, maybe the old shipment is in with the bird seed storage area. Package lenticulars anyway you want, they are an unnecessary gimmick. Hopefully the holiday toy buying season with blow them out!
well for getting one of each of these… i do like the new packaging at least…
Here’s Christmas Sally, in LOOSE form, from the Australian Ebayer:
She DOES have her fancy pin striping!!! Very cool!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Disney-Pixar-Cars-Sally-Christmas-Edition-new-loose_W0QQitemZ400081578512QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5d26b86a10
and her even fancier snowflake rims…
After clicking on the http follow the sellers inventory in ‘see other items.’ He has a Toyko Mater with 2010 collector guide for $229. Looks cool, but, $229-no way. He also has many ‘loose’ castings not yet hitting the retailers. Nice stuff, high prices. I’ll wait.
I don’t see that — what’s the item number?
I think he means the Tokyo Dragon McQueen, Mater’s in the background on the packaging. 2010 booklet included.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Disney-Cars-Toon-Tokyo-Dragon-McQueen-PCK_W0QQitemZ350271690110QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item518dd1d57e
You’re right! That was a typo on my part. Sorry to get everybody’s drool going!
John, I went back in to pull the item number and it disappeared. Somebody on this site must have read the entry, followed the lead, and bought it for $229! The person must really suffer from Cars Compulsive Disorder. I’m sure the seller will have more to sell. I’d check back later. But at least I know it will be sold with the collector’s guide. I have to drop wife at work. Back on later.
I think Lightning will ALWAYS be the “poster CAR” for the Collector’s Guide……if there was one with Mater, it might have been a prototype that didn’t go to production.
My money will always be on Lightning, in some form, to promote the next years goodies in catalog form.
The eBay listing is right here
However, $229 is pretty high up there. I am pre-selling them on my site for $12.
Yeah, look up about 4 replies and you’ll see that I left that link!
It’s those high “down under” prices!
Aah, meant to post that under Steve AKA: Poppa but must have hit yours instead.
Thanks guys!!
Presales for $12 are good, but warming the pegs in a couple of months at $6 is even better!
I finally got my 2009 Collector’s one from a store called “Fallas Paredes” [YMMV] kind of a…hmn… a store that sells stuff dirt cheap. Got it for $3.99 mint condition & I was happy with it. I was going to get it at TRU for $6.99 but went in to that store & found a whole stack of them. I might go back sometime to see if they still have some more. Want at least one more. I can’t wait for this one to come out. Yay!
just a slight difference in price there folks, well done Jake!
Mattel’s design packaging dept went into overdrive again. Must be 2010.
DB, SC, WOC, ROR, Look, Final Lap, and this FinalLap/Look City Scape design.
ROR was my least favorite of the cards, until the first Look cards.
My walmart has not put out a case of Lenticulars since case A was first out. They never got case B. They have put out the side cap displays. They got the endcap trays but out of the 6 only one tray had good pack cars(my guess is it was the one on top) all the rest where all creased-up. I found another two side cap displays yesterday with the king chase. This walmart isn’t ordering these cars the DC is just sending the endcaps.
We got the latest end cap last week, No King Chase in it either.
Dinoco and Chick Chases only. The pegs were already full of Look cars.
With the dilution of the Cars lines, and limited funds of buyers for Christmas, which will they choose? Looks, Christmas Cars, Cars toons, Classics, Haulers, Minis, MM, three packs, 4 packs, etc. Lots of choices.
So is this case assortment going to be both in Race O Rama AND Final Lap? Pics show it being Final Lap, list shows Race O Rama…
(MET: The Race O Rama motif is being retired to the “Final Lap” card design look – it’s not exactly the same if you look closely).
Not sure I understand, MET. I meant the list you made has the ROR logo on it, but the pics above show the Final Lap motif logo. Are these only being releases as Final Lap, or BOTH ROR and Final Lap? Thanks!
In other words, is case D the last ROR lenticular case? Then no more ROR? And case E is Final Lap, and rest is Final Lap from here? The ROR on your list threw me off.
(MET: Oops, guess I forgot to change the graphic).
OK, so no more ROR lenticulars…
Beautiful package.
Terrible product. (except Darrell Cartrip)
those little motifs near there name are a bit strange… Darrel has a 95 with a lightning bolt which would suggest McQueen. McQueen then looks like he has something else.
those motifs represent “Radator Springs”, “Route 66″, “Piston Cup”, and… erm… “Friends of McQueen”? haha… They just indicate which part of the movie the characters are from…
Still don’t like em’. As Met so eloquently stated………they muddy the water.
WOW! That art looks great . .. too bad the cars are . . .well . . googly eyes! Chase Darrell looks sweet!!
They got smart and cut all those corners and edges that were getting ruined on the first card . . .. maybe they are trying to grab the eye of the collector after all . .. hmmmm . .
I liked the extra corners, made it easy to find the chase cars because they didn’t have the extra “look my eyes are googly”
I like the new look but will only pick up the chase cars.
Hmmm…so Mattel thinks by changing the packaging design it will make people want to buy the Lenticulars?
The chase Darrell Cartrip is cool though!
…and with that NEW PACKAGING comes a NEW HIGHER PRICE TOO!!!!!
WOW! Nice article and thanks for sharing the pics Dorvack1
The pegs at my Walmart are filled to the brim with lenticulars. It’s been that way for months. I’m afraid until they sell off some of their overstock, we’ll never see another new case
BTW…it’s like that at the TRU too. So many lenticular McQueens they are literally falling off the pegs when you touch them.
I know McQueen is the most popular with the kiddies. I was at a target and I over heard a little boy telling his mother about McQueen. She wanted him to get another McQueen, Dinoco McQueen, but the kid kept saying no, McQueen is red! I thought he was so cute. So I understand that McQueen (red) is the most popular but….there is such a thing as over kill.