Without going into too much detail, the word is that confetti on the Chase blisters is no more.

This was not a cost savings measure – more of a creative look & feel decision …

So, in the midst of the change, some Boost and some Snot Rod’s seem to have escaped the factory wearing the confetti blisters …

And of course, everyone wants to know how rare or how difficult it is to find?

Normally, by now, we should have a good feel based on what people are finding out there … in normal circumstances, all 20,000 (ish) CARS each of CASE B & C would have long been displayed and sold … and while there might be a few thousand cases left floating out there, it’s like an election – after you count 50% of the vote, unless it’s razor thin, you can pretty much call it …

But there are NOT normal distribution and retail circumstances because Walmart’s around NorCal are JUST putting T cases from September 2008! Meaning, there are 3 months of CARS backstock and inventory? Perhaps not for every WM and not in every region of the country but other parts of the country – people have reported seeing a giant selection of WOC CASE T and nothing newer … so it puts a giant question on inventory left and of course, value of these cards …

Let’s look at Impound Boost – originally, WM was supposed to have Impound Boost and the other CARS of CASE B out on a pallet by early November. What percentage of people have actually reported seeing a pallet? 20? 50% but not much higher than that. I know our local store where I photographed that pallet out in gardening NEVER put it out (no evidence of ANY other CASE B CARS even to TODAY!). Is it still in the back? Presumably so … there’s 6 Impound Boosts … with out or without confetti? There are 4,000 WM’s …though we know NOT every WM got a pallet so how many stores got a pallet? 2,000? Probably reasonable. That would mean WM got about 12,000 (out of the 20,000 available Impound Boosts) … now, how many pallets made it out on the floor? 50% or about 6,000 Impound Boosts leaving another 6,000 un-accounted for? It seems like the stores got one or the other and there was not much mixing … but I’m sure in some stores, that is not true … it seems CTC cases only contained confetti Boosts (before they switched to non-confetti Boosts) but we don’t really know how many cases were left after WM got their order? Right now the ratio stands at maybe 70-30 with 70 with confetti but are there 6,000 Impound Boosts in WM’s backroom? Are they all without confetti? So the balance is ultimately 50-50?

CASE B is still available in the Mattel warehouse so there are still thousand(s) of boxes left that might show up anytime from now to Christmas, 2009.

Bottom line right now – don’t overpay for Impound Boost without confetti because another 6,000+ of them could come trickling out between now and the end of Spring or later in 2009.

Impound Snot Rod – might even be more difficult to say … though presumably the Impound Snot Rod WITH confetti is more rare but again, who knows because if the CASE B pallet is difficult to determine its whereabouts and status … CASE C pallet is EVEN MORE DIFFICULT because that pallet got shuffled around and hardly anyone has even spotted it … so did WM cancel it entirely and not take anything?

Presumably the ratio of confettied Impound Snot Rod to the non “regular” confetti-less Impound Snot Rod is lower than 70-30 or 50-50 … but what is the real percentage? … while only 3-4 people have emailed me saying they have an Impound Snot Rod with confetti (hardly scientific, of course), I don’t think the % of people who have Impound Snot Rod is very high, right?

Maybe this will change with the WM reset coming this Sunday? Maybe a flood of CASE B & C’s will appear and we can determine what’s what? Maybe by the end of January, TRU will get more singles along with Target?

And again, thousands of CASE C are still in the warehouse available but with or without confetti?

Also, keep in mind that if prices do actually rise to a “high” enough amount, it’s not that difficult to fake … in fact, that person of questionable ethics might even have a DUAL financial incentive … if you can remove a confetti blister from Boost or even Impound Lightning McQueen, you can increase the value of that one by switching it with a “easier” to find confetti-less Impound Snot Rod … now, it’s TWO eBay “rare” cards auctions … so sure, amusing to collect but be careful – if it’s a few dollars more, the incentive to make a fake is pretty low but if prices actually go skyward … the grub will come out of the woodwork so if you find one on the shelf, great … but careful about paying too much.

LAST post on topic as they were first transitioning.