{"id":14207,"date":"2011-08-27T06:28:58","date_gmt":"2011-08-27T11:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=14207"},"modified":"2012-07-13T13:20:49","modified_gmt":"2012-07-13T18:20:49","slug":"hot-wheels-masters-of-the-universe-custom-77-dodge-van-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=14207","title":{"rendered":"Hot Wheels Masters of the
Universe Custom ’77 Dodge Van"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>So this weekend, I bought a Masters of the Universe toy at Walmart. You can imagine my surprise. There I am, stumbling across some Hot Wheels because frickin\u2019 Walmart felt the need to swap die-cast & figures in their latest reset. I\u2019m suddenly lost, but then there\u2019s something familiar: He-Man. <\/p>\n

Since I\u2019ve started doing Armchair Coverage for SDCC, I just flat out miss some stuff. Ironic, I know.<\/em> I remember hearing some vague rumblings about Masters of the Universe Hot Wheels being shown, but I never saw them and, in time, I forgot about them entirely. So when I found them at a retail, it was a happy accident – even if my DCUCs weren’t where they were supposed to be…<\/p>\n

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I didn\u2019t buy one that day because of sticker shock: $4.47. Each.<\/em> Sure, that $5 buys a cool car with an awesome MOTU vintage oil printed on the side, all wrapped in a sweet Castle Grayskull inspired package. And, heck, Mattel even tossed in some \u201creal\u201d rubber wheels for added value. But, at the same time, there\u2019s the same basic car for $1.07 (in black with some sweet flame decals) not more than ten feet away. I walked, but in my heart… I knew it was only temporary. <\/p>\n

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We all went through the Hot Wheels phase, right? I mean, maybe it wasn\u2019t the Hot Wheels brand (my Dad favored Matchbox and typically bought me those when I was kid), but die-cast cars are like a rite of passage into greater toydom. I loved having them as a kid and I still buy \u2018em on occasion when one catches my or my wife\u2019s fancy (they\u2019re a $1, it\u2019s like candy\u2026<\/em>). She\u2019s usually buying a cool one for her classroom stash while I tend to favor the ones with a bit of nostalgia thrown in \u2013 Batmobiles, Ecto-1, Deloreans, or even just late 70s designs of my youth. That\u2019s how I knew which one of the eight Masters of the Universe cars would eventually get me \u2013 the Custom \u201977 Dodge Van. It didn\u2019t help that it featured one of the coolest vintage oils either \u2013 Battle Armor He-Man riding Battle Cat into… uh, battle. <\/p>\n

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When I finally found it again (it took a few extra trips into that foreign aisle), it came home with me. And even though I will flat out tell you that there is no way this toy is worth $5, I\u2019m totally glad I bought it. It has some neat features \u2013 I actually do appreciate the rubber wheels and the full-length moon roof is pretty cool, but I think what I like most is how ridiculous it really is. <\/p>\n

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The other seven cars have some cool vintage oils on them: Beast Man is getting slimed on the roof of the \u201959 Cadillac Funny Car, Skeletor is rockin\u2019 the Land Shark on the side of a vintage Dairy Delivery Van and riding Panthor on the side of a \u201950s Chevy Truck, but those seem a bit weird. Orko on the side door of a ’29 Pickup? Eh. The Eternia box art printed on the side panel of a classic delivery truck? Cool, but what\u2019s that truck deliver? I know I’m overthinking it, but the design choices on most of the cars make me scratch my head. All except one. <\/p>\n

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See, there\u2019s a special place in my heart for the gaudiness of a custom van that proudly displays a big honkin\u2019 mural to everyone you drive past. And, frankly, it\u2019s high time that someone acknowledged that He-Man deserved this level of prestige; the distinction that can only come from getting a full-size mural on the side of a custom van. That, my friends, is a laugh well worth $5 to me. <\/p>\n

While the price seems a bit crazy to me, I’m going to guess that’s partially because I don’t understand the collectible pricing structure of Hot Wheels. While I can appreciate the special features, I still just see the same van being sold at $1.07, $2.47, & $4.47. But on my trips to Wal-Mart, I also keep seeing the $1 and $2.47 versions of this van. What I don\u2019t see are the MOTU ones. These simply keep selling out at all the Walmarts I visit. It’s crazy, but it’s a good crazy. So, if you’re in the market for a cool MOTU collectible and have $5 to spare? These might be for you. If not, well… just keep track of where Walmart moves the action figure aisle and you might never even have to see ’em…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So this weekend, I bought a Masters of the Universe toy at Walmart. You can imagine my surprise. There I am, stumbling across some Hot Wheels because frickin\u2019 Walmart felt the need to swap die-cast & figures in their latest reset. I\u2019m suddenly lost, but then there\u2019s something familiar: He-Man.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":14208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[7,34,10],"tags":[340,1155,20,2558],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/hmvTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-3H9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28868,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=28868","url_meta":{"origin":14207,"position":0},"title":"SDCC 2014 Armchair Coverage! Masters of the Universe Classics!","date":"July 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Event Coverage"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12450,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=12450","url_meta":{"origin":14207,"position":1},"title":"SDCC 2011 Exclusives: Official Images from Mattel","date":"April 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Since Attack of the Show's strangly decided not to focus on the He-Man items last night, it fell back to Mattel to give us our first good look at the 2011 exclusives. They've come to our aid early this morning with images and information on the upcoming San Diego Exclusives\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ask Matty"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13133,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=13133","url_meta":{"origin":14207,"position":2},"title":"We did it!!! SDCCExclusive Battle Armor Faker","date":"July 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In a press release today, Toys R Us and Entertainment Earth revealed a handful of shared SDCC\/online exclusives. There's plenty of cool items from several hot toy lines, but there's one you know is near and dear to my heart. A DC vs MOTU 2pk featuring Bizarro facing off against...\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/newsimages\/Bizarro-vs-Faker.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27726,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=27726","url_meta":{"origin":14207,"position":3},"title":"New Adventures Skeletor Gallery Oh, and Extendar & Flogg Too!","date":"May 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3384,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=3384","url_meta":{"origin":14207,"position":4},"title":"Matty on Facebook: Moss Man in Package!","date":"January 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Today on Facebook, Mattel posted images of the March Masters of the Universe figure, Mos Man! There's been plenty of controversy about Moss Man already, but I don't get it. I'm of that 1\/5th minority that prefers the flocking to the carpeted version shown at SDCC, and I'm ambivalent on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Matty on Facebook"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21754,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=21754","url_meta":{"origin":14207,"position":5},"title":"Review Round-Up (October 22nd-28th)","date":"November 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This week\u2019s Review Round-Up played dirty pool! We\u2019ve got our awesome mix of cool reviews of hot new toys and interesting reviews of toys that time forgot, but Toyriffic is on my naughty list! If not for them, I\u2019d never have known about the awesome Halloween repaint of the Hot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14207"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14207"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19605,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14207\/revisions\/19605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}