I still remember having to do that with the 2015 RLC Shelby SCCA-inspired Toyota 2000 GT. Focusing on eBay as the source, once there, the poor saps would be presented with countless listings for the sold out car at what seemed to be an arbitrary price. I can’t think of many recent instances in which the sale made it that far before selling out – maybe the unfortunate 2020 Holiday car did? Regardless, those that missed out had to find their way to either eBay, or The Toy Peddler, or some other secondary channel to add the piece to their collection.
That brings me to my second point and the catalyst for my fired synapses and flappy fingers: the secondary market for RLC releases, which I understand is not a new concept.īefore the Unlimited Membership Period (UMP), there was a set number of RLC members who had a chance to purchase the newest RLC release before standard HWC members got a bite at the apple. For a far more detailed post on RLC production numbers and why they are what they are, check out Derek’s post HERE. Since we know the former is out of the question for this year, you think they’ll bump production numbers on future releases? That could have other unintended effects such as members not seeing the pieces as collectible or desirable anymore, regardless of how cool they are. In my opinion, Mattel needs to either throttle back on Red Line Club memberships or shift up production numbers. Seems contrary to Mattel’s initial reasoning of the digital membership, because while everyone gets to participate, even more will miss out on the trophy. For the more desirable cars, there are going to be a lot of disappointed people, much more so than last year. That digital membership is still available, and will be all year, so who’s to say that many multiples of last year’s membership count will all be grabbing at the same 20,000 cars each time a sale goes live. Where was the lifeguard on duty when the suits decided that was a good idea to make sure no one was “left out of the club,” as Mattel puts it.
#HOT WHEELS RLC REDLINE CLUB VW DRAG BUS TAXI PATCH#
With Mattel’s introduction of a digital RLC membership for 2021 that eschews the constraints of the physical kit (Membership car, patch and button), they’ve essentially lifted the limits at the community pool without considering there is a finite amount of people that can fit and enjoy the water without having to worry about drowning. I was waiting in line for eight minutes before I made it to the Continue to Payment screen and by the time I chose the right bicycles and checked I wasn’t a robot, it was gone. Even though I had multiple fishing poles in the water, I still missed out on the VW Drag Bus.
In three minutes, the entire stock had been exhausted as an indeterminate number of members were left scrambling through random reCAPTCHA wondering what constitutes a crosswalk. It was not going to last long, so as the clock neared noon for Eastern Standard time dwellers (myself included), countless fans lined up in front of their Internet connection devices and prepared themselves to become one of the lucky 20k (five times the original Gasser) that would claim ownership once the dust had settled. Their heavy-hitting VW Drag Bus, a casting of Babe Ruth proportions, was dressed in pinstripes as an ode to the ’55 Gasser ‘Candy Striper’ that was part of the 2014 team and has reached stratospheric values on the secondary market ( Have you checked it lately?) The inclusion of ‘Type II’ into the deco was a clever line referencing both the air-cooled VW platform and the second coming of the Striper. Tuesday, March 16, marked opening day for the 2021 Red Line Club season and Mattel certainly came out swinging. The views expressed in this piece are solely my own and do not reflect the opinions of the other Lamley writers.
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