Before technology took over

Long before the wonderful world of Nintendo took over my childhood, my favorite method of wasting time was playing with my model train set. I got my first train set for my 6th birthday. It was your basic all-in-one train set but I thought it was awesome. It was called the “Fire Fox” train set, which was a firefighter themed kit. It had a basic locomotive and all the freight cars you could want all the way down to the caboose. There wasn’t much track, barely enough to go in a circle, but it did have a train car that had a spring-loaded launcher that shot an airplane, not to mention it had a bunch of little plastic firefighter figures and a few fire trucks. It was really a complete play set that happened to have an electric train. It was a pretty good deal, both for me and my parents. However, my obsession with model trains just got worse from there.

It might not look like much but it had everything I could have wanted.

The set came with a fold-out mat with roads, houses and trees printed on it, and that sufficed for a while, but before too long the entire setup got an upgrade. Once my parents saw how much fun I had with my train, they got a sheet of plywood and that became my play space. The best part was it let me design and build my own custom landscape. My mother, the consummate crafter, helped me make my own mountains, hills and tunnels with paper mache and cardboard. Then with help from some cereal boxes, I made my own buildings and very quickly my own little city started to take shape. Toss in a few Hot Wheels and Transformers for good measure and I was all set. I remember getting books from the library on how to decorate and make my own little accessories, it was so much fun. But there’s one thing you can’t do on your own when you have a train set…make your own train.

Slowly but surely I customized my train set..check out that tunnel!

Don’t forget the caboose

You’re at the mercy of the hobby stores when it comes to train engines and extra cars, and little did I realize at the time but they were expensive. Sure, the set I got had all the stuff you needed to get started, but from that point on I built my train set up piece by piece over several years, getting a few things for my birthday and Christmas. Friends and family knew I loved my train set, so that helped speed things up. Looking back at it now, I really didn’t have a lot of stuff but when you’re 7-years-old, it felt like I had everything. I had several locomotives, a lot of freight cars…I even had a trolley and a crane! Then somewhere along the way my play space grew as we added another sheet of plywood so I had a “huge” 8-foot area on which to make the perfect train layout.

Hands on fun.

I might have had a decent collection of train cars but I had even more track. I used to spend hours just drawing and planning my track layout, and of course I always needed more. I think I had more fun planning and building than I did watching the train go around the track. I guess in the end, the train just went around in a circle, but you could create a story with the environment, and that’s just what I did. Every building had a story and every train had a purpose. I even tried to combine my slot car set and my train set…but that didn’t turn out so well.

A trolley...for those simple cross-town commutes.

Video games derailed my fun

Life on the railroad was a lot of fun but it all derailed when I got my Nintendo. Instead of wanting train engines and fake trees for Christmas, I wanted NES games. My train set eventually got packed away and I haven’t really looked back until now while writing this article. To my surprise, most of my train set was still together and probably still works. I took some time to look up the state of model trains today and it doesn’t appear as though much has changed since I was playing with them 25 years ago. There are a few new pieces of technology around today, like cameras and more computerized controls, but all in all, it’s still just a model train set.

However, one thing I understand now as an adult is just how expensive keeping a train set can be. Locomotives seem to range on the low end around $50 and up and beyond $100. That’s a lot for anything, if you ask me. Even the basic train cars run at least $20 and go up from there depending on how big and real you want things to be. Then you have all the extras like cars, people, trees, signs and telephone poles. It might seem cheap at first when a pack of something like telephone poles is only $3, but when you consider how many you need to make your set look “real”, it quickly adds up. Rather than have the dozens and dozens of the accessories I wanted, my town had to survive with only a few telephone poles and a mailbox.

I'll take the B&O for $200...wait, wrong toy...

A hobby is an investment

I have yet to find any inexpensive hobby, although my Hot Wheels addiction certainly comes close, but a train set doesn’t qualify either. I can see the appeal of keeping up with a model train hobby as there’s a part of me that wishes I had. There’s a lot of challenge and fun on many levels, from constructing environments to wiring switch tracks and painting freight cars. But model trains require a lot of time, dedication and money…and at least two out of three of those dwindle more and more as you get older and older. I’d love to see what I could do with a train set today, but I don’t think I could afford it…or more so, I wouldn’t want to. I think having a model train set is a lost art, a toy that is totally under appreciated in today’s world of techno-gadgets and video games. But I challenge any video game to amaze and mesmerize a child as much as a model train set. A train set is real, physical fun. It’s hard to beat a toy that you touch, build and are then able to watch all your hard work come to life.

Check out more model train photos over in my Flickr sets

The man behind Hot Wheels

The inventor of Hot Wheels recently passed away. His name was Elliot Handler and he was 95 years old, but let’s not discount the fact that the man also co-founded the entire Mattel toy empire, so his impact goes well beyond Hot Wheels. To be honest, I didn’t know his name until one of my friends posted about his death. That might be shameful of me to not know the man’s name but it got me thinking about how much we really take the toys we have for granted. Many toys, like Hot Wheels, have been around for so long that it’s easy to forget that someone actually had to invent them. Diecast cars are so ubiquitous these days that we rarely stop to think about how awesome they really are. Something so simple can be so much fun to play with and enjoy.

Undoubtedly one of the best birthday presents ever.

The passion grows

Staple childhood toys like Hot Wheels were not chosen by us, they were just given to us. I don’t recall the first time I told my mom I wanted Hot Wheels. It was a toy I just received without asking and from there my love of them grew. They were as popular then as they are now and because I’m a boy, friends and family always got them for me as presents. Hot Wheels were (and still are) cheap to buy and always put a smile on my face, so for boys they’re an easy “go to” gift. I don’t even remember how many Hot Wheels cars I had as a kid, hundreds probably passed through my hands…but I always wanted more. You could never have too many Hot Wheels.

When I think about all the toys I grew up with, I’ve learned that there is a common way to tell when a toy meant a lot to a kid…when you received the “rip off” versions of the same toy and got mad about it. It doesn’t matter what popular toy you’re talking about…Hot Wheels, GI Joe, LEGO…you loved them so much that you could spot, and would reject, imitations in a heartbeat. You could smell a fake a mile away, a skill our parents could never quite figure out. There was nothing worse than being excited about a present only to open it up and find some sort of bootleg version, and Hot Wheels was no different. Parents and grandparents would try to pawn off cheap Woolworth’s diecast cars as Hot Wheels but I knew better. The quality, the colors, the style and the fun just wasn’t there. If there’s one thing Hot Wheels is not, it’s being able to be copied.

Imitated but never duplicated.

Toys that are meant to be played with

Many of the Hot Wheels you see on the shelves today are little more than mini versions of real life car models…Corvettes, Porsches, Volkswagens, etc…but the other half of the Hot Wheels catalog were fantastic designs that could speak to every child. The crazy designs created by Hot Wheels looked like they came right out of the pages of my childhood sketch book. I loved Hot Wheels because they weren’t normal, whereas brands like Matchbox cars were all about accuracy. They were the “collector” cars…but really, what kid wants a Mustang when they can have a Sol-Aire CX-4? If you just wanted to put cars on a shelf, you got Matchbox cars. If you wanted cars you could play with, you got Hot Wheels. And don’t forget about all the “gimmick” cars that Hot Wheels released of the years; cars that changed color in water, cars with peepholes and pictures on the inside and cars that came “pre-wrecked” and flipped when they hit the wall. Mattel knew what they were doing and knew what kids wanted…and we wanted to play. Hard.

Why have a Porsche when you can have the Bone Shaker?

Hot Wheels are certainly the toy cars with the best performance when it came to play time. They are made to be played with. Hot Wheels are meant to be scooted across kitchen floors and flung off of ramps made of shoe boxes and magazines. Of course, what every kid really wanted was just miles and miles of the iconic Hot Wheels “orange track” that came with the playsets. I remember taking all of the Hot Wheels track I could find and connecting it all together to make a giant downhill track on the steps in my house. Sure, you’d toss your Matchbox cars and other dime store cars down your track too, but none of them could hold a candle to the real deal of Hot Wheels.

I’ll never forgive myself

However, as I grew up, my Hot Wheels found a fate that many of my toys experienced – total destruction. I’m not sure if every boy goes through a “blow everything up” phase, but I did and nothing was off limits, including my Hot Wheels. Most of my cars along with my GI Joe figures, Transformers, Construx and many other toys suffered a fate of low end fireworks, bonfires, brick smashing, dismantling and even the occasional drowning in my sandbox when it was filled with water. It’s hard for me to think back to that time because I’m not really sure what came over me that made me destroy all my toys. It makes me sad, and not because I’m thinking what all of those toys would be worth today…it makes me sad just because I loved them so much and I still do. Thankfully though, becoming an adult affords us all an opportunity to reclaim a little bit of our childhood, and I did just that when it came to Hot Wheels.

Picking up where childhood left off

As I mentioned before, Hot Wheels are still a very cheap toy to buy – they’re still only a dollar. Find me another toy that hasn’t changed its price in more than 20 years! In a world of $12 action figures and other expensive gadget toys, the simplicity of Hot Wheels combined with the attractive price cannot be beat. About 10 years ago I started collecting Hot Wheels again. I never left Target or Walmart without at least one car in my bag…usually a dozen or more, actually. It’s a great feeling to go on a Hot Wheels shopping spree and know you’ve only spent $20 for 20 cars. At first I was selectively collecting them, only buying the models I wanted and putting them on a display case my grandpa made me when I was a kid. It felt good to reclaim some of my childhood but putting them on a shelf to admire just wasn’t enough. It didn’t feel right, so I went about finding a way to have fun with Hot Wheels as an adult.

My first custom Hot Wheels. Not too bad, I guess.

The solution turned out to be something I and all men are pretty good at – taking things apart. I started exploring the customization of Hot Wheels cars. I’d take them apart, paint them, modify their bodies, swap out tires…just about anything. Although, what kid didn’t paint their Hot Wheels at some point? I would take my mom’s acrylic paints and give my cars quite a covering, but now with better tools at my disposal, I could do the job right, effectively turning my Hot Wheels into very tiny model projects. I even brought a car that survived my childhood back to life. I took these experiences to the web and started blogging about what I was doing and how I was doing it. It was fun and got a few eyeballs but not until I took my Hot Wheels chop shop to the world of racing did things start to get interesting.

No other toy has done more for me

Give me some track and some Hot Wheels and I'm happy.

If you were ever in a club like Boy Scouts that did pinewood derby races, then you know what I’m talking about. Giving Hot Wheels new paint jobs and shiny wheels is one thing, but trying to make them faster in a downhill race is another thing entirely. I continued writing about my Hot Wheels racing and somehow it turned into an entire online game, a fantasy league for Hot Wheels drag races. The blog I started, Redline Derby Racing, was intended to be little more than a way to chronicle my custom work, but now it stands as what I believe is the only online Hot Wheels racing league around, and it’s been a lot of fun to watch it grow. Not only am I playing with my Hot Wheels as a 30-something adult, but it’s serving a purpose by entertaining quite a few people. What started as my return to the world of Hot Wheels has become a full time hobby and I’ve found myself in the middle of a community of people that are looking for the same thing I was…simple, nostalgic fun. I always get funny looks when I tell people I run a web site dedicated to Hot Wheels racing, but I always shrug it off because I know that everyone collects something…and chances are it’s “stupid” too (and probably more expensive). We all geek out about something and I just happen to go nuts for Hot Wheels. It could be worse.

Some people…most people…see Hot Wheels cars as nothing more than a cheap, disposable toy. Something to keep their kid from crying in the store or something to stuff in that Christmas stocking at the last minute. But for kids like me, Hot Wheels made quite an impact and despite a phase where I thought I had outgrown the toy, I returned to the brand with renewed interest (and a wallet full of cash) to finally have the fun I couldn’t have when I was a kid. I’m not sure any other toy has stuck with me as long as Hot Wheels. I can’t think of any other toy that I was able to enjoy so much as a child but then also as an adult. It’s easy to look back and remember how much you loved some toys, but how many of those toys can you still enjoy like that today? Hot Wheels made an impact on me then and continues to do so in a very positive way, and for that, I must thank Elliot Handler and the other people at Mattel that created Hot Wheels and the other toys we all love so much. His name may not be well-known and might be forgotten, but his toys will live on forever and continue to make kids of all ages happy.

Brian is a freelance writer that blogs, tweets and races Hot Wheels weekly while also co-hosting live podcast.

Not your typical convention

This wasn’t my first toy convention. I’ve been to my share of video game conventions and a few model train shows as a kid. I even went to Celebration III in Indianapolis to bear witness to one of the largest gatherings of Star Wars fans ever, but none of those prepared me for the Nashville Collector’s Experience. This wasn’t your normal convention where you walk into a giant hall filled with endless tables of people selling their stuff. Instead, collectors that were staying at the hotel where the convention was held opened their rooms up, allowing anyone to walk in and check out their cars for sale. You had to walk from room to room to see what people had for sale, often creating a somewhat awkward experience…it’s not every day you walk into someone’s hotel room to make a purchase. On top of that, people were scattered around the hotel so you had to jump floors to see everything. If you ask me, this room-to-room format really hurts the experience and in the long run I think it limits how much people can sell. Had everyone been in one spot I probably would have purchased more.

Hot Wheels for sale in every room.

However bizarre this method of buying and selling was, it didn’t impact the quality of toys for sale or the deals to be had. Whether you were looking for ultra-rare diecast cars or just cheap cars to play with (like me), there was something for every type of collector. I saw some cars selling for upwards of $150 that I assume were custom made or possibly one of the original 16 Hot Wheels from the late 1960s. While I do collect Hot Wheels, I’m a not collector that is looking for rare, vintage cars or anything like that. I just wanted cheap cars to play with…and boy did I find them. Even today some 40 years after they hit the market in 1968, Hot Wheels are still incredibly cheap to collect, only a $1 for a new car at Target or Walmart, but that doesn’t beat the 30 cents some people were selling them for at the convention. I walked out of there with nearly 50 new cars and paid less than $25 for all of them. Not a bad haul by any stretch.

Ready, set, race!

Despite this convention being called the “Collector’s Experience”, I was really there for one thing and one thing only – racing. I mentioned starting Redline Derby Racing, which is an online fantasy league game for downhill diecast racing…kind of like the pinewood derby in Boy Scouts only with Hot Wheels instead. Through my Redline Derby web site I made some connections inside the diecast collecting community and found others that love racing as much as I do, and one of them was bringing their massive 50-foot race track to Nashville to be part of the convention. Long story short, I went to Nashville to take my racing on the road and hold a special set of races on this huge track, a slight step up from the 20-foot track I had at home. The racing went great and was made even better by the crowd that was on hand. While it wasn’t anything more than a couple dozen people, seeing everyone from kids to adults get excited about downhill racing was great to behold.

Beats the heck out of the Pinewood Derby.

A little something for everyone

While the racing was a lot of fun, there was more to do at this convention than buying cars and sending them down a hill. Other activities at the convention included a customs contest that asked folks to customize a Hot Wheels and have it be judged. You might think the cars you see on the store shelves are fancy enough but let me tell you, you haven’t seen anything until you see a car that has been blinged out by a pro. The amount of detail these customizers get on a 1:64 scale car is ridiculous, putting any full-sized model to shame. There was also a famed diecast vending machine in the main convention hall. I had heard stories of this vending machine for a while, it seemed legendary, so I was interested to see what all the hubbub was about. Turns out this vending machine was exactly that, a snack vending machine that was altered to drop toy cars when you enter your selection. The fun part is you have no idea what you’re getting, you can’t see the cars inside. You just pick a number at random and whatever falls out is yours, but being a collector’s convention, everything that came out of the machine was of collector quality. With my vending machine pull I scored a re-issue of a vintage car called the Red Baron, which I then had signed by Larry Wood, one of the first Hot Wheels car designers, who was at the convention for autographs and photos. Larry didn’t design the Red Baron but it was still cool to meet the guy that had designed so many Hot Wheels for decades.

One of the cars I got from the vending machine...classy and collectible.

I was only at the convention for one day, so I’d be short-changing it if I didn’t mention a lot of the other stuff going on before I showed up. The in-room buying and selling was happening all the time, there were several special events going on for ticket holders, including bingo, a special version of UNO and even some late-night racing for cash and charity. And just about every activity at the convention resulted in you receiving a special, collectible diecast car. On top of the cars I bought, I walked out of the convention with at least a dozen free cars I got just for being there and having some fun.

Every hobby is better with friends

Most hobbies tend to only require one person, you, the collector. You can collect toys, trains, games, action figures or whatever by yourself. You don’t really need other people and collecting Hot Wheels isn’t any different. I can go to the store, buy cars, and come home and be done, but sharing your hobby and finding others that enjoy it as well is always more fun. Even though I got to race my cars on a big track and found crazy deals on new toys, the one take away from this convention was the comradery and friendships. This was my first diecast car convention so I was new to everything, but most of the people there had forged friendships from these conventions…from collecting toy cars…for years and it was great to see, and it was even better making a few new friend myself. Even though the convention was a little different than I expected, it was a great time and if another convention comes within driving distance I’ll be there with bells on…and with a couple hundred Hot Wheels ready to race.

Brian is a freelance writer that blogs, tweets and collects.

Want more articles on diecast cars? Check these out:

-5 Ways To Enjoy Your Hot Wheels Collection

-Sweet Memories of Childhood Cars: A Matchbox Retrospective

-Still Leading The Way: A Hot Wheels Retrospective

-Talking Cars, Space Ships, and Classic Americana: The Most Popular Die-Cast Cars

An iconic image for any young boy's childhood.

Tonka Company History

The word “Tonka” was an interesting choice, a Dakota-Sioux word for “great” and/or “big.” These days, Tonka is a word associated with great big trucks for kids. This is of course due to the famous line of metal construction vehicle toys that Tonka released in the mid-sixties. By the way, for more on these classics, read our earlier post on vintage tonka trucks.

The company spent many years with their metal trucks (dubbed the “Mighty” line), using the profits to acquire a barbecue manufacturer and expand their variety of products to attract other demographics.

A Tonka for any occasion.

This plan took off in the 1980s, when Tonka released Pound Puppies and Gobots. Though these were big sellers, the big yellow trucks never waned in popularity.

1991 came with a big change, as Tonka was bought out by Hasbro. Thankfully, the Tonka brand name never left, nor did their trademark trucks.

The Original

The original Mighty Tonka truck was, of course, the Mighty Dump Truck in1964. Back in the sixties, the line of yellow construction monsters also featured real rubber tires. At a whopping eleven pounds and big enough to haul a household cat (yes, I tried it), the truck is now a symbol of Tonka strength and durability.

Some of the marketing lines written for the early incarnations of the Mighty line included “Guaranteed for Life” and “Tonka Tough.” Rightly so, as the Mighty Dump is a common family heirloom that is safe in the hands of any generation.

They're still mighty tough these days.

Materials and designs

When I was a kid, I was fortunate enough to have some older metal Tonka trucks. They were suddenly scarce, because the company was slowly transitioning their trademark toys from metal to plastic in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Kids are still enthralled with the classic designs in the Mighty line, despite the loss of durability and strength embodied by the earlier steel-made versions. Back-hoes, scrapers, and mobile cranes have been slowly integrated over the years, always in the signature yellow color. Different sizes have come into play, ranging from the pocket-size “Tiny” line and moving up to the Mighty size.

Prices

Mighty size Tonka trucks go for about $29.99 on Amazon, whereas the Tonka Junior products can be as cheap as $4 in the right places. The classic metal trucks are great items for collectors, and the original 1964 Mighty Dump Truck can be found for sale at $169.00 (restored). Not bad for a toy icon.

Hot Wheels is one of the most affordable toys to collect. Since most cars are only a dollar, it means anyone with a pocket or a purse can cobble together enough spare change to buy a few toy cars. Most people might think Hot Wheels starts with kids scooting them across the kitchen floor and ends with adults putting them on shelves, but there is a lot you can do with Hot Wheels.

1. You can race them. And I mean racing beyond the loop-de-loops and ramps you remember from childhood. I’m talking all-out drag racing. All you need is two lanes of straight track, a hill, and a finish line. It sounds simple, and it is…just grab some friends and you can quickly create your own game. Everyone picks a car at random and you race them tournament-style. The winner gets bragging rights and the losers, well, they’ll just have to pick another car and try again. I made a 20-foot fold-up race track that I can take out at any time, and easily hide whenever my wife wants it hidden. It’s great for parties, kids, and even just a lazy Sunday afternoon.

2. Create your own car. Customizing your very own Hot Wheels may require some effort, but it’s a lot of fun. A well-placed firecracker was the only way to get cars apart when we were little, but now we have tools! Grab your drill and in 10 minutes you can be personalizing your own Hot Wheels car. Paint them, put stickers on them, swap out wheels and parts…whatever you want. And if you’re adventurous, take several Hot Wheels and combine them to create your own Frankenhotwheels. Beware, however, once you go down this road you’ll never look at Hot Wheels on the shelf the same ever again. You’ll start thinking, “I bet the wheels on that truck would look awesome on that Porsche.”

3. Turn them into something useful. Hot Wheels are simple toys…but that doesn’t mean they have to stay that way. You can turn your toy cars into something useful and hip, like a USB thumb drive! I took one of my favorite Hot Wheels cars, a $10 USB drive, and combined them. What I got is a truly unique thumb drive that is fun to play with, fun to look at, and a great conversation piece at the office. Technology is cheap and, better yet, tiny…perfect for toys. What else could you add to a Hot Wheels car? Lights? Motors? Magnets? If you have the time and gumption, there are a whole slew of weekend DIY projects.

4. Educate and experiment. When I started racing Hot Wheels I was just looking for some fun with toys. What I didn’t expect was the game turning into one big science experiment. In the quest to find the fastest Hot Wheels car, I was faced with all sorts of questions. Does car shape matter? Does weight matter? Does WD-40 work on Hot Wheels? I found myself creating a bunch of trial-and-error experiments that were a lot of fun. I even applied a Mythbusters experiment to my Hot Wheels.

5. Start a local club and meet people. Hot Wheels is a universal toy. Everybody knows them and I’m willing to bet just about everyone has one. The Internet makes it east to connect with other Hot Wheels fans on places like Facebook, Twitter, and message boards…but nothing is better than getting a chance to geek out about Hot Wheels in person. All you need is a place to gather (local park, church, library, coffee shop, etc.) and tell everyone to bring their Hot Wheels. You will quickly pass the time chatting, trading, sharing, and racing your favorite toy cars.

 This is only a short list of fun things you can do with Hot Wheels cars, believe me, there are many more. And remember, just because you’re no longer 8-years-old doesn’t mean fun with Hot Wheels has to stop, it just means you have to figure out how to make them fun.

About the Author: Brian Vaughn writes at MorningToast.com about video games, retro toy memories, all around geekery, and, of course, Hot Wheels. He’s also the world record holder for Urban Champion. Follow him on Twitter at @morningtoast

Wait, I'm not just repeating articles, am I?

Everybody is going green these days. It’s rather trendy to say the least, so it’s no surprise that toys are following the trend and selling big when it comes to eco-friendly categories. If you’d very much like to give your kids something fun to play with that they’re guaranteed to enjoy plus is quite possibly better for the environment in the long run, then good news because here’s an article about the top selling eco-friendly toys right this second.

Still Going Green It Seems

Do you remember me talking about the company Green Toys a while ago? I’m not here to judge; it was after all quite some time since that article. The reason I’m bringing them up is because they’re selling one heck of a lot of their toys right now with the number one green toy of them all being the Green Toys Tea Set that I went on about in my article. Someone must have been listening to me when I wrote the positive review or something. Of course they aren’t just a one-trick pony since they also have a cookware and dining set, a dump truck, and a sand playset. You know, things every kid should already have. The best part of all that is that none of those toys are particularly expensive with only the full cookware and dining set being over $30.

Dang it, now I want to go play in the sand.

Green toys may have a lot in the bestseller category, but they aren’t alone. Another company called i Play is doing quite fine for themselves until Apple decides to sue them for using a lowercase I in their company name. Their top item is the Green Sprouts Stacking Cup Set, yet another incredibly simple toy that happens to be a toy every kid should own. Heck, I had a set of these when I was a kid, but I’m sure this set is a lot better for the environment.

My set had much manlier colors though, but otherwise they looked the same.

If you’d prefer something way more advanced, check out Elenco Electronics’ Frightened Grasshopper Solar Powered Bug. I swear to you I didn’t just invent that thing, and even better, this robo-bug is only $7. That’s a deal no matter who you are.

Alright, I'll allow a robo-grasshopper, but as soon as we get robo-hornets I say we've gone too far.

Sprig Toys have a handful of bestsellers when it comes to construction vehicle toys if you’d rather not buy everything from Green Toys. Let the girls have their tea sets, us boys got stuff to dig and construct and whatnot. Then after we’re done with that maybe some more tea.

Once more, all I want to do now is go play in the sand.

Rounding out the bestsellers is Plan Toys with a couple items. What’s their highest selling item right now? A solid wood drum. That’s it. Just a little drum with a little mallet. While I’m all for kids having a toy drum, I’m not everyone. Plan Toys also has a doll house nursery set for the less noisy children, though I’m somewhat surprised to find out that the toy drum is $21 and the doll house set is $18. I must be really out of touch with my green side.

Yup, that's one wooden drum there.

So there you have it folks, a multitude of great eco-friendly toys at affordable prices. Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s once more time for tea.

Who would win in a drag race between Matchbox and Hot Wheels?

I wrote an article last week about Hot Wheels cars, but upon posting it something started gnawing at me. While talking about Hot Wheels, I had completely neglected to mention Matchbox, the opposing brand. What makes this worse is that as a kid, I couldn’t distinguish between the two as both brands made little toy cars. They still do of course, so it’s only fair that I give you the other side of the story.

The Other Big Name In Toy Cars

What is the key difference that separates Matchbox cars with Hot Wheels cars? As far as I can tell, one has an imprint on the bottom that says “Matchbox” and one has an imprint that says “Hot Wheels.” This does not by any means imply that I believe one to be a knock-off or inferior or anything. Heck no, both brands are awesome and as a kid I was perfectly happy getting either. I happened to get most of my toy cars as hand-me-downs though, so it didn’t make much of a difference as long as the cars had wheels.

If I had to make a sweeping generalization about the differences, I’d say that Hot Wheels tend to be more fantastic in nature, emphasizing designs that are impossible such as a stegosaurus or a torpedo car, whereas Matchbox was more concerned with real world vehicles like ambulances and police cars. The playsets seemed to reflect this as well since I remember having Hot Wheels tracks meant for jumps but Matchbox sets like a city landscape or a triple-decker parking garage.

Don't ask me why, but I always thought realistic cars were just as cool as dragon cars.

The important thing about all of this is that more brands mean more variety, and I already noted Hot Wheels’ incredible number of different vehicles to choose from. Matchbox may have even more than Hot Wheels if we’re talking variety of collectibles, but either way, it makes it even easier to have a collection entirely original to you and no one else.

One thing that I find really cool about Matchbox is the official website makes reference to the 100 new cars released this past year. Yes, 100 new cars to collect. They even provide a checklist for the hardcore collectors, and with a 20-car pack being priced at $19.99, that sounds like a fair challenge for the year. You’d be so lucky to only spend a C-note on toys each year.

I remember the time my uncle gave me an old tackle box filled with all the Matchbox cars he had as a kid. Some were busted pretty badly, but the majority were in perfect working condition. This equaled an awesome time of taking each car out of the tackle box and checking out what it was. Parents, make sure to pass down your toys as soon as possible to your kids. Few things are more enjoyable for the kid.

There is certainly something to say for simplicity.

Do you have a favorite Matchbox car from your youth? Can you tell the big difference between Matchbox and Hot Wheels from a distance of twenty feet? Do you prefer one or the other? I want to know your thoughts. Leave a comment and I’ll get back to you once I’m done checking out my collectibles.

I don't care, I'd still ride in the Barbie version.

I was insanely jealous of anyone who had a Power Wheels as a kid. Sure, I was fairly content with my Hot Wheels, but how was I supposed to compete with those kids that could ride around in their toy and laugh at me? I couldn’t, that’s how. And why? Because Power Wheels were beyond awesome. Let’s talk about why.

Imitation at the Heart of the Fun

As kids, one of the activities we most enjoy is imitating adults. Inversely, as adults, our favorite activity is imitating children, though that’s somewhat frowned upon despite it’s truth. If you consider some staples of children’s toys, you’ll see that consistent high-sellers are kitchen sets, vacuums, life-like dolls, phones, and steering wheels. It all makes sense as kids just love doing anything that they see adults do. So when someone comes along and decides to create a Jeep Wrangler that kids can drive around, Ham Radio included, is it any wonder that kids go nuts for these things?

Dang it, look how happy this kid looks! I want to be this kid!

While I didn’t have a Power Wheels, I had friends that did. I’d hop in their Barbie Jeep and roll around talking to Barbie because, forget you, it was freaking sweet. I was DRIVING a VEHICLE. No one was going to say I wasn’t cool because my little imagination was way above whatever the real world was doing. So what could be cooler than all that? How about a Kawasaki Power Wheels? Check and mate. The product even has the word “Ninja” in its full title, so there will be no convincing a child otherwise on the wonderfulness of said product.

An Expense Worth Making

And sadly you probably will want to convince them otherwise as Power Wheels, while cool, are crazy expensive. We’re talking past $200 expensive. I wish I had one as a kid, but I never questioned why my parents didn’t plunk the money for one of these bad boys. It’s a big investment to make and the only place to really use a Power Wheels is outside, meaning that if you live in an apartment complex, these kids are probably going to be unable to ride it anyway.

It's sad, because what kid wouldn't want to roam the open fields in one of these?

However, don’t let me deter those of you with ample space and money, plus a kid or two. A common complaint from parents these days is the lack of outside exercise kids get. Some things make for great incentives to get kids outside, and Power Wheels count as such an incentive. Even though they’re riding around in these they’ll be getting exercise. Trust me, no kid can resist a full-fledged imagination adventure involving a high-speed chase that leads to him hopping out of the car and sprinting around in circles fighting bad guys with an invisible katana. If I had a Power Wheels right now I’d totally do that.

That’s pretty much all there is to say about the wonder of Power Wheels. Any of you have fortunate enough childhoods to have Power Wheels? What are your thoughts on the matter? I’d like to know, so you need to post a comment.

Simple Fun Without Limits

So what made and still make Hot Wheels so great? Not to sound too crass, but they’re extremely cheap. You can get a pack of 10 for under $15, and a lot of stores will sell them individually for 99 cents. Even better is the sheer amount of models to choose from. You and your friend could each own three-dozen cars and only have two that look identical. This means that every kid has a chance to have a unique set of cars best suited for his or her personality (sure, girls like Hot Wheels, too).

Sweet Glavin! This 10 set has a motorcycle?! I would have killed for a motorcycle Hot Wheels as a kid.

What did I have? I had a few cars that I absolutely loved, but my favorite for some reason was a beat up old Jeep that had a hood that could open. I had entire plotlines that involved this Jeep fighting other cars, just because it was my favorite and clearly the hero among my other cars. It had a posse of several other, “cooler” cars, but nothing could outclass my Jeep, not even the Mach 5 from Speed Racer or a car shaped like a dragon. Nope, the Jeep was my favorite.

Yeah, I'd be happy if I could race cars through a shark all day, too.

They also make great gifts for your dad.

I’m taking another day off video games to go into one of my favorite things from my childhood: Die-cast cars. The term can be applied to a lot of things, such as Hot Wheels and the like, but I actually won’t be bringing Hot Wheels into this since, well, that makes for an article in of itself sometime next week. Okay, not the classic thought of what makes a car a Hot Wheels car at least. I can’t lie, I’m talking about the most popular die-cast cars right now, so Hot Wheels are going to show up in some way or another.

Hot Wheels Showing Their Stuff

How are they showing up? The highest selling die-cast cars at the moment are Hot Wheels toys based off Disney and Pixar’s movie Cars. Y’all might be familiar with that movie, but if you’re not, the whole premise is centered around a car named Lightning McQueen that wants to be the DinoCo official car by winning all sorts of races. So pretty much the whole world is populated by cars. It’s actually a really good movie with Owen Wilson playing Lightning McQueen. The odd thing here is that the most popular die-cast car isn’t Lightning McQueen; it’s Mater, the junky tow truck voiced by Larry the Cable Guy. I…I don’t make these things up. I wouldn’t make that up if I could.

I guess I can't make fun. My favorite die-cast car was a beat up old jeep.

So what else is popular these days? Star Trek. That means the USS Enterprise is getting bought by the galaxyful in the form of a 1:50 scale model on a nifty little display stand. If I had one of those as a kid, I’d have done nothing else but run around my house flying it from the kitchen to the living room and beyond. I was never into Star Trek at any point of my life, but anything that could fly was considered awesome to me. I assume the same still holds true for kids everywhere.

Something a Bit More Classic

Thus far we’ve had die-cast toys based off talking cars and space ships. There’s an actual car in the die-cast model best sellers, right? You’re dang right there is. High up on the list is the Burago-made Lamborghini 1:18 scale model, met closely by the 1957 Chevy Corvette made by Yat Ming. Kids that want these models are just classy folk and know style. If a kid walks up to his grandpa and says he wants a 1957 Chevy Corvette die-cast model for his birthday, I guarantee it’ll make that man weep tears of joy. I know it’d have that effect on my grandpa at least, and he’s awesome.

This is the USS enterprise, not a 1957 Chevy Corvette. If you can't tell the difference, I've severely over-estimated this generation.

All of these cool-sounding die-cast models must cost a fortune, right? Wrong. Everything I’ve mentioned here is priced under $30, with some, like the Mater toys from Mattel, priced under $6. Kids wanting a die-cast model of something are well within modesty when they request such an item, so treat ‘em well. Stay tuned next week for a larger article on Hot Wheels. Better go out and stock up in preparation.

Toy wagons are perfect for hauling stuffed animals to the next tea party, and equally as perfect for transporting rocks, mud, or clay for some old-fashioned earthy fun.  If several children want to use the wagon for different purposes, just hose it out, and it is ready for double duty.

Kids like to feel useful, and a good wagon also can come in handy if you are doing some landscaping work at home.  Hauling leaves, grass clippings, or a fresh container of seasonal flowers are kid-sized jobs that let them feel like they are part of the team.

And, best of all, don’t forget how much fun it is for a child to be pulled in the wagon too!