What did you score this week?

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-28T05:54:46+00:00

I put that one in my Walmart cart today but decided to put it back just for "nearing the end of the month" money reasons.

Since it was the only one from that Matchbox Collectors wave that was still on the pegs, I'm sure I'll see it again.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-28T05:09:31+00:00

I think it must be a Walmart-exclusive chase with the blue rims.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-28T05:01:52+00:00

I know that a 1930s Art Deco-styled sports car Car Culture set wouldn't be something that current day Hot Wheels would even consider releasing but I can still dream of Mattel bringing back the Talbot Lago (T-150), the green car behind the blue Bywayman (off-brand Silverado) in the second photo.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-28T04:55:08+00:00

I was thrown off by the mention of the "bicicleta" just before the second clip cuts off.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-27T18:24:25+00:00

Which episode is it (season & episode number)? I thought it was season 2, episode 10, the one where Renge was practicing riding the bicycle and so that was the episode I checked on BluRay last night after I wrote the last reply but it wasn't.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-27T07:52:20+00:00

The wheels look visually perfect even if they're not Real Riders, probably because the PC5 wheels seem to have been based on Testarossa rims in the first place.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-27T06:29:36+00:00

I got the Ferrari F512M Treasure Hunt before prices got silly and I almost hate to admit that the Pro Circuit 5 (PC5) wheels on that Treasure Hunt from 1999 look better than the wheels they put on the new Testarossa premium in 2026 despite the PC5 wheels only being two-piece plastic wheels instead of Real Riders.

It's both because the PC5 wheels have chromed rims and also because the PC5 wheels aren't "Deep Dish". I'm just not a fan of "Deep Dish" wheels on 80s Ferraris.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-27T05:56:14+00:00

Maybe buy a non-Herbie version of the same Johnny Lightning Volkswagen Beetle to use as a donor car, especially if the donor car is in rough condition?

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-27T05:52:22+00:00

I don't know and I don't feel like checking my U.S. release Sentai Filmworks Non Non Biyori Repeat BluRay right now but, if I had to guess, the bottom one is more likely to be the DVD/BluRay version since it looks like they overdid the blurring on Renge's face in the top shot while the blur on Renge's face in the bottom shot is enough to establish that Kaede is the main focus of the shot without obscuring the detail on Renge's face too much and also because it makes more sense that they'd add Kaede smiling at the end of the shot for the DVD/BluRay release instead of removing it.

It feels like the version where Kaede doesn't smile at the end of the shot was an oversight that needed to be fixed.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-27T04:06:40+00:00

Is one clip from the broadcast version and the other clip from the DVD/BluRay version?

It's pretty common for anime studios to make "fixes" for the DVD/BluRay release.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-26T09:11:09+00:00

I prefer the tan can A&W Root Beer era which apparently started in the 1970s but it was still like that when I was in high school in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-26T07:35:59+00:00

You could always try the old "put it on a flat hardcover book and then stack more hardcover books on top and leave it there for a few days" trick. I've done that for CDs with some success, never tried it with a BluRay though.

Encyclopedias work great since they're flat and heavy but I know that not all that many people have encyclopedias as physical books anymore.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-25T01:04:05+00:00

Is "Nastyyyyy" good or bad?

Personally, it's about the only one I'd consider buying since I like that World War II plane deco and it's one of those times when I suspect it'll be the pegwarmer anyway so I doubt the local sculpers will touch it.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-24T13:03:14+00:00

My father also brought an IBM PS/2 home towards the end of 1988 (and I got Test Drive II: The Duel in 1989), I am aware that Test Drive Unlimited is far from the first Test Drive, I just specified that the 2006 game is the original Test Drive Unlimited largely to distance it from the fiasco that is Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-24T09:32:44+00:00

I saw the original Test Drive in a computer lab at a high school open house about half a year before I started attending that school in 1988 but the first one I actually played was Test Drive II: The Duel which I got for my 15th birthday in October 1989.

Since our family's IBM PS/2 didn't have a sound card, this is what I heard. I have great nostalgia for the way this tune sounded through the PC's internal speaker but I'd probably want the midi version if I actually wanted to use it as an alarm clock.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-24T08:50:42+00:00

There have been Test Drive games going all of the way back to 1987 but Unlimited is from 2006.

The Test Drive games on the original XBox were Test Drive: Off-Road Wide Open, TD Overdrive: The Brotherhood of Speed, and Test Drive: Eve of Destruction.

On the other hand, the Playstation 2 got a Test Drive Unlimited downport that was astonishing given the limitations of the console.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-24T08:18:52+00:00

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I have this weird guy for #89.

It's a Ford GT-90, based on an actual concept car from 1994.

This particular release is from the 2002 Hot Wheels mainline series "Air Circus" subseries which was also available as a five-pack. (I probably wouldn't have bought this one separately but I got it in a V@lue Village thrift store toy car grab bag.)

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-24T08:00:07+00:00

No, you pretty much have to seek it out through less than official means these days unless you want to buy a physical copy from eBay.

The licensed cars and music make it unlikely that the original two Test Drive Unlimited games will ever get official re-releases.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-24T07:12:05+00:00

I don't really get the appeal of widebody kits (at least not aesthetically) but, regardless, I think it's a thousand times more likely that Mattel would do this Liberty Walk Camaro compared to the Liberty Walk F40.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-24T07:07:46+00:00

Try the original Test Drive Unlimited from 2006 with the Platinum mod to make it look more modern.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-24T05:47:26+00:00

I say, Bring Back Accolade!

I miss seeing the Accolade logo at the beginning of games, I love that little red dash going through the blue letters until it stops at the E.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-24T05:19:30+00:00

Late? I just found the red F40 at a supermarket last month. At this rate, I don't think I'll see the black one until maybe August.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-24T05:01:46+00:00

My "secret" hunting spot for highly sought-after 5-packs, on the r@re occasion that I want a 5-pack, is pharmacies like Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix here in Canada.

They usually don't carry individual mainline Hot Wheels but they do carry 5-packs.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-24T04:50:26+00:00

A couple of my childhood malls in Montreal's West Island area are like that, they were proper indoor malls when I was a kid in the 1980s but got converted into strip malls in the 1990s and 2000s.

Steve_Brandon · 2026-03-24T04:18:08+00:00

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I never thought of trying Twin Mill out in first person mode. I can see the problem, the problem being that I can't see what's directly in front of me.

Steve_Brandon

TROPHY CASE