Monday, August 30, 2010

Hot Wheels in Need for Speed Shift: Video

Nothing much to see here, just a video of some Hot Wheels cars with their Need for Speed Shift counterpart, like the ones in my previous posts. A video showing the cars racing around the track would have been much better, but I was really lazy to race each car, and watch the playback, and record the videos. And I suck at racing as well, so it would be really embarrassing if you guys were to see it. Anyway, hope you guys like the video below!



Featured cars in the video: Nissan Silvia S15, Ford GT LM, '06 Dodge Viper SRT10, Scirocco GT 24, Dodge SRT8, Lamborghini Gallardo, '07 Ford Shelby GT500, Honda Civic Si, and Hasemi Tomica Ebbro GT-R 2009 Sepang Spec.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Miku Hatsune Clock!

I was browsing around a Japanese online shopping site (Animetsu) the other day, and I saw this really cute Miku Hatsune clock widget on their website! And it is just soooooooo cute that I thought to myself "I gotta have this widget on my blog!!" And I finally found the widget just a few minutes ago!


Isn't she cute? You can click her, and she will tell you the current time in Japanese. Of course I don't understand a single word she said, but she's just so adorable that I can't resist clicking her every now and then! Try it! You can click on the bouncing musical note as well, and she will sing a really cute song. Nope, I don't understand what she's singing either, but who cares when she's this cute! By the way, notice the Japanese characters on top of this widget? It will bring you to this website where you can get this widget for free. The site is in Japanese though, but Google translate should be able to help.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Raybrig NSX: Tomica Limited

My first ever Tomica Limited:

Tomica Limited 0058: Raybrig NSX from Autobacs GT 2004 Series.
Now this ain't cheap. And I'm seriously not sure if I could survive until next week with hardly any cash left. So the question is: Is it worth it? Take a look at the pictures and let me know what do you think.

Now if you're a huge fan of the NSX like I am, you should be having an orgasm right now. This car is drop-dead gorgeous. I particularly like the tampos, the taillights, and the tailpipes. Being a Tomica Limited, you don't have to worry about smudged tampos on the car anymore.

Just another picture to remind you of how beautiful she is.

A close-up shot of the front wheels. I love tires with wordings on the sidewall. A thumbs up for that. The rims are a bit disappointing though. I know that alloy rims are supposed to have that 'glittery' look, but the rims just look too 'plastic'. I know that it really is made of plastic, but I'm sure that there's a way to make them look more like metal  and less like plastic. By the way, the disc brakes spin together with the wheels. Note the absence of brake calipers.
So back to the question; is this car worth the price I paid for it?
Hell yeah!!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Chevrolet Camaro: Past and Present: HW

Today I'll be featuring two cars, and both of them are Chevrolet Camaros. Let's start with the first generation of Camaro from 1967:

'67 Camaro from Hot Wheels Muscle Mania 2010.

The grilles, front bumper and side exhausts are actually extensions of the base (by base, I mean the chassis of the car), which is metal, and not just chromed plastic. And that's a good thing.

Oh, the hood can be opened too! It would be nice if the engine bay is chromed. But this is okay too, at least it's metal. Details of the engine bay are quite satisfactory.

And this, this is the reason I bought this car in the first place. Just look at the awesome flame tampo! I repeat, awesome flame tampo!
I'm not exactly sure why the car doesn't have any doors though.

Yes, the taillights and the rear bumper are attached to the metal base as well. Isn't this a lovely car? Personally, I think the paint job is perfect for this car. It definitely suits the image of a classic American muscle car.

Now let's take a look at the present 5th-generation Chevrolet Camaro.
'10 Camaro SS from Hot Wheels Garage 2010.

43 years went by, and the Camaro is still as beautiful as ever. Though these two cars are 4 generations apart, the design for the 5th-generation Camaro is based on the 1st-generation. And I think it's brilliant. Could you see the resemblance?

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The Horse and The Cobra: HW & HW SM

I bought a couple of Mustangs the other day. The '07 Ford Shelby GT500s to be exact. Let's start with the first one, which is from the Hot Wheels Speed Machines series:

'07 Ford Shelby GT500 from Hot Wheels Speed Machines

A pretty decent cast I'd say. Though I wish they could do something about the headlights. By the way, of course that's not all. Here's the Need for Speed Shift version:

Click on the pictures for a bigger resolution (1364x768). Do note that the '07 Ford Shelby GT500 is not available in Need for Speed, so I had to use the 2010 version in the wallpaper above, which looks pretty much the same.

Now let's take a look at the second '07 Ford Shelby GT500.
This one is from Hot Wheels Faster Than Ever 2010

I don't really like the colour of this GT500, but I just bought it to expand my Mustang collection. The gold rims look nice though. Anyway, the addition of these two casts means that I have a total of 10 Mustangs now. I still have a long way to go to complete my Mustang collection. Wish me luck! :)

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Mazda Furai: HW

Now, despite looking like an interplanetary vehicle made by an advanced extraterrestrial race, the Mazda Furai is actually a real existing car, and it's fully functional as well. You might have seen the grey Mazda Furai from Hot Wheels in my previous post, which looks absolutely stunning. Today, I'm going to feature the other colour variation for the Mazda Furai. Behold:

The Mazda Furai from Hot Wheels Premiere 2010, in red!

Before I saw the actual cast, I thought the Furai wouldn't look good in red. I thought grey was the only colour which looks nice on the Furai. I was wrong. This car actually looks even better in red! It looks striking, it looks mean, it looks fast, it looks perfect!

Honda NSX-R: Tomica

Finally found the cast I had always been looking for:

Honda NSX-R from Tomica
A pretty simple cast. Not much tampos. Doors can't be opened. Not a particularly detailed or rare cast, but I just can't resist the legendary Honda NSX-R.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Ford Focus WRC: Fast Lane

Just another Fast Lane cast I bought the other day:

Ford Focus WRC


Warning: "Pizza wheels" are non-edible. Prolonged exposure may cause eye irritation.

The front end is beautifully done.

If you read my previous post regarding the Fast Lane Nissan Fairlady Z, you would expect the Fast Lane Ford Focus WRC to have the same level of quality for the interior details, which is excellent in the Nissan Fairlady Z. But being a WRC (World Rally Championship) car, the interior of this cast is kept to a bare minimum. Red bucket seats, steering wheel, and that's it. When you're drifting at 100 miles per hour entering a sharp bend, and on your right is a bunch of huge trees, with living spectators in between, and on your left is a thousand foot drop, does it really matter whether or not your car has a cup holder?

A shot of the rear end. Stripes are cool. Pizza wheels are not. Absolutely not.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Nissan Fairlady Z: Fast Lane

If you read my previous post, I mentioned, in the last bits of the post, about a Nissan Fairlady Z (350Z) cast which costs less than the Tomica version, but with a much better interior. Well, here it is:

Fast Lane's Nissan Fairlady Z
I'd say the colour is somewhere between matte black and glossy black. Don't you agree? Other colours available for this particular cast include silver, and light creamy yellow (those are the ones I saw). I didn't get the silver 'cause it's only available in a 3-pack (I'm not sure if it's the same case in other stores), and I didn't get the light creamy yellow 'cause it looks like egg pudding (though I really like egg pudding). By the way, do note the presence of side mirrors, which is a nice addition.

Tampos are pretty much perfect. Headlights are not misaligned, Nissan logo is in the center, and you can actually make out the 'Nissan' in the middle of the logo. And the logo is not printed upside down like the Kyosho Xanavi Nismo Z Test Car 2007, which cost around 10 times more than this 350Z. So far so good...

Wait, what's this? What the hell is wrong with the wheels? My precious Fairlady has been infected with the 'pizza wheels' virus! Nnnnnoooooooooooooo!! :(

Rear end looks pretty good. I appreciate the effort they took to paint the Fairlady Z emblem, the Nissan logo, the Fairlady Z rear plate, the taillights, and the reverse lights. Almost perfect, except for the relatively large size of the emblem and the logo. The size of the Nissan logo on the Tomica version is much more accurate.

Enough on the exterior. Now let's get to the best part of the cast; the interior.
It's a shame that the doors can't be opened, or else I could take better shots of the interior, which is amazingly similar to the interior of the real car. Just google '350Z interior' and you'll see what I mean. Now, for RM5.50, the level of interior detail is simply superb. Excellent job Fast Lane! (Actual manufacturer is Realtoy though). If you're a Z fan, like I am, then this cast is definitely a must have in your collection. :)

Friday, August 13, 2010

Z vs Z: Tomica

I got myself a pair of Fairladies (I assume that's the plural form of Fairlady) today, and both of 'em are from Tomica. Trying to find one Fairlady is hard enough, so I guess I'm really lucky to have found two!

Nissan Fairlady Z vs Nissan Fairlady Z Racing Type.
One of these cars costs more than the other. And by a considerable amount too. Can you guess which one is the more expensive car? The Nissan Fairlady Z Racing Type? Nope. It's the normal Nissan Fairlady Z, which costs RM10.90. The Racing Type, on the other hand, only costs RM6.90. Weird huh?

The Racing Type comes with a set of stickers for the extra decals. I'm not planning on putting them on though.

Despite being a 'racing type', the basic shape of the second cast looks pretty much the same as the normal Fairlady Z, except for the awesome racing livery and the presence of a rear spoiler. It doesn't have the wide body, the winglets, the front lips, diffusers, and other stuffs like the JGTC cars. Note the headlight and wheel differences as well. I personally prefer the wheels on the normal Fairlady Z, because they look somewhat better, and they spin a lot smoother when you push the car around. By the way, the Fairlady Z Racing Type has my favourite number on it's body. Yay! :D

Both have doors which could be opened, to give you a better view of the interior which is really not that impressive. Perhaps for this sort of scale and price, it's acceptable to have a basic interior (seats, steering wheel, and that's it), but in my next post, I'm going to feature a cast which costs less than the Tomica Fairlady Z, but with a much better interior. Any guess on the manufacturer? Stay tuned to find out the answer!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

AMC Javelin AMX: HW

This is another highly sought after cast among Hot Wheels collectors:

The AMC Javelin AMX from Hot Wheels Muscle Mania 2010

And here's the reason for it's popularity:
Just look at the beautiful racing livery! I mean, the car itself is already a classic masterpiece, but the paint job makes it absolutely gorgeous! And there's no smudged tampos this time! :D