I looked & looked. Only pic of the HWC/RLC "Virtual Vending Machine" I could find was this.
My search results came back with bunch of different hot wheels vending machines I've never seen or heard about before, but I don't think any of them were presented as the "virtual" vending machine.
In reality, I'm sure Mattel employees aren't physically stocking the "vending machine", then press the button, load whatever car dispensed into shipping box. It's probably employees going through random leftovers & shipping them out to customers at discount. I've played these "Virtual Vending Machine" gimmick just two times, and both times, I purchased two "pull". My first one was from the Hot Wheels Club/Red Line Club & it looked like this:
As soon as the order was completed, I was able to see what I got coming in mail to me & it was a mix of disappointment & boredom. lol They get you playing these with the big prizes in mind, like some super rare & coveted cars. Well, I've always liked playing lotteries too, I had to try it. My post on GTPlanet soon after:
$12 per car, shipped, isn't bad for these cars.... except I didn't really want them. :D This was back in 2014.
Real reason for this post, I just received two cars from the second attempt at this "virtual vending machine", and this time, it was from the houseofcars.toys(online store). Their prizes included coveted RLC cars like the pink Bel Air Gasser, even that green spectraflame Silverado(they are both featured on this blog, so take a look!). This vending machine was more expensive. $35 a pull. I'd have bought just one, but it was 50% off on sale, so I had to go for two pulls!(still $35).
In the mail today:
I'm not gonna lie, I like these two convention M2 cars a lot better than the HWC hot wheels from the first try..... but again, not any cars I was looking to add to my collection. :/
Anyway, that's it. I just wanted to share my personal experience with the virtual vending machines. Would I play it again in the future? I'd like to say "maybe", but knowing me, it's probably likely. lol Unlike with lottery tickets, at least you get something to show for in return amrite.
I don't buy RLC club cars because I don't have that kind of money to throw around on Hot Wheels, and even if I did, I'd rather spend it on cars that are actually "vintage", but, hypothetically, if I had played the Virtual Vending Machine, I'd have been really happy to have gotten that Hot Bird since it's in my personal top-tier castings from my childhood (although I know it's probably the third version of the casting with the opening hood which is, while nifty, not representative of the way the casting actually was when I was a kid).
ReplyDeleteWell, that's one thing about this hobby. You can enjoy it without spending much money on it, or spending tons of money on it. Hunt the latest cars, or one's that came out decades ago. Also, lot of collectors I know, myself included, we enjoy cars/castings from not only the U.S., but also from Asia & Europe. Many ways to enjoy collecting!
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