One Of Those Times

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Have you ever had one of those times when you questioned buying something and not realizing what you bought or passed up until you got home?  Today was my day for that.

I went to the store to get some items we needed.  Before leaving I headed for the Hot Wheels.  No harm in looking right?  Wrong.  Before I knew it I had 30 cars in my buggy.  One car I grabbed made me try to find the rest to complete to series.  I found them, all five cars.  The fifth car, a neat looking race truck, was the first I found on a peg hanging front and center.  

During checkout I had put most of the Hot Wheels cars back including the complete 5 car set I hunted down.  At the last second I grabbed the little race truck.  He just looked cool and I had not seen it before.  He went home with me.  Once I got home I got a closer look at him.  My jaw dropped.  Here...take a look.

See?  Cool little truck, right?  Most Hot Wheels collectors might catch it but get a good look.  See anything?  I'll give you a hint...pay close attention to the artwork on the model.  See it now?

For those that missed it or simply don't know, behind the front wheel is a circle with a flame.  This is a special marking to HW cars because it indicates what are called Treasure Hunts.  Once I seen that I turned the card to try to see behind it.  Sure enough...

"Congratulations! We're celebrating 25 years of treasure-hunts and you just found one!"

...is on the blister card behind the truck.  Out of all of the years and decades of hunting and collecting Hot Wheels cars this is the first Treasure Hunt vehicle I have ever found.  And I almost left it behind.  I never even realized or noticed that it was a Treasure Hunt vehicle until I got it home.  I'm glad I didn't leave it at the store.

I know it sounds childish but finding that car today just made my day a bit better and brighter.  Especially with this virus thing going on right now.  Its amazing what a little toy car can do sometimes when it does nothing at all but sit there.

Edited April 2, 2020 by kamakazi20012

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I found this list of 2020 Treasure Hunt cars as I was curious if there were more and what they looked like.

https://hotwheels.fandom.com/wiki/2020_Treasure_Hunts_Series

The first car in the list I recognized because my wife has been working on the Experimotors series and she has a Bubble Matic.  I've seen this one in another color often but about a month ago my wife was hunting with me and found that one by herself.  Not thinking nothing of it nor did we catch it she liked that it was a different color and in the cart it went.  We never noticed anything unusual about it other than it was a different color.  

If you are looking at that list scroll down a bit.  See the Fast Foodie hamburger car called Buns of Steel?  Yea.  I was alone in the store one night hunting down cars for both of us.  I came across the Donut car, my wife already had the Carbonator and the Toaster, so I thought I would help her finish her collection off and hunt down the remaining cars she needed which I found 3 of those Buns of Steel cars in a cardboard bin display.  I only grabbed one because I thought I could come back to me one at a later date.  I thought it was a common car.

So, I go and get those two cars off my wife's wall and, low and behold, the two cars in my wife's collection were in fact Treasure Hunt cars.  I found one while she had found one before that and neither one of us caught it.  I should have.  I knew about it, knew what to look for, but completely missed it.  Another one of those moments instead in this situation I slapped my forehead.  I missed two more without realizing it.  

Edited April 2, 2020 by kamakazi20012