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| Hasbro Bringing Back Fast 111's | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 31 2015, 11:14 PM (1,128 Views) | |
| Swifty | Mar 31 2015, 11:14 PM Post #1 |
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
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This was in the Yahoo business section: Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) has long been an industry leader in the retail toy market. With brands that include G.I. Joe, Transformers, Mr. Potato Head, and My Little Pony; generations of children have grown up playing with Hasbro's products. In 1991, Hasbro made a significant acquisition – the Tonka Corporation, including its Kenner Products and Parker Brothers divisions. The acquisition brought rich additions to Hasbro's portfolio including Tonka, PLAY-DOH, Easy-Bake Oven, NERF, Monopoly and a wide range of licensed properties such as Star Wars and Batman. One of Kenner's properties included a short-lived range of toy cars in the tradition of Mattel's (NYSE: MAT) Hot Wheels and Matchbox lines called Fast 111's (pronounced "Fast Ones"). These cars featured enlarged rear bumpers showcasing license plates from around the USA and Canada. Unfortunately, due to intense competition from the industry leaders, as well as cheaper Asian brands, the Fast 111's were discontinued after only three short years on the market. More than thirty years later, they're getting a second chance. With the success of recent upstarts GreenLight Toys® Inc. and Castline® Inc., Hasbro took a closer look at the market. "There's a market for realistically detailed diecast cars. Right now a number of our competitors are going in the exact opposite direction," was the bold claim of marketing director Ben Hess. This time around, the Fast 111's are going to be "ultra-realistic" versions of real cars. Gone are the cartoonish bumpers from the original cars. Said chief designer James Hylton, "We know some collectors will miss the Fast 111's trademark rear bumpers, but with recent advances in technology, we can print realistic license plates without having to resort to distorting the vehicle's dimensions." While many of the original Fast 111's were fantasy models made up by Kenner's design staff, all of the new Fast 111's will be licensed models. As Hasbro's Transformers line already features licensed models from many automobile manufacturers, several of the new Fast 111's will be of the same models, including the Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang, Jeep Wrangler, and Subaru WRX. 1/64 collectors tend to be focused on classic muscle cars, however, and Hasbro promises the new line of Fast 111's won't disappoint fans of vintage cars. Currently plans are for twenty-four models to be available at launch, with an even split of classic and contemporary. The first twenty-four models should be available by the end of July, and will be sold in retail giants Walmart Stores (NYSE: WMT) and Kmart (Nasdaq: KMRT). Hasbro is currently working with other retailers to increase the availability of the Fast 111's at the time of their release. |
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| Stampede | Mar 31 2015, 11:27 PM Post #2 |
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Team Canada
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While I've never owned one of the original Fast 111s, they seem nice, and this I welcome news. If in fact these are Greenlight-level (as they claim), there is potential for success. Looking forward to seeing preproduction shots (if any), and thanks for posting the news. |
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| toyotageek | Mar 31 2015, 11:34 PM Post #3 |
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Japanese Minicar Maniac
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Interesting. Very, interesting.... |
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| Hobie-wan | Mar 31 2015, 11:35 PM Post #4 |
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SUV
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Fast 111s really did have pretty fast axles and wheels. Obviously the only real carryover from the originals will be the plates, but they could still be interesting. The question is whether we'll be able to find them anywhere. |
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| pjedsel | Mar 31 2015, 11:36 PM Post #5 |
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Muscle Car
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This is interesting news - especially that it will be a mix of current and vintage type cars. Also interesting to see that K-Mart is one of the stores listed to sell the new line of models. I have some of the original Fast 111's still in my collection.
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| Dean-o-mite | Apr 1 2015, 03:37 AM Post #6 |
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Muscle Car
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It was still March on the west coast when this news broke! So it has to be true! Onward with the speculation of the model list!! |
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| juantoo3 | Apr 1 2015, 06:57 AM Post #7 |
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I'm guessing an April Fool's prank.... |
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| cody6268 | Apr 1 2015, 07:01 AM Post #8 |
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Minivan
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Got a link? Can't find it on Yahoo. Until, then I'm suspicious that this is an April Fool's Prank. I'm also suspicious, as for one, Hasbro already has a diecast line, the Tonka Metal series, produced by Funrise. It would make more sense for them to bring back Code 3, as that was a Funrise product. Did a search on it. Only thing that came up was online shopping listings for vintage Fast 111s and this post. If this were posted on Yahoo, it would have come up first. Never found it after going through dozens of search results. Now if I'm wrong and this is true--Woo Hoo! Another great brand producing stuff that isn't crap. If this is true, would we use the same space in the database for these? Edited by cody6268, Apr 1 2015, 07:51 AM.
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| 69ch | Apr 1 2015, 07:06 AM Post #9 |
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General 01
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This news is welcomed and looking forward to the models produced. Eric |
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| HWJOE | Apr 1 2015, 07:27 AM Post #10 |
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Fullsize
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LOL Sean! Good one! Pretty well done !
Edited by HWJOE, Apr 1 2015, 07:29 AM.
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| jedimario | Apr 1 2015, 08:12 AM Post #11 |
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RAWR
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Had me fooled when I read it at 5am, still groggy, but not anymore Nice job!
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| craftymore | Apr 1 2015, 08:24 AM Post #12 |
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Support your local demo derby.
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If only it wasn't April 1st.
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| GothicCarsUrban | Apr 1 2015, 12:51 PM Post #13 |
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SUV
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Good one Swifty. |
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| Zeezeerider | Apr 1 2015, 01:55 PM Post #14 |
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Subcompact
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Got a Big Grin out of it anyway !
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| pjedsel | Apr 1 2015, 02:31 PM Post #15 |
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Muscle Car
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Good one Sean - looks like you "got" a lot of us.
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| Stampede | Apr 1 2015, 03:13 PM Post #16 |
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Team Canada
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Myself included. The writing is very in-line with some articles that I have seen, and combined with the time of day led me to believe it! Great prank! |
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| Hobie-wan | Apr 1 2015, 04:17 PM Post #17 |
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SUV
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*sigh* It was just after 11 when posted here. |
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| Douglas | Apr 1 2015, 05:39 PM Post #18 |
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SUV
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Since Hasbro doesn't offer any evidence of this being true, at least in what news I could find on their website, for now I can only laugh along with the rest of us.....but it would have been soooo great to have some competition for Mattel in the US, unless they would have stayed focused on competing with the high priced collectible's rather than realistic toys, then I wouldn't have been too interested.
Edited by Douglas, Apr 1 2015, 05:40 PM.
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| W Gee | Apr 1 2015, 06:05 PM Post #19 |
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Station Wagon
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And to think I already had my wallet out ...LOL... There is a lot of nice rides in the Transformers franchise alone , to bad though |
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| Swifty | Apr 1 2015, 09:41 PM Post #20 |
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
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Kudos to those who went and actually did some research looking for the original article. ![]() What I'm surprised that no one found (not even me when I did a web search for it) is this exact post, nearly word for word, that I made on another forum ten years ago to the day. I just needed to update it a bit (and get rid of one of the big clues - Ben Hess is a substitute for Joe Ruttman...who along with James Hylton are all former NASCAR drivers). ![]() Also substituted in were GreenLight and Castline (for Muscle Machines and Jada, neither of whom is a new kid on the block these days, nor are they the major players they once were). Thanks to all for keeping a good sense of humor. I'm locking this thread now since the day is nearly over.
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3:38 AM Jul 11
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This is interesting news - especially that it will be a mix of current and vintage type cars. Also interesting to see that K-Mart is one of the stores listed to sell the new line of models. I have some of the original Fast 111's still in my collection.





Nice job!

Got a Big Grin out of it anyway !
Good one Sean - looks like you "got" a lot of us.




3:38 AM Jul 11