I recently read a fantastic feature on THE HUSTLE by Zachary Crockett, about a fellow who simply loves cars - the tiny metal ones known lovingly as HOT WHEELS.  Bruce Pascal owns over 7,000 of the incredibly-detailed little vehicles, of which he carries insurance coverage of $1,500,000.  As Bruce is relatively near my age and shares an interest in collecting, this article connected with me personally, but also drew some significance to my newfound love of digital asset collecting. So, I wanted to share some of those thoughts with my digital collecting friends to see if anyone else sees the parallels, and how both physical and digital collecting can easily exist and support each others' growth!

LINOLEUM FLOOR TIMES

Hot Wheels Logo

Like any kid growing up in 1970s Western Canada, I had stacks of hockey/baseball cards, comic books, and Hot Wheels die-cast metal cars.  We had plastic tracks, raced these little beasts across linoleum floors, and took 'pink sheets' for any number of kid-think reasons.  Yet I never kept my shoebox, with at least 50 different types of the mini cars, rather seeing it go to a neighbour's son who was much younger and grateful than I was at the time.

The Hustle article states the first set of (16) Mattel Hot Wheels hit toy stores in May 1968 for just $0.59 each, with Mattel selling 16 MILLION of them!  There was no FUD about how dumb the idea was...no complaining about their environmental impact...no issues with Mattel & their auto IP partners making a few bucks to stoke the fires of the audience they were intended for.  No, none of that BS plaguing social media / digital collecting as we see right now.

Metal was EVERYWHERE in the '70s.  Cars were big.  Car chases in movies were big.  747s were really big.  So seeing a miniature metal version of the things we so enjoyed just makes perfect sense.

You see, this is why I feel digital collecting is going to be a very, very big thing.  Digital is kinda big today.  Reading website content is big.  Digital advertising is big.  Shouting complaints and FUD on social media is kinda big.  As it's everywhere though, it stands to reason digital collecting will make perfect sense too.  That's my idea of a PARALLEL.

Original Hot Wheels SetOriginal Hot Wheels Set

These toy cars were fun.  They were metal, physical representations of the full-size vehicles most of us were too young, or too broke to own and enjoy.  So we gobbled them up.

LIKE TO COLLECT "STUFF?"  GOOD FOR YOU!

Today, roughly 60 years later, the nostalgia connected to these toys continues to drive a collector market many would find comical.  Yet this is a very real passion with very real dollars attached.  'One person's junk is another's treasure' could be argued, but if you enjoy and find inspiration from what you collect, well then...BLOODY GOOD FOR YOU!  That's another parallel - so what if I enjoy collecting digital comic books or "unique identifiers that verify ownership of that digital content" (thanks Variety Magazine and @MyCollectibles for that note).  Does it really bother you if someone has a basement (or office) full of tiny toy cars?  If you don't like it, avoid it, but don't knock those who do.  Really...what's the point of that in the first place?

Using my favourite digital collecting app, VeVe, as an example, I've become sort of 'known' as a digital comic collector who chases Mint Numbers.  Why?  Many reasons, but I find these numbers act like 'digital signatures' to the collectible in question - historical dates, artist birthdays, palindromes & so forth.  The best part of this for me though?  THE HOMEWORK.  I just enjoy researching the items, finding numerical significance, and then hunting those numbers down in the app, not all that unlike how I used to dig through long boxes in comic stores or stacks at garage sales.

Bruce Pascal shares a similar trait - he HUNTS for specific Hot Wheels.  And not just the items on eBay or garage sales - he looks for former Hot Wheels employees, engineers, car enthusiasts, and other Hot Wheels collectors - ANOTHER PARALLEL.  This even spawned Hot Wheels Brokers to help enthusiasts locate rare or private collections.  Money Moves in curious ways!

Bruce Pascale Hot Wheels HuntingBruce Pascale: Hot Wheel Hunting

There should be no surprise a market exists for Hot Wheels.  It is pure NOSTALGIA energy at its best.  This in itself is again why I believe Digital Collectibles (such as comic books or character First Appearances) will do very, very well - it's harder finding, storing, or affording physical versions (for now).  It's almost impossible for most collectors to own MANY copies of comic grails like MC #1, AF #15, Daredevil #1, or Strange Tales #110, but the nostalgic connection PLUS easy access through the VeVe (and DC NFT) marketplaces are spurning enormous growth.  If I'm not mistaken, VeVe now generates ~ $1M weekly in revenue...not too shabby for a business less than 3 years young!

In 2021, Mattel generated $1.07 BILLION in Hot Wheels sales, with roughly 6 BILLION cars released across 20,000 different models.  Mattel estimates 15M collectors holding 1550 cars each.  "Around 90% of these collectors go after the newer models, or “mainlines.” The remaining 10% — almost exclusively made up of men in their 50s and 60s — are focused on the lucrative “redline” cars produced between 1968 and 1977."

THIS OPENS THREE MORE FANTASTIC PARALLELS TO (VEVE) DIGITAL COLLECTIBLES:

1) The Parallel to many current app users who focus just on low mint numbers, or those who routinely chase the "new shiny toy," often dumping their other items at retail loss for a chance to win a better mint of the new toy drop.  Then there are the 10% of users like me - hunters of more specific items, specific mints, specific rarities.  'Something for Everyone', I often say!

2) The Parallel around total mints produced or 'scarcity.'  Marvel Comics #1 & Fantastic Four #1, two of the first comics dropped on VeVe, have 60,000 mints per digital collectible.  Enormous?  Well, what if you assume just 6,000 Marvel / Comic fans own 10 each...supply ELIMINATED.  I currently own 11 copies of MC1, for reference...

3) The Parallel of 'too many collectibles' will drive overall market values down. The fact Mattel has 6B toy cars in market still driving $1B+ in sales is indicative that nostalgia sells.  Toys 'R Us generates $11.5 BILLION annually, with 1000s of items to select on store shelves, and SESAME STREET brings in $217,000,000 from its Workshop business...not bad for a Not-for-Profit Educational Organisation, eh?  Is it PLAUSIBLE then, when VeVe has 100s of 1000s of items, accessible by MILLIONS of people who want ownership rights to their favourite IP, when the technology scare behind the term "NFT' is no longer an issue (the word INTERNET was once scary), that they might be driving $$BILLIONS$$ in sales too?

VeVe Sesame Street Cookie Monster DropVeVe Sesame Street Cookie Monster Drop

Speculative, sure...but I will be grabbing a blockchain first-appearance COOKIE MONSTER from VeVe without hesitation.  NFA of course, but if it ends up below retail initially on the secondary market, I will grab as many more as I can afford in this month's budget to DCA down and have a few extra to possibly liquidate if needed down the road.

THE LAST PARALLEL I'LL DISCUSS RELATES TO CURRENT "HYPE"

When Hot Wheels hit the market, they were met with a massive frenzy of desire.  When NFTs first hit the market (yes, Bored Apes etc.), the frenzy was palpable.  As things cooled off though, opportunities for selective collecting arose, along with apps like VeVe.  Mint Hunters, Grail Hunters, Scarcity Hunters came to the world of digital collecting, where some pay thousands or more to own coveted items with special mints.

[caption id="attachment_231209" align="aligncenter" width="435"]Mattel Rear-Loader Beach Bomb Mattel Rear-Loader Beach Bomb[/caption]

Pascal states in the Hustle article "the most valuable Hot Wheels cars are the famed Rear-Loading Beach Bombs, axed in 1969 before they hit the market. Only 48 are known to exist, and they typically go for $20k to $50k.  In Parallel, WHIZ COMICS #2, the First Appearance of Captain Marvel, dropped today on the DC NFT MARKETPLACE for $9.99.

In physical format, only 58 comics are in existence with the last 9.0 CGC-graded sale occurring in 2012 for $280,000 - that could put a 9.8 grade sale well over $1,000,000.  Hence, even though 5,000 NFT versions dropped on the DC NFT Market, considering there will be many owners grabbing multiple copies, there just won't be many available in open markets for long.

[caption id="attachment_231218" align="aligncenter" width="434"]DC NFT WHIZ Comics #2 Digital Collectible DC NFT WHIZ Comics #2 Digital Collectible[/caption]

If you follow any of the INCREDIBLE VeVe Content Creators on Twitter, YouTube, etc., you will also see a DIRECT PARALLEL to Hot Wheels - VeVe "VEHICLE" Digital Collectibles.

[caption id="attachment_231214" align="aligncenter" width="288"]The VeVe Rare Variant Lamborghini The VeVe Rare Variant Lamborghini[/caption]

The most recent vehicle drop was Lamborghini, which was picked up by major media outlets globally, including COINDESK.  VeVe also has Back-to-the-Future's DELOREAN, the Ghostbuster's ECTO-1, James Bond's ASTON MARTIN, and even starships like Star Trek's ENTERPRISE and the Star Wars Darth Vader TIE FIGHTER.  Yeah...I had a Tie Fighter as a kid...you remember - the one where the wings blew off when 'hit' by Luke's X-Wing?  HOURS of enjoyment...and I still have that toy today.  You think I wouldn't want to grab the digital version I can actually place using AR into the sky above my house today, or the metaverse in the years to come?  HELLYA - I grabbed TWO! 

Speculation and excitement on which vehicles will drop next on VeVe is always fun to watch.  From a nostalgia perspective, it's easy to remember the feelings of fun playing with toy cars on plastic tracks (or linoleum floors), or that smokey smell from the Real-FX racing controllers.  Imagine now, as a grownup (CHILD), the excitement that my VeVe 1:1 Digital Replica Lambo or Delorean can actually be 'remote control driven' in augmented reality & will be fully drivable in the 'metaverse' years ahead?  MIND BLOWN!

IN CONCLUSION

I want to thank THE HUSTLE for putting that article out to the masses.  2 MILLION professionals receive their Daily News Brief, which is a tremendous amount of eyeballs exposed to such a unique story.  JOIN FREE if you so choose ("unsolicited plug" LOL).  It gave me the inspiration to write this piece and share some of the Parallels I clearly see between the love of physical collecting and its newer counterpart, digital collecting.

Will I grab a HOT WHEELS NFT?  Likely.  Would this dispel any reason for collecting or enjoying the physical toy or collectible?  HELL NO.  You can FUD digital collecting, FUD the aspect of verified digital ownership or FUD the technology at play allowing this new adventure to flourish.

Or, you can appreciate (or even learn more about) what this technology is offering - a new way to engage the brands you love, that warm your heart with memories of enjoyed past moments, put smiles on many faces, and meet some pretty tremendous people that share a common passion.

Pick Your Battle.

As always, thank you for reading!

*Any perceived investment advice is that of the freelance blogger and does not represent advice on behalf of GoCollect.