Last week Tomy Co., the Japanese maker of Transformers and Pokemon toys announced that they will be purchasing RC2 Corp for $640 million. News sources have been focusing on Tomy’s interest in RC2’s Thomas the Train brand as the primary reason for the acquisition. However, here in the diecast car collecting world, fans of RC2’s Johnny Lightning brand are anxiously waiting for some type of news regarding the future and/or fate of the cars they love.

Tomy has been involved with diecast cars for a long time via their Tomica brand that, for the most part, caters towards kids through lower end cars and playsets. Tomy recently announced availability of Tomica products in the US as well. It should be interesting to see how the merger affects both Tomica and Johnny Lightning, if at all. There might not be any change at all if Tomy decides to keep the brands separate and lets them run as they are. Alternatively, collectors could start seeing higher end Tomica lines and Johnny Lightning playsets if the two are blended together.

Of course, this is all speculation – so I reached out to Tom Zahorsky, Senior Design Manager at Johnny Lightning to see if he could shed any light on situation. Seeing how the ink is barely dry on the contracts, Tom was not able to comment much other than to say “its business as usual and we hope to grow all our current brands.”

In the meantime, collectors should get out there and continue to support Johnny Lightning buy continuing to purchase and build your collections. I’ll be sure to share any updates as they become available.

Additional details about the acquisition itself can be found on Bloomberg Businessweek.

First, I would like to introduce myself.  My name is Joe Altieri, and I live in Northern New Jersey.  I truly consider myself a die-cast ”collector” and not a hoarder, scalper, or flipper!  Jeff Glasson has asked me to write some columns on the life of a typical die-cast collector and get your feedback on the hobby through my articles. I hope that once you read this article you’ll continue to read future ones to come. Thanks for reading “Diecast Stories from the Average Joe Collector.”

In recent years I’ve noticed something interesting happening to me every time I attend a die-cast show or convention; I am approached by a fellow collectors [whether I know actually know them or they are brought over to me by a friend] to either take me over to a vendor’s table or room to get my opinion on an impending sale, to show me a just purchased treasure to get my opinion on the condition or price paid, or to ask a question about products from any of the many 1:64 scale manufacturers of die-cast. I have been frequently told that I was the deciding factor either for or against a particular purchase. I am not trying to “toot my own horn” or boast about what I do or do not know about die-cast, but it always gets me thinking about how and what I collect now as opposed to when I began collecting and throughout the interim years.

It has been almost 26 years since I began collecting die-cast and over 19 years since I truly caught the die-cast collecting “bug” and met my first Hot Wheels collecting comrade, my great friend Bill, who was and is my mentor of all things Hot Wheels. So I guess I have seen a lot of collectors, trends, and die-cast companies come and go, wither and resurrect, or completely change themselves altogether. I have always been a history buff; whether it’s the real life history of the world around us or the history of the cars I love to collect. I love to absorb this knowledge as much as I can, but find myself having to omit a lot of information for lack of brain space or for want on that knowledge.

I can’t be a variation almanac like so many of today’s collectors are [God bless your memories] with all the wheels changes, window colors changes, body color changes chassis color/material changes and point of origin as I would like to be.

I don’t seek out variations for my collection unless they are physically pointed out to me while standing at the rack or at a show, and I can’t rattle off things like “the Muscle Madness ’68 Nova comes in all small wheels, all big wheels, and large front wheels/small rear wheels” or vice versa. But, I can pretty much rattle off every ’57 Chevy variation since 1977 or what each Dream Halloween or Toy Fair car has been or how much I did or didn’t pay for a particular car.

I’ve come through a succession of models that I’ve focused all of my attention on as well. First, it was old and new Matchbox. Then I added old and new Hot Wheels and new Johnny Lightnings when they were reintroduced in the 1990’s. All the while I kept up with new and old Majorette and Tomica models thrown in for good measure. It all became maddening! Yet, I would still buy any model, old or new, from any manufacturer that caught my eye. I was a full “completist” and had to have every model I could afford from those aforementioned manufacturers. During that time I was able to keep every model I had in my head as well as on ancient Apple computer spreadsheet. At times I thought my head would explode or at the very least brain matter would start to ooze from my ears!

In 2001 I attended my first Hot Wheels convention – the Wild Weekend of Hot Wheels 2 in Connecticut – and my mind was blown wide open!  There were so many people collecting what I did all together in the same place, with special events and best of all; the room to room trading!!!  That was something I had never experienced before. I was then completely hooked on conventions from that point forward.

While at WWHW2 I heard about larger convention that meets every year in California run buy a guy named Mike Strauss. I got some info while in CT and hurriedly sent in my application to the event as soon as I got home. Unfortunately 9/11 happened that September, and I thought I may never be able to go to this Hot Wheels Mecca I had begun to believe in. Fortunately, the restrictions were lifted and off I flew to Irvine California, all by myself; intimidated, but ready to learn!  During the convention I was lucky enough to meet my buddy Mike from NH – someone who is still one of my best friends in the Hot Wheel and real world.

Mike had been going to Strauss conventions since 1998 and knew all the in, outs, and quirks associated with them. We became fast friends and my feet were set upon the path of convention knowledge. Needless to say, the rest is history for I have attended every east and west coast Strauss event since Irvine 2001 (save for Dallas 2004 when my son had just been born). After Irvine 2001 I attended the Wild Weekend of Hot wheels 3 in 2002 where I got to know another best friend of mine, Bryan from NC. I have also attended the Wicked Weekend of Hot Wheels 1 and 2, the annual Macungie PA outdoor toy event, as well as more recently introduced conventions like Summer Smash in Rhode Island, the Mexico City Hot Wheelers convention, and the DiecastSpace.com Super Convention in Las Vegas and Atlanta.

When I was still a completist, conventions were all about “the hunt” for everything I didn’t have.  But since having divested myself of over 3000+ pieces of Matchbox and over 1000+ pieces of Johnny Lightning I have been able to enjoy collecting even more. I no longer need to have every mainline Hot Wheels. I now prefer nice redlines or special limited cars like convention and toy fair pieces. I also have grown very fond of collecting discontinued “orphan makes.” Those include the cars I had as a kid like Playart, Zylmex, and Corgi Junior, as well as makes with limited availability in the U.S. like Tomica, Majorette, and Siku. Likewise, convention-going has changed from hunting for everything I can get my hands on, to meeting up with old and new friends and talking about the state of collecting, about other collectors who have come and gone or just sitting around eating, drinking and making each other laugh!

Many things affect the way we collect. The economy, die-cast companies’ fortunes and product decisions, to the size of our own wallets change the way we collect; and that’s not a bad thing. Any changes should be accepted and embraced if you want to keep on doing and collecting whatever you love.

So have I changed as collector? That answer would have to be a resounding YES!  I’m glad I have changed, evolved, backed off or whatever you want to call it. Its made me a happier collector and a more grateful one at that.

How have/haven’t you changed as collector since you started out in this great hobby? Let’s hear you story via the comments section below.