I’m not sure where this is going, so just be forewarned.
So I was at Target with the wife and kids picking up some basic stuff. I took the kids over the Hot Wheels aisle as usual since my daughter is really getting in to them now. As we’re getting to the other end of the aisle where the pegs of Hot Wheels are, an old man comes around the corner and jumps in front of me and starts rummaging through the pegs, standing somewhat side-cocked, as if he was trying to block me from getting to the pegs while he was standing there.
The man being about a foot shorter than I and not shy by any means merely just reached right over top of his head to look through the cars too and pull down a few that the kids wanted since I have everything I want from the current release already.
Upon realizing that I was reaching over his head, and even told him “Excuse me.” while I was doing it, he gave me this annoyed look and took another step in front of me. I kept reaching over his head, so he then preceded to start taking cars off the top pegs that he could reach and relocating them to the lower pegs.
I eventually just left because I didn’t feel like starting a confrontation between two grown men on the toy aisle of Target. But I passed him again as he was leaving with his one car, and I saw what it was: the Mountain Mauler Treasure Hunt. This really got on my nerves because he intentionally tried to block my kids from looking at the cars all so he could find a stupid fantasy Treasure Hunt.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’ll pick up a TH when I find it, and enjoy collecting them. But I’m not going to try and go out of my way to block, not only other people, but kids from looking at the pegs of Hot Wheels cars on the toy aisle!
It just really bothers me that there are people out there who treat our hobby like this and are all about collecting hoarding all the ones they find valuable and potentially ruining it for the kids who the toys are intended for.
Yes, Mattel does make cars for the older collectors (the Heritage series, the Car Culture Series, etc.), but we’re talking about mainlines here folks. These are the same guys that went in and took every single 356A Outlaw Datsun 510 wagon when they first came out. If you’re an adult, you need to act like it. Just because you’re collecting toys doesn’t mean you need to act like a child.
So I ask this of you fellow LALD’ers: If you’re looking through the pegs at whatever spot you like hunt at and a kid walks up to try and look, move out of the way. Chances are they’re not going to find the TH or $TH that you’re looking for. Their just gonna grab the basic Mustang or NSX or Twin Mill that’s hanging on the front of the pegs and walk away satisfied.
/ENDRANT
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I tried to insert a nice picture for your time, but Kinja won’t let me. That’s a rant for another day....