2015 HOT WHEELS THE BEGINNING OF SUPER TREASURE HUNT$, REGULAR VERSIONS, ERRORS & VARIANTS, FAKE EDITION, THE STORIES OF #77 2008 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION - WRITTEN ON 29.AUGUST.2015

First of all, i have been followed up one to be considered a casting ones inevitability to be miss out especially we are now in the era of JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) EVOLUTION. Every years, in the Hot Wheels mainline series, there will be several special designed castings installed with various kinds of Real Rider Rubber Tires & special paint job applied on these cars. They were labeled as SUPER TREASURE HUNT$ series. Some of the new collectors I've known still have uncleared what these series means, what it takes to earn even just one Super Treasure Hunt car. In the line of Hot Wheels Treasure Hunt series, it was all started back in 1995 and there is limited quantity amount produced for each of the cars and there is only 12 models in that year's treasure hunt series. And back then, there was not many people interested in collecting Hot Wheels cars, some even never heard what it is (at least where the place i grew up in - Kuching, Sarawak). The 1995 Treasure Hunt series (those times, it was only called Treasure Hunt WITHOUT 'SUPER' in it). It was even harder to find and collect a complete collection of normal mainline cars not to mentioned the Treasure Hunt series. There was not even many people has access to the Internet facility at homes or work places and a faster Internet line to access a wider choices.

So, let's check out the quantity in each of the year's Hot Wheels mainline series starting from where the first Treasure Hunt series invented. We will see a general views of what it makes a greater & worth collecting Hot Wheels cars til today's generation. :)

1995 til 1999 Hot Wheels series - unknown to exactly how many there is in those mainlines series because the series numbers are follow up from previous years. They are not like what we have seen today the mainline series is started from #1 til #250.
2000 - This is the first year when Hot Wheels has re-started the series number from #1 - #250.
2001 - #1 til #240
2002 - #1 til #240
2003 - #1 til #220
2004 - #1 til #212
NOTE: From 1995 til 2004, Treasure Hunt series has 12 models set. Only 2005 Treasure Hunt series has 13 models set.

2005 - #1 til #187 (Treasure Hunt series have 13 models set. Mystery Cars series of 4 cars set in carded form was invented.)
2006 - #1 til #223 (Treasure Hunt series have 12 models set. Mystery Cars of 5 cars set in carded form)
2007 - #1 til #180 (In 2007, Treasure Hunt series starts to divided into 2 categories - Super Treasure Hunt [special body paint job with Real Rider Rubber Tires] & Regular Treasure Hunt [normal body paint job with plastic wheels]. Each Super & Regular Treasure Hunt series is the same model, just the differences is the Super & Regular edition only. Total of 24 models in Super & Regular Treasure Hunt series. Mystery Cars of 24 models set which first started in a carded form with black color blister. So one would have to open the blister in order to know what car model you have in the blister and will have a challenging fun time to complete the entire series.)
2008 - #1 til #196 (24 models in Super & Regular Treasure Hunt series. Mystery Cars of 24 models set in carded form)
2009 - #1 til #190 (24 models in Super & Regular Treasure Hunt series. Mystery Cars of 24 models set in carded form)
2010 - #1 til #240 (24 models in Super & Regular Treasure Hunt series. Mystery Cars of 24 models set in carded form)
2011 - #1 til #244 (24 models in Super & Regular Treasure Hunt series. Mystery Cars started to be packed in Foil Packs / Pillow Packs form. 24 models set)
2012 - #1 til #247 (Started in 2012, Super & Regular Treasure Hunt series has been increased to 15 models each. Both Super & Regular Treasure Hunt series has difference models. So total up, you will have 30 Super & Regular Treasure Hunt model series. Mystery Cars #1 til #24 models set)
2013 - #1 til #250 (30 Super & Regular Treasure Hunt model series. Mystery Cars #1 til #24 models set. Invented another new series which is called SCAVENGERS HUNT. This series consists of 6 models in carded form.)
2014 - #1 til #250 (30 Super & Regular Treasure Hunt model series. First time decreases the amount to 12 cars in Mystery Cars set.The SCAVENGERS HUNT series has been shrink to 4 models set)
2015 - #1 til #250 (30 Super & Regular Treasure Hunt model series. Mystery Cars #1 til #12 models set + SCAVENGERS HUNT 4 models set)

As you can see, there has been alot of changes throughout the years. In 2004, as i remembered, Treasure Hunt were very hard to obtain. Only 1 Treasure Hunt model were found in a Case/Box with 72 cars. These 1 Treasure Hunt per case was going on until 2008, where this method has changed. You will not be able to find any Super Treasure Hunt model in any full case ones bought. You will have to open up alot of cases just to find one. During that year (2008), the only country as to say on the Internet where only 1 to 3 sellers at most has the quantity in both Super & Regular Treasure hunt models up for sell in eBay. Mexico. That's right, folks. You couldn't imagine where has all the Super & Regular Treasure hunts has gone to and keep asking why only the Mexicans has the most. Even U.S. Hot Wheels sellers don't have the privilege at that time. These matters keeps going until 2012, Malaysia has the highest possibility of getting any Super Treasure Hunts online. Not just any Super Treasure Hunt models but in quantity as well. These matter has since been spread like wild fire throughout the net. Ones has the choices of choosing either a loose or carded Super Treasure Hunt as the sellers marked their prices accordingly. After 2 years has passed, a new kind of word has been seen or heard on net, its called UNSPUN / UNRIVETED for the sellers used in selling the Hot Wheels. Some might called it Factory PROTOTYPE / TESTING MODEL. Then later came with UNRELEASED / EMPLOYEE'S EDITION ONLY / NOT FOR SALE. Throughout the years, more 'inventive' words has been used to attract more buyers. Once used to it, they started to be more 'creative' in their selling, with painted original factory color but without body tampos. Then later they started to conquer the 'paint job department'. Came up with different body colors before the official body color is officially released, even with official body tampos but came out with different colors. Whether ones need it to be installed with different wheels. Need it to be RIVITED OR UNRIVITED. According to their desires. And lastly but not least, whether to sealed it in official carded form or leave it as loose form.

This is where we came in with this year's one of the most anticipated model - 2015 #77 2008 Lancer Evolution 10TH Super Treasure Hunt$ Spectraflame Deep Blue. Officially, this model will be released in early May of 2015 in K Cases and middle of May 2015 in L Cases. But first picture has been surfaced on net in January 30TH, 2015. Check it out.

I have wrote this article in my other post here. At that time, it is too early to tell which position in the Super Treasure Hunt series. In February, 20TH 2015, first officially carded image, the car but not the wheels & the blister used has been surfaced.

If anyone has collected this model way back in the year 2008 where this model was made in the First Edition til today, there are no blister such as this been used in the Mainline Series - the 'N' Shape Blister. That is what i called it. The commonly used blister for this model is the Square shape blister. 

More info on this carded version can be view here. Since then, more of other unofficial body colors and wheels has been surfaced as well. Some in carded form and some are in loose form.

 

As you can see, there are a variety of colors to choose from. Not many were seen since then and as always, these cars were sold in a very high prices even though it is not the official product of Hot Wheels. Nevertheless, it is still a thrill to hunt for oneself using the old ways which is search the malls, hunt at various toy shop outlets or trade with others. The decision is yours to make. :)

Now, let's find out where is the idea of the body tampos being used in this amazing model. When it comes to the word 'Speedhunters' and 'Maximum Attack', these words will fill you up with energy. Something to related to racing, isn't it? :) When you really really concentrate hard enough, you will eventually found out the origin of the body tampos used. Its actually from a racer named Charles Ng, using Speedhunters Maximum Attack-liveried on his Infiniti G37 at May 2014 Formula Drift competition.

CHARLES NG - INFINITI G37

Not all the actual body tampos is used in this year's Lancer Evolution.
Let's check out the official Hot Wheels #77 2008 Lancer Evolution which normally for International cases released it first and followed by U.S. edition cases. These models can been found in K & L Cases. For K Cases, International cases was released on the beginning of May 2015 and U.S. edition cases released on early June 2015. Here, you can check out the unboxing of several codes of K & L cases.

2015 HOT WHEELS K CASES UNBOXING: U.S. CASES KLQ & KRQ from RaceGrooves AND BRIEF ON INTERNATIONAL CASE KMH.

2015 HOT WHEELS K CASE UNBOXING: U.S. KRP CASE from Hot Wheels TV

2015 HOT WHEELS K CASE UNBOXING: INTERNATIONAL KPA CASE from Mushedroom.

For L Cases, International cases was released on early June 2015 and U.S. was in early July 2015.

2015 HOT WHEELS L CASE UNBOXING: INTERNATIONAL LLL CASE from king hotwheels

2015 HOT WHEELS L CASE UNBOXING: U.S. LRC CASE from Hot Wheels TV

2015 HOT WHEELS L CASE UNBOXING: U.S. LRC CASE from RaceGrooves

First of all, i have to thank these guyz above for taking their times for sharing the unboxing Hot Wheels cases to the world. This makes any collectors more easier to track and know which case(s) to buy and to know more about any variants or errors that might occur in these cases. :) 

For the Europe short card edition, not much information were found on these K & L Cases. To complete the entire editions of this model alone, ones need to look very hard in order to complete ones collection. Normal cases, you will find International, U.S. long card & Europe Short card edition. But i have found alot more than just the card edition itself. I have carefully categorized as much detailed as possible for your references. For International carded, there is no info on whether the car is in which Cases. Only U.S. Long card edition has that information.

This model came with K & L Cases. Here is how you refer to them on the back of the card. Whether it came from K or L cases still unable to determined firmly(For International & Europe Short card edition). Not like the U.S. card, it can be identify from the code on top side of the card. Most of the videos found on YouTube for the Unboxing Hot Wheels category still lack of showing more details on the back cover as you know, for some, might take up alot of time-consuming and might be thinking it is not important at all. Well, here, i will show you the differences on the back covers.

INTERNATIONAL LONG CARD EDITION (FOR REGULAR EDITION)

U.S. LONG CARD EDITION (FOR REGULAR EDITION) FROM K CASES ASSORTMENT

U.S. LONG CARD EDITION (FOR REGULAR EDITION) FROM L CASES ASSORTMENT

INTERNATIONAL LONG CARD EDITION (SUPER TREASURE HUNT$ EDITION)

U.S. LONG CARD EDITION (SUPER TREASURE HUNT$ EDITION)

FROM K CASES ASSORTMENT

EUROPE SHORT CARD EDITION (FOR REGULAR EDITION)

If you observe more closely on these Europe short card edition, there is actually 2 types of printing. English, Polish, Russian, Portuguese, Slovenian, Turkish, Swedish, Finnish, Dutch, Hungarian & Croatian language is commonly used in Europe short card edition but if you look at the right side of the Europe short card, there is a new language imprinted at the back cover - Arabian language. Well, that's new indeed. On the left side of the Europe short card, the back cover got printed 'Distributed elsewhere: Mattel Inc. Mississauga, Ontario L5R 3W2.' but on the right side photo, there are non. The arrangement of the lettering and the logos are completely different. Whether it is determined by the shape of blisters used is still unclear. What for sure is that we will see more of this differences in the near future. :) Be sure to check your collections to determined which one you have and don't.

If i am not mistaken, i think we nearly break the finding out of which car belongs to which cases for the International Long card edition. If you look at the back cover bar code for the ones you found on that particular case (with different codes on the outside of the Cases), they have different codes to determine which case they are from. But it will be definitely different bar codes for Regular edition long card and Super Treasure Hunt long card edition. If you look at the bar code for the Regular Edition & Super Treasure Hunt Long card edition, they both share the same bar code (027084120134). The other common is the code at the top side of the back cover (07B3). Only the front code is different for:
1. International Long Card (Regular Edition) - CFK32
2. International Long Card (Super Treasure Hunt Edition) - CFJ35


There is 4 types of shape bubbles/blisters found so far.
1. Right Side L Curve Shape Blister
2. Square Round Curve Corners Blister
3. Shaper Corners Square Blister
4. Completely Round Curve Corners Square Blister
These various types of blisters were found in International & U.S. long card edition. Only 2 types of shapes blisters found in Europe Short card edition.

Right Side L Curve Shape Blister

Square Round Curve Corners Blister

Shaper Corners Square Blister

Completely Round Curve Corners Square Blister

 

International Long Card Edition (All 4 types of shapes Blister)

U.S. Long Card Edition (All 4 types of shapes Blister)

Europe Short Card Edition (2 types of shapes Blisters found so far)

Was unable to retrieve the other 2 types of shape blisters from the Europe short card edition as it is hard to come by even on net. Will surely come back to update this post once they are found. :)

2015 SUPER TREASURE HUNT$ #77 2008 LANCER EVOLUTION
1. INTERNATIONAL LONG CARD EDITION
  - Square Round Curve Corners Blister
  - Shaper Corners Square Blister
2. U.S. LONG CARD EDITION
  - Sharper Corners Square Blister
  - Completely Round Curve Corners Square Shape Blister
Only found 2 types of shape blisters for each edition. Europe short card edition Super Treasure Hunt has never been spotted at this time.

INTERNATIONAL LONG CARD EDITION (SUPER TH$)

U.S. LONG CARD EDITION (SUPER TH$)

The hardest to find is the 4th types of shape blister, the Completely Round Corners Shape Square Blister. You will have to carefully observe the shape closely in order to identify the shape. Most of the photos taken on the net is not quite revealed the entire shape of its blister use. The videos for the unboxing of K & L cases might have some clue to which shapes they have in those cases.

Now, here is also one of the interesting part in this collection. Whether we can identify or call it a VARIANT OR an Error, i will let you decide, ok. :) Let's check them out.

There are a few types of ERRORS & VARIANTS found on eBay and i have categorized them accordingly.
1. BOTH BLUE CHROME RIMS WITH BLACK PR5 SPOKES WHEELS.
2. FRONT BLUE CHROME RIMS WITH BLACK PR5 SPOKES WHEELS & REAR BLUE CHROME J5 SPOKES WHEELS.
3. FRONT BLUE CHROME J5 SPOKES WHEELS & REAR BLUE CHROME RIMS WITH BLACK PR5 WHEELS.
4. FRONT UNPAINTED BLACK J5 SPOKES WHEELS & REAR UNFINISHED PAINTED BLUE CHROME J5 SPOKES WHEELS.
5. FRONT BLUE CHROME J5 SPOKES WHEELS & REAR UNFINISHED PAINTED BLUE CHROME J5 SPOKES WHEELS.
6. MISSING PLASTIC WINDOWS (FOR SUPER TH$ U.S. LONG CARD EDITION)

BOTH BLUE CHROME RIMS WITH BLACK PR5 SPOKES WHEELS

CAR ON THE RIGHT: BOTH BLUE CHROME RIMS WITH BLACK PR5 SPOKES WHEELS.
CAR ON THE LEFT: FRONT BLUE CHROME RIMS WITH BLACK PR5 SPOKES WHEELS & REAR BLUE CHROME J5 SPOKES WHEELS.

FRONT BLUE CHROME J5 SPOKES WHEELS & REAR BLUE CHROME RIMS WITH BLACK PR5 WHEELS.

FRONT UNPAINTED BLACK J5 SPOKES WHEELS & REAR UNFINISHED PAINTED BLUE CHROME J5 SPOKES WHEELS.

FRONT BLUE CHROME J5 SPOKES WHEELS & REAR UNFINISHED PAINTED BLUE CHROME J5 SPOKES WHEELS.

MISSING PLASTIC WINDOWS (FOR SUPER TH$ U.S. LONG CARD EDITION)

There have been 4 ERRORS OR VARIANTS spotted for the BOTH BLUE CHROME RIMS WITH BLACK PR5 WHEELS. A coincidence or a fact that we have variants wheels? I will have to let you decide that, ok. :) And all of these variants spotted so far is from the same shape blister, the L Curve Corners Shape Blister and they are in U.S. Long card edition. What about other card editions? Well, for now, unable to find any just yet. We will have to see if any ever released for trade or for sell on net eh.

I don't know about you guyz but for my experiences in Hot Wheels, this is the first time i have ever spotted so many variants or errors in just one model with one body color in any Hot Wheels series. If anyone who have found the Europe short card edition for the Super Treasure Hunt series, that would be awesome just to see the photos on net. :D  For now, non have been spotted yet.
 
Well, i guess that it for now. Hope you have a good time reading the article, ok. :)
Take care, guyz. See you soon. :D