Hot Wheels & Marxism
Hot Wheels & Marxism
So, I just read 2 paragraphs of theory and it’s got me wondering: is collecting Hot Wheels cars antithetical to Marxism?
It would seem that, after my reading, while saving my money ultimately removes all humanity from myself, spending my money (especially in such a manipulative and exclusivity-focused market) is also enabling the very worst of the capitalist forces I aim to stand against.
How do I win? Also: Vroooooooooooom
sorry sweaty, "liking" things is fascist
having a hobby is not antithetical behavior
neither is saving money
do what you gotta do
OP isn't a hexbear user. I can't write paragraphs of sarcastic vitrol about how Hot Wheels' customers are lumpenproletariat scum
lmao I’m newish to Lemmy and am still figuring out instances and the fediverse and shit. So I guess I got questions: What is hexbear? Can I use it on mobile? And do I need a new account to use it?
Sorry to come off as mean in the last comment. We all sorta know each other's vibe here and can be a be a bit sarcastic. But with newbies it just comes off as flat cruel.
Hexbear.net is our instance. We're the non-specific socialist, queer friendly, dirtbag leftist instance. Full disclosure: most of us live in the West, but we all hate Western military aggression and capitalism. Anyone from Reddit who's not already a leftist (socialist, communist, or anarchist) basically hates us. Our community really knows each other and we look out for each other in this capitalist hellscape. You might notice that we have movie and gaming nights.
Nearly all of us just use a browser on mobile, preferably Firefox, but honestly any browser works. Jerboa for Android does work for Hexbear, but you're missing all the cool emojis when you use the app like
next.hexbear.net is probably the best way to view hexbear.net, there's some issue with not being able to move to another page when using some mobile browsers with the vanilla hexbear.net
Don't need an account if you're from an instance that hasn't defederated from us.
Under communism, everyone will be issued a Twin Mill, a Deora II, a Bone Shaker, a Power Pipes, and a Splittin' Image.
Original designs are the only good hot wheels, the ones that are just real cars are bourgeois. I'm sorry.
Only if you’re one of those guys on YouTube with the channels that are downhill Hot Wheel racing series involving crafted storylines and intricately built miniature villages.
I follow one of those channels and I’ve wanted to build a track ever since I subscribed! lmao I have a little music/curio room that would be so cool to build a track in
That’s the spirit! Be ambitious! Everybody's always going on with “Train set! Train set!” Fuck that! I want a functioning miniature spaceport! Mixed civil and military use at that!
The sound that car makes as I'm looking at this picture... it definitely doesn't have a muffler.
When the revolution comes, all Hotwheels owners will be forced to turn their toys into Gaslands play pieces for re-use in re-educating Games Workshop paypigs.
I got a buddy who crafts his own Gaslands cars and they're some of the sickest things I've ever seen. Maybe later I'll see if I can dig up some pics to share with the bears
Please do! Gaslands is a fantastic game
Bro what and the hell is this? Are my eyes deceiving me, or is that in fact a car racing board game? That is AWESOME
It's a tabletop wargame with different scenarios, including a death race a la Twisted Metal. Gaslands takes place in a Mad Max style future where players convert and paint old Hotwheels and Matchbox cars into post-apocalyptic war machines. Some examples I pulled from Google:
The original pic I posted was someone's table they built for playing the game. Personally, I don't play it but I know it's a good game to get wargamers into because it gets them used to things like scratch building, model agnostic rules, and away from Games Workshop products.
I've been thinking about Hot Wheels from the production side recently.
All the cars have copyright on the underside of the year they were designed. I have one I bought brand new that goes back to 1986.
You could design a car for Hot Wheels and they can keep selling it as is for 40 years. Do you see any return on that for yourself?
Also, you'd think their biggest competitor is Matchbox, but they're both owned by Mattel
Any return on it for myself? That’s an interesting question. I guess from a consumer stand point, it can have variability and also an aspect of favoritism. I think that the models copyrighted that long ago have also had dies redone and the quality and detail nudged up a bit to meet the ‘current standards’.
As for Mattel owning Matchbox, they bought it in the 90s and it’s pretty odd it wasn’t blocked by antitrust. But as it stands now, they don’t try to pit them as competing products per se. For instance, at Mattel Creations, both brands are featured in their own ‘individualized’ manner. Hot Wheels products and Matchbox are pretty distinct from each other, at least to a collector.
Fun weird note about Matchbox: Their newer cars made in Thailand have a little elephant symbol on the bottom. People think it represents their democracy(lol) and the honor of the laborers who build them. 🦾
Damn that toy is so realistic I can smell that car
The sound that car makes as I'm looking at this picture... it definitely doesn't have a muffler.
I can feel that thing slowly circling the town central square with loud music on a friday night
It’s one of my favorite Hot Wheels I have. It’s a 1991 Nissan Sentra SE-R 😎
Marxism is a set of tools to view and analyze different aspects of life. Doesn’t have much to do with you personally collecting things, unless it’s seduction of each other’s wives, then you are bourgeois.
Generally speaking, your relation to production - both objectively (how you acquired that money) and subjectively (your relative/social relation, e.g., are you an actor who sells your labor but have tens of millions of dollars or a software engineer who makes 6 figures and have dinner with the CEO) - and how you interact with society within these relations are more important to determine if your personality, goals, and actions are aligned with capitalists or not.
You’re not gonna find anyone who doesn’t save money unless they live paycheck to paycheck, a trust fund kid, or unnecessarily make poor financial decisions. If you do shit like FIRE or day trade and sit by your computer all day staring at screens trying to become a millionaire or investing dogecoin or flipping housing - i.e, if your entire waking hour or your only goal is saving money, you have indeed lost your humanity. If you set a budget for different categories, you will find yourself enjoying your hobbies while using your money to contribute to other things such as aid, relationships, education, going go bars, etc. which will make you less isolated from humanity.
Every hot wheel you own has to be wrestled out of the mouth of a baby. No money is involved and you become a hero
Only model trains will be allowed