Pop! Review: Pixar’s Cars 3 Collection

For today’s review, I take a look at the full line of the Cars 3 collection of Funko Pop! Vinyls. These were released mainly throughout the first half of 2017. However, because of the exclusivity for some stores that are not nationwide, I finally finished the collection over the past month or so. I previously reviewed the Target exclusive Lightning McQueen as well as taking a few of the collection to Cars Land over at Disney California Adventure for a Pop! Photoshoot.

Each Pop! in this collection, aside from Guido, is packaged in a sideways displayed Pop! box, which is considerably rare in the world of Funko Pop! Vinyls. Only the first collection of Cars characters and a random release here and there utilized this packaging. I know some collectors who collect in box find this frustrating because it messes up their display options.

This collection includes the regular releases of Lightning McQueen and Cruz Ramirez, as well as the following exclusives here in the US: Walmart- Luigi & Guido, Meijer- “Primer” Lightning McQueen, Target- Metallic Lightning McQueen, and Toys ‘R’ Us- Fabulous Lightning McQueen.

First up, a closer look at the two regular releases of Lightning McQueen and Cruz Ramirez.

What got me about the Cruz release is that the design itself contains MAJOR spoilers for the movie, as Cruz spends 95% or more of the movie NOT a racer, yet she is decked out in her paint job from the final scene in the movie, when Lightning McQueen is donning his Fabulous Hudson Hornet inspired blue paint job.

I also found it interesting the Luigi and Guido are on the back of the box in concept art form, yet ended up being Walmart exclusives. Most of the time, exclusives do not make it on the packaging, as that is reserved for regular release figures. I wonder if there was a change at some point in production and they weren’t originally produced to be exclusives. I know that they were difficult for me to eventually find them at a Walmart store, especially since the ones around me don’t keep a great stock of Funko products.

Probably the hardest exclusive in general to obtain was the Meijer’s “Primer” Lightning McQueen. The actual time lapse in this movie that Lightning McQueen is in this gray paint job is minimal… so I guess they decided to give exclusivity to a small retailer. The chain only has about 235 stores, with over half being located in lower Michigan alone. When I was in Illinois for a wedding I tried to scope out a couple of stores and they shelves were picked clean. It wasn’t until New York Comic Con back in October when i was able to purchase him from a vendor.

The next exclusive is the Metallic Lightning McQueen from Target. As I explained in my review last year, this is a great design, and probably my second favorite McQueen paint job behind the blue paint job.

Last up is the Fabulous Lightning McQueen paint job, inspired by the Fabulous Hudson Hornet (aka Doc Hudson) from the first movie. McQueen is decked out in this paint job in the final scene of the movie, racing Cruz around Radiator Springs in an exhibition race. I love the detail in this design. I finally tracked one down in the wild at a Toys ‘R’ Us store a few weeks ago. Worth the wait.

Here is a look at all of the Lightning McQueens together.

Overall, this is a very fun collection if you are a fan of the Cars 3 movie. It was one of the harder collections for me to complete recently, only because of the vast number of retailer exclusives. I do admit that I wish they didn’t do as many McQueens, but instead maybe released a Jackson Storm Pop! or maybe a new Mater (although he isn’t in the movie a lot). I personally would have loved to have seen a retailer exclusive set of Smokey or the older classic cars that McQueen meets while trying to make his comeback. Better yet, a supersized Miss Fritter with Mini versions of Lightning and Cruz in their “Crazy 8” personas: Chester Whipplefilter and Frances Beltline.

Did you pick up the Cars 3 Pop! Vinyls? If so, let us know your thoughts below.