“CHARGER” MARK McCUTCHEN with UNLIMITED SERIES CAR

NASCAR RACERS (HASBRO)

“Welcome NASCAR fans to the Unlimited series races! Prepare to be floored by the new state of the art cars and challenging new courses. Can Team Fastex hold on for the win to beat out rival team Rexcor for the season championship?”

Do you ever have one of those memories, like one of those very intense memories of something, only to have, like, no one else even acknowledge that said thing even existed?  I mean, probably.  It happens to us all, right?  Well, one of those for me is NASCAR Racers.  Launched in 1999, it has very little to do with actual NASCAR, and was instead a cartoon about futuristic car racing.  Honestly, it’s more an update to Speed Racer than an adaptation of anything real world.  The show ran for two seasons, and managed to spawn a small line of toys from Hasbro.  And then the show ended and the toys disappeared, and everybody stopped talking about it.  Well, I’m gonna talk about it now, and nobody can stop me!  So, let’s look at “Charger” Mark McCutchen and his Unlimited Series Car!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

“Charger” Mark McCutchen and his Unlimited Series Car were part of the standard component to Hasbro’s NASCAR Racers line.  Charger being the most prominent of the show’s racers got the most toy coverage, with two standard releases (this one and an ice-themed variant), plus a deluxe electronic release.  This one was based on his standard racing set-up from the show’s two seasons.  The main Charger figure stands 2 1/2 inches tall and he has 4 points of articulation (the legs move as one, rather than independently).  He’s a rather basic piece, not really designed to do much on his own, but he’s not bad for what you’re getting.  He’s fairly recognizable as Charger as seen in the show, and he’s even got a removable helmet, bound to get lost, right?  His color work isn’t quite a match for his show design; his clean yellow accenting from the show is changed to more of a lightning pattern here.  It still reads more or less the same, but it’s definitely different.

Though Charger’s name was the main focus on the packaging, the majority of the box was taken up by his car.  It’s a fully detailed racing car, which is honestly pretty cool.  There’s four moving wheels (something you should never take for granted), and the canopy flips up so that you can place Charger in the driver’s seat, which doubles as a fully removable “Rescue Racer,” like the cars had in the show.  The car also featured a shooting missile on the front, as well as Sonic Thrusters that pop out of the sides.  Or, at least they should, but they’re stuck on mine and I don’t want to force them.  There’s a lot of fun lille gimmicks at play with this one.  There’s also a lot of really fun detailing on the car, especially in terms of its coloring.  While the patterns on the figure were a little off, the car is pretty much spot-on to the show’s models.  The proper details are largely done via decals, which add a lot of really fun elements to the mix.  I particularly enjoy seeing his sponsors, all of which are Hasbro brands from the time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My first encounter with NASCAR Racers was one of frustration, because its pilot movie pre-empted Avengers: United They Stand.  That was my favorite show, and I would except no substitutes.  But, when it *wasn’t* pre-empting Avengers, I got to actually liking the show on its own, and I was pretty well hooked by the end of the first season.  I didn’t have standard Charger as a kid, instead getting the deluxe Future Car release, alongside “The Collector” and his car.  I’ve since lost, like, everything to those two.  Since the original run, I haven’t been able to find any other toys from the show.  That is, until I stopped at Factory Antiques (THE LARGEST ANTIQUE MALL IN THE U.S.!!!…according to their brochure) to break up a long drive, and they had all standard Team Fastex racers.  Given the pricing on these things these days, a whole set wasn’t something I could swing, but with some encouragement from my very lovely wife, I decided to at least get Charger.  He’s just as fun as I remember these things being back in the day, which makes me very happy.  Maybe someday I’ll get the chance to own the rest, but until then, Charger suits me just fine.