The Acceleracers Return

We all know the pipe dream - you wake up one sunny day, open up your phone, do your morning scroll through your socials, and BAM - there it is. The big news. The ONLY news. “ACCELERACERS IS BEING RE-RELEASED by Mattel, see details below!”

Obviously, it hasn’t happened yet - but I’m inclined to believe it will, in some form or fashion. Some might even say it already has, to a degree. I’ve been in the online Acceleracers community since Fall 2019, so I recently passed my four-year mark of being reintegrated into the Fandom. Given that I’ve only been back around the community for a few years, I can’t speak to what it’s been like since 2005, but let’s think back to where we were in 2019.

When I joined the subreddit, it had roughly 5,000 members, and maybe 3-4 posts a day, with pretty limited interaction. The eBay market was beginning to heat up, but carded cars were still readily available for $5-15 apiece for commons and uncommons. There was no real market or data on the trading cards - they were mostly an afterthought. The YouTube community was already pretty prominent - I believe ValkenVugen and Tezla’s Cube already had thousands of subscribers, but nowhere near where it is today. The most notable face in the community in my opinion, Jaycee Squared, had roughly 700 subscribers if I remember right. Now - he’s soared past 6,000 subscribers and is still rapidly growing. Customizers existed, but mostly as a small hobby for the most dedicated of collectors.

Back then, it was a gem to have one of these in your collection - these days, it along with the Teku Deora II, are the honorary 37th and 38th cars in the 36-car set.

Fast forward to 2020, where the trading card game has begun to pick up steam, and collectors are coming out of the woodwork to try and complete that elusive 246-card set. Booster Packs are popping up left and right on eBay, for anywhere from $25-50 apiece, providing a wealth of rare cards. Around mid-2020, the pandemic hit and people moved inside for the most part, without much to do but watch old movies, sort through old possessions and focus on their hobbies. Around this time, the trading card industry exploded in popularity, with sports cards, Pokemon, Yugioh, etc. hitting crazy levels of price and demand - as well as prominent influencers like Logan Paul bringing even more attention to the industry on social media platforms. The Acceleracers card game was no exception, as it really blew up amongst Acceleracers collectors in this timeframe, going from an afterthought, to more of a 1B to the diecast cars 1A. The popularity of the card game led to mass openings of carded cars and booster packs, decreasing the supply and driving up prices. Additionally, the extra time at home during Covid-19 allowed many people to start up passion projects, like fan games, YouTube Channels (myself included), and customizing studios.

By early 2021, the community was thriving, YouTube content being pumped out left and right, creators and customizers beginning to take the reigns. There were several longtime customizers in the community - we’d see posts from Miguel Martinez and a few others, but we started seeing more frequent posts from customizers like FishDaddy and CoreyTrevor. In March of 2021, Corey_Trevor reached out to me about showcasing a few of his customs on the Acceleracers Hub Channel - today that first video has nearly ten thousand views, and he goes by the handle MetroMetrics. I won’t disrespect any customizers by claiming one’s work is better than the rest, but MetroMetrics seemed to open the customization floodgates in a huge way - making new custom after new custom, each batch better than the last, giving the community all sorts of new collectibles. Back then, it was pretty cool to see a custom Teku Slingshot or Teku Deora II, but these days it’s almost customary to see those as regular additions to collections.

The first customs review video we did on the channel - over 8.8K views and counting

Another huge factor in the community growth was the aging effect - Acceleracers released in 2005, so most of us that watched the movies as 5, 6, and 7 year-olds in 2005 were then turning 21, 22 and 23, getting jobs, graduating college and beginning to have real disposable income to turn towards hobbies like collecting. The card game surge, creator explosion, and aging effect really had the buzz around the community hitting a fevered pitch in mid-2021, when we finally got that first real big acknowledgement, in the form of Hot Wheels Unleashed.

I’ll never forget hearing the buzz about an Acceleracers car in the game, hopping on YouTube, heading over to Jaycee’s channel to watch his latest video and seeing the big reveal. The “But wait…. there’s MORE,” as RD02 burst onto the scene in the trailer is burned into my brain - I had to have watched it at least 100 times. Afterwards, a bunch of other Acceleracers cars were added into the game, including the fan-favorite Deora II! It felt like the community was really getting some serious acknowledgement.

Screenshot from Jaycee’s Trailer Review video - the big RD02 Reveal

Growth continued to compound, with more customizers entering the scene, such as Acceleron Customs, OverUsed Customs, and Accelecharger Customs, bringing 3D Printed customs to life and opening up brand-new avenues of creation. The real-life Deora II got a TEKU WRAP, they let the real-life Vert Wheeler (Jaycee) get inside of it, and the hype just continued to build! The community has been clamoring for re-releases of the diecasts for years, and all of these events surely were leading up to it right? Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 released in October 2023, and features a small army of Acceleracers cars, as well as an entire Acceleracers expansion, a huge step up from the first game. Additionally, Mattel Creations launched a controversial Acceleracers NFT Program with the grand prize being a redeemable Teku Deora II diecast. While the program led to some dissention amongst the community, the fact that a physical, tangible Acceleracers car was produced by Mattel is huge. Think about it - it’s been 18 years since the movies aired, and what, 17 years since the diecasts were on shelves? 17 years of no content or effort by Mattel, and now here we are heading into 2024 with a physical diecast promotion and a leading role in an awesome video game?

Jaycee and the real-life Teku Deora II

The community’s future is brighter than ever, in my opinion, with multiple YouTube Channels over 5,000 subscribers, huge customizer followings, and probably the best of all: exposure in the form of video games and Mattel Creations, where new viewers and kids can discover the series in 2023. One of the biggest problems of niche communities post-release is the lack of exposure, but Acceleracers is definitely gaining steam and notoriety. Something tells me 2024 is going to be the biggest year yet, and my gut tells me that by mid-2025 - we are going to see multiple Acceleracers diecasts re-released. Buckle in folks, because the next realm is opening.