IIIB⭕RICUAIII

Speed Racer First Impressions: One Step Forward for VeVe 💙 VeVe is the best at getting desirable IP licenses, but the worst at putting together drops that make the most of them. Take Speed Racer, for example. I’ll start with the good. The car’s design and attention to detail are top-notch. They nailed the spirit of Speed Racer, and if you’re a fan of the cartoon series, this should be something you’re proud to own. Now let’s talk about the drop mechanics, because how a drop is put together matters just as much as the collectible itself. I give VeVe a lot of credit for including the “VeVe Inverted” colorway as a 5/5 chase variant. It shows they’re listening to community feedback and getting licensors to agree to chase editions. Kudos to them for taking that step. And this variant even has a “Auto Jacks” function that elevates the vehicle a few feet off the ground! Whoever lands this chase will be a very, VERY happy collector. Without this chase, this drop would have gone from poorly designed to catastrophic. So why am I criticizing the drop when I’ve been constantly asking for chase variants? Because a chase is only one part of what makes a drop successful. Let’s start with supply. Drops should be based on today’s user base, not an imaginary future one. With a few thousand monthly active users, 1,909 total editions is hard to justify. If the price needed to be $40, I think 909 editions would’ve been ideal. Then there’s the Speed Racer logo being offered as a separate $20 drop. To buy it, you also need to have purchased a car from the collection at retail. That honestly feels opportunistic. Why require someone to buy a car just for the privilege of paying another $20 for the logo? If the logo costs $20, let people buy it for $20. If you want to require a retail car purchase, the logo should be free to craft. Asking for both is over the top, imo. VeVe got the collectible’s quality and the chase right. But the supply and price combination brings the drop down, and the extra requirement to purchase the logo makes it worse. The encouraging part is that VeVe took an important step by including a chase edition. It makes this drop more enjoyable than it otherwise would’ve been. Now they need to get the other pieces right, too.