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Regarding the 2009 RLC™ sELECTIONs™ #2
Houston, we have a... Gremlin

For the second RLC™ sELECTIONs™ poll of 2009, voters picked the Beatnik Bandit over the Gremlin Grinder. A couple of months went by, and then came the news from HWC.com:

Well, 2009 has been a fascinating year for the RLC™ sELECTIONs™ series — and, though we all thought it was wrapped up, apparently it isn't quite over. Seems we have some problems producing the Beatnik Bandit at this time, so we need Red Line Club™ members to make one more quick choice. Please read carefully.

Since the spirit of sELECTIONs™ is all about choices, we're going to offer a final faceoff of a couple of our more highly ranked runner-up castings from this year.

Losing only to the Beatnik Bandit, the Gremlin Grinder was runner-up in this sELECTIONs™ poll.

And in all our sELECTIONs™ polls this year, the SS™ Express was the runner-up with the most votes of all of this year's runner-ups.

Beginning this Thursday, July 16, we will open one sudden-death poll to determine which of these two cars will replace the Beatnik Bandit in this year's sELECTIONs™ series. The winning choice will be the casting we use for production.

We apologize for the mix-up. But it just means you get another choice this year — don't miss your chance to vote!

--HWC.com Marketing Staffer

Of course, an uproar ensued. It's been eliminated here, for brevity.

Look, guys...

We understand that there are some things that some of you want us to do differently, and we are always working on making the club experience better for everyone. We'd like to think that we do hit it more often than not — and of course we want to hear about it in BOTH cases — and we'll go on trying to do so. I rarely say this, but I don't think you're being fair to us in this case.

In this case, we didn't foresee this being a problem, and we're doing what we can to make it right. We've come to you, apologized, and offered you a choice. We know as well as anyone that it isn't ideal since it isn't what we were setting out to do. What else could we do but inform you prior to offering the sale, and offer you another choice? I don't think that's terrible, given that we had no choice.

We're disappointed, too. All we can ask of you at this point is that you try to understand, maybe take another look at the remaining options, and then follow your gut. Whatever we offered, we know it's not going to be what everyone wants — but we feel like these are strong options. You just have to decide which one works for you, if either. And let us know what you think. If you can't personally find a bright side to look on this time, go ahead and tell us why — but could ya maybe leave out the hostility?

Again, we're sorry... truly.

--HWC.com Marketing Staffer

Note: eggman90 once said nobody listens to him. Well, here's his fantasy casting.

For a week, members watched anxiously for the result of the "replacement" poll.

It was close: The Gremlin beat out the Chevelle, 896 to 834.

With (hopefully) the last twist and turn over for the 2009 Red Line Club™ sELECTIONs™ series, members have voted for the Gremlin Grinder over the SS Express™. The little creature-named car refused to go away!

Now the Gremlin Grinder will receive the Spectraflame® antifreeze finish originally selected by members for the Beatnik Bandit, as well as the Neo-Classics™ Redline® wheels. All in all, this should make for a charming Hot Wheels® release in proper style. If you have to take an alternate route, this is the way to go!

Now our design team will take your choices and put them together to make one radical release. We will give you a better idea of how the final produced piece will look after we've had a chance to add some deco and we offer it for sale in the coming months.

--HWC.com Marketing Staffer