Help:Cases

Vehicle Database
Rules, info, and guidelines
Releases • Vehicles • Series • Cases Photos
Development notes
Foundation • Configuration

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A case is a single shipping assortment of Mattel Disney Pixar Cars vehicles, as packaged and distributed to retailers for sale. They contain a pre-determined selection of items, identified by the unique code sequence on the side of the box. For the mainline, new cases are traditionally released monthly; while the concept has never officially been acknowledged in marketing materials for the line, it is a critical part of both the sale and distribution process, naturally making it of extremely high interest to collectors. Knowing the contents of a case can help one identify what a store has received, offering insight to what else might (or might not be) lurking around the pegs, and what the store is likely to receive next when more Cars come in.

The wiki documents each and every case for a given series using a respective sub-page, located at Series Name/Case assortments – you can switch between both pages using the gray navigation tabs. Each case input on the page lends its contents to the vehicle database, giving each release entry the ability to display which cases it appeared in, under the Case # field.

Function

The {{case}} template works in conjunction with the Releases database table to retrieve and display a given item. Each content is first matched by Asst. number (|asst= or equivalent described in the #Box data section), then finally narrowed down by |year=.

{{case}} handles both the input and output simultaneously. While concise, editors will recognize its fundamental flaw: If new template values are stored only when a page is saved, they cannot be accessed before that point, namely for the page preview. Aside from display-only aspects like notes or references, previews cannot be relied upon to reflect in-progress changes to the  or  info. There currently are plans to attempt a core-level solution, expected Winter 2025-26, but for now this is not a bug but a logistical limitation.

Organization

Sub-page navigation

Case outputs are expensive and risk straining the server if a large number co-exist on one page. As a result, each series' relevant cases are often distributed across multiple sub-pages, connected by the upper {{case header}} navigation. The former is established by placing {{case header/base}} on the root /Case assortments sub-page, while setting |sub1=, |sub2= to match the second-level page title of each sub-page to include in the navigation.

{{case header/base
 |series_link = 2019 (mainline series)<!-- // exact page title of the base series
 |series_text = 2019 Mainline<!-- // what the link should *display* as, if desired
<!-- navigation -->
 |sub1 = Singles<!-- // This would add a navigation item named "Singles", linking to the wiki sub-page: 2019 (mainline series)/Case assortments/Singles -->
 |sub2 = 2-packs<!-- // Same now for 2019 (mainline series)/Case assortments/2-packs -->
 |sub3 = Deluxe<!-- // Final example, target page 2019 (mainline series)/Case assortments/Deluxe -->
}}

Once the "base" header is configured, all the actual sub-pages need only write {{case header}} to transclude it – ultimately allowing one edit to automatically update every page. For an in-practice example, compare the source of Checklane/Case assortments with subpage Checklane/Case assortments/2011.

There are of course times where one sub-page is plenty sufficient for a series. Here, everything can be kept to the root /Case assortments page. Just set {{case header/base}} with no |subX= parameters, and carry on as you would on a "second-level" sub-page. Refer here in contrast to the above examples.

Page order

Each case = one section, generally, organized by the official street date on which they are intended to hit shelves. Often this will follow the alphabetical chronology, but not always. Abridged versions of a "main" case (e.g. mainline 12-counts) can go under the same.
Don't forget to include at the bottom: the <references /> (with section header) and {{mattel cases}}

Adding and formatting a case

A case itself is created using the {{case}} template.

{{Case |year=
<!-- box transcription -->
|title=
|asst= |code= |letter=
|country= 
|count=
<!-- documentation -->
|month= |day= |rel_year=
|ref1=   
<!-- contents-->
|car1=   <!-- content name -->
|car2=   <!-- content name -->
|car3=   <!-- content name -->
etc...
}}

All cases must follow the format outlined above (adding/removing configuration options as necessary). This helps keep the wikitext organized, and easier for newcomers to follow and make sense of what does what.  does not influence the page output in any way, but is essential for editor communication – besides the "group" headers, all case contents must be named in an adjacent comment. This makes it significantly easier to adjust and re-arrange contents without having to look up the number each and every time.

Year

|year= must be equal to that of the entries expected to appear in the query. |rel_year= will override the display, often needed the first couple months of the "toy year" due to incongruency. For same-style series spanning multiple years (and set to behave as such via the {{series index}}'s multi_year variable), use only |rel_year= instead of the |year= value.

Box data

The nine-digit identification code is classified as follows:

DXV29	-	958	A
`asst`		`code`	`letter`

|asst= - 5-digit product number.
- For standalone items, set |toy= instead.
- For pallets and other pack-in displays with their own outer product number, set |display= to the latter, and identify the |unit_asst= for which the actual contents pertain and thus what the query must use.
|code= - If unknown, set to ??? placeholder. Careful, though: If more than one case of a particular assortment has |code=??? and |letter=? set, both or all will be viewed as 00000-????, and the contents of both will appear in each. XXX could work as a secondary code placeholder—not letter, as there have been "Case X"s before. Beyond that, information is lacking enough that database inputs are not really useful anyway - you should probably just list them in a comma or bulleted list, to save for if/when the necessary info can be found.
|letter= - Ocassionally just another number, most often for standalone products.

Other print data:

|country= of origin (manufacturing). Thailand, China, Vietnam, or Mexico. [Does not currently affect query]. |made_in_text= can be set to false so only the name is displayed, as some boxes occasionally do.
|count= - Number of items/pieces. Will set the default display dimensions (i.e. how many per row), see below for manual override info.

Release info

|month= and |day= set to the street date.
|ref1=, add </ref> tags to each (not done automatically).
|incomplete= set to true to display the notice message.

Contents (item list)

Contents are matched to their respective database entries based on the toy number input string, along with the |asst= and |year= values. Always identify the name in a  so editors know what it is.

Writing out the contents list is straightforward; list out the names in the format |carX=name (X = line number, i.e. car1, car2). Make sure repeats each have their own line (i.e. a case of 24 cars should *always* have 24 numbered lines). For standalone cases, there is no need to specify any contents: It will output equal to the value of |count=.

Ideally, the default setting should reflect the actual pack order of the box. Item # is now an option on sort preferences.

Reasons a vehicle is not showing:

It is not in the database at all: info for that release is missing from their vehicle page. Once you add it there, the case list automatically updates.
It is in the database, but the pairing has failed. The most likely reasons for this are:

- They don't have an item number assigned. See Help:Releases - |toy_placeholder= values
- Their Assortment column is empty.

Configuration

|show_unreleased=
|default_card= - V1, V2, etc. Avoid having to do {{case item}} for every single content.
|sort_options= Default |true=. Set to |false= to disable the dropdown. [Don't remember why this exists]
Width, height, etc.
|intl_toggle= and future parallel options to true enable the respective card toggle.

{{mainline case tabs}} can be used to store both 24- and 12- case counts (norm since ~2021) in the same display.

{{mainline case tabs
<!---->|24-count=
{{case}}
<!---->|12-count=
{{case}}
}}

Item modification

There are many situations where you may want to change aspects of the display, including the photo, model name, and in special cases, behavior next to other items. There are several templates which can be used to set conditions for a particular result. Instead of entering the usual |carX=content name, you can write |carX={{case item|content name|argument parameter}}

List of "actions"

|card= - Switches the photo to display. Type V2 for the alternate carded photo, or LP for the loose photo (the latter of which is often desirable for upcoming and/or unreleased models, for whom we do not typically have a cardback photo)

|2Pcount= - Used for 2-packs which technically contain more than two distinct vehicles – a quick example being the original 2006 release of Luigi, Guido, and Tractor. The output display is set up to use the card value of every odd entry, meaning contents higher than two will throw the algorithm off. Simply add the number of models as the argument; accepts 2 (default; same effect as usual), 3, and 4 (the latter exists because of one very specific release in the line's history, that being 2013's Uncle Topolino's Band).

Placeholders

Another issue for non-singles arises from their dependence on their toy numbers. What happens if we don't know it?

This is most common for upcoming or potentially brand new releases, and in some cases even for very rare sets that we've been unable to identify the code for. These cases require a placeholder, which is set up in two different steps.

Firstly, a "temporary number" must be assigned to each relevant vehicle's row. This is done by setting the |toy_placeholder= parameter to an ID value (preferably an integer, i.e. 1, 2, 3...). Say a 2-pack was releasing in 2040, of Buzz and Woody... in each of their rows, toy_placeholder should be set to the same value, and one also not currently in use -- if we choose 1 to represent them, then say for another pack that contains Mike and Sulley, we should add 2 (or another number/string) instead.

It's good practice to list out all active placeholder values in a comment at the top of the page/section -- that way when it's time to use them, we can quickly check who's who. This can be done by surrounding text with .

==2-packs==
<!--
// List of placeholder IDs
1 = Buzz and Woody
2 = Mike and Sulley
3 = Flik and P.T. Flea
-->
===Case A===

Obviously, once we do know their official toy number, both the vehicle rows and case entries for that release should be updated accordingly.

Preferences

Registered users can navigate to "Vehicle Database" under preferences to set user defaults:

Card default - US or INTL
Pre-sort: Default (input order), Name (A-Z), or Item #.