Old New Cars, Part 1

I thought I’d said my peace about this next little cluster of Character Cars but apparently I was mistaken! So yeah, this is old news now, but we do have 2 new Character Cars from Star Wars: Boba Fett (updated armor) and Bo Katan.

Thanks to the new series The Book of Boba Fett, our titular bounty hunter gets a makeover…well sort of. It’s more like his clothes get a good wash and the rest of his armor gets a good scrubbing. Of all the reasons to crank out a new Character Car I guess this is good enough, but I ask, where is Qui-Gon? Where is Padme? Where is Bodhi? …

The new car is a little underwhelming. It’s the same shape and it’s still covered 90% in that drab teal-green. Scorches and scrapes are painted over and the dent is filled in. The whole package is somehow less interesting than it was before. I understand the intent (I think) but shouldn’t the result be a little more dazzling…?

Bo Katan is a female with that whole Mandalorian aesthetic going on. Apparently she’s been a pretty big part of The Mandalorian and the lore on this girl stretches back into prequel times. I still haven’t watched The Mandalorian so my commentary is limited.

I do like the car though and I’m always happy when females get some recognition. It’s pretty much just the helmet stretched out to the shape of a car but I’m not complaining.

With so much new Star Wars stuff bubbling under the surface right now it’s hard to say what direction the Character Cars should take. I just hope Hot Wheels will cover more of the classics before they get neck-deep in all this new material.

New Star Wars All Terrain Character Car – BOBA FETT

It turns out I’ve known about this toy for kind of a long time. The story starts a while back at the Walmart up by the mall. They’d long since had the elusive Yoda and R2-D2 All Terrain (AT) cars on the shelf, and it actually surprised me that they’d hung around for so long. The R2 gradually slipped from sight but the Yoda persisted, every single visit. At some point my kid was with me and noticed the Yoda – I told him basically what I just said above. Being the observant fellow that he is, he quickly pointed out that this Yoda had black lettering instead of the original yellow. As I was busy putting the pieces together, he’d found 3 black label AT’s (Yoda, R2, & Chewy), inspected the back, and was busy waving it in my face and going on about why didn’t I have that Boba Fett AT yet.

Well that was pretty disappointing. I had explained to him how a lot of these things were packaged when they were shipped to their eventual retail destinations and he was quick to surmise that the AT’s had shipped in units of 4, the 4 being Yoda, R2, Chewy, and of course Boba. I can’t be 100% sure of when the black labels hit the shelves, but I do remember R2’s absence and then reappearance. One reason I was so upset is because I’m fairly sure I’d been there a few days prior, noticed the reappearance of R2, but completely ignored it. Is it possible Boba had been snatched up back then? Sure. But I definitely felt like I’d missed out since I knew it’d hung around for at least a couple of days, ripe for the picking.

I went a little nuts trying to find this thing for like, 3 weeks. Finally I was at the local Walmart early one morning. They hadn’t stocked yet, but they had all the boxes out, and I actually spotted the box of AT’s. The tape had been split, so I whisked it over from the pallet to the shelf, snatched up my Boba Fett, and was outta there by 6 am. Interestingly enough, that was also the day they got in their shipment of Disney Series 3 which, while exciting, I’d procured about a week prior on the other side of Raleigh.

These All Terrain trucks are what they are…basically glorified monster trucks with the “Character Car” label. I actually think they’re pretty cool – they’re well-built, lots of metal and good, dense plastic, and certainly leaning more towards collectible and less towards gimmicky than their Marvel Flip Fighters counterparts. The color is spot-on and the distinctive Mandalorian helmet has been lengthened to make for a decent looking cab. A lot of small but recognizable details have been worked in as well: his jetback is worked into the design of the back of the truck, the rangefinder is included (looking something akin to an antenna), the noticeable wear and tear has been integrated into the paint job, and even the Fett Family crest is embossed on the rims.

Part of me rolls my eyes at the thought of the All Terrain cars in general, simply because I don’t see the need in creating a larger Character Car line alongside the “normal” line, but redundant as it is, I’m glad that Hot Wheels took some time to make this a standout piece…even if it has been released in a bit of a void. (I guess it’s because a lot of people missed out on the initial offerings of Yoda and R2 under the Solo branding…) Now, if only someone would take a minute to refocus on that whole second Solo-wave of Battle Rollers (Sebulba, Tallie, Hux, Darth Maul, and on and on and on)….

Hot Wheels: Star Wars – Character Portraits Series

Finding this set was…frustrating. Seriously, like my 5 closest Walmarts didn’t have any of these. I ended up out in Durham on a whim and was luckily able to find ’em. It’s an interesting series, something like what a precursor to Character Cars might’ve looked like. Each car basically pays tribute to a main (or main-ish) character from the franchise with some great accompanying artwork on the cards. We’re pretty much relegated to the Original Trilogy for this lot but I don’t think anyone’s complaining about that!

• 1 / 8 – Han Solo – Twinduction
• 2 / 8 – Chewbacca – Fandango
• 3 / 8 – Luke Skywalker – Bully Goat
• 4 / 8 – Yoda – Barbaric
• 5 / 8 – Princess Leia – Quick N’ Sik
• 6 / 8 – Darth Vader – Nitro Doorslammer
• 7 / 8 – Jabba the Hutt – Deora II
• 8 / 8 – Boba Fett – Mad Manga

Han Solo

Chewbacca

Han’s ruggedness is partially captured by the Twinduction, however it’s the vehicle’s navy blue color that gives it away, a color we’ve seen increasingly associated with our lovable smuggler. Chewy’s raw power and sheer size are embodied in the Fandangoo. The metallic brown was a good choice and it looks better than I would’ve imagined. Luke’s Bully Goat is a pretty standard muscle car, but that brilliant blue speaks to his first lightsaber and his humble beginnings. This really is an awesome blue. Awesomest blue I’ve ever seen on a toy car. For god knows what reason, Yoda is represented by the bright orange Barbaric, which is a strange looking car to begin with. Yes, that is a giant serrated “fin” that vertically spans the car from hood to roof. Why is his Yoda’s car? Why why why why? Leia is paired with the sleek and slightly futuristic Quick N’ Sik, striking a fair balance between her more traditional, demure side and her strong-willed, take-charge attitude.

Luke Skywalker

Yoda

Princess Leia

Darth Vader

Vader is up next, in the appropriately suped up Nitro Doorslammer. You can just tell from the hood that this thing is full of aftermarket upgrades, and if that don’t describe Vader in a nutshell, what does? The color has absolutely nothing to do with the infamous Sith Lord but it is very cool nonetheless; some kinda shiny, metallic, orange/copper hue. Combined with the somewhat menacing curves of the Doorslammer I’d say this is a pretty cool car for series’ arguably baddest villain. And then there’s Jabba with the Deora II, a sort of weird interpretation of a flatbed truck…which kinda works I guess, ‘cuz I can imagine Jabba being hauled around on it. The windows also have a novel, convex, bubble-shape to them, not to mention they’re transparent yellow, which really reminds me of the Hutt’s giant, reflective eyes. Finally there’s Boba Fett and the Mad Manga, and I think the Mad Manga is a decent match for someone as eclectic and mysterious as Boba. It kinda pegs him as the edgy outsider. I love the Fett family crest on the hood as well. I do wish it was colored a little more appropriately though; not sure where the get the rusty brown from and why they didn’t go with something in the teal/turquoise range.

Jabba the Hutt

Boba Fett

And that will do it! It’s a little more difficult to convey an entire character in this manner, and if they took it any further we’d either have something horribly gimmicky or an actual Character Car. And hey, the cards are pretty cool too – it would’ve been great if they could’ve given the cars a similarly uniform look.

Stay tuned! I got lots of stuff I want to crank out in the next couple of days here so hopefully I can maintain steady output. Check back soon!

Hot Wheels Real Riders: Star Wars – Bounty Hunters

I touched on this series a long time ago when I first picked them up, but as I comb through my collection and try to bring some order to it I figured I might as well break into these and take a closer look at them individually.

First of all I don’t mind saying that these vehicles are some strange choices for some of the Star Wars galaxy’s most mysterious individuals, but I guess Hot Wheels tries to stick to real-life classics for many of their Real Riders sets. The paint jobs and graphics are absolutely flawless though.

• 1 / 6 – Boba Fett – ’60s Ford Econoline Pickup
• 2 / 6 – Bossk – Deco Delivery
• 3 / 6 – IG-88 – ’70 Chevelle Delivery
• 4 / 6 – Zuckuss – Chevy Silverado Off Road
• 5 / 6 – 4-LOM – ’64 GMC Panel
• 6 / 6 – Dengar – Ford Transit Supervan

I don’t want to pour over these too much but there are somethings I really like that I want to draw attention to. Firstly I love the deep crimson background on Boba’s vehicle. I also think it’s neat that they worked the Fett family crest into the design over near the driver side door. Bossk has an awesome paint job as well, and I love that weird coppery bronze orange color on 4-LOM.

Boba Fett

Bossk

In some cases I do wish the graphics were a little larger, for instance we see very little of IG-88 despite the loads of space available. Also, everyone except Boba Fett just has the same image mirrored for he opposite side. In the end it’s not that big of a deal and I’m just excited to see IG-88 and Bossk get some attention, not to mention Dengar, 4-LOM, and Zuckuss, who are pretty much never acknowledged outside of that quick clip in Empire Strikes Back.

IG-88

Zuckuss

If nothing else I think we can at least concede that this is a very classy take on a moderately obscure facet of Star Wars lore. The vehicles are modestly decorated but treated with dignity and accuracy. It may seem rather commonplace nowadays to pick apart and analyze and fawn over every minute detail of every word, gesture, and edit in the films, but this sprung out of a long tradition that goes way back. If you were a fan before the Prequel Trilogy you’ll know what I’m talking about; back then we only had 3 movies, so we really had to dig deep within this limited material to keep ourselves interested. Naturally, one of the most visually stimulating scenes next to Mos Eisely an Jabba’s Palace was of course the quick shot of these 6 weird looking fellas taking orders from Vader.

4-LOM

Dengar

So yeah, it’s cool to see Hot Wheels harness and preserve that moment of wonder, especially for us older fans.