Mattel

Mattel Trips Up the Red Light Cameras with its “Need for Speed”

No stranger to the diecast market thanks to their longstanding Hot Wheels and Matchbox sub brands, Mattel unveiled the first look at their upcoming line of Top Gun merchandise at the American International Toy Fair. Based upon the upcoming film Top Gun: Maverick, CNN’s article showcases some of the product destined to come out under the Matchbox moniker, which includes, among other things, an aircraft carrier playset and a handful of aircraft. Presently, we do not believe that the expose represents the entire Top Gun lineup, since none of the higher end aircraft models alluded to previously were on display. As a result, we hope to have more information in the days and weeks ahead. In the meantime, stop on by the CNN web site to see what has been discussed.

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Whose Top of the Heap?

We’ve pretty much given up on the Top Gun: Maverick line of military aircraft and accessories that was supposedly coming out from TSM Model Wings. The film is slated to debut on June 26th, 2020, so we would have thought that any new products based on the film would already be in the pipeline. Likewise, the Company doesn’t seem to be making any aircraft or accessories connected with the original film, which tells us they can no longer do so. They haven’t officially said anything as yet, but sometimes silence speaks louder than words.

Furthermore, with the announcement on July 26th that Mattel had inked a deal with Paramount, the producers of the Top Gun franchise, we are assuming that Mattel now has complete merchandising rights to both films and will likely begin showing new product for both films at the upcoming Toy Fair held in early February. While Mattel intends to produce a full range of Top-Gun-related products including toys, figures and playsets, it isn’t clear if they will address the high-end collectible market which has sustained TSM Model Wings for the past several years.

We have therefore decided to remove any product that had been announced by TSM Model Wings almost two years ago at Toy Fair and show only those items we still have in stock. We hope TSM still retains some merchandising rights and can continue producing Top Gun-related merchandise but right now we have our doubts and must act accordingly.

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Mattel and Paramount Feel the Need for Speed

Toymaker Mattel has inked a global deal with Paramount Pictures to produce a line of diecast toys, aircraft, playsets and other pertinent products based upon the upcoming film, Top Gun: Maverick. The agreement also covers the original film, Top Gun, which came out in the mid 1980s.

According to NBC, which broke the news back on July 26th, the line will be available ahead of the film’s debut, which is currently set for June 26th, 2020. Its not clear if this is an exclusive agreement, thereby shutting out TSM Model Wings from making or selling any Top Gun-related diecast products. TSM has held a licensing deal with Paramount for some time and, as of last week, still maintains that they will be producing a range of diecast aircraft based upon both films.

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Star Wars Gets Promoted to Elite Status

Now you can make the Kessel Run with this superb 1:18 scale replica of the Millennium Falcon

At long last, we have some concrete information concerning Mattel’s range of 1:18 scale Elite diecast ships drawn from the Star Wars universe. Six products are slated for a mid-2018 release, among them a TIE fighter, X-Wing fighter and the Millennium Falcon, along with a First Order TIE fighter, Resistance X-Wing fighter, and Pom Dameron’s personal X-Wing fighter, all inspired by the feature film, Star Wars The Force Awakens.

Recreate the exploits of Pom Dameron from the feature film, Star Wars The Force Awakens

We are currently taking pre-orders for all six vehicles but may have to curtail orders should they reach our order threshold already submitted to our distributor.

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