{"id":39928,"date":"2023-05-31T00:00:21","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T04:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/?p=39928"},"modified":"2023-05-29T02:25:52","modified_gmt":"2023-05-29T06:25:52","slug":"hot-wheels-character-cars-aang-and-appa-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/2023\/05\/hot-wheels-character-cars-aang-and-appa-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Wheels Character Cars Aang and Appa reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

It's been a long time<\/a> since we've reviewed any Character Cars<\/i>, huh? I almost wondered if they'd stopped making them. But geeze, what a great way to come back!<\/p>\n

Nickelodeon had its first Character Cars<\/i> all the way back in 2013, with an entire series of SpongeBob SquarePants Hot Wheels<\/i>. It then took until 2020 for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles<\/i> to get their turn, but fortunately it was not a seven-year wait before another Viacom property stepped into the spotlight: Avatar the Last Airbender<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Mattel was the first company to have the Avatar<\/i> toy license when the show premiered, and they completely crapped the bed. Honestly one of the worst efforts ever seen by any company with any license. Anyway, Mattel is also the home of Hot Wheels<\/i>, so this is like they're getting a chance to make up for past blunders. The Aangmobile was designed by Dwayne Vance, who seems to have use a Porsche as inspiration - the silhouette of the car looks like Jazz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The body of the car is orange, with yellow fenders - in other words, it stands in for the orange shawl Aang wears over his yellow robes. The lower frame of the car is brown, like Aang's staff, and Air Nomad symbols are painted in white on both doors. The rear spoiler has a folded fan shape, like the tail of his glider. The roof of the car is also a pale yellow; the big blue arrow painted up there makes it clear this is supposed to be his head, so having it be so close to the color of the fenders instead of a more distinct pink\/tan shade is odd. The rear luggage rack or whatever it's meant to be is off-white with a brown pattern between its big ears: Momo is riding on Aang's back!<\/p>\n

Boy, what a neat set. If only there was another release to go with it...<\/p>\n

...yip-yip!
\n
\nThe packaging for both these Character Cars<\/i> is a unified design. The top of the card is a dark navy blue, with the Hot Wheels<\/i> logo in one corner and the Nickelodeon logo in the other. Below the orange Nick box you'll see the four nations' logos in white (Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom Fire Nation, Air Nomads) and the logo of the show. The lower 75% of card is tan, like parchment, with the symbols repeated in the background. A large piece of character takes up the majority of the card: Aang or, in this case, Appa.<\/p>\n

Character Car<\/i> Appa is one of the best translations we've seen yet. Looking at it in profile, you immediately see the sky bison shape, from the stocky head to the long, flat tail. He becomes a massive truck, along the lines of Man-At-Arms<\/a> or Beast<\/a>, but even larger (judging by the size of the doors). Instead of six legs, this Appa has six wheels, and his horns are here smokestacks.<\/p>\n

Despite the toy's huge size, it's surprisingly light - it's made more from molded plastic than die cast metal, probably so the weight of it doesn't make the bubble fall off the card. The body of the truck is creamy white, with brown stripes painted on and black for the glass. The entire rear of the truck is hollow, and, why, would you look at that! There are four divots in the bed of the truck, sized exactly like the wheels on Aang's car. You guessed it: just like Appa can carry Aang around, Truck Appa can haul Car Aang around! Fun! The angle of the truck bed means Aang rests lower than is intended, but he still stays in place pretty well.<\/p>\n

Mattel has announced quite a few Character Cars<\/i> that sound interesting, but haven't actually showed up at retail yet. Avatar<\/i> is a great way to get back into the swing of things.<\/p>\n

<i>And now, some more OAFEry:<\/i><\/H5>