Mario Kart Hot Wheels Character Cars Announced at Comic-Con@Home

Mattel’s Hot Wheels team teased and tantalized fans with previews of new characters and karts zooming to join their Mario Kart-themed line-up.

You Are Reading :Mario Kart Hot Wheels Character Cars Announced at ComicCon@Home

Mattel’s Hot Wheels team teased and tantalized fans with previews of new characters and karts zooming to join their Mario Kart-themed line-up. Arriving as soon as Fall 2020, new Mario Kart heroes join the race for your wallet – including new karts and gliders!

Since COVID-19 locked Comic-Con out of the San Diego Convention Center, the 2020 mega-event moved online and re-branded as Comic-Con@Home. Presenters and panelists now needed to gather participants in an online video forum published to Youtube. Mattel assembled some top execs of their Hot Wheels Character Cars team to showcase concept art of forthcoming die-cast goodness. Die-hard collectors and casuals alike enthusiastically embraced the Mario Kart line when it debuted in Summer 2019. In fact, the Mario Kart theme sets earned Mattel a “Vehicle of the Year” award at the Toy Association’s 2020 “Toy of the Year” award ceremony held in New York this past Spring.

Molly Hampton, Mattel Global Marketing Manager, moderated a panel of three senior designers who make Hot Wheels Character Cars. The team presented to fans from their own homes and offices in a video conference that went live Friday at 1 PM PST, and remains available to view on the Comic-Con International youTube channel.

Chris Colangelo, Manager of Product Design on the Hot Wheels team, lights up when discussing the new Character Car collectibles. Clearly a massive fan of the Nintendo property, Colangelo takes an extra moment with each preview to discuss the specifics of the kart picked for each new character.

With an affectionate “I love Cat Peach,” Colangelo introduced the new fan-favorite character driving a Standard Kart sporting signature Princess Peach colors. Next an effusive Colangelo showed off Diddy Kong steering a new-for-the-line Pipe Frame (formally known as the Go-Kart). “Diddy Kong has been a favorite character of mine all the way back to the original Donkey Kong Country,” gushes Colangelo. But not content to stay on-track, he dropped a preview of an all-new segment in the Mario Kart theme.

At the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con Mattel offered up a con-exclusive silver or gold Mario driving a standard kart with an attached Power Glider. The model proved so popular that the Hot Wheels team wanted to turn the concept into its own segment of the Mario Kart theme. By Spring 2021 you will be able to purchase an assortment of character karts and their gliders in full-color glory. Colangelo shared sneak peeks of two glider characters, Toad and Yoshi. Toad looks rad in a P-Wing kart with Plane Glider, and Yoshi brings the chill driving a Sports Coupe and Parafoil Glider.

The gliders connect to the karts via removable stems so racers can play with the karts alone on the myriad of Mario Kart track sets. Innovative and fun, just as a true fan would design one.

You may not have guessed, but Yoshi is pretty popular. So much so that the team created a whole Gashapon-like SKU just for Mario’s happy little dinosaur pal. The Yoshi character and his Standard Karts will have eight different skin colors hidden in blind-buy plastic eggs. Popping open the egg will reveal which collectible Yoshi awaits inside. The bottom of the themed egg serves as a display stand for the kart.

Seems Hot Wheels can’t help themselves – they keep hitting the bullseye with the Mario Kart theme. They might already be the one to beat for the Toy Association’s 2021 “Vehicle of the Year” award. Count on TheGamer to report on it next Spring.

SOURCES:

Business Wire, Hot Wheels

Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/mario-kart-hot-wheels-character-cars-announced-at-comic-conhome/