The Child has a driving licence and is hitting the tracks in the form of this Hot Wheels Character Car which arrives in February of 2021. StarWars.com caught up with Mattel designer Charlie Angulo and Lucasfilm’s senior manager of product development Chris Dern to chat about how The Mandalorian’s breakout star became a hot rod car.
StarWars.com: Was incorporating both a character and a vehicle into a car design more challenging than, say, an X-wing?
Charlie Angulo: In this case, throughout the show, we see the Child in this hover pram for the most part. It’s almost an essential part of the character as it gives many traits to the Child. It shows that the Child needs protection, safety, and that it needs help transporting itself, so it’s assumed to be fragile and innocent. Having the pram included actually helps us define its traits and complete the character. Plus, fans are so used to seeing the Child in the pram that it is expected to be a part of the design.
Chris Dern: This question causes me to immediately picture the Star Wars Hot Wheels X-Wing Carship in my mind. Honestly, taking one of our beloved vehicles and turning it into a race car — they were designed for track performance, too — was quite challenging. The Hot Wheels Team has such a great formula for their Character Car designs, which is really a credit to the talented crew at Mattel. It is always exciting to review the Character Car concept proposals for the first time. The team really has an amazing sense of design, including the ability to capture the smallest details that make the Star Wars Character Cars so fantastic. Perhaps it helps that they are quite the Star Wars fans themselves.
