Lo and behold, this afternoon as I sauntered through the toy department of my local Target, I stumbled upon the die-cast section where; side-by-side on the shelves were MONSTER JAM die cast trucks by SPIN MASTER. ALSO, in the same linear pegged section, DIRECTLY NEXT TO IT were a very similar looking product called MONSTER TRUCKS by Mattel.
In a last ditch attempt to salvage what product was most likely already in mid-production at the chinese manufacturing plant, when the edict came down from above that the license for MONSTER JAMS was going to another company, Mattel has just released a familiar looking, LARGE RUBBER TIRE, die cast truck style toy line titled: MONSTER TRUCKS!
As the financial shake-up at MATTEL continues to grow, core staff members jumping ship, licenses for historic toy lines are being peeled from the dying clutches of MATTEL at an alarming rate. This all on the heels of our BELOVED Toys R Us still being mourned for.
Although the packaging was similar, you could see the distinctive difference in the paint scheme and deco of what was once the master toy licensee of “MONSTER JAM”.
As the 2 toy companies fight for peg space on the shelf, MATTEL had to rebrand the vehicle assortment, so as not to loose precious tooling
Molds must have had to have been turned over to the new licensee Spin Master. Due to the fact that the likenesses of the old Mattel versions and the newer Spin Master stylings looked very close upon my recollection of them.
This is reminiscent of when the proverbial shoe was on the other foot and Hasbro lost the master toy licensing for WARNER BROS/DC Batman to Mattel back in 2005 as Mattel took over mid-year on the animated Batman action figure wave series, repackaging the Batcave and multiple figures that were already produced by Hasbro.
With NY TOY FAIR 2019 only weeks away, it will be very interesting to see what Mattel will be able to show us at the collector’s forum of the remaining licenses they still have. Rumor has it that they did lose part of the DC comic superhero license as well, but it has not been released as to what extreme or at what level DC will remain in the house of Mattel.
Look for our coverage from NY Toy Fair during the week of February 16-19.
