title: Pulp magazine

text: Competition from comic-books and paperback novels further eroded the pulps’ marketshare, but it was the widespread expansion of television that sounded the death knell of the pulps. In a more affluent post-war America, the price gap compared to slick magazines was far less significant. In the 1950s, men's adventure magazines began to replace the pulp.


title: Pulp magazine

text: The 1957 liquidation of the American News Company, then the primary distributor of pulp magazines, has sometimes been taken as marking the end of the "pulp era"; by that date, many of the famous pulps of the previous generation, including "Black Mask," "The Shadow," "Doc Savage," and "Weird Tales," were defunct. Almost all of the few remaining pulp magazines are science fiction or mystery magazines now in formats similar to "digest size", such as "Analog Science Fiction and Fact" and "Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine". The format is still in use for some lengthy serials, like the German science fiction weekly "Perry Rhodan" (over 3,000 issues as of 2019).


title: Pulp magazine

text: Over the course of their evolution, there were a huge number of pulp magazine titles; Harry Steeger of Popular Publications claimed that his company alone had published over 300, and at their peak they were publishing 42 titles per month. Many titles of course survived only briefly. While the most popular titles were monthly, many were bimonthly and some were quarterly.


title: Pulp magazine

text: The collapse of the pulp industry changed the landscape of publishing because pulps were the single largest sales outlet for short stories. Combined with the decrease in slick magazine fiction markets, writers attempting to support themselves by creating fiction switched to novels and book-length anthologies of shorter pieces. Some ex-pulp writers like Hugh B. Cave and Robert Leslie Bellem moved on to writing for television by the 1950s.


title: Pulp magazine

text: The American Old West was a mainstay genre of early turn of the 20th century novels as well as later pulp magazines, and lasted longest of all the traditional pulps. In many ways, the later men's adventure ("the sweats") was the replacement of pulps.


title: Pulp magazine

text: Many classic science fiction and crime novels were originally serialized in pulp magazines such as "Weird Tales", "Amazing Stories", and "Black Mask".


title: Pulp magazine

text: While the majority of pulp magazines were anthology titles featuring many different authors, characters and settings, some of the most enduring magazines were those that featured a single recurring character. These were often referred to as "hero pulps" because the recurring character was almost always a larger-than-life hero in the mold of Doc Savage or The Shadow.


title: Pulp magazine

text: Pulp covers were printed in color on higher-quality (slick) paper. They were famous for their half-dressed damsels in distress, usually awaiting a rescuing hero. Cover art played a major part in the marketing of pulp magazines. The early pulp magazines could boast covers by some distinguished American artists; "The Popular Magazine" had covers by N.C. Wyeth, and Edgar Franklin Wittmack contributed cover art to "Argosy" and "Short Stories". Later, many artists specialized in creating covers mainly for the pulps; a number of the most successful cover artists became as popular as the authors featured on the interior pages. Among the most famous pulp artists were Walter Baumhofer, Earle K. Bergey, Margaret Brundage, Edd Cartier, Virgil Finlay, Frank R. Paul, Norman Saunders, Emmett Watson, Nick Eggenhofer, (who specialized in Western illustrations), Hugh J. Ward, George Rozen, and Rudolph Belarski. Covers were important enough to sales that sometimes they would be designed first; authors would then be shown the cover art and asked to write a story to match.


title: Pulp magazine

text: Later pulps began to feature interior illustrations, depicting elements of the stories. The drawings were printed in black ink on the same cream-colored paper used for the text, and had to use specific techniques to avoid blotting on the coarse texture of the cheap pulp. Thus, fine lines and heavy detail were usually not an option. Shading was by crosshatching or pointillism, and even that had to be limited and coarse. Usually the art was black lines on the paper's background, but Finlay and a few others did some work that was primarily white lines against large dark areas.


title: Pulp magazine

text: Another way pulps kept costs down was by paying authors less than other markets; thus many eminent authors started out in the pulps before they were successful enough to sell to better-paying markets, and similarly, well-known authors whose careers were slumping or who wanted a few quick dollars could bolster their income with sales to pulps. Additionally, some of the earlier pulps solicited stories from amateurs who were quite happy to see their words in print and could thus be paid token amounts.


title: Pulp magazine

text: There were also career pulp writers, capable of turning out huge amounts of prose on a steady basis, often with the aid of dictation to stenographers, machines or typists. Before he became a novelist, Upton Sinclair was turning out at least 8,000 words per day seven days a week for the pulps, keeping two stenographers fully employed. Pulps would often have their authors use multiple pen names so that they could use multiple stories by the same person in one issue, or use a given author's stories in three or more successive issues, while still appearing to have varied content. One advantage pulps provided to authors was that they paid "upon acceptance" for material instead of on publication; since a story might be accepted months or even years before publication, to a working writer this was a crucial difference in cash flow.


title: Pulp magazine

text: Some pulp editors became known for cultivating good fiction and interesting features in their magazines. Preeminent pulp magazine editors included Arthur Sullivant Hoffman ("Adventure"), Robert H. Davis ("All-Story Weekly"), Harry E. Maule ("Short Stories"), Donald Kennicott ("Blue Book"), Joseph T. Shaw ("Black Mask"), Farnsworth Wright ("Weird Tales", "Oriental Stories"), John W. Campbell ("Astounding Science Fiction", "Unknown") and Daisy Bacon ("Love Story Magazine", "Detective Story Magazine").


title: Pulp magazine

text: Sinclair Lewis, first American winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, worked as an editor for "Adventure", writing filler paragraphs (brief facts or amusing anecdotes designed to fill small gaps in page layout), advertising copy and a few stories.


title: Pulp magazine

text: The term "pulp fiction" is often incorrectly used for massmarket paperbacks since the 1950s. The Browne Popular Culture Library News noted:


title: Pulp magazine

text: Many of the paperback houses that contributed to the decline of the genre–Ace, Dell, Avon, among others–were actually started by pulp magazine publishers. They had the presses, the expertise, and the newsstand distribution networks which made the success of the mass-market paperback possible. These pulp-oriented paperback houses mined the old magazines for reprints. This kept pulp literature, if not pulp magazines, alive. "The Return of the Continental Op" reprints material first published in "Black Mask"; "Five Sinister Characters" contains stories first published in "Dime Detective"; and "The Pocket Book of Science Fiction" collects material from "Thrilling Wonder Stories", "Astounding Science Fiction" and "Amazing Stories". But note that mass market paperbacks are not pulps.


title: Pulp magazine

text: In 1991, "The Pulpster" debuted at that year's Pulpcon, the annual pulp magazine convention that had begun in 1972. The magazine, devoted to the history and legacy of the pulp magazines, has published each year since. It now appears in connection with PulpFest, the summer pulp convention that grew out of and replaced Pulpcon. "The Pulpster" was originally edited by Tony Davis and is currently edited by William Lampkin, who also runs the website ThePulp.Net. Contributors have included Don Hutchison, Robert Sampson, Will Murray, Al Tonik, Nick Carr, Mike Resnick, Hugh B. Cave, Joseph Wrzos, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Chet Williamson, and many others.


title: Pulp magazine

text: In 1992, Rich W. Harvey came out with a magazine called "Pulp Adventures" reprinting old classics. It came out regularly until 2001, and then started up again in 2014.


title: Pulp magazine

text: In 1994, Quentin Tarantino directed the film "Pulp Fiction". The working title of the film was "Black Mask", in homage to the pulp magazine of that name, and it embodied the seedy, violent, often crime-related spirit found in pulp magazines.


title: Pulp magazine

text: In 1997 C. Cazadessus Jr. launched "Pulpdom", a continuation of his Hugo Award-winning "ERB-dom" which began in 1960. It ran for 75 issues and featured articles about the content and selected fiction from the pulps. It became "Pulpdom Online" in 2013 and continues quarterly publication.


title: Pulp magazine

text: After the year 2000, several small independent publishers released magazines which published short fiction, either short stories or novel-length presentations, in the tradition of the pulp magazines of the early 20th century. These included "Blood 'N Thunder", "High Adventure" and a short-lived magazine which revived the title "Argosy". These specialist publications, printed in limited press runs, were pointedly not printed on the brittle, high-acid wood pulp paper of the old publications and were not mass market publications targeted at a wide audience. In 2004, Lost Continent Library published "Secret of the Amazon Queen" by E.A. Guest, their first contribution to a "New Pulp Era", featuring the hallmarks of pulp fiction for contemporary mature readers: violence, horror and sex. E.A. Guest was likened to a blend of pulp era icon Talbot Mundy and Stephen King by real-life explorer David Hatcher Childress.


title: Pulp magazine

text: In 2002, the tenth issue of "McSweeney's Quarterly" was guest edited by Michael Chabon. Published as "McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales", it is a collection of "pulp fiction" stories written by such current well-known authors as Stephen King, Nick Hornby, Aimee Bender and Dave Eggers. Explaining his vision for the project, Chabon wrote in the introduction, "I think that we have forgotten how much fun reading a short story can be, and I hope that if nothing else, this treasury goes some small distance toward reminding us of that lost but fundamental truth."


title: Pulp magazine

text: The Scottish publisher DC Thomson publishes "My Weekly Compact Novel" every week. It is literally a pulp novel, though it does not fall into the hard-edged genre most associated with pulp fiction.


title: Pulp magazine

text: From 2006 through 2019, Anthony Tollin's imprint Sanctum Books has reprinted all 182 DOC SAVAGE pulp novels, all 24 of Paul Ernst's AVENGER novels, the 14 WHISPERER novels from the original pulp series and all but three novels of the entire run of THE SHADOW (most of his publications featuring two novels in one book).


title: Pulp magazine

text: In 2021 Dave Martel started to release issues of Bizarchives which is a publication of modern day pulp fiction and weird tales.


title: 2002 Oakland Athletics season

text: The 2002 Oakland Athletics season was the 102nd season in franchise history and the 35th season in Oakland, California. The Athletics finished first in the American League West with a record of 103–59.


title: 2002 Oakland Athletics season

text: The Athletics' 2002 campaign ranks among the most famous in franchise history. Following the 2001 season, Oakland saw the departure of three key players. Billy Beane, the team's general manager, responded with a series of under-the-radar free agent signings. The new-look Athletics, despite a comparative lack of star power, surprised the baseball world by besting the 2001 team's regular season record. The team is most famous, however, for winning 20 consecutive games between August 13 and September 4, 2002. The Athletics' season was the subject of Michael Lewis's 2003 book "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game" (Lewis was given the opportunity to follow the team around throughout the season). A film adaptation of the book, titled "Moneyball", was released in 2011.


title: 2002 Oakland Athletics season

text: Oakland's 2002 campaign began on a tumultuous note. During the 2001–02 offseason, the team lost three key free agents to larger market teams: 2000 AL MVP Jason Giambi to the New York Yankees, outfielder Johnny Damon to the Boston Red Sox, and closer Jason Isringhausen to the St. Louis Cardinals. Faced with a number of significant roster holes, general manager Billy Beane sought to replace Damon and Giambi with free agent hitters Scott Hatteberg and David Justice. Beane also made a number of key pitching acquisitions; most notably, he traded for Toronto Blue Jays reliever Billy Koch. Koch ultimately succeeded Isringhausen as the team's closer. Beane also traded for then-unheralded starter Ted Lilly and traded for second baseman Ray Durham. Additionally, the season saw the MLB debuts of second baseman Mark Ellis and eventual starter Aaron Harang.


title: 2002 Oakland Athletics season

text: The new-look Athletics experienced a bumpy start to the season. The team followed a respectable 15–10 start with an abysmal 5–16 run; at the end of their slump, on May 23, the team's record stood at 20–26. From that point forward, the Athletics' fortunes improved significantly. In a prelude to the team's famous late-season winning streak, the Athletics went 16–1 from June 6 to June 24. The surge propelled the club within two games of first place, but a prolonged funk saw the A's play roughly .500 baseball for the next month and a half. That ended with an unremarkable 2–1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on August 12.


title: 2002 Oakland Athletics season

text: On August 13, the Athletics began their then-AL-record 20-game win streak. The streak's first win came courtesy of Barry Zito, who allowed three runs (one earned) over eight innings in a 5–4 victory over the Jays. Over the next several weeks, stellar pitching, hitting, and defense all played a significant role in the Athletics' surge. Most notable were the efforts of fourth starter Cory Lidle. During August, Lidle went 5–0 while posting a scant 0.20 earned run average (he allowed one run his final start of the month); three of his five winning decisions were during the streak. Many of the Athletics' victories were by narrow margins; closer Billy Koch recorded either a win or save in 12 of the streak's 20 games.


title: 2002 Oakland Athletics season

text: The Athletics' 18th and 19th wins came courtesy of game-ending hits by shortstop Miguel Tejada. On September 4, Oakland sought to win its 20th consecutive game; in doing so, the team hoped to break the 1947 New York Yankees' American League record of 19 consecutive wins. Their opponent was the Kansas City Royals. Over the first three innings of the game, Oakland shelled Kansas City pitchers Paul Byrd and Darrell May for a total of 11 runs, building a seemingly insurmountable 11–0 lead. Sloppy play down the stretch, however, allowed the Royals to score five runs apiece in the fourth and eighth innings. In the ninth, Billy Koch surrendered a two-out single to Royals pinch hitter Luis Alicea; the single allowed pinch runner Kit Pellow to score the tying run. So the Athletics entered the bottom of the ninth inning with the score tied at 11–11. In one of the most famous moments in Oakland Athletics history, pinch hitter Scott Hatteberg then hit a one-out solo home run off of Kansas City reliever Jason Grimsley. The home run clinched the AL-record 20th consecutive victory for the Athletics.


title: 2002 Oakland Athletics season

text: Oakland's streak came to an end with a 6–0 loss to the Minnesota Twins on September 6. The A's continued to play well down the stretch, as evidenced by their final record of 103–59. The club's late-season surge allowed it to hold off the Anaheim Angels, who finished four games behind them at 99–63. Oakland's regular season exploits, however, once again failed to translate into postseason success. The team again lost the American League Division Series (this time to the Twins) in five games.


title: 2002 Oakland Athletics season

text: Tejada and starting pitcher Barry Zito went on to win the American League MVP and Cy Young Award, respectively. Tejada left the Athletics following the 2003 season, while Zito stayed until the end of the 2006 campaign.


title: 2002 Oakland Athletics season

text: The following were drafted in the first round of the 2002 MLB draft by the Athletics on June 4, 2002:


title: 2002 Oakland Athletics season

text: The Athletics clinched the American League West with a regular season record of 103–59, advancing to the first round of the postseason. They were defeated in the 2002 American League Division Series three games to two by the American League Central champion Minnesota Twins. The Twins would later be defeated in the 2002 American League Championship Series by the eventual World Series champion Anaheim Angels.


title: 2002 Oakland Athletics season

text: "Note: POS = Position; G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts"


title: 2002 Oakland Athletics season

text: "Note: POS = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; AVG = Batting average; OBP = On base percentage; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in"


title: Throne Verse

text: The Throne verse (, "Ayat Al-Kursi") is the 255th verse of the 2nd chapter of the Quran, Al-Baqarah (). The verse speaks about how nothing and nobody is regarded to be comparable to Allah.


title: Throne Verse

text: This is one of the best-known verses of the Quran and is widely memorised and displayed in the Muslim world. It is often recited to ward off jinn.


title: Throne Verse

text: Allah! "La ilaha illa Huwa" (none has the right to be worshipped but He), the Ever Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists. Neither slumber, nor sleep overtake Him. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on earth. Who is he that can intercede with Him except with His Permission? He knows what happens to them (His creatures) in this world, and what will happen to them in the Hereafter. And they will never encompass anything of His Knowledge except of that which He wills. His Throne extends over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them. And He is the Most High, the Most Great.


title: Throne Verse

text: Ayat al-Kursi is regarded as the greatest verse of Quran according to hadith. The verse is regarded as one of the most powerful in the Quran because when it is recited, the greatness of God is believed to be confirmed. The person who recites this ayah morning and evening will be under protection of God from the evil of the jinn and the "shayatin" (devils); this is also known as the daily "adkhar". It is used in exorcism, to cure and protect from jinn and "shayatin". Because the Throne Verse is believed to grant spiritual or physical protection, it is often recited by Muslims before setting out on a journey and before going to sleep. Reciting the verse after every prayer is believed to grant entry to paradise.


title: Historical drama

text: A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swashbucklers. A period piece may be set in a vague or general era such as the Middle Ages, or a specific period such as the Roaring Twenties, or the recent past.


title: Historical drama

text: Films set in historical times have always been some of the most popular works. D. W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" and Buster Keaton's "The General" are examples of popular early American works set during the U.S. Civil War. In different eras different subgenres have risen to popularity, such as the westerns and sword and sandal films that dominated North American cinema in the 1950s. The "costume drama" is often separated as a genre of historical dramas. Early critics defined them as films focusing on romance and relationships in sumptuous surroundings, contrasting them with other historical dramas believed to have more serious themes. Other critics have defended costume dramas, and argued that they are disparaged because they are a genre directed towards women. Historical dramas have also been described as a conservative genre, glorifying an imagined past that never existed.


title: Historical drama

text: While historical drama is fiction, works may include references to real-life people or events from the relevant time period or contain factually accurate representations of the time period. Works may also include mostly-fictionalized narratives based on actual people or historical events, such as "Apollo 13", "Braveheart", "Chernobyl", "Enemy at the Gates", "Les Misérables", and "Titanic."


title: Historical drama

text: Works that focus on accurately portraying specific historical events or persons are instead known as docudrama, such as "The Report". Where a person's life is central to the story, such a work is known as biographical drama, with notable examples being films such as "Alexander", "Cinderella Man", "Frida", "House of Saddam", "Lincoln", "Stalin", and "W.".


title: Hot Wheels

text: Hot Wheels is an American brand of scale model cars introduced by American toymaker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until 1997, when Mattel bought Tyco Toys, then owner of Matchbox.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Many automobile manufacturers have since licensed Hot Wheels to make scale models of their cars, allowing the use of original design blueprints and detailing. Although Hot Wheels were originally intended to be for children and young adults, they have become popular with adult collectors, for whom limited edition models are now made available.


title: Hot Wheels

text: The original Hot Wheels were made by Elliot Handler. Handler discovered his son Kenneth playing with Matchbox cars and decided to create a line to compete with Matchbox. Hot Wheels were originally conceived by Handler to be more like "hot rod" (i.e.customized/modified or even caricaturized or fantasy cars,often with big rear tires, Superchargers, flame paint-jobs, outlandish proportions, hood blowers, etc.) cars, as compared to Matchbox cars which were generally small-scale models of production cars. He began producing the cars with assistance from fellow engineer Jack Ryan.


title: Hot Wheels

text: The first line of Hot Wheels Cars, known as "The Original Sweet 16" was manufactured in 1968. These were the first of the Red Line Series, named for the tires which had a red pin stripe on their sides.


title: Hot Wheels

text: There were sixteen castings released, eleven of them designed by Harry Bentley Bradley with assistance from Handler and Ryan. The first one produced was a dark blue ""Custom Camaro"". Bradley was from the car industry and had designed the body for the (full-sized) Dodge Deora concept car and the "Custom Fleetside", (based on his own customized 1968 Chevrolet C-10 fleetside.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In addition to the cars themselves, Mattel produced a racing track set (sold separately). Though it would be updated throughout the years, the original track consisted of a series of bright orange road sections (pieced together to form an oblong, circular race track), with one (or sometimes two) "superchargers" (faux service stations through which cars passed on the tracks, featuring battery-powered spinning wheels, which would propel the cars along the tracks). Hot Wheels' use of wide, hard-plastic tires created much less friction and tracked more smoothly than the narrow metal or plastic wheels used on contemporary Matchboxes; Hot Wheels cars were designed to roll easily and at high speeds, which was a great innovation at the time.


title: Hot Wheels

text: The Hot Wheels brand was a staggering success. The series completely disrupted the industry for small die-cast car models from 1968 onwards, forcing the competition at Matchbox and elsewhere to completely rethink their concepts, and to scramble to try to recover lost ground. Harry Bentley Bradley did not think that would be the case and had quit Mattel to go back to the car industry. When the company asked him to come back, he recommended a good friend, Ira Gilford. Gilford, who had just left Chrysler, quickly accepted the job of designing the next Hot Wheels models. Some of Hot Wheels' greatest cars, such as the Twin Mill and Splittin' Image, came from Ira Gilford's drawing board. The Twin Mill was introduced in 1969 and was used to create the company's first full-scale replica car in 2001.


title: Hot Wheels

text: The success of the 1968 line was solidified and consolidated with the 1969 releases, with which Hot Wheels effectively established itself as the hottest brand of small toy car models in the USA. "Splittin' Image", "Torero", "Turbofire", and "Twin Mill" were part of the "Show & Go" series and are the very first original in-house designs by Hot Wheels.


title: Hot Wheels

text: The initial prototypes of the Beach" "Bomb were faithful to the shape of a real VW Type 2 "bus", and had two surfboards sticking out the back window, in a nod to the VW's perceived association with the surfing community and the slang term for a person who spends much time surfing - a 'beach bum'. During the fledgling Hot Wheels era, Mattel wanted to make sure that each of the cars could be used with any of the playsets and stunt track sets. Unfortunately, testing showed that this early version (now known among collectors as the Rear-Loader Beach Bomb, or 'RLBB') was too narrow to roll effectively on Hot Wheels track or be powered by the Super Charger, and was too top-heavy to negotiate high-speed corners.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Hot Wheels designers Howard Rees and Larry Wood modified the casting, extending the side fenders to accommodate the track width, as well as providing a new place on the vehicle to store each of the plastic surfboards. The roof was also cut away and replaced by a full-length sunroof, to lower the center of gravity. Nicknamed the Side-loader by collectors, this was the production version of the Beach Bomb.


title: Hot Wheels

text: The "Rear-Loader Beach Bomb" is widely considered the "Holy Grail", or ultimate pinnacle, of a serious Hot Wheels collection. An unknown number were made as test subjects and given to employees. A regular production "Beach Bomb" may be worth up to $600, depending on condition. Market prices on "RLBBs" however, have easily reached the five-figure plateau, ranging from $70,000 to $120,000. The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles had a pink "RLBB" in its Hot Wheels exhibit, displayed alone on a rotating platform under glass. The Hot Wheels Collectors Club released a new, updated version of the "Rear Loading Beach Bomb" in 2002 as a limited edition.


title: Hot Wheels

text: 1970 was a very successful year for Hot Wheels, so Mattel came up with a new advertising slogan for the cars: "Go With the Winner". 43 new cars appeared that year, including the Sizzlers and Heavyweights lines. Howard Rees, who worked with Ira Gilford, was tired of designing cars. He wanted to work on the Major Matt Mason action figure toy line-up. Rees had a good friend by the name of Larry Wood, whom he worked with at Ford designing cars. When Wood found out about Hot Wheels at a party Rees was holding, Rees offered him the job of designing Hot Wheels models. Wood accepted, and, by the end of the week, Wood was working at Mattel, where his first design was the Tri-Baby. Larry Wood retired in 2019 after over 40 years of designing cars.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Another designer, Paul Tam, joined Wood and Gilford. Tam's first design was the Whip Creamer. Tam continued to work for Mattel until 1973. Among the many fantastic designs Tam thought up for Hot Wheels, some of the collector's favorites include Evil Weevil (a Volkswagen Beetle with two engines), Open Fire (an AMC Gremlin with six wheels), Six Shooter (another six-wheeled car), and the rare Double Header (co-designed with Larry Wood).


title: Hot Wheels

text: The year 1970 introduced "the Snake and the Mongoose", a manufactured 'rivalry' between two professional drag racers calling themselves "the Snake" and "the Mongoose" for the purposes of publicity. This was notably drag racing's first major non-automotive corporate sponsor, and the beginning of the NHRA’s booming popularity with large-budget teams and championships. 1970 also introduced the first 'Silver Series', which contained three silver-painted models: the Boss Hoss, the Heavy" "Chevy, and the King 'Kuda, which were only obtainable through a mail-in offer that included a membership to the Hot Wheels Club. These three cars featured "supercharged" engines (featuring large Roots blowers) without hoods, and open exhaust headers, after the style of drag racing cars of the era. Popular among children, these 'Silver Cars' were considered faster than the rest of the Hot Wheels lineup, because they were supposedly heavier than the other gravity models, but the accuracy of this claim has never been tested under scientific conditions.


title: Hot Wheels

text: However, 1972 and 1973 were slow years. Only seven new models were made in 1972. Of the 24 models appearing for 1973, only three were new models. Also the cars changed from Mattel's in-house "Spectraflame" colors to mostly drab, solid enamel colors, which mainstream Hot Wheels cars still use today. Due to low sales, and the fact that the majority of the castings were not re-used in later years, the 1972-3 models are known to be very collectible.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 1974, Hot Wheels introduced its '"Flying" "Colors"' line, and added flashy decals and "tampo-printed" paint designs which helped revitalize sales. As with the lower-friction wheels in 1968, this innovation was revolutionary in the industry, and—although far less effective in terms of sales impact than in 1968—was copied by the competition, who did not want to be outmaneuvered again by Mattel product strategists.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 1977, the 'Redline Wheel' was phased out, with the red lines no longer being printed on the wheels. This cut costs, but also reflected that the prototypical "red line tires" popular on high-speed-rated automotive tires during the era of muscle cars and Polyglas tires were no longer popular. During this period, there was a trend away from wild hot rods and fantastic cars, and a move to more realistic cars and trucks, like the competitor Matchbox.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 1981, Hot Ones wheels were introduced, which had gold-painted hubs, and claimed to have thinner axles for greater speed, along with additional suspension compliance that older production Hot Wheels lacked. Ultra Hot Wheels were introduced in 1984, and looked something like the cast alloy wheels found on a 1980s-era high-trim Renault Fuego or a Mazda 626, with three parallel dark lines cutting diagonally across the flat chrome face of the wheel, all three broken in the center to form six individual shorter lines. These new ""Ultra Hots"" claimed further speed improvements. Hot Wheels started offering models based on 1980s-era sports and economy cars, like the Pontiac Fiero or Dodge Omni 024, in addition to their typical 'hot rod' and muscle car style offerings. In 1983, a new style of wheel called Real Riders was introduced, which featured real rubber tires. Despite the fact that they were very popular, the Real Riders line was short-lived, because of high production costs. In the late 1980s, the so-called Blue" "Card blister pack color scheme was introduced, which would become the basis of Hot Wheels colors still used today (original blister packs were red and yellow).


title: Hot Wheels

text: Two other innovations were introduced briefly in Hot Wheels cars in the 1980s – "Thermal Color Change" paint, and rotating 'crash panel' vehicles (""Crack-Ups""). The former was able to change color on exposure to hot or cold water, and there was an initial release of 20 different cars, available as sets of three vehicles. The latter were vehicles with a panel that, on contact, would rotate to reveal a reverse side that appeared to be heavily dented. Variations in crash panels included front, rear and side panels, the last of whose mechanism has proven to be the most durable.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In the 1980s, Hot Wheels had gotten into a controversy with General Motors' Chevrolet Motors Division. In 1982, the Chevrolet Corvette had ended the curvaceous "Mako Shark" body style that had been in production for almost 15 years, and GM announced that the Corvette would be redesigned. In 1983, Chevrolet started to produce the all-new C4 Corvette but had assembly line problems which pushed production back 6 months causing GM's Marketing Department to label all 1983s as 1984s once they got production perfected so it would seem to the public that the all-new C4 Corvette came out early rather than late. But Hot Wheels saw what the new model of Corvette was going to look like before GM's official unveiling, and they designed a die-cast version of the 1984 Corvette. GM was angered and almost pulled its licensing with Mattel, but this controversy helped Corvette enthusiasts see what the new Corvette was going to look like. The 1984 Corvette production ran for 1.5 model years covering half of the remaining 1983 model year and ending on time for the 1985 model year.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In conjunction with Epyx Software, Mattel released a computer game edition of Hot Wheels for various 8-bit platforms in 1985, as part of the Computer Activity Toys series.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 1989, Mattel released collector numbers. Each car had its own number. The cards were all blue, for all blister packs released from 1989–1994. Numbers included went as high as 274; however, these were skip numbered, and numbers such as 48, 61, and 173 were not used.


title: Hot Wheels

text: The year 1995 brought a major change to the Hot Wheels line, where the cars were split up into series. One was the 1995 Model Series, which included all of that year's new castings. In 1996, the Model Series was renamed to First Editions. 1995 also saw the introduction of the "Treasure Hunt Series" (see below). The rest of the series included four cars with paint schemes that followed a theme. For example, the "Pearl Driver" cars all had pearlescent paint. Sales for the series models soared with another program also introduced that year called the "Bonus" "Car" program, causing stores across the nation to have shortages. Purchasing the four car sets and sending in the packaging backs plus a handling fee gave you the opportunity to collect the bonus cars, 1 each released for each quarter of the year starting in 1996 through at least 2000. Several new wheel designs were also introduced in the 1990s.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Mattel bought Tyco Toys in 1997. Along with the purchase came the company's old competitor Matchbox. Arguably the two dominant companies in matchbox-sized cars were now under one roof.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 1998, Mattel celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Hot Wheels brand by replicating various cars and individual packaging from its 30-year history and packaging these replicated vehicles in special 30th Anniversary boxes. In 1999, Hot Wheels Interactive was launched.


title: Hot Wheels

text: A new generation of Hot Wheels Designers came in. Eric Tscherne and Fraser Campbell along with former designer Paul Tam's son, Alec Tam, joined the design team. Many still work for Mattel today. Tscherne's "Seared Tuner" (formerly "Sho-Stopper") graced the mainline packaging from 2000 to 2003. The "Deora II", one of only two Hot Wheels concept cars ever made into full-size, functional cars, was also released this year.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Also in 2001, Mattel issued 240 mainline releases consisting of 12 "Treasure Hunts", 36 "First Editions", 12 "Segment Series" with four cars each, and 144 open stock cars. Popular models that debuted include the HyperMite and FrightBike.


title: Hot Wheels

text: For 2002, the mainline consisted of 12 "Treasure Hunts", 42 "First Editions", 15 "Segment Series" of 4 cars each, and 126 open stock cars. Popular new models included the `68 Cougar and the Nissan Skyline GT-R. Some cars from the first editions series are the "Backdraft", "Overbored 454", "Vairy 8", and "Super Tsunami".


title: Hot Wheels

text: Hot Wheels celebrated its 35th anniversary with a full-length computer-animated film called "Hot Wheels Highway 35 World Race". This movie tied into the "Highway 35" line of cars that featured 35 classic Hot Wheels cars with special graphics and co-molded wheels.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 2004, Hot Wheels unveiled its "Hot 100" line of 100 new models. These included mostly short-lived lines of cartoonish vehicles such as "Tooned" (vehicles based on the larger "Hot" "Tunerz" line of Hot Wheels created by Eric Tscherne), "Blings" (boxy bodies and big wheels), "Hardnoze" (enlarged fronts), "Crooze" (stretched out bodies), and "Fatbax" (super-wide rear wheels and short bodies). "Fatbax" models included vehicles such as the Toyota Supra and Corvette C6. These vehicles did not sell as well as Mattel expected, and many could still be found in stores throughout 2005. Mattel also released 2004 "First Editions" cars with unpainted Zamac bodies. They were sold through Toys 'R' Us and were made in limited numbers.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 2005, Hot Wheels continued with new "extreme" castings for the 2nd year, debuting the "Torpedoes" line (skinny bodies and outboard wheels) and "Drop Tops" (flattened rooflines and wheel arches that extend above the car's roofline), in addition to 20 ""Realistix"" models. The rest of the line included the standard 12 "Treasure Hunts", 10 "Track Aces", 50 "Segment Series" "Cars", and 50 "Open Stock Models". Four Volkswagen ""Mystery" "Cars"" were offered as a special mail-in promo. Each "Mystery" "Car" came with a special voucher. Upon collection of all 4 vouchers, one was able to send away for a special 13th "Treasure" "Hunt", a "VW Drag Bus."


title: Hot Wheels

text: Hot Wheels also unveiled its new "Faster than Ever" line of cars, which had special nickel-plated axles, along with bronze-colored "Open-Hole 5 Spoke" wheels. These adjustments supposedly reduce friction dramatically, resulting in cars that are called the ""Faster than Ever"" series. The first run of these cars were available for a limited time only, from the beginning of October towards the end of November 2005.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Also, a continuation of the movie "Highway 35" called "Hot Wheels AcceleRacers" was created, taking place two years after the events of "Highway 35". It is featured in four movies and many short segments where the drivers (old ones, gangs, like Teku, Metal Maniacs, the evil Racing Drones, and the stealthy Silencerz). All of the shorts and previews of the movies were placed on a temporary website that was deleted shortly after the last movie.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 2007, Mattel released 36 "New Models" (formerly "First Editions"), 12 "Treasure Hunts" (with a hard-to-find regular version and even rarer ""Super Treasure Hunt"" version of each with rubber "Real Rider" tires and Spectraflame paint), 12 'Teams' of 4 cars each (formerly "Segment Series"), 24 "Code" "Cars" (codes imprinted inside the packaging that can be used to unlock web content), 12 "Track Stars" (formerly "Track Aces"), 24 "Mystery Cars" (packaged on a card with an opaque blister, so the buyer cannot see which car is inside without opening it), and 24 "All-Stars" (formerly "Open Stock"). In late 2006, a new package design for 2007 was released. Some 2006 cars and all 2007 cars are packaged on a blister card with the new design. Hot Wheels released a series called "Modifighters", which are similar to Transformers except for the fact that they were originally cars and were modified into robots. The "Modifighters" names are: Streetwyse, Skullface, Live Wire, Bedlam, Nightlife, Mr. Big, and Quick-Tyme.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 2008, all the series and vehicles were relatively similar to 2007's cars. approximately 180 to 200 new vehicles were released.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 2009, Mattel released 42 "New Models", 12 "Treasure Hunts", 12 "Track Stars", 24 "Mystery Cars", 10 "Segment Series" of 10 cars, and introduced the Indy Car Series drivers.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Mattel released its first-ever 3D CGI animated episodic television series called "Hot Wheels Battle Force 5", which was a co-production between Canadian animation giants Nelvana and WildBrain. The US version of the series debuted on Cartoon Network on August 29, 2009..


title: Hot Wheels

text: 2011 saw the release of 244 cars beginning with the 2011 New Car Series which includes the Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera, Custom 2011 Camaro, and the DeLorean time machine from the Back to the Future series. This was followed by the 15-car "Treasure Hunt" series with 1957 Chevy and 1958 Chevy Impala, 15 "Track Stars" including the 2010 "Formula Street" series, the "10x10" series, the "Thrill Racers" series, and 22 "HW Video Game Heroes" which were packaged with codes for an internet computer game. The new series "Team Hot Wheels" appear in late 2011.


title: Hot Wheels

text: 2012 saw the release of 247 cars, beginning with the 2012 "New Car Series" which includes the Lamborghini Aventador, Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca, KITT from Knight Rider, and the ever-popular Scooby-Doo "Mystery Machine". 2012 also saw the release of two vehicles from the "Angry Birds" video game franchise, consisting of the Red Bird and the green Minion Pig.


title: Hot Wheels

text: 2013 saw the release of 250 cars including "Stunt", "Racing", "Imagination", "City", and "Showroom", all of which contain sub-series. 2013 also saw a change in the look of the packaging cards which includes a quartet of helmeted motorcycle riders standing behind the flame logo and the "Treasure Hunt" series cards no longer marked with a treasure chest. Some of those cars include "Rodzilla", "Fangula", "Twin Mill III" (3), "Bone" "Shaker" and "Baja" "Bone" "Shaker".


title: Hot Wheels

text: General Motors also released a special Chevrolet Camaro Hot Wheels Edition, which was a blue convertible that offered various Hot-Wheels-themed decorations throughout the car.


title: Hot Wheels

text: 2014 saw 250 mainstream cars released with similar segments to 2013. Various playsets and other non-car merchandise were also released this year. 2014 also marked the end of the license agreement between Mattel and Ferrari, meaning the 2014 release of "Ferrari 5 Pack" would be the last for Mattel, and the 2015 black "Ferrari 599XX" was the last Ferrari model appearing in mainstream, both regular model and its Treasure Hunt variant.


title: Hot Wheels

text: 2016 lineup was similar to 2015 and 2014 in terms of segments, and the design of the card was overhauled. Some car names were TBD (To Be Determined) or 2016 (Coming Soon). They're now divided into mini collections with their corresponding segments and their icons printed on the card. Some of them include "HW Showroom", "BMW" (100th anniversary of BMW), "HW Screen Time" (Cars and characters seen on television, video games, and movies), and "HW" "Snow" "Stormers". New models include the "Cruise" "Bruiser", "Side" "Ripper", "Grass" "Chomper", and the "16 Acura NSX", while other models first see their release in the mainline series, such as the "52" "Hudson Hornet".


title: Hot Wheels

text: 2017 saw a major change in casting numbering. Since that moment, recolors are named with a different number than the original, thus causing the number limit of cars to expand to 365. The idea of numbering a casting with a number corresponding to their own series was also aborted. There were also some new mainline series introduced, such as "Experimotors" (cars with moving parts, or a secondary purpose), "Holiday Racers" (cars that have a holiday based theme), "Factory Fresh" (a series including newer, sometimes older castings with fabric painting) and "Camaro Fifty" (a series dedicated to the Chevrolet Camaro, and its 50th anniversary).


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 2018, Hot Wheels celebrated its 50th anniversary. The style of the blister cards were changed again, depicting a city in the background of the car, thus emulating a "Hot Wheels City" theme. For that year, each blister card had a 50th Anniversary logo. Hot Wheels also launched several collector-focused lines for that year, including "Favorites", which was a series that consisted of 11 highly-detailed vehicles (which were based on real cars), all with metal bodies and rubber tires. For this year, Hot Wheels also launched a display case, which could hold up to 48 cars, and could either stand up on its own (via attachable "feet") or be mounted on a wall. Each display case came with an exclusive car.


title: Hot Wheels

text: On October 4, 2018, Hot Wheels filed a new trademark for the motto "it's not the same without the flame". In 2019, a seal was added in the bottom left corner of the blister card with the motto.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Hot Wheels designer Ryu Asada died on March 28, 2021, at age 42, after years of suffering from cancer.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Starting in 2018, Hot Wheels launched a new program called the "Hot Wheels Legends Tour". This program was originally launched to commemorate Hot Wheels's 50th anniversary. Each year, there are 18 Legends Tour events that are held at various Walmart locations across the United States. Over 111,000 people attend and about 5,000 cars are entered at those events. At each event, one car is picked to be recreated as a potential new Hot Wheels casting. After all the events for that year conclude, one finalist is then picked to be the winner, and their car then gets recreated as a new Hot Wheels casting next year. Hot Wheels are looking for vehicles that embody the fun and creative spirit of Hot Wheels, which is their main selling point.


title: Hot Wheels

text: The "Sweet 16" was the first production line of Hot Wheels for the year 1968. The lineup consisted of the following:


title: Hot Wheels

text: Through the years, Hot Wheels cars have been collected mostly by children. However, since the late 1990s, there has been an increase in the number of adult collectors. Mattel estimates that 41 million children grew up playing with the toys, the average collector has over 1,550 cars, and children between the ages of 5 and 15 have an average of 41 cars. Most believe the collecting craze started with the "Treasure" "Hunts" in 1995. Mike Strauss has been called the father of Hot Wheels collecting; he has organized two collectors' events each year in some form since 1986. The first event was the Annual Hot Wheels Collectors Convention, normally held each year in the fall. The convention occurred in various locations around the country until 2001, when the first Annual Hot Wheels Collectors Nationals was put together. Since then, the Conventions are held each year in southern California. The Hot Wheels Collectors Nationals rotate among cities outside of California during the spring. Strauss has also published the quarterly Hot Wheels Newsletter since 1986 and was one of the first to unite collectors all over the world. He also writes"Tomart's Price Guide To Hot Wheels", a book listing history, car descriptions and values, which is used by almost every collector to learn more about the hobby and their collection. Strauss sold his collection in 2011 and retired from the Hot Wheels Newsletter.


title: Hot Wheels

text: There are hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of web pages dedicated to Hot Wheels collecting. Collectors are seeking everything related to Hot Wheels, from only new castings to only Red Lines and everything in between. For the most part, it is a relatively inexpensive hobby, when compared with coin collecting, stamp collecting or Barbie collecting, with mainline cars costing about $0.97-$1.08 (USD) at retail. The price has not changed much in almost 40 years, although in real terms the models have dropped significantly in price (a Hot Wheels car cost $0.98 in 1968 and costs $0.98 today, in spite of inflation). After the cars are no longer available at retail the cost can vary significantly. A common car may sell for less than retail, while some of the more difficult cars can sell for many hundred or even thousands of dollars. The highest price paid for a Hot Wheels car was close to $70,000 in 2000 for a pre-production version of a "Volkswagen Rear Loader Beach Bomb" (the asking price was $72,000). The Beach Bomb is a VW microbus with a pair of surfboards poking out the rear window. This design failed initial testing, proving to be top-heavy and not functional with the Power Booster track accessory. A widened version with the surfboards mounted in side slots was designed and released for the 1969 model year, making the "rear loader" version a rarity and very sought-after piece. As of 2018, there are about 50 "rear loaders" known to exist.


title: Hot Wheels

text: The date on the base of a Hot Wheels car (Example: ©2008 Mattel) is the copyright date for the casting of the car, not a production date or release year. The date is usually the year before the car was first released, but not always. For example, a car in the 2001 First Editions series called Evil Twin, was released in 2001 but the year dated on the bottom of the car is 2000. Sometimes, the copyright will be the same year as the casting's first release. This usually happens with cars released toward the end of a model year. There are a few cases where the copyright is several years before a car's first release. The copyright date will usually not change through the lifetime of a casting. For example, the Twin Mill, first released in 1969, still had a 1969 copyright date on the 2019 mainline releases of the car. If the tooling for a car has a major change at some point in its life, the copyright date might be changed or amended to reflect the change. For example, Quick Bite, first released in 1984 as the Good Humor Truck, had a tooling update before 2018, so its date reads 1983, '17 on the base of the 2018 release.


title: Hot Wheels

text: There are a few exceptions where the copyright date applies only to the base of a car instead of to the entire car. Those exceptions are mostly funny car castings where the same base was used with various different bodies over the years.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Since the year 2008, Hot Wheels cars have had a code stamped or printed on the base. This is a "base code". This base code can be used to identify exactly when an individual car was produced in the Hot Wheels factory. The code begins with a letter, followed by a two-digit number. The letter for the year 2018 was "L". The letter is then followed by two numbers, which represent the week of that particular year the car was manufactured. For example, a car with the date stamp of "L42" was produced on the forty-second week of 2018.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Some cars have 4-digit date codes on the base. These date codes are more specific than the 3-digit codes as they indicate the day a car was made instead of just the week. For the 4-digit codes, the first 3 digits indicate the day of the year and the last digit is the year. A date code of 1987 would indicate the car was made on the 198th day of 2017 (July 17). A code of 0250 would be the 25th day of 2010 (or 2020; depending on the car).


title: Hot Wheels

text: Date codes only indicate when a specific car was made. They do not necessarily reflect the model release year of a particular car. Mainline production changes to the next model year right around the middle of the calendar year at the end of June/beginning of July. Premiums and other special series lines often run later in the calendar year before changing production to the next year.


title: Hot Wheels

text: The "Hot" "Wheels" "Classics" line was an immediate hit with enthusiasts everywhere. The new line focused on muscle cars, hot rods, and other offbeat vehicles (such as a go-kart, a motor home and even an airplane), many from the company's first ten years (1968–78) of production. The series is also used to debut several different castings, such as the "1965 Chevy Malibu" or the "1972 Ford Ranchero."


title: Hot Wheels

text: Series 1 from 2005 consisted of 25 models, each with all-metal body and chassis, decked out with Spectraflame paint, in packages similar to those used from 1968 to 1972. Each car had a retail price of about three to four dollars (USD) and each of the 25 cars were released with 7 or 8 different colors. Models included the "1957 Chevy Bel Air" (pictured at the right), the "1963 Ford T-Bird", and the "1965 Pontiac GTO".


title: Hot Wheels

text: There were also track sets in similar retro packaging, and "Hot Wheels Classics". The Classics version of the "Purple" "Passion" was released with "Real Riders" tires at the San Diego Comic-Con. Mattel also produced a "Classics" "Olds 442" in Spectraflame blue for the 2005 Toy Fair.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In late 2005, Series 2 now consisted of 30 models including the "1967 Camaro Convertible", the "1969 Dodge Charger", and a "1965 Mustang GT". There was also supposed to be a separate "Mustang Funny Car" (as listed on the blisterpack rear checklist) but this was apparently changed to a "Plymouth Barracuda Funny Car" during production.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 2006, a Series 3 line of Classics was introduced, again containing 30 models with multiple colors of each vehicle. Models included the "'69 Pontiac Firebird", a "Meyers Manx" dune buggy, and the Richard Petty "'70 Plymouth "Superbird"".


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 2007, Series 4 debuted with just fifteen models. However, in recognition of the 40th anniversary there were two packaging versions available - models came with a collectible metal badge (featuring a portrait of the involved vehicle) or were sold alone as in the previous three series. Models included a "VW Karmann Ghia", a "'68 Mercury Cougar", and the ""Red Baron" hot rod". For its 40th anniversary in 2008, Hot Wheels celebrated the making of its four billionth car with the production of a diamond-studded model worth US$140,000. It had 2,700 diamond chips, a total of almost 23 karats, and was cast in white gold, with rubies serving as taillights.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 2009, Series 5 has 30 models. For the first time, there are chase cars in the classics series. These cars feature "Real" "Riders" rubber tires. A few models included are "Copper Stopper", "1970 Pontiac GTO", and "Hammer" "Sled".


title: Hot Wheels

text: Hot Wheels has also released slightly larger, more detailed models, such as the original "Gran" "Toros" (1/43 scale) from 1970, and the "Dropstars" line (a model line of "blinged" cars). Also in this larger scale are the "HIN" (Hot Import Nights), "G-Machines" and "Customs" lines. These lines were introduced in 2004–2005.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Hot Wheels has produced many replica scale models in the industry standard 1/43, 1/24 and 1/18 scales. In 2004, it released a 1/12 scale replica of the C6 Corvette.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Hot Wheels also in the early 1990s introduced a series known as the California Customs. A line of cars that had a California theme.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Other lines from Hot Wheels include: "R-R-Rumblers & Chopcycles" (motorcycles introduced in 1971), "Hotbirds" (metal airplanes), "Sizzlers", "XV Racers", "Hot Tunerz" and "Stockerz".


title: Hot Wheels

text: Over the years, Mattel has also teamed up with other retail organizations to produce special models available through those retailers. The list of retailers includes Avon, Chuck E. Cheese, Dinty Moore, FAO Schwarz, Full Grid, General Mills, Getty, HEB, Hills, Hormel, Hughes Family Markets, JC Penney, JC Whitney, Kay-Bee Toys, K-Mart, Kellogg's, Kool-Aid, Kroger, Lexmark, Liberty Promotions (contracted the series of special models for Jiffy Lube and Penske), Little Debbie Snacks, Malt-O-Meal, McDonald's, Mervyn's, Otter Pops, Rose's Discount Stores, Shell, Target, Tony's Pizza, Toys-R-Us, Union 76, Valvoline, Van de Kamp's, WalMart, and White's Guide to Collecting, as well as several Major League Baseball franchises to name a few.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 2016, Hot Wheels released a special collection for the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ 1966 song “Yellow Submarine.” The collections includes five cars, a VW microbus and a yellow submarine.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In some cases, Hot Wheels dies have been sold or acquired by other companies once Mattel has finished using them. One example were early dies that made their way to Argentina and were reproduced as Mukys, though not with spectra-flame paints or the same quality as seen in Mattel's products.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Hot Wheels have a series called "Hot Wheels Elite" and "Hot Wheels Mattel". The "Elite" Hot Wheels are 1:18, 1:43 and 1:50 highly detailed diecast; the majority of them being based on Ferraris. They are more expensive than the "Mattel" models which aren't as highly detailed. The "Elite" versions are licensed by Ferrari. The Hot Wheels "Elite" series have a "mini" series which can be seen on the website. Two of the popular limited 1:18 Hot Wheels "Elite" series' are the Ferrari in Music and Cult Classics. The music series features singers' and rappers' Ferraris, including Jamiroquai's Jay Kay's Black Enzo Ferrari.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 2016, Hot Wheels started a new line of Collector's models, in a line called "Car Culture". Car Culture is Hot Wheels' line of Premium 1:64 models with metal bodies and bases, two-piece wheels with rubber tires, and more detailed decorations. Intended for adult collectors primarily, these models retail for roughly 6-7 times the cost of a mainstream 1:64 Hot Wheels model.


title: Hot Wheels

text: This line debuted with the release of ""Japan Historics"", a set of five Japanese sports cars. Every year at least four more sets are introduced. All "Car Culture" sets have five cars, and often have new castings created for the sets. The number five spot in the set is usually reserved for the newest casting in the set. "Car Culture" cars are typically based on real automobiles; however in 2018, Hot Wheels introduced a set called ""Team" "Transport"", which included some fantasy truck castings. The fact that some of the trucks are unlicensed allows the castings to be universally used in any "Team Transport" set regardless of theme (for example, a Chevrolet-branded truck would not make sense in a Ford-themed set). Although ""Team" "Transport"" is labeled under the "Car Culture" line, they are a separate category of "Car Culture" vehicles than the usual 5-car sets, possessing different barcodes and prices. These cars retail for over three times the retail price of a "basic" car, and are produced in significantly fewer numbers.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 2018, for Hot Wheels' 50th Anniversary, Car Culture card sizes were increased, along with the amount of decorations on the cars. A Hot Wheels "50th anniversary" logo was also placed beside the set's name on the packaging.


title: Hot Wheels

text: "Treasure" "Hunt" (sometimes T-Hunt) is a line of Hot Wheels cars, introduced by Mattel in 1995. It consisted of 12 cars every year (15 beginning in 2011) with one or two released per month. The original production run was 10,000 of each car worldwide; that number has since risen due to the increasing demand for and popularity of Hot Wheels as a collector's item.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Treasure Hunt vehicles are identifiable by a label on the package. The blister card said ""Treasure" "Hunt"" or ""T-Hunt"" on a green bar, sometimes with an illustration of a treasure chest. Since 2013, "Treasure" "Hunts" do not have the green stripe anymore; instead, the cars are recognizable with a "flame in a circle logo" on the vehicle and behind it on the card. The cars were decorated with flashy designs and special "rubber" wheels before 2007.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 2007, Mattel introduced a two-tiered "Treasure Hunt" system. A regular "Treasure Hunt" will feature normal enamel paint and normal wheels like other Hot Wheels cars. The production of these is rumored to be greater than previous T-Hunts. ""Super" Treasure Hunts" are much harder to find. Like "Treasure" "Hunts" of the past, a "Super Treasure Hunt" features premium wheels and Spectraflame paint, as well as (starting in 2015), a golden-colored circle-flame logo printed on the card behind the car. Many Hot Wheels collectors have noticed in recent times that the US Basic mixes are more likely to have a "Super Treasure Hunt" in them compared to International Mixes.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Before 2013, all 12 "Treasure Hunt" cars of a year were released in both regular and super versions. In 2012, "Super Treasure Hunts" came with special paint and wheels, but with series designation on the card. However, the regular "T-hunts" retained a special "T-Hunt" series card. Mattel stopped using special cards for all "Treasure" "Hunts" in 2013. Some U.S. releases in 2014 had the phrase "This symbol on the vehicle lets you know it is hard to find and highly collectible". However, in 2016, this was changed to "Congratulations! This symbol means you just found a collectable treasure-hunt car!". This would be under a silver flame logo on the card for "T-Hunts". In 2015, Supers featured a gold logo on the card. Generally, Hot Wheels has targeted both kids and adults with the "T-Hunt" series, focusing more on the adult collecting market with Supers.


title: Hot Wheels

text: On January 30, 2003, Columbia Pictures announced they had gained exclusive rights to developing a feature film based on the toy line "Hot Wheels" with McG attached to direct. Although unwritten, the premise involved a young man "trying to reconcile with his father. It's a kid who steals his dad's racecar and ends up going through a sort of "Back to the Future" portal into this world, and he has to reconcile his relationship with his father." In 2006, McG said that he dropped out as director and chose to produce instead.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 2009, with no recent developments, the film was put into turnaround, and the rights were handed over to Warner Bros. Joel Silver took over producing with Matt Nix writing the script. The film will be produced by Columbia Pictures, Flying Glass of Milk Films and Silver Pictures, under license to Mattel.


title: Hot Wheels

text: On June 17, 2011, it was announced that Legendary Pictures is developing a film based on Hot Wheels due to the success of "Fast Five" by developing an edgier film. On July 10, 2013, Simon Crane and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo were named as the frontrunners to direct the film, with Art Marcum and Matt Holloway writing the film, intended to be more "" than "The Fast and the Furious". On September 28, 2016, Justin Lin signed on to direct the film, which will be produced through his production company Perfect Storm Entertainment. On August 1, 2017, Lin revealed that the film was still in development. It was speculated that the film will be released as a computer animated direct sequel to 2003's "" and will be receive additional animation development from Playground Games who collaborated with Mattel in 2017 to create the "Forza Horizon 3: Hot Wheels" video game. However the option expired and returned to Mattel.


title: Hot Wheels

text: It was announced on September 25, 2020, by "The Hollywood Reporter" that Warner Bros. has hired Neil Widener and Gavin James to write the film.


title: Hot Wheels

text: The "Sizzlers" were a 1970s Hot Wheels spin off with a built-in motor and a tiny rechargeable battery. (The "X-V racers" of the 1990s were similar.) They were introduced in 1970 and became immediately popular. "Sizzlers" run on the regular "orange" Hot Wheels track, and Mattel created special race sets with U-Turns, multi-level spirals and loops to take advantage of the cars' electric motor. Two lane race sets such as the California/8 race set were developed that allowed "Sizzlers" to race side-by side, until Mattel created the black "Fat Track" which is three lanes wide with steep banked curves and designed to allow "Sizzlers" to run free. In action, Sizzlers supposedly display a unique, competitive "passing action" when running on the "Fat Track", as if each car were piloted by an impatient driver trying to jockey ahead of the rest. The "Fat Track" sets included the "Big O", "California 500", and "Super Circuit" race sets, and accessories such as the "Scramble Start" (a four-car starting gate), "Lap Computer" four car lap counter, and "Race-Timer" stop watch.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Six cars were made in 1970, 12 cars were made in 1971, and 4 cars were made in 1972. The ""Fat Daddy" Sizzlers" (oversized bodies with huge tires) were introduced in 1973. Mattel put the Sizzlers on a hiatus after that year, and in 1976 they created "Sizzlers II". That next year, the "Night Ridin' Sizzlers" (which had headlights you could turn on or off) were created. Mattel permanently stopped "Sizzlers" production in 1978. They were replaced by another spin off named "Scorchers". The "Scorchers" were "pull back" cars which wound a clock spring when pulled backwards a short distance, which then propelled them forward for several feet.


title: Hot Wheels

text: "Sizzlers" are charged with four or two D battery chargers called the "Juice Machine" and "Goose Pump" respectively. Later, the "Power Pit" was introduced—which was an electric charger that plugged into any household AC outlet and resembled a race track garage or pit stop. A 90-second charge of the tiny internal NiCad battery gives up to five minutes of useful run time. It was claimed by advertisers that the 90-second charge time was "the longest minute and a half in a kid's life" as they waited impatiently for the car to charge sufficiently to get back into the race.


title: Hot Wheels

text: The "Sizzler" electric technology spun off into the "Hotline Trains", which ran on track similar to regular Hot Wheels, and the "Earthshakers" construction vehicles. Both lines of vehicles were charged using the "Sizzler Juice Machine" or "Power Pit".


title: Hot Wheels

text: In the 1990s, Mattel's trademark on the "Sizzlers" name had lapsed and toy company Playing Mantis released a new Sizzlers line based around NASCAR stock car models and copied the "Fat Track" as the ""Stocker 400"" and ""Mach 500"" track sets to capitalize on the booming popularity of NASCAR in that decade. The "Juice Machine" was renamed the ""Mega-Charger"" and incorporated a more efficient "trickle charge" rather than the "dump charge" of the original machines. Interest in the toys began to increase once again. They were taken off the market after Mattel filed a lawsuit against Playing Mantis. However, "Sizzlers" returned again in 2006, when Mattel struck an exclusive deal with Target stores to re-release "Sizzlers" cars, the ""Big O"" Fat track, Juice Machine and car carrying case—all in the original packaging from the 1970s. As of January 2009, the Sizzlers line has been discontinued by Target.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 2011, "Sizzlers" have been re-released as "Cars 2" characters, and were sold at Target stores. This line was called "Charge Ups" and released under the Mattel brand name but not as part of the Hot Wheels line.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Starting in 1970, professional drag racers Don Prudhomme ("The Snake") and Tom McEwen ("The Mongoose") were sponsored by Hot Wheels, and later on, Hot Wheels created the "Snake and Mongoose Drag Set" in 1970. Later somewhere in 1972, the second versions of both driver's self-titled funny cars were released, when McEwen had the "Mongoose 2", and Prudhomme had the "Snake 2". The drag set remained the same. Then, Hot Wheels made rail-type dragster versions of them, based on the actual funny cars and was featured in the "Wild Wheelie Set". Later in Hot Wheels' lifespan, the normal drag set with Snake and Mongoose were still being produced. The latest set with the Snake and Mongoose is in the "Drag-Strip Demons" lineup.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 1970, Hot Wheels sponsored Trans-Am Series driver Dan Gurney and his All American Racers car. In 1992, Hot Wheels sponsored the Trans-Am car of Jack Baldwin as he went on to win that year's championship. Hot Wheels signed a sponsorship deal in 1997 with NASCAR driver Kyle Petty and the No. 44 PE2 Motorsports car and thus began making replicas of NASCAR stock cars. Three years later, Hot Wheels joined the Craftsman Truck Series team of Carlos Contreras and the No. 12 truck. In 2004, Hot Wheels sponsored the No. 99 car of Jeff Burton for one race at Darlington Raceway. Six years later, the company returned to NASCAR to sponsor the No. 7 JR Motorsports car of Danica Patrick at Michigan International Speedway. Hot Wheels made another one-off sponsorship in 2021 for NASCAR driver Jade Buford's No. 48 Big Machine Racing Team car at Darlington Raceway; Buford's paint scheme for the race was modeled after Gurney's Trans-Am car.


title: Hot Wheels

text: In 1999, Hot Wheels partnered with five Formula One teams to manufacture scale model Formula One cars. In 2016, Hot Wheels opened the "Race to Win" exhibit at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis to promote the 100th Indianapolis 500.


title: Hot Wheels

text: From 1999 to 2018, Hot Wheels had a Monster Jam license to release monster truck diecasts and field a Hot Wheels-themed truck in the real-life shows. The partnership ended in 2019 after Feld Entertainment signed a new ten year toy licensing deal with Spin Master for Monster Jam, diecast production stopped and the Hot Wheels team retired. Soon after, Hot Wheels created the Hot Wheels Monster Trucks line and the Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live show with the non-Monster Jam owned version of the Bigfoot truck as a competitor. Monster Jam claimed this as a plagiarism, causing controversy.


title: Hot Wheels

text: At the 2002 24 Hours of Le Mans, Hot Wheels logos appeared on the sidepods of the pair of MG-Lola EX257 prototypes entered by MG Sport & Racing.


title: Hot Wheels

text: Hot Wheels is a partner and sponsor of the Australian stunt rider Matt Mingay's Stuntz Inc team, and also sponsors him in the Stadium Super Trucks. After Mingay suffered serious facial injuries at the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix in 2016, Robby Gordon drove the No. 2 Hot Wheels truck at the Townsville Street Circuit. Hot Wheels and Castrol returned to support Mingay when he made his racing return in 2020.


title: Hot Wheels

text: A coin-operated pinball machine based on Hot Wheels cars and the Hot Wheels City YouTube series was released by American Pinball in June 2020.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: Jan Bert Lieve Vertonghen (born 24 April 1987) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays for Belgian club Anderlecht and the Belgium national team. Mainly a central defender, he can also play as a left-back.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: Vertonghen began his senior career at Dutch club Ajax in 2006 and totalled 220 games and 28 goals for them across all competitions, serving as their captain from 2011 to 2012. He won two Eredivisie and two KNVB Cup titles during his time at the club, and in 2012 he was named Dutch Footballer of the Year. Vertonghen transferred to Tottenham Hotspur in July 2012, and made the PFA Team of the Year in his first Premier League season. He made 315 appearances for Spurs over eight years, and won their player of the year award in 2018.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: Vertonghen made his international debut for Belgium in 2007 and his 145 caps (including three unofficial games, according to FIFA rules) are the most in the history of the national team. He was part of Belgian squads that came fourth at the 2008 Olympics, reached the quarter-finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2016 and Euro 2020, and finished in third place at the 2018 World Cup.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: Vertonghen was born in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, to Ria Mattheeuws and Paul Vertonghen. He has two brothers, Ward and Lode; both have played football.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: After spending time at VK Tielrode and Germinal Beerschot, Vertonghen moved to the Netherlands and signed a contract with the youth academy of Eredivisie side AFC Ajax. He began as a midfielder but then became a regular at centre-back for Ajax. During his time in the reserves, he became known for an incident in a 2006 KNVB Cup game against Cambuur Leeuwarden, his first home game at the Amsterdam Arena, where he scored a goal to put Ajax 3–0 up. He had attempted a back pass to the Cambuur goalkeeper while a teammate was receiving treatment but instead the ball went into the goal. Since it was unintentional, Ajax allowed Cambuur to score a goal in return. On 23 August 2006, Vertonghen made his first team debut in the Champions League third qualifying round against Copenhagen. He made his first start and Eredivisie debut in a 6–0 win over Willem II at the Amsterdam Arena and would play another two matches for the first half of the season.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: After the winter break of the 2006–07 season, he was sent on loan to struggling RKC Waalwijk for the remainder of the season. At RKC, he would play 12 matches in which he scored three times, but he was unable to help the team avoid relegation to the Eerste Divisie. One of his goals with RKC Waalwijk was against his parent club, Ajax, in a 2–2 draw, which eventually let Ajax finish second in the league on only one goal difference with PSV.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: Vertonghen returned to Ajax for the 2007–08 season, where he was tipped for stardom, but was unable to break through due to a severe injury and the presence of central defenders John Heitinga and Thomas Vermaelen. Johan Cruyff had made no secret of his admiration for the left-footed youngster who can handle any left-sided position in defence and midfield, opting, on 26 September 2008, to extend his contract to 30 June 2013.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: The 2008–09 season was a breakthrough season for the young defender. After John Heitinga left for Atlético Madrid, Vertonghen became Thomas Vermaelen's first-choice partner in central defence; the former started 23 of the 26 games he played in and scored four goals. On 28 September, he scored a rare double against Vitesse in a 3–0 win. Although sustaining an injury from training during the week, he played in the match against Groningen on 24 January, billed as a "must-win" match by coach Marco van Basten; Vertonghen was unfortunate enough to be sent off for two yellow cards as Ajax lost 1–0. He was out for a month after sustaining a hamstring injury in an away win on 1 March against Utrecht, but his return lasted only several games after his season was prematurely ended after aggravating another injury.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: Under new coach Martin Jol, Vertonghen retained his place in the starting line-up for the 2009–10 season. Despite injuring his toe while on international duty against Spain the previous week, he scored his first goal of the season, a free kick, in a 6–0 thrashing of NAC Breda on 13 September. With the departure of Thomas Vermaelen to Arsenal, he and fellow Belgian Toby Alderweireld become the first choice centre-back pairing and soon became a firm fans' favourite. Despite Ajax's erratic form in the latter weeks leading up to the winter break, he turned in some strong performances and attracted the interest of a number of clubs, including Barcelona, but he played down the rumours, stating his intent to at least see out his contract with Ajax.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: After the winter break, Ajax went on a nine-game unbeaten streak in the league, with Vertonghen playing a key role. Their run of six consecutive clean sheets was ended in a 4–1 home win over PSV when the visiting side were awarded a penalty. Vertonghen was linked with a move to Newcastle United, and later he was also linked with Milan, stating, "I've heard Milan Director Adriano Galliani talk about me after the Champions League match in San Siro and his words were very flattering."


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: Vertonghen stated on numerous occasions late in the 2010–11 season that he was considering leaving Ajax at the end of that season. In May 2011, Frank de Boer confirmed Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini was present at the 2011 KNVB Cup Final held on 7 May 2011, where Vertonghen's side lost 3–2 to Twente. Mancini was reportedly scouting Vertonghen to strengthen his side after they had qualified for the UEFA Champions League 2011–12 campaign.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: During the 2011–12 Eredivisie season, Vertonghen emerged as one of Ajax's best players, demonstrating his versatility to cover multiple positions after Ajax had let several regular players out on long-term loans. After an impressive season, including a performance for which he was singled out for praise against Manchester United in the UEFA Europa League Round of 16, he was named the 2011–12 Eredivisie Player of the Year. Named team captain by Frank de Boer, he led his Ajax to their second title in a row, scoring eight goals in 31 league games, highlighting his attacking strengths. Also, for the second time, he dropped the Championship plate. "Now it falls on my toe – this plate just does not like me," Vertonghen said.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: Throughout the 2011–12 season, Vertonghen was linked with English club Tottenham Hotspur and publicly expressed his desire to make the move to White Hart Lane ahead of numerous other teams. A key factor in this was his desire to play as a centre-back, with Arsenal wanting to use him as a defensive midfielder. On 8 July 2012, Tottenham agreed a fee and terms for Vertonghen subject to a medical. On 12 July, Tottenham announced that they had officially completed the signing of Vertonghen, for an amount around 12 million Euros, after he successfully completed his medical. Vertonghen took part in his first game as a Tottenham player in a 3–2 friendly win against Brentford on 14 July, then later scored his first goal for the club on 26 September in a 3–0 win against Carlisle United in the third round of the Football League Cup.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: Vertonghen scored his first Premier League goal against Manchester United in a historic 2–3 win at Old Trafford, although this was later ruled to be an own goal by Jonny Evans. He scored in the league for Tottenham on 16 December, the only goal of the game, in a win at White Hart Lane against Swansea City. Vertonghen then scored a brace in a losing effort against Liverpool on 10 March. He was named Premier League Player of the Month for March 2013, making himself the second Belgian and the 12th Spurs player to win the award. On 11 April 2013, Vertonghen was sent-off against Basel during Tottenham's Europa League quarter-final second leg. Tottenham went on to lose the tie 4–1 on penalties after a 4–4 draw on aggregate. Vertonghen was named in the 2012–13 PFA Team of the Year, alongside Rio Ferdinand, Leighton Baines and Pablo Zabaleta in defence.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: During a League Cup match with Aston Villa in September, Villa striker Nicklas Helenius gained notoriety when Vertonghen pulled down his shorts while he shot on goal, which revealed his briefs. After an incident the following game with Chelsea which got Fernando Torres sent off, Chelsea coach José Mourinho thought that Vertonghen should not have been playing because of the Helenius incident which he said that Vertonghen left the striker "naked".


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: At the start of the 2014–15 season, Vertonghen appeared to be out of favour with new manager Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentine gave Vertonghen limited games, preferring Younès Kaboul and Federico Fazio. However, Kaboul lost his place to Vertonghen, who formed an effective partnership with Fazio. Together, the pair, over the span of 15 games, celebrated 11 wins and only suffered one loss. Vertonghen helped Spurs to reach the 2015 League Cup Final and started the game on 1 March 2015, but Tottenham lost to rival club Chelsea at Wembley Stadium 2–0.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: Vertonghen was joined in defence by former Ajax teammate and compatriot Alderweireld at the start of the 2015–16 season. Over the first ten games of the season, Vertonghen and Alderweireld played ten out of the opening ten games together, with Spurs suffering only one loss during the span. In late January 2016, he damaged his medial knee-ligament and did not play for 11 weeks. He returned in the home match against Manchester United on 10 April 2016, which finished in a 3–0 win, the first home league win for Tottenham against Manchester United since 2001. His partnership with Alderweireld in the defence was recognised as being crucial for the club which had the joint-lowest number of goals conceded in the Premier League that season.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: On 2 December 2016, Vertonghen signed a new contract with Tottenham until 2019. However, in mid January 2017, Vertonghen suffered an ankle ligament injury that would see him out of action for five weeks. He returned to the team on 19 February in the fifth round FA Cup match against Fulham at Craven Cottage. This season, Vertonghen was part of the Tottenham defence that achieved the best defensive record for the club, with only 26 goals conceded in the Premier League (and only 9 conceded in home league games), 6 better than the previous record of 32 conceded that was set in the 1908–09 season in the Second Division. He was considered then one of the best defenders in the Premier League.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: On 7 January 2018, Vertonghen scored his first goal for the club since October 2013, a 30-yard strike in the 3–0 win over Wimbledon in the third round of the 2017–18 FA Cup. This season, he made 36 appearances out of the 38 Premier League games, as well six in the UEFA Champions League, and five in the cups.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: In the opening game of the 2018–19 season against Newcastle United, Vertonghen scored Tottenham's first goal of the season 8 minutes into the game, helping the team to a 2–1 win. However, he suffered a hamstring injury in the game against Huddersfield on 29 September, and was out for two months, returning to the starting lineup in the Champions League game against Inter Milan in late November. His contract with Tottenham was extended to 2020 in December 2018. In the last 16 round home game against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, Vertonghen played in the less familiar position of left wing back, scoring one goal and providing one assist in a game that finished 3–0. He received wide praise for his performance in this game, and he was named the Champions League Player of the Week by UEFA.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: In the match against Ajax in the semifinal of the Champions League, he suffered a head injury after clashing his head with Toby Alderweireld. He returned to play in the leg in Amsterdam wearing a protective mask, and helped the team to a dramatic win against Ajax that sent Tottenham to their first Champions League final. Vertonghen later revealed that the collision left him with symptoms of concussion such as dizziness and headaches for nine months afterwards, which affected his performance in the following and final season with Tottenham.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: In the 2019–20 season, Vertonghen scored a late goal also as the winning goal, his first of the season, in the away game against Wolverhampton Wanderers to snatch a 2–1 win. On 26 December 2019, he made his 300th Tottenham appearance in a 2–1 home comeback win over Brighton & Hove Albion. Vertonghen's contract was originally set to expire on 30 June 2020, but was extended to the end of the 2019–20 campaign due to the stoppage related to COVID-19. He became a free agent after the club's last game of the season against Crystal Palace. Vertonghen did not appear in the match.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: On 14 August 2020, Benfica announced the signing of the 33-year old on a three-year deal. He made his debut on 15 September away to Greece's PAOK FC in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, a 2–1 loss in a one-leg match where he scored an own goal. Three days later he played for the first time in the Primeira Liga, a 5–1 win at F.C. Famalicão in the season opener. On 3 December 2020, Vertonghen scored his first goal for Benfica in a home match against Lech Poznan in the group stage of the Europa League.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: On 2 September 2022, Vertonghen signed with Belgian club Anderlecht on a free transfer, after he and Benfica agreed to the termination of his contract.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: Vertonghen made his international debut at the under-21 level in 2006 and played in the 2007 UEFA U21 Championships.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: On 2 June 2007, he made his senior debut for the national team in a 2–1 home loss against Portugal in UEFA Euro 2008 qualification. At the end of the game he was fouled by substitute striker Hugo Almeida, who was sent off. Vertonghen was also selected for the 2008 Olympics and played in every match as the Belgians unexpectedly took fourth place.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: In the 2010 World Cup qualifying, he began to establish himself as a regular, initially at centre-back as former Ajax teammate Thomas Vermaelen's partner. He scored the opening goal, also his first ever international goal, in an August 2009 friendly against the Czech Republic that ended in a 3–1 loss. On 7 September 2009, in a World Cup qualifying away match against Spain, he injured his toe and had to be stretchered off and substituted in the 29th minute. The match ended bad as well; a 5–0 loss. Now he usually plays as leftback as Vermaelen and Vincent Kompany are the preferred pairing in central defence. He was back in the starting eleven for the friendly against Hungary, a 3–0 win and the 1–0 loss to Croatia the following March.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: On 13 May 2014, Vertonghen was named in Belgium's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In the team's opening match against Algeria, the African side was awarded a penalty after Vertonghen pulled down Sofiane Feghouli and received a yellow card. Feghouli scored for Algeria from the penalty spot, but Belgium came back to win 2–1. He was then replaced by Thomas Vermaelen in the starting line-up for the second match against Russia on 22 June. After 31 minutes, however, Vermaelen was taken off with an injury and replaced by Vertonghen. In the final group match, Vertonghen captained the team and scored the winning goal as Belgium beat South Korea 1–0.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: Early in the 2014–15 season, Vertonghen knocked a child unconscious with a misplaced shot during a training session with the Belgian squad. In 2016, he injured two ligaments in his ankle in an accident while training before the quarter-final against Wales during UEFA Euro 2016, and as a result missed the match that Belgium lost.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: Eleven years to the day on from his international début, against the same opposition (Portugal) Vertonghen won his 100th cap (the first in Belgian history), which was presented to him by his mother.


title: Jan Vertonghen

text: At the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, Vertonghen initiated the scoring in Belgium's second-half comeback from a 0–2 deficit against Japan, heading from 20 yards out to the far post in a 3–2 comeback victory.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: Johnny English Reborn is a 2011 spy action comedy film directed by Oliver Parker and written by Hamish McColl from a story by William Davies. A sequel to "Johnny English" (2003) and the second instalment in the "Johnny English" series, it is a British-American venture produced by StudioCanal, Relativity Media and Working Title Films, and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film stars Rowan Atkinson (reprising his role as the title character) alongside Gillian Anderson, Dominic West, Rosamund Pike, Daniel Kaluuya and Richard Schiff as new characters.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: Much like its predecessor, the film parodies the James Bond film series and clichés of the spy genre and marks Atkinson and Tim McInnerny's second collaboration after the series "Blackadder". "Johnny English Reborn" was met with mixed reviews but has grossed a total of $160 million worldwide.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: It was later released in North America on 21 October 2011. A sequel to the film, "Johnny English Strikes Again" was released in October 2018.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: Eight years after the events of the first film, Johnny English has been training at a monastery in Tibet to recover from the shame of a failed mission to protect the newly elected president in Mozambique, which cost him his knighthood. Called back into service by MI7 under new director Pamela "Pegasus" Thornton, English must investigate an assassination plot of the Chinese Premier during talks with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He meets fellow agent Simon Ambrose, MI7's quartermaster Patch Quartermain, and junior agent Colin Tucker, assigned to be his assistant.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: In Hong Kong, English finds former CIA agent Titus Fisher, a member of Vortex, the group responsible for sabotaging English's Mozambique mission. Vortex holds a secret weapon unlocked by three keys, held by himself and two others. Fisher is killed by an elderly assassin disguised as a cleaner, and an accomplice steals his key. English chases the thief and recovers the key, only to have it taken by a faux flight attendant en route to London. He is humiliated in a meeting with the Foreign Secretary and Pegasus when he attempts to present the key and the conspiracy. He compounds his disgrace by mistakenly attacking Pegasus’s mother twice at a children's party after encountering the Killer Cleaner.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: Kate Sumner, MI7's resident behavioral psychologist, uses hypnosis to help English recall his suppressed memory of the Mozambique incident, revealing that another Vortex operative, former Russian KGB and renegade MI7 associate spy Artem Karlenko, is posing as millionaire Sergei Pudovkin. English and Tucker meet Karlenko at a golf course outside London, but the Killer Cleaner critically injures him during their game. English and Tucker bring Karlenko to a hospital by helicopter, but he dies after revealing the third key is held by a mole in MI7.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: Over dinner, English confides with Ambrose about the mole, and Ambrose tells him he suspects Quartermain. In the restaurant's toilets, Tucker confronts Ambrose about him being the traitor, but English naively dismisses Tucker, letting Ambrose go with Karlenko's key. English confronts Quartermain at a church, but realizes that he has been framed as the third Vortex member. Chased by MI7 agents, English manages to escape to Sumner's flat, after stealing Quartermain's heavily modified wheelchair.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: Reviewing footage of the Mozambique mission, Sumner sees that the assassin was manipulated by a supposedly-destroyed mind control drug, Timoxeline Barbebutenol. Ambrose comes to pick her up, and English realizes that he is the mole and third member of Vortex. Evading the Killer Cleaner by jumping down a garbage chute, English goes to the apartment where Tucker lives with his mother; English apologizes to Tucker and persuades him to join in infiltrating Le Bastion, a nigh-impregnable fortress in the Swiss Alps where the talks are to be held.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: At the fortress, English accidentally activates a distress beacon, alerting the guards to their presence. He commands Tucker to knock him out and put him inside a body bag, so that they will be taken into the fortress. Inside, English manages to escape the body bag and warns Pegasus of the threat, but accidentally consumes a drink spiked with the drug, and subdues Pegasus on Ambrose's command.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: Assigning English as the Prime Minister's bodyguard in place of Pegasus, Ambrose orders him to assassinate the Chinese Premier using a pistol disguised as lipstick, initially designed for Pegasus; thanks to his monastic training, English tries to resist the drug. Tucker interrupts Ambrose's communication feed with music before Ambrose resets it, exposing himself as the traitor. English resists again and shoots Ambrose, who escapes, while the drug enters its lethal stage and English loses consciousness.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: Sumner arrives and revives English with a passionate kiss. English pursues Ambrose down the mountainside, and they engage in a fistfight in a cable car. English overpowers Ambrose, but falls out of the carriage. Ambrose shoots at him, who tries to use his spy umbrella as a bulletproof shield, which is actually a missile launcher when he closes it. The missile destroys the carriage, killing Ambrose.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: Vortex is shut down and English has his knighthood reinstated by Her Majesty the Queen. During the ceremony, the Killer Cleaner, disguised as the Queen, attacks English with the knighting sword before fleeing, leading English to restrain the real Queen. He only realises his mistake when the assassin is caught by the royal guards and police.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: During the credits, English prepares dinner for Sumner to the tune of "In the Hall of the Mountain King".


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: Additionally, Atkinson's daughter Lily has a cameo appearance in the film as the girl who gets her helmet stolen by English. Joséphine de La Baume plays Madeleine, a deceivingly charming member of Vortex, responsible for luring English off his post in Mozambique. Williams Belle as Ling, a Vietnamese henchman working for Vortex, who works with the killer cleaner. Benedict Wong portrays Chi Han Ly, a Chinese official conspiring with Simon to take out Xiang Ping. Paul Che and Courtney Wu appear as Chinese men in spectacles. Rupert Vansittart, who had previously appeared with Atkinson in several episodes of "Mr. Bean", appears as a rich yacht owner.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: Miles Jupp cameos as a technician in Patch's lab. Ben Miller reprised his role of Angus Bough from the previous film in one scene, but was cut from the final film. He would later reprise his role as Bough in "Johnny English Strikes Again"


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: On 28 March 2007, Atkinson confirmed on "Richard & Judy" that a script for a second film was being worked on. In an interview for "Mr. Bean's Holiday", Atkinson also stated that there was quite a moderate chance for a sequel. On 8 April 2010, Universal Pictures announced that they were producing a sequel to "Johnny English", taking place seven years following the first film.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: In June 2010, it was announced that Daniel Kaluuya had been added to the cast. In July 2010, Ben Miller, who featured as the sidekick 'Bough' in "Johnny English", said he had not been approached to reprise his role. On 10 July 2010, "Deadline Hollywood" reported that Gillian Anderson would be playing a MI7 secret agent named Pamela Head.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: Filming began on 11 September 2010, in Central London at Cannon Street, with further production scheduled for the week beginning 13 September 2010, at Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire and later in Hawley Woods in Hampshire, Macau and Hong Kong.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: Filming took place on The Mall, London in Central London on 25 September 2010. Filming also took place in Kent, along the A299 carriageway and Cliffs End, Ramsgate. The "Johnny English Theme" song from the original film is used four times in the score. Ben Miller, who played Bough in the previous movie, appeared, but his scenes were cut from the final film.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: The car that Johnny English drives was a Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupé with an experimental 9.0 litre V16 engine. There are only a few of these engines in existence, produced during tests for the Phantom Coupé, and they were not used in production models. For the production of the film, Atkinson approached the company and requested that they install one into a car, making the vehicle seen in the film unique.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: "Johnny English Reborn" was originally going to be released on 29 July 2011. The film was then pushed back to 16 September 2011, however, it was delayed again; this time to 7 October 2011.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: "Johnny English Reborn" was released on DVD and Blu-ray combo pack featuring the first film on 14 February 2012 in the United Kingdom, and on 28 February 2012 in North America.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: "Johnny English Reborn" opened to an estimated $3,833,300 in its first weekend in United States and Canada. In the United Kingdom, it grossed $7,727,025, $2,628,344 in Australia, and $3,391,190 in Germany. After five weeks in release, it grossed $8,305,970 in the United States and Canada and $151,772,616 elsewhere, bringing to a total of $160,078,586.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: Much like its predecessor, the film received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 38% of 91 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 4.81/10. The website's consensus is "Arguably a marginal improvement on its mostly forgotten predecessor, "Johnny English Reborn" nonetheless remains mired in broad, tired spy spoofing that wastes Rowan Atkinson's once considerable comedic talent". Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 46 out of 100 based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a "B" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: On the Australian television programme "At the Movies", Margaret Pomeranz rated the film 3 stars and David Stratton rated the film 2 stars (out of 5). Indian film critic Nikhat Kazmi of the "Times of India" gave the film a positive review praising Atkinson's characteristic flair for comedy once again, giving it a 4 star rating out of 5.


title: Johnny English Reborn

text: In May 2017, it was announced that pre-production had begun on a third film, which was released on 5 October 2018.