​Hot Wheels Barbie Die-Cast Pink Corvette in 1:64 Scale, Toy Car Modelled on the Corvette in Barbie The Movie with Film-Themed Packaging, HPR54

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The life-sized car features rainbow-colored five-spoke rims, a holographic glittery finish and synthetic fuzz on the seat headrests. COLLIDER: Phil, I find the concept of Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge so fascinating because it really flips the script on a lot of similar challenge shows. In 2021, she launched “Starbucks Lovers: A Taylor Swift Podcast” which allows her to geek out about her love for Taylor Swift and music. How do you make that something that resonates with as broad of an audience as possible, with kids and adults? We also had a phenomenal casting group there that really identified Disney Channel, beyond what I was able to do there.

I mean, that with the whole dance floor [laughs], it had so many elements that you're just like– It just blew me away. So, I know it doesn't quite answer your question, but at the same time, it's like sometimes they're so filled with talent that this is the seed that grows on the ground, and then they just become the giant oak, you know?You can often find her reviewing indie films like Next Exit and A Wounded Fawn, in addition to foreign language titles like All Quiet on the Western Front, The Movie Teller, and She Is Conann. A life-sized version based on the Fiat 500e debuted at the 2021 Los Angeles Auto Show, unveiled and presented by Ted Wu; this life-size version of the car was largely hand-built and is fully-functional. Then maybe a bit of an Easter egg, if you look closely at sort of the backdrop, as well, you'll notice that there's a cutout. To see it sort of mirrored back with this show, so pronounced, where these people are coming in, and they've got a story, like, “This is my childhood car, this is the car that I rode in with my dad,” or, “This is the car that…” You know, that piece was so rewarding and fun to see in every episode so far because it just resonated with us as car folks. Wow, that justifies blending these two brands together, bringing them in a much bigger package,” then that's gonna obviously be the idea that we go for.

Phil Breman and Ted Wu speak about how Mattel and Hot Wheels are continuing to evolve, and how the live-action television series are looking to capture nostalgia in smart, fun ways. That was what sort of set the brand apart because there were other toy car brands out there at the time, but that's what made Hot Wheels Hot Wheels.Ahead of Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge's season finale, Collider had the opportunity to chat with Mattel's Vice President of Design for Hot Wheels, Ted Wu, and their Head of Live-Action, Phil Breman, about a wide range of topics. You have this really rich history of involvement in a lot of childhood memories, both at Mattel now, but also at Disney, developing shows. It was a lot of kind of figuring out which direction was the right way to take this particular brand and this particular concept.