 The Challengers Custom Turbine (Aqua)
Commemorative Limited Edition
Johnny Lightning The Challengers
Item No.: Item: 100-122 Model: 115
Manufacturer: Playing Mantis
Includes: Silver Plastic Limited Edition Coin, #12,530
Action Feature: Rolls
Retail: $2.99
Availability: ca. 1995
Other: Available in many other colors
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When I was a little kid, it seemed almost unthinkable that you could find a 20 or 30 year old toy for its retail price. There weren't many adult toy hoarders back then. The Johnny Lightning Custom Turbine (Aqua) a car that cost around $3 in 1995, and as I write this I just picked it up in an antique mall for $3 in 2025.
The original toy was from 1969, meaning this toy was reproduction of a model that was 26 years old when it came out. Depending on how old you are, that may sound like either an eternity or not all that long ago. It'd be like a toy from 1999 today - so, Hasbro's Star Wars Episode I line, which is coincidentally largely pretty worthless today. I love getting cheap toys - because they're not bad toys. It's just that Johnny Lightning doesn't hold a candle to the popularity juggernaut that was and is Hot Wheels, so you and I can get this bubble topped jet-engined car for peanuts.
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The original versions of this car come in multuple colors, some even have that turbine engine painted silver. The reissues do not. This particular one has a white interior with aqua blue everywhere else on the chassis, with an unpainted metal base. The clear window is, of course, plastic, as are the wheels - but everything else is metal. This makes it heavier than a typical Hot Wheels or Matchbox car of the 1990s (or today), which certainly impresses when compared to the $1.25 cars at the grocery stores.
Because America has developed an allergy to colors that aren't black, white, gray, or dark blue, bright colors like this are only seen on old cars or maybe, if you're lucky, some toys. It's a nice clean paint job without any real flaws or flaking, which is nice for a toy of any age. A packaged toy should stay nice for years to come - die-cast metal cars in particular are usually perfect for a very long time - and other than a couple of quirks on the clear bubble? It's perfect.
You get a plastic coin with a sticker on it, and that's pretty much it. This is a deluxe product that is arguably better than the deluxe car toys of today, in that it's kind of weird, decidedly retro, and has a nice heft to it. Given that it's basically worthless, you should see if you can find one. It's not amazing - the paint job isn't as fancy or detailed as a lot of modern toys - but gosh darn it it's imaginative. I want more things like this.
--Adam Pawlus
Additional Images
See more Playing Mantis figures in Figure of the Day:
Day 2,722: Playing Mantis Johnny Lightning The Challengers Nucleon (Yellow)
Day 2,730: Playing Mantis Johnny Lightning The Challengers Bug Bomb (Pink)
Day 2,832: Playing Mantis Johnny Lightning The Challengers Movin' Van (Green)
Day 2,841: Playing Mantis Johnny Lightning The Challengers Custom Turbine (Aqua)
See more Johnny Lightning figures in Figure of the Day:
Day 2,722: Playing Mantis Johnny Lightning The Challengers Nucleon (Yellow)
Day 2,730: Playing Mantis Johnny Lightning The Challengers Bug Bomb (Pink)
Day 2,832: Playing Mantis Johnny Lightning The Challengers Movin' Van (Green)
Day 2,841: Playing Mantis Johnny Lightning The Challengers Custom Turbine (Aqua)
