The Tyco Air Rebound is a radio controlled car manufactured by Mattel under their Tyco RC brand, and released into the US, UK, and other markets worldwide in 2002.
Context and History
The original Taiyo Rebound (Japan/Other) and Tyco Rebound (Europe) was released in 1994, followed by the 1996 Tyco Rebound US release and was an immediate smash hit in these countries, thanks to its simple, fun, and addictive nature and near indestructibility.
Yet by the time Air Rebound was released in 2002, the toy landscape in the US and Japan was very different.
Tyco had been purchased by Mattel in 1997, and while it was still operating out of Mount Laurel, it was a shadow of its former self. And Taiyo, who had manufactured 99% of all Tyco R/C since the early 1980s was in a similar state, struggling to find relevancy in a new world where video games dominated kids entertainment.
Taiyo and Tyco's focus throughout the 1980s and 1990 on realistic and often licensed vehicles had long ended, and now it was simply trying to create the wildest most attention grabbing toy that would capture the minds of children, at least for a few moments, away from Nintendo, Sony, and Sega.
Design and Concept
As with most Tyco R/C of this era, this was a gimmick-car, a toy with a single unique and interesting design concept that made people immediately interested. Whether it ultimately delivered on the promise was another question, however thankfully in the case of the Air Rebound, it seems like it did deliver.
A successor to Tyco's 1996 Tyco Rebound, and 1999 Tyco Super Rebound, the 2002 Tyco Air Rebound kept the two rear wheels, but replaced the two fronts with a single extra-oversize pneumatic green monster!
Features and Performance
The trike was shipped an inflation needle, but you'd need to supply your own pump. Any bicycle pump, or basketball pump would work to inflate the massively oversized and extra bouncy large green tire, while the rear wheels were standard from the previous 1999 Tyco Super Rebound.
Under-inflating or over-inflating would modify the performance of the vehicle, though it's greatest benefit was the fact you essentially had a massive rubber balloon as a bumper, and so running into virtually anything (so long as it wasn't sharp) would result in you bowling it over, or rebounding in hilarious fashion, a feature they really played up in the TV commercial (shown further down this page).
The Air Rebound shipped in two versions, the Orange/Purple 27Mhz, and Black 49Mhz.
Did Tyco / Mattel actually design this?
It is possible that Tyco/Mattel did not design this at all, and simply re-badged a toy that was created entirely in China, or at least by a 3rd party who then had a Chinese factory contract. While it's true all their other R/C cars were manufactured by 3rd parties (mostly Taiyo), they owned a major stake in Taiyo and had both copyright and ownership for the design.
However the situation with the Air Rebound seems different, as we continue to see many "clones" of the Air Rebound even now, 20 years later. And these aren't just "inspired" by the Air Rebound, they are literally named Air Rebound, and have the overall design characteristic of the same product, with a front pneumatic tire and two rear regular tires, included inflation nozzle, etc.
So how did this happen, and why didn't it happen for other Tyco R/C models? I'd speculate this is a direct result of Tyco / Taiyo shutting down the trusted Singapore manufacturing hub where the bulk of Tyco RC cars were made from the 80s-90s, moving it all to China where they had less control, and worse, with the sale and eventual closure of Taiyo Japan they no longer had all the skilled designers and engineers, so they'd become reliant on 3rd party designs which would later revert back to the ownership of the 3rd party, who continued to evolve it and produce it their own way. That's why I think we still have so-called "Air Rebound" cars of a similar but modernized design from an unknown company being advertised as for sale online.
TV Commercial
The Tyco Air Rebound TV commercial. Wonderfully 90s.
Recommendation
There's no denying that the Tyco Air Rebound is an interesting design that deserves a look. But if you want an Air Rebound, should you get the original Tyco RC version, or one of the newer knock-offs?
Grab the original. Obviously! While the knock-off may have it beat with the modern 2.4Ghz radio gear and lithium battery, these are upgrades that any RC car geek can put together over a weekend, and ultimately won't make a world of difference unless you enjoy the original product as it was sold back in 2002.
