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Playing Mantis, founded in 1987 as Safe Care before its name change in 1994, was the parent company of several collectible toy and model companies that produced Star Trek-related pieces. The company was purchased in 2004 by Racing Champions, which at the time also owned AMT/Ertl. The new owner eliminated the brand names "Playing Mantis" and "Polar Lights" in 2005 and 2006 respectively, though the latter was revived a year later as their product line was sold to Round 2 LLC and later to Tomy.
Playing Mantis' subsidiaries are:
- Johnny Lightning, which make the "Legends of Star Trek" miniature ships and various lines of die-cast collectible cars;
- Polar Lights, makers of various scale model kits, including various Trek models (production of new kits was halted after its acquirement by Racing Champions and only restarted under the wings of Round 2}; and
- Memory Lane, makers of collectible figures based on the Peanuts comic strip and the animated Christmas special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
External link
- PlayingMantis.com - official web site
- Timeline of the Playing Mantis company