Unfortunately there is not much to report about the Matchbox display at
Nuremberg Toyfair 2008. Not only was Matchbox severely overshadowed by Mattel's
other brand, Hot Wheels, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, but
once again Mattel did not bother to show any samples of forthcoming items to be
issued later this year. The only items on display were ones which are already
available in the stores, at least in the USA.
As I did not manage to talk to anybody who might have been able to provide
some insight into Mattel's plans for the Matchbox brand, all I can do is give a
brief summary of what was shown:
The basic Miniatures range models shown included some examples from 2008
batch B in short blister packs, which indicates that those will probably show up
in central European stores pretty soon. This way I got my first glimpse of the
new Citroën DS casting in real life. However, there was nothing newer than that;
even the batch C models which are already available in the USA were not
featured.
The display included the current Stars of Cars and Best of British ranges,
some recent five packs, three packs and ten packs, Battle Kings and Pop Up
play sets of various sizes as well as Skybusters in single packs and four packs.
Also two examples of the new "Playalong" assortment were shown: "Junkyard
Giants" and "Construction Kings". Those feature DVDs packed with two exclusively
coloured Miniatures each.
That was all as far as die cast is concerned. No signs of Convoy, Hitch 'n' Haul,
Superfast or any of the "collectible" ranges such as Models of Yesteryear and
Dinky which seem to have disappeared for good. As usual the largest portion of
the Matchbox stall was devoted to large, ugly plastic items such as Mega-Rigs,
trucks and Strike Squad airplanes, which do not interest me at all.
 |
However, there is one more aspect worth mentioning, for in conjunction with
the Hot Wheels anniversary a special display of vintage items was featured. That
display comprised four showcases of Hot Wheels from the 1970s and 1980s,
including some pocket catalogs, plus - surprisingly - two showcases of vintage
Matchbox, mostly boxed Miniatures from the late 1960s up to the late 1990s. As
far as I can remember, that is a first for the Mattel stall at Nuremberg. |
However, there is one more aspect worth mentioning, for in conjunction with
the Hot Wheels anniversary a special display of vintage items was featured. That
display comprised four showcases of Hot Wheels from the 1970s and 1980s,
including some pocket catalogs, plus - surprisingly - two showcases of vintage
Matchbox, mostly boxed Miniatures from the late 1960s up to the late 1990s. As
far as I can remember, that is a first for the Mattel stall at Nuremberg.
Finally, I want to mention that a different item of interest to Matchbox
collectors was to be seen in an entirely different section of the fair, at the
Corgi stall: a gold plated (ex-Lledo) Days Gone Model T Ford Van commemorating
Jack Odell who had passed away last year. The model comes packed in a box which
is an enlarged copy of the original "Norvic" matchbox design which served as the
inspiration for the very first Matchbox series 1-75 boxes. It features a picture
of Jack Odell and a few sentences outlining his significance in the history of
die cast, even including the Matchbox brand name.
As Corgi is the present owner of the Lledo brand founded by Jack Odell, it is
perhaps logical that this item has been produced by Corgi; but I would have
liked to see something similar coming from Mattel.
|
