Greetings collectors...
June is here, my kids are out of school, and the countdown has begun to the 10th Annual Matchbox Collector's International Gathering of Friends on July 19-21 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Once again, members of the Matchbox Design and Marketing Teams will be there to hobnob with collectors and give us an idea of where the brand is headed for 2014. The exclusive models are done, and promise to be doozies this year. Those who are attending, plan on being the envy of many when you return with the exclusives.
There is a lot more in store, and event organizer Jim Gallegos has told me this will be the best event yet. I personally am looking forward to seeing many old friends there, and hope many new collectors can make it. It is not too late to sign up and attend, just check out the info here. For those of you who can't attend, I promise to pass along a full Ambassador Report on the news and festivities. (And look for the first images of the exclusives here on the Lamley Blog as well.)
Moving on, who here has seen the new Fast & Furious 6? Many of you are aware that Matchbox's blue friends across the hall are doing some very popular Fast & Furious models to help promote the movie. Well after seeing this, it looks like Matchbox UNOFFICIALLY and inadvertently has done a Fast & Furious model of their own. The Rock's character zips around London in an International MXT-MVA, just like the one Matchbox is introducing to the basic range this year, which we previewed earlier:
So no, this is not a Fast & Furious promotion, but not bad timing. We should see this model very soon...
Now let's get on with the sneak peeks, courtesy of Mattel.
We have one new model to show this week. Say hello to the MB895 Road Raider, Matchbox's newest police vehicle. This model, Matchbox's own creation, was done to compliment the recent SWAT Truck. And you may notice two members of the Road Raider Police Force in the back of the truck. Yes, that's Rover and Spot in the back, hitching a ride to their next assignment:
Next up, one of my personal favorite Matchbox castings. I have always been a fan of the Audi R8, and am very happy to see this model return to the range. The licensors at Audi are, appropriately, sticklers on what the R8 looks like in miniature, especially in regards to the side blades. They would like to see the blades highlighted, which can complicate things for the normal deco process on the Matchbox basic version. So it was a bit of a surprise to see it back, as the team has figured out a way to get the blades printed along with the front detailing. This version comes in blue, like the 10-pack version from a few years ago, with the much better looking 5-spoke wheels:
Lastly, the ever-popular Desert Thunder V16. At last count, there are over 30 different versions of the Desert Thunder since its debut in 2007. If you count wheel and deco variations it goes much higher. So let's add another, and to be honest this has to be one of its better looking versions. A seriously cool deco, no matter what you might think of the model:
That is it for this week. Seven more weekly updates before I relinquish my duties as Ambassador. I will try to make all seven count. Next week's will not disappoint, as an ultimate driving machine plans on making an appearance.
Until then...
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