It's not Valentine's day in Brazil...

"BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion" (pbs) 02/14/2014 at 19:26 • Filed to: Diecast, Rant

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So let's rant about Matchbox. Yeah, Matchbox. I've been meaning to since I got back from Uruguay, on Monday, but I kinda got lazy and then I forgot, so whatever, might as well do it now.

Anyways, Matchbox has been out of the Brazilian market since... A long time. When did the Citroën DS first come out? 2006? Because it's been about that long since I last saw a new Matchbox car around here and the few comments I read about the brand have been anything but positive. I went to Uruguay a week ago though, and I knew I had two things to do; eat as much uruguayan food as possible (best gaucho food in the world, by far and wide) and buy Matchbox cars, and here's what I bought:

It's a 1971 Firebird Formula 400 from 2012 (I think). I got the picture from the Internet, but mine is just like this, and it's not too different from the 73 Firebird Trans Am Hot Wheels released in the same year:

Both models are very similar, but also done in very different styles, so which one is the coolest one? Objectively speaking, it would be the Hot Wheels version. The large wheels, aggresive stance and exagerated bodylines suggest that, but the one that most catches the eye, or at least my eye, is the comparatively drab Matchbox Bird. I don't really know why, it just looks much more authentic. The stance, the wheels, the body lines, they look far better here than in the Hot Wheels version and make the Matchbox version actually seem like a miniature toy car, as opposed to a toy car that's far too stylized to be a miniature of something real. The Matchbox version is, without a doubt, much better as a scale model, and yet, those negative comments about Matchbox I mentioned earlier are far from wrong.

This blue Firebird is one of three cars I bought in Uruguay, and not because I was short on money, but because Matchbox was short on cars. For each one of the three cars I bought (71 Firebird, 69 Camaro, Aston Martin DBS Volante) there were a dozen generic, plasticky construction and off road vehicles in high impact colors.

And looking through the recent reports and sneaks, it seems there are more of these on the way. What the hell is Mattel doing? Why are they focusing so much on this stuff nobody wants when people are actually complaining about them and leaving them behind on the pegs? I mean, I know there are people out there who are into these behicles, me included, but these aren't even decent construction vehicles! They even have an entire series for that! It's called Real Working Rigs!

Rumor has it that they already transferred their best designers and license contracts over to HW (hence the Matchboxification of the Hot Wheels lineup), but this is getting ridiculous. I mean Matchbox makes the best models, so they get less cars and manpower to make them, yeah, that's some sound reasoning. The funny part is that, according to a few diecast sites, Mattel has again reported losses from Matchbox, and they have no idea why.

Here, let me help you Mattel. People want more of this:

Not this:

Is it really that difficult?

ki-ki-ki-kia > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 02/14/2014 at 19:30

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This! I need this!

ki-ki-ki-kia > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 02/14/2014 at 19:31

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This! I need this!!!

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > ki-ki-ki-kia 02/14/2014 at 19:31

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See? You just proved my point, haha!

Frosted > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 02/14/2014 at 19:35

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I've always preferred Matchbox. When I was a kid, Hot Wheels was pretty solid on being fictional cars based on real cars whereas Matchbox was a mini model of the real car. I've just ordered 2 new matchbox cars (a Volvo P1800 and 744) because hot wheels just doesn't make them. I dunno what's up lately with all the more real-styled cars HW has been putting out though.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > Frosted 02/14/2014 at 19:41

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It's the Matchbox designers that Mattel reassigned to Hot Wheels, Ryu Asada and company. They're most in charge of "modern" cars, though, as opposed to the Muscle Cars, which is why you have a Civic EF that looks like it came straight out of an orange card:

And a 68 Camaro that doesn't:

And it's not just the paint either, the oversized wheels and overblown proportions and body lines just look off next to the more realistic stuff like that Civic.

Victorious Secret > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 02/14/2014 at 19:41

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IHateAmericanCars, is that you?

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > Victorious Secret 02/14/2014 at 19:42

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Who? I actually love American Cars...

To be fair though, I actually marked this as a rant, or at least I tried, it doesn't seem to have worked. Plus, my point isn't that Matchbox is better than Hot Wheels, but rather that Matchbox with licensed cars is better than Matchbox with generic vehicles, which is what Mattel is focusing on these days, failing, and then complaining that Matchbox is losing money.

Takuro Spirit > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 02/14/2014 at 20:08

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I've noticed this as well. Hotwheels is banging out some AWESOME authentic cars lately, and on the Matchbox side of the aisle, it's all construction and fantasy trucks in day glo colors.

PushToStart > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 02/14/2014 at 20:47

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I don't prefer either over the other one, per se, I just get what is there that appeals to me, which is the real cars, not some painted up tuner thing or crazy, fake hot rod. The reason I have so few Matchbox is because there's hardly any in the stores around me. For every 20 hotwheels on the shelf, they might have 1 matchbox, it's ridiculous. And those matchboxes, as someone else pointed out, are just construction equipment or trucks, they don't have the good stuff that they used to have.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > PushToStart 02/14/2014 at 20:51

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Exactly, I like both brands as well, even though I personally prefer Matchbox's more realistic style, but when they left Brazil years ago, most of the cars on the pegs were fully licensed and very well made vehicles, now, I was lucky to find three cars among an avalanche of unlicensed construction equipment and two licensed trucks that had way more graphics than they should.

I hate to jump on the bandwagon that assumes that Mattel is killing Matchbox in favor of Hot Wheels, but that's kind of what it looks like...

ki-ki-ki-kia > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 02/14/2014 at 21:06

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I live in america though so it might be easier to find... not sure

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > ki-ki-ki-kia 02/14/2014 at 21:09

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Well, I'm not sure what year that wagon is from, but there should be plenty on eBay by now.

ki-ki-ki-kia > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 02/15/2014 at 21:24

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I found some. Both 2010 and 2011 and either red or beige