Lamley partner David Tilley discovered the newest batch of Matchbox Jurassic World models during his travels around the US this week. That is interesting news, but what is more interesting, and sad, is the change he discovered on the Toyota Land Cruiser. His write-up is below:
I found these at Walmart today.
The second batch of the singles. They are dated H21, and although listed, the Roar by Four was not with them. However, the Sahara Survivor was, but it is the exact same black one that appears in the Jungle 5-pack, so I left it behind. So there are officially 7 in batch B. Where the Roar by Four is, nobody knows yet.
Included in the batch are the MB825 MBX prospector (previously Road Tripper) in grey, MB921 Terrainiac in blue and black, MB899 Questor in tan and MB797 Baja Bullet in charcoal.
But I did see we have 2 new altered castings in the bunch.
The 1968 Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser is no longer MB764. It is now MB990. The interior has been extended out now to include the kickplate under the doors, extending over the front wheel arches and incorporating the front grille. That is quite a change, and makes the model notably light to handle. I always remembered it as quite a heavy model.
But the funniest one to me is the Scrambulance. This is not MB845; it is MB989. The difference? The small section between the 2 roof windows that were formed out of the body casting before has now also been included as part of the window casting. Before, the section was a part of the body and the window section created 2 square roof windows. We now have one longer rectangular section of window. I am not sure why, as both the window and body are made of plastic, so it has made no difference to the weight of the model. The only thing I can think of was maybe trying to slot the window section into the roof section was a little fiddly at the factory and they suggested the change to ease production of the vehicle. It is a very minor change.
Anyway, this does give us 2 more new number to pencil in on the MAN# list.
I also found the third and final Jurassic World 5-pack at Walmart:
It is simply known as Construction.
From what I heard, the makers of Jurassic World pointed out to Matchbox that there are no “desert” scenes in the film, and the “Desert” pack is now re-packaged as Island.
This pack contains the MB840 Water Hauler in grey and blue, MB884 Dump Dozer in yellow and grey, MB950 (the updated one with the plastic cab section) Tractor Plow in black and tan and MB737 Quarry King in tan.
But with them we get this. But no, it is not the MB399 1999 Chevy Silverado 4×4, but a brand new altered MB981 Chevy Silverado 4×4.
The difference is that the interior is now extended out to include the rear bed of the model.
So now we can pencil in another in the missing MAN# gaps.
I see a trend w/the Chevy P/U and the FJ… more plastic and less metal!
They should rename that thing from Toyota Land Cruiser to “MBX Diecast Bruiser”.
I thought the Land Cruiser looked bit different. I hope I run into one…… but I kinda doubt it.
Hey David, did you ever hear why Roar-By-Four never made it into the Jurassic World line?
It looks like it made it’s debut in the MBX Explorers line in 2015 and was manufactured right around the same time as the second wave of JW cars.
MB958 for reference
Thanks!