If you haven’t figured it out already, Mattel is a very large company.
There are a lot of things I am sure many of us can say about that, but for the sake of this article, we will focus on one aspect of that:
In a massive company like Mattel, many times the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. It is just something that happens.
And today’s example is the Matchbox Supreme Hero line. It wasn’t two weeks ago that our current Matchbox Ambassador Dirk Schleuer reported that the line had been cancelled, and that the final six models would not be produced. I got the same confirmation from my contacts at Mattel.
To back that up, I heard from a few licensors who were told the same thing. The Police, EMS, and Fire Departments that were to be featured on the model received communication from Mattel that the line was done.
That was until examples showed up at their departments. One department got the message on Friday saying the models were not being produced, and got the models the following Monday. The models were literally in transit when the message saying they didn’t exist was sent!
Well, that sent me and a couple of the actual licensors on a wild goose chase. We contacted departments and found out that all of them had models. So the next question was whether or not that meant more were produced and would hit retail.
Well it looks like that question is being answered. We have heard from a few hobby dealers that the models are available for ordering. Again, Mattel is a big company, and anyone will tell you that having the models available for ordering does not necessarily mean the order will be processed and the models sent. But a few have now appeared on ebay, so they are out there. You can see them here:
Now a word of caution. These may not show up in stores, although we will keep our eyes open at some, but they should be readily available among dealers. A bit of a frenzy has erupted on some listings, but it isn’t necessary. Ultimately, we will see where they actually end up.
I've emailed the current ambassador about this. Hopefully, he'll forward it to Mattel, and they can explain this.
Hopefully we'll see wider distribution of these at MSRP.
I saw all of them except the police car at Toys R Us yesterday. I'm in Indianapolis, IN
I'm not sure either hand knows what is going on.
And they couldn't even paint the front end of that International…that really sucks as the rest of it is nice.
Good to know!
Hopefully I will be able to get a Crown Vic then, hehe
I love the detail on these but I feel the standard wheels and tires are more realistic and appropriate for mos of the models in this collection. Why would a Crown Vic or Fire Truck have knobby off-road tires?