My Facebook feed has been overflowing with articles about the 10th Anniversary of the debut of Breaking Bad. I have read every single one of them.
I, like so many others, was mesmerized by the show. For so many reasons, from the amazing writing to acting to cinematography to intensity. It was event from the day it debuted. I loved it. Among the many reasons I was obsessed was its location. I indirectly associated the show with Matchbox, since every year I would visit the city for the Matchbox Convention. I was familiar with many of the locations seen on the show, and in 2010 ventured away from the hotel to find Walter White’s house, which I was surprised to learn was only a few blocks away.
So all of that comes together wonderfully with this:
Most of you know why this is significant. If you don’t, I will show this pic:
That is the Jeep Wagoneer of Walter White’s wife Skyler. Cars ended up playing a significant roll in the show, and outside of Walter’s Pontiac Aztec and maybe Jesse Pinkman’s Toyota Tercel. And because I highly doubt an Aztec or Tercel is in the Matchbox pipeline, I am very happy with this one.
I should mention here that this is not “officially” a Breaking Bad model. It is replica of a stock, wood-paneled red Wagoneer, a very common color. But one can’t help think of the White family driveway with pizza on the roof or twins down the street. Or one very frustrated wife.
For that, it is high on my must-have list for 2018. And even aside from the Breaking Bad connection, it is a must have. In fact, considering all the Jeeps Matchbox has done in the past, doing the Wagoneer is a no-brainer. So much in fact I am surprised it has taken this long. It’s a perfect Matchbox.
And it makes a perfect pair with Hot Wheels’ brilliant Wagoneer. The HW Wagoneer has been at the top of my “Underrated HW Premium Castings” list for awhile (we need to see this more), and I love it together with the Matchbox.
So, here is to wood-paneled classics in general, to good-looking Jeeps, and considering the anniversary, Matchbox’s wonderful unofficial tribute.
Nice casting. Does someone have any insight on what the delay for releasing 2018 mainline is? It is strangely odd that almost February, Matchbox hasn’t released case B (the real case A) yet. If you consider there are usually 13 cases per year, and the year cuts on Sept 30, there’s only 8 months left, not enough months per cases left… or maybe, and this a conspiracy theory, there will be less cases with no carry-overs, or barely carry-overs in each case and instead of going all the way to case m the will go to only J??? mmm… I’ll take that any day….
I’m with you on the distribution problem. I was wondering myself what the hell is taking so long since we should be on the B case at this point. And the A case is just random 2017 carryovers clogging Walmart and Target pegs! What’s the deal? Sure, John has mentioned Matchbox getting back to their roots but you can’t have any roots if you don’t have the new Matchbox to prove it! Hopefully within the next few weeks there will be something otherwise I’m paying all my attention to the blue brand.
Now that is a good looking model. Well done Matchbox! Thanks John for photographing it with the HW version. I love and own the HW version but I was never quite happy with the proportions. They always seemed a little off. This MB version looks spot on. Can’t wait to get it.
I think the only reason Matchbox didn’t make a Wagoneer before was because they wanted to do it this year, the 10th anniversary of Breaking Bad. Even if they didn’t, I am going to pretend they did. Breaking Bad is my favorite TV show (tied with Top Gear) and the Wagoneer, along with the Aztec, 300C, Monte Carlo and Tercel, is one of my favorite cars from the show.
Coming to the model itself, its beautiful. Proportions are accurate, wheels are good, paint is smooth and the colour scheme itself, the red with wood panel, is perfect. Even without any front or rear tampos, it still looks great. Going to try my best to acquire this one (especially since its a BB reference)
P.S. – I really wish Matchbox does a black 300C this year, as another tribute to Breaking Bad (I understand that making an Aztec or Tercel this year isn’t possible, so at least the Chrysler)
Nice jeep. It will be a nice comparison to the Johnny Lightning Jeep.
Awesome work by Matchbox. Can’t wait to add this to my collection. But am I alone in thinking the chrome towhook looks out of place? It’s huge and an unfortunate distraction from an otherwise excellent design. Hoping it’s less obvious in the flesh.
Agreed, a nice casting, great coloration.
There’s no doubt this looks like a fine casting with a great deco, but it just seems too small. I know there are size constraints, but as I mentioned in a previous post, it sucks when you can’t display certain models together because of the size differential. And as Bryan above said, the tow hook is way too prominent. I’m very conflicted over this one.