It’s been Jurassic Fever among the diecast folks this week. I have seen all kinds of posts and photos of Jurassic finds at all kinds of stores worldwide. It has been especially nice to see collectors in Matchbox-deprived areas, like the UK, finding these models.
My longtime Lamley partner David Tilley came across both the standard and Legacy sets at his local Smyths store in the UK, and wouldn’t you know it, discovered all kinds of variations. A wheel variation on the Mercedes GL, a color variation on the Fleetwood, and a very cool switcheroo on the Jeeps. I will let him work through all the details. Try to keep up.
Enjoy:
Jurassic Fun, by David Tilley
As the silent partner in Lamley, I don’t tend to post very much here. But occasionally something comes along that just warrants a mention from me. Case in point, Matchbox have just released some great Jurassic World models. In the US the standard series is available in multiple stores, but the Legacy Collection is a Target exclusive. In the UK both have so far appeared at Smyths toy stores, although with Asda UK following the Walmart direction, I have a feeling the Legacy Collection may be a Smyths exclusive in the UK.
We receive the standard Island Transport Team as well as the Legacy Collection Island Explorers set. Both sport a 5-pack and the models sold as singles as well. However, each 5-pack contains an exclusive design on one model.
In the standard set it is the MB1114 Armored Action Truck which is light grey with 05 and red design in single form, and dark grey with 12 and blue tampo in 5-pack form.
For the Legacy Collection the MB1125 Mercedes Benz MB320 is the model that sports 2 designs. In the 5-pack it is dull grey with smoke windows. In single pack it is army green with blue windows.
However, some eagle eyed people may have noticed that the green Mercedes ML320 I am showing has dark green wheels, yet the ones shown from USA have a pale green wheel. Wheel variation. This is how they have so far appeared in the UK. We may see the lighter green later, or USA may see the darker green. We will have to wait to see what transpires.
But I want to talk about Jeeps. The Legacy collection sports the classic Jeep 18 from the initial film. But Jeep 12 also appears as a single in addition to the 5 models from the 5-pack (giving us 6 this time).
These are 2 different castings. Jeep 12 is MB1122 and Jeep 18 is MB1127. There are minor differences in the bases (including winch at front and spare wheel at rear), but the interiors are completely different (Jeep 12 is a manual/stick, Jeep 18 is an auto) with different rear seats & dashboard, plus Jeep 12 has the removable canopy and lights on the windshield, Jeep 18 has a roll bar and no lights on the windshield. But you will never guess what I found?
Yep. That is the MB1127 Jeep 18 sporting the number 12 in a 5-pack. Eagle eyed people may also spot the purpleish blue vs blue tampo print of the MB1124 Fleetwood Southwind Storm RV too.
It looks like there was a small mistake and Jeep 18 was incorrectly tampo printed up as Jeep 12.
That does include the front tampo printing too. Is there a possibility we could find Jeep 12 incorrectly printed up with the number 18? We will have to keep our eyes open for that.
Just in case anybody was wondering, Matchbox has had a ’98 Jeep Wrangler casting for quite a while. I pulled out an example of all 3 variations of the original casting (no roll bar, with roll bar, with luggage on roll bar) in as close to an accompanying theme as I could. Comparing these new castings, they are clearly all new castings.
From top to bottom they are all new castings. The film jeep is supposedly a ’92 Wrangler.
They did not use the older castings as a basis, and started these from scratch. I have to say though, the proportions are pretty much the same. The older casting is fractionally larger.
Plus it had a tow hook on the rear.
I actually like that jeep without the rollbar or the canopy. And I was too looking at that color variation on the RV but I wasn’t sure. At the store it just looked like a trick of the light. Or the packaging. So I ended up not getting it. But now I gotta go back. Thaaaanks. 🙂
It really seems like Matchbox is getting more and more in tune with the collector world. Although I am only interested in the Explorer and Jeep versions, they’ve done a great job in providing the memorable vehicles from the movie in this set. Most of the new offerings in their regular series are interesting choices that fill a void for the collector. Hopefully within the next few years we can come close to eliminating the non-licensed vehicles with the exception of construction type vehicles. Keep up the good work Matchbox!
With some Targets eliminating Matchbox altogether including ours, I’m wondering if they will ever show up at all.
Considering the Legacy collection is a TARGET EXCLUSIVE, it is a pretty safe bet that they have/will show up- every target within a 40 mile radius of me got them, so it looks like we are in luck. As for basic range Matchbox, who knows.
Our Target has 2 pegs of matchbox but put the Jurassic Park sets and individual cars with the rest of the Jurassic World toys 2 aisles over. Toys r us, however, has these with the rest of the matchbox cars. I’d check with the rest of the JW toys for these.
These were two or three aisle down from the normal spot by the Hot Wheels so maybe they just moved the section?
The Explorer in the Legacy Collection 5-pack (aka “Island Explorers”) seems to be the most popular single in my area. Haven’t seen it at either Target, while all the other singles were abundant. Really like this collection! Can’t wait for the “Battle Damage” 5-pack and singles (Walmart exclusives) to start hitting stores. Sure, just different tampo treatments, but the concept seems cool nonetheless. (The only other “battle damage” models I can think of are the Hot Wheels variation on the NC1701 Enterprise a couple of years ago.)
You’re obviously not a Transformers or action figure collector if you’re excited by the concept of battle damaged decos.
JW selection at home bargains UK. 99p… Also on orange packets of which I’ve never seen before. 5 packs majorette £3. 99….worth a look.
additional… Orange cards,They are what looks to be for the Russian market of mbx. Dated L39.