Matchbox loses its magic


Not strictly modelling, but an interesting commentary. The Beyond Branding blog assesses the state of toy cars and laments the recent products of Matchbox.

When Matchbox became part of Mattel a few years ago, it had already been suffering. Through most of the 1990s, cheap Red Chinese production saw to ill-defined dies and cars that were barely recognizable. The features that were used to make it a leader—opening doors, suspension and detailing—were being deleted, model after model. But for most of this decade, Matchbox alienated kids further by designing cars that didn’t exist in real life—great for a few designers inside Mattel, those who were nostalgic for the fictional Superfast cars that the brand used to have in the 1970s, and the accounts’ department, which didn’t have to fork out a licensing fee.

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