Matchbox Monday: 2020 Moving Parts #7 Lamborghini Centenario

A first for our Matchbox Monday posts, from the 2020 Moving Parts series we have the Lamborghini Centenario.

I believe this is based off the 2017 model. The metal body sports a metallic gray finish with a yellow plastic undercarriage. This can be seen from the sides and underneath the nose of the car. Paint apps include the headlights and on the tail lights, license plate and rear exhaust. The interior is gray with clear windows.

Being part of the Moving Parts series, both doors lift in a vertical motion. Thankfully this doesn't detract from the overall look of the vehicle as the doors sit nicely on the frame without having any exposed door hinges.

This is a beautiful exotic car and the toy really caught my eye hanging on the pegs. I grew up playing with Lamborghinis as a kid (Transformers Sideswipe & Sunstreaker!), but I've not give the car maker much attention in years. You can tell this car is built for speed, but zero to sixty in less than 3 seconds?! With a price tag in excess of 3 million, this is the closest I (or others) will ever get to something like this! Great car, highly recommended!

This is the 1st use of this mold.

Matchbox Monday: 2020 #010/100 MBX Garbage Scout

From the 2020 series, MBX Garbage Scout is part of the MBX City subseries.

The truck sports a blue die-cast metal cab and undercarriage, however the rear portion of the truck is cast in black plastic. Like many of the Matchbox City type vehicles there are some city images on the side of the cab. I don't believe this vehicle is officially licensed, but from the grill it looks like a Ford to me. Speaking of the cab, all of the paint apps are on the sides of the truck.

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This vehicle's play feature is the included blue plastic trash bin. It comes attached to the truck, but is removable. I know as a kid I would have liked playing with a garbage truck so I can only assume today's youth would find this just as interesting?

This is the 1st use of this mold.

Matchbox Monday: 2020 #025/100 MBX Flatbed King

From the 2020 series, MBX Flatbed King is part of the MBX City subseries.

The truck sports a metallic silver die-cast metal cab while the bed and undercarriage are cast in gray plastic. It has a police deco that happens to match other service vehicles released in 2020.

This is one of the few vehicles that has a play feature - the bed of the truck slides backwards and tilts down to load another vehicle. This Hot Wheels Gran Torino is a little large/long for the bed, but you can improvise and make it work. I think this is a great service vehicle and the added feature is just icing on the cake. 

This is the 3rd use of this mold, but the colors/deco make this version stand out over the previous two release.

Halo: Master Chief

I really have been out of the toy loop over the last year so you can imagine my surprise when I saw new Halo toys hanging on the pegs at my local Target. The popular video game brand was now licensed to Wicked Cool Toys, a rather new toy manufacture. Prior to this line I was loosely familiar with WCT thanks to their Micro Machines license they also held. I loved the Halo games on the Xbox 360 and I like to have little video game related figures to display in my game room, so I thought I'd at least pick up this Master Chief figure to see what these new figures were like.

The packaging is pretty plain as most of it is a large bubble. At least it's easy to see the figure and what is included. The bottom right corner does offer some small artwork. Flip the packaging over and you're treated with a large image of Master Chief himself. I found this rather odd that they didn't use the back to showcase the figure and it's accessories or even a cross sale of other toys in the series.

The figure stands around 3 1/2 inches tall and is very detailed. The olive green armor shows some wear all over, especially the silver blast on the chest. The metallic gold paint used on his visor looks great and looks like it's reflecting light. Both hands are sculpted to hold his weapon in either hand. With today's age of modern action figures I'm kind of surprised additional interchangeable hands were included.

Master Chief comes equipped with his trusty MA5C assault rifle. The weapon is molded in back plastic and the majority of the gun as a dull sheen to it. Part of the gun as added gray paint as well. There is a small peg on the side of the gun that allows it to be pegged into the back of the figure. I particularly like this feature as it makes for some nice poses and it just makes since - especially since Master Chief can only wield two different weapons at one time. A hexagon shaped stand is also included with the figure and appears to be able to connect to additional stands.

Master Chief has all the articulation that one would expect from a modern action figure. The joints were really stiff right out of the package, but I was able to at least pull of this kneeling pose. I say it all the time that if you come here for dynamic action figure photography you will be disappointed because I suck at posing action figures!

Over all I am impressed with Wicked Cool Toys' Halo offering. At the time I picked up this figure the line had just launched so there wasn't much variety offered. Now there are several other figures from the Halo mythos including some really cool looking villains and even vehicles. I've seen the Warthog and the Ghost vehicles and both look fantastic. I don't have much room to display larger toys like vehicles anymore, but based on this figure I'm sure they are just as well made.

If you are a fan of video game toys then I think you'll find this new Halo series to your liking. They aren't as detailed as the older McFarlane line or even the Jazwares, however I believe WTC has done a pretty good job with these.

Matchbox Monday: 2020 #006/100 LEVC TX Taxi

From the 2020 series, LEVC TX Taxi is part of the MBX City subseries.

This looks like the taxi that Jo Frost, Super Nanny would roll up to a house in. LEVC is a London based automobile company so I may not be too far off. It features a die-cast metal body with a metallic black paint. Seeing how the vehicle is rather simple it does receive painted details to both the front of rear, including a yellow 'TX' license plate.

This is the first time this mold has been used.

Matchbox Monday: 2020 #070/100 Oshkosh Defense M-ATV

 

From the 2020 series, Oshkosh Defense M-ATV is part of the MBX Jungle subseries.

This is a military grade vehicle that I'm not familiar with in the least bit, but the card art looked nice and it had a police motif so I picked it up. The whole body is die-cast metal so it has some heft to it. Even though it's part of the Jungle subseries, this looks like something a SWAT unit would use.

This the 12th time this mold has been used and the first since 2018.

Marvel Legends: Yondu

Today's toy topic has to do with Yondu from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. There was a time when the name Yondu wouldn't have resonated with many people outside die hard comic fans, then Michael Rooker brought the character to life on the silver screen as part of Marvel's Cinematic Universe in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie. We aren't talking about that version of Yondu however, we're talking about the "original" Earth-691 version that first debuted in Marvel Super-Heroes #18 (1969).

Hasbro's Marvel Legends series has a strong name recognition in the hobby and has produced some of the best comic action figures to date. Predominately a 6 inch scale line, Hasbro has toyed with the 3.75" scale on occasion whether it be with movie lines or with the defunct Marvel Universe line. Hasbro would even go on to slip the Marvel Legends banner to a few waves of 3.75" figures which today's subject matter hails from.

My introduction to comics came via two new Marvel titles in 1990 - The New Warriors and Guardians of the Galaxy...which I had no idea at the time had a connection to one another. It was easy to jump aboard both team titles since they were just launching with their first issues. While I was familiar with at least one character from the New Warriors team, I had no idea who these Guardians of the Galaxy were, but I was intrigued. Jim Valentino both wrote and drew the Guardians when they made their 1990's return and I was immediately hooked by the characters and the stories being told.

One of those characters that I was really intrigued by was Yondu. Maybe it was his blue skin color, or the large red fin on his head or perhaps that he yielded a bow & arrow. Whatever the reason I thought he was a cool character. Fast forward to the modern toy scene and a part of me wondered if we'd ever get an action figure of Yondu. Only one other Guardians member (of this team at least) had received a figure (Vance Astro) so I figured the chances of assembling a team of Guardian figures would be nill. The Hasbro surprised us by including Yondu in their short lived 3.75" Legends line.

Yondu's costume is a faithful reproduction of his comic duds, complete with the Guardians star badge on the left side of his chest. He comes with a belt, his bow, quiver w/ strap and one loose arrow. These are molded in a soft gold/yellow plastic.

Articulation wise the figure is fairly loaded - head, shoulder, elbow, wrist, waist, double jointed knees and ankles. I'm not the best when it comes to pulling off stellar action poses, but Yondu is certainly capable of sporting those dynamic poses.

Yondu is one of the only 3.75" Marvel figures that I still have hanging around in my collection. I would have loved to have gotten a complete set of Guardians - just thinking about what Charlie-27, Martinex, Nikki, Starhawk/Aleta) all would have looked like in figure form is something that I still ponder from time to time. So while it's a shame that we only got Yondu in this scale, I'll take 'em because it's a well sculpted figure of a great cosmic Marvel character.

Transformers Earthrise: Sunstreaker

 

 

Sunstreaker is one of my favorite Transformers characters from the Generation 1 era, yet he has only had a small handful of updates since his original release in 1984. To say I was excited to hear he would be receiving a new toy in the War for Cybertron Earthrise series would be an understatement.

I feel pretty fortunate that I found him at my local Target store because it was the *only* time I would see him at retail. There was a time where I enjoyed the thrill of the hunt, but those days are behind me. I refuse to pay more than retail and I hate paying for shipping & handling so I don't always shop online. I'm to the point now where if I find something locally that I want I'll grab it, otherwise I'm learning to do without. Thankfully I didn't have to settle for the latter here!

Now before I get into this post, let me say that these images I took do not represent the figure in hand very well. I'm not sure why this figure photographs so bad, but I'm not the only one who has encountered this. Sunstreaker's chest piece is painted yellow (translucent blue) plastic so it is a different shade of yellow versus the molded yellow plastic body. In hand this figure looks much better. It's true that the two yellows are slightly different, but the difference isn't nearly as drastic. I almost scrapped this post entirely after I went back to edit my photos and saw how horrible he looks, but it's Sunstreaker after all so the show must go on!

I'm very happy with the mold itself. I'm glad Sunstreaker got his own unique mold and Hasbro didn't shoehorn him out of the Sideswipe mold like they've done in the past. It looks very G1-ish in my opinion, but of course with that modern flair. The head/face sculpt is spot on and looks fantastic. The paint apps are subtle, but well applied. Like with most modern Transformers, Sunstreaker is well articulated...too bad I suck at posing my figures! 

If I have to say anything negative about the figure its the included "weapon" is incredibly lame. His engine does not make a good weapon. Thankfully there are people that are making proper weapons for him such as Nonnef Productions. I've yet to buy an upgrade kit, but it's high on my list to grab because it makes a huge difference to the look of Sunstreaker in both modes.

The back of the car just looks "naked" without his classic metallic silver spoiler. Most of the upgrade kits currently on the market resolve this and I can't wait to pick one up. In fact, I'd love to get two as I wouldn't mind having another Sunstreaker to display in vehicle mode.

Overall this is a very solid effort by Hasbro/Takara Tomy and I'm so happy that Sunstreaker made the cut into the Earthrise series. He's not perfect, but when he so seldom gets a new toy I guess I can forgive some of the figure's shortcomings. Highly recommended...if you can find him!

Matchbox Monday: 2020 #001/100 2019 Jeep Renegade

From the 2020 series, 2019 Jeep Renegade is part of the MBX City subseries.

Between the Matchbox orange of the blister card and the bright lime green of the vehicle, the 2019 Jeep Renegade stood out easily on the retail pegs. This is quite a nice looking vehicle, even in green. The top of the vehicle is die-cast metal while the gray bottom is plastic. The windows are a dark translucent plastic, as is the panel on the top. Painted details were applied to both the front and rear of the vehicle.

This is the first use of this mold.