David Tilley
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Posts: 41
(18/1/08 12:58)
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January Ambassador report
Happy New Year Ambassador report readers.
So here we go with the first Ambassador report of the 2008 year. Well lets delve right in shall we? It is not too big a report this time, as with the Christmas holidays, not a lot of business time has passed. February will hopefully be a bit meatier.
Well it seems people have had a bit of a shocker with the Christmas report and the news of a 3 way split for 2008. We now have a US, LAAM and ROW range for 2008. Well, this obviously opened up a few questions which I posed to the Mattel guys. Firstly, is there a possibility of particular markets receiving a different batch of models through alternate channels (for instance US dealers getting ROW models, or European dealers getting US models etc). Unfortunately this is not a viable option. There will only be the standard ranges available in each area of the world regardless of which set you desire. Sorry guys, but US means US, LAAM means LAAM and ROW means ROW. The 3 way split also brought up the idea of whether the ROW or LAAM markets would be receiving exclusive models in their basic ranges that are not available in the US range in the future. Well, for 2009, that is a definite no. Beyond 2009 is not confirmed yet in any shape or form, and plans are not underway to start doing exclusives, but do not rule out the possibility down the line. Maybe in a few years with ever changing markets, things might change. We will see what comes when it comes.
Has anybody seen recently how a few models in the basic range have received a different paint treatment? The Dodge Viper GTSR and Mercury Cougar have both recently had different paints applied to the model. It was decided in both of these cases that the initial paint job was not exactly how they wanted it. The Viper metallic flake was too big, and the Mercury was too light. A running change was made to make them look a little better. These changes are all down to judgment and aesthetics after looking at initial examples. This is not a common theme with models but occasionally if it is felt that a paint change is in order to improve the look, the guys at Mattel will make it.
Okay, a few people have been asking questions on a particular Fire Pumper in the Coal Cars that appeared with a gray hose on the roof instead of the standard white one. This is down to the factory trying to use up some spare parts. With the Coal Cars being hidden away, it makes sense to use up some spare parts occasionally rather than waste them. This is what happened with the Airport Fire Pumper. It was intended to only come with the white hose, but spare gray hoses were laying around at the factory, and so they were applied to make up numbers and save on making more white hoses.
Now a couple of items of news regarding the Hitch 'n Haul series. First the bad news. There was an MB719 Utility Trailer in the works to be included with the series. Sadly, the casting did not work out, and it has now been dropped from the series completely. The good news is that the Spring release will be with us soon. There will be 3 new packs to look out for. Pack 1 is called Construction, and will contain an MB707 Ground Breaker pulling an MB681 Excavator Trailer. Pack 2 will be Fire, and will feature an MB698 Flame Tamer pulling an MB548 Mobile Light Truck. Mattel were sure that this combination would work together before initiating it. Finally the 3rd pack is a Wild Water II pack featuring an MB406 Land Rover Freelander pulling an MB373 Watercraft with Trailer. However, there are no new accessories (or chotch as Mattel like to call them) being created for the sets, and existing chotch will be used in the packs.
Recently a Fire Rescue Transporter was released in USA that contained 5 vehicles with it. Two of them, MB564 Foam Fire Truck and MB563 Water Pumper, were a part of a 2006 5-pack. This left 3 other models, which we were not sure whether they would be exclusive or not. Well, the MB568 Sport SUV is not. This will appear elsewhere during 2008. But the other 2 are exclusive to the pack. There is an MB613 Boom Fire Truck and MB698 Fire Tamer released exclusively with the playset. However, some may have noticed on the graphics that the MB698 Flame Tamer is showing as yellow on the pictures, but the model in the pack is metallic lime gold. Another running change is being made to make the model the same as shown on the picture. Look out for the yellow Flame Tamer to appear in future runs of this set. However, if you are not too keen on purchasing the set twice, you will be able to get the yellow Flame Tamer in one of the latest round of 10-packs that has just been released (the one with the exclusive lavender MB298 1968 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet in the top right corner).
Currently Mattel are concentrating on models in the small scale area (3" or 7.5cm, or as some like to call it, 1/64). Both larger and smaller scales are not in the immediate pipeline. The guys would really like to build on the size they have at the moment, and therefore trying to branch out into other size mediums is currently not on the agenda. Once they feel that the current size segment has been fully established and a significant slice of the market place has been achieved then ideas for branching out in to other sizes/scales will be looked at. At the moment there are also no more plans for dealer exclusive models.
I know everyone reading this is wondering about Superfast America. As many already know, the first batch of 10x 2008 Superfast has hit Wal-Mart. The packaging is redesigned to incorporate a squared clamshell encasing the model and box. No blister this time. These models are then placed in a delivery box directly on the shelf, and not hung on pegs as before. But this begs the question as to where the last 5 Superfast America went to? Before the 2008 Superfast arrived, Wal-Mart started selling the Superfast America for $1 a piece, but only the first 2 batches were to be found still. Mattel are currently investigating this, and assure us that the last 5 models will be produced and should be on the market soon. More details will be available shortly.
Also very soon I hope to have details on the 2008 Line Preview. Mattel are currently finalizing things and I hope to have some details to send out very soon. This will be a separate piece, as I will not wait for the next Ambassador report to pass on the details. We are possibly looking at late March for this.
Posters are nearing completion, and as stated before dealers/clubs are more than happy to request a batch. If you haven't already emailed me a request for your club, then please send one over. Once the posters have arrived I will arrange delivery to where they are needed. Please remember if your club is outside USA that what you will receive is a USA series poster, not the specific one for your particular area. It will show all 100 models, including the segmentation that will only be released in USA. Canada, Australia and New Zealand will not be showing the segmentation on their 100 model range in stores. The LAAM and ROW ranges will only have 75 of the models (again with no segmentation).
So that is it for now, as we start to get settled in to the new year. As said earlier the next report will hopefully have a few more tidbits for people in it.
David Tilley
2007-8 Matchbox Ambassador
  
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