| 01.02.2016 – The Blockade Buster is one of the obscure vehicles that were produced by Mattel for the Matchbox line under the ‘Heroic Rescue’ sub-line of diecast collectibles released for 2015, which is its second color variation that was only available for the Philippine market.
It was also one of the rare military vehicles that is known for being uncommon that became sold almost every store that carried the Matchbox line. This is one of the rare occasions that Matchbox has included a non-existing tank to the line. (Please CLICK on the title for the full article) |
For those who are primary collectors or exotic cars and rare special editions that was produced by Mattel for Matchbox it might come to a surprise that they have included an actual military vehicle to the 2015 line up. After Mattel acquired the Matchbox brand from Tyco the decline in quality was obvious when a wide variety of vehicles has started to be discontinued which include the military types.
Matchbox has been a diverse brand not only producing everyday license cars, boats, planes and other types of vehicles. It has been rare for the product to bring military vehicles and this was a first to be available for the 2014 with the introduction of the Blockade Buster, which is not based to any known military tank.
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The SWAT Tank
This was the second time Matchbox has reproduce the Blockade Buster casting first released in the 2014 with two color variations. The standard release was in military green followed by the desert version of the same year. It’s a fictional tank that’s not based on any real world existing vehicle.
Most military vehicles produced for Matchbox are based from the real world like the Humvee as one of the examples, but a tank has never been produced not since the 1960s to the early to mid-2000s where most of the castings were discontinued. The third version of the Blockade Buster is based on the digital urban camouflage pattern. It’s still designated as a military vehicle but for the S.W.A.T. (Special Weapons and Tactics) unit related to urban warfare that also handles riot control more like Paramilitary Police Units (PPUs) that plays a role for the Police.
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Not Entirely Armoured
The Blockade Buster is a tank but the scale based on the product art shows it’s a little bit larger than a conventional armoured vehicle. Its casting is entirely made of plastic than diecast as the only part there considered made of metal is the body. The rest is made of plastic which includes the tank turret and the lower part chassis which have the molded tank threads.
Underneath there’s a square hole that’s entirely hallow empty, which shows how Mattel scrimped on the quality when they produce this tank for the Matchbox brand, while they put quality first in their main diecast brand namely Hot Wheels.
Tank You Very Much
Overall the Blockade Buster is one of the rare tank vehicles under the Matchbox brand that stand out. Design wise it would have been better if not being owned by Mattel if it was still with New England (the original manufacturer) this could have been a better vehicle that have more quality when it was produced.
But even though not the tank that everyone wanted it’s still something you don’t see often in the toy rack. It may not be based on an actual tank but it sure adds personality to the Matchbox brand that has been known to being more grounded than with it’s ‘sister brand’ in Hot Wheels.
“Blockade Busters” is part of the 2015 Matchbox series numbered 74 0f 120 under the Heroic Rescue sub-line manufactured by Mattel distributed and sold in the Philippines by Richprime Global Inc retailed at PhP 99.75 pesos!
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