2021 Basic Range Packaging

For a lot of collectors, myself included, the card art forms a big part of the collection.  From the line drawings of the 1950s, to the speeding cars of the Superfast era the artwork we see on the box or blister card can help sell the cars and today that is no different.  The 2021 basic range can be found in 3 forms of packaging, the short card, the long card and the power grab box and each of these comes with a new look this year.

As a standard they of course come in the traditional Matchbox Orange colour as the main colour of the card, at the top left is the manufacturers logo which is a nice touch and one we havent seen before; my guess is that this may be part of the licensing agreement but I really like to see it.  The generic models have the Matchbox branding in that position to make their identification as a Matchbox Original easier.

Other than the obvious size difference there is not too much to distinguish between the short and the long cards, both have the same overall design and the artwork remains the same, the Power Grabs however get a great representation of the model itself but the background image has been removed to keep the focus on the model itself.

When you consider Mattels seemingly endless love of cost cutting and cost reducing; a practice that has seen a reduction in distribution and overall quality it is great to see that the practice of individual artwork for even the basic range is alive and well.

Long may it remain!