Flash Force 2000 - Flash Fighter Maz

"Here's how easy it is for kids to have a blast!"

One of the favorite forgotten lines around the Preserve is Flash Force 2000 by Matchbox. Hailing from 1984 (the greatest year!) there wasn't a long life to this line, but it did have cap guns so that puts it way ahead of the safety-crazed toys of modern times! Maybe two years ago I managed to pick up really clean carded examples of the six single small vehicles from the line, and have finally caught enough of a break in the 'new product' cycle to properly turn attention back to these vintage wonders.

Today let's take a look at one of the good guys, one of the 'Flash Fighters' - Maz!



These vehicles were packaged with a 'launcher' and a fair number (48) of little blasting caps to get the action moving. Also excellent was the inclusion of a mini comic book - 'Rumble at Rampage Rock'! Looks like the little raised area in the packaging that originally held said caps didn't totally work over time, as they are starting to swim their way around and about. The cars are metal, thank you Matchbox, and have a small trapdoor on the floor-facing side where you load a cap. Colliding with the bumper causes a flash, a bang, and that classic smoke smell!

Unfortunately the packaging for this line follows the path of many budget-conscious products both then and now (I'm looking at you, Jazwares A-Team!) - where the individual 'figures' don't really have much to distinguish them packaging-wise, like unique features and certainly not a bio. At least Murdock and BA have different bar codes, but the same can't be said for these cars - as a store I have to wonder how you would do inventory control? I guess you just get a case, and sell through, and get another one. Or, in the case of lines like this, get a case, never sell them, and then get Transformers instead. Per that notion of limited sales of this product originally, this was the first complete carded set of vehicles I've seen, up until then or since! Click the image above for some more close-ups of Maz, and look to have the bad guys posted soon.

Oh, and in case you were wondering:
CONTENTS OF CAPS: These caps contain less than 0.20 grains per cap. The pyrotechnical content is as follows: potassium chlorate, red phosphorus, manganese dioxide, magnesium oxide, sand, glue.

Posted by charlie on July 30th 2010, 06:20 AM
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