Frozen. Black. Pearl. By M2 Machines.

Recently, I've had a falling out of love with M2 Machines. I discovered them about a year ago and quickly amassed a sizable collection of their models. Every Walmart trip involved taking a good look through their M2 stock and walking out with one, two, maybe five models. But the more I kept them in my collection, the more I lost interest. They no longer caught my eye like they once did. I've discovered other brands that did the same models, but better. And by better, I mean better quality.

That's really what ultimately led me to sell off a chunk of my M2 Machines collection. Too often, I would look at them and catch an eyesore. On some, it's the messily-molded wheels and tires with the flat spots. On others, it's the hood or doors not fully closing. On nearly all of them, it's the discrepancy of ride height on all four corners. Quality is where M2 is really falling behind, and the most frustrating part is their complete indifference to it. I peek every now and then at their Facebook page to see their upcoming product, and I always see the same tired complaints about quality, without a hint of recognition from the folks running the page. What a complete waste of great designs and great cars.

In a rare turn of events, I actually picked up three of them the other day. If you've been living under a rock (or in the middle of nowhere) and didn't get the memo, certain Target stores have now started carrying premium diecast product, M2 included. That's where I found these, and they looked way too good to be left behind. This is the Auto-Drivers Frozen Black Pearl series, which is essentially a recolor of one of the previous Auto-Drivers series. Every model is the same, but the color has been changed to, you guessed it, Frozen Black Pearl, also known more commonly as matte black. I'm not exactly sure where the "Pearl" is, but it doesn't matter, as these are flat-out stunning. While these are not devoid of quality issues, black certainly helps hide a lot defects.

You could say this is M2's counter to Greenlight's Black Bandit series. While these are flat black to Greenlight's gloss black, they've certainly been given the same kind of treatment. The wheels look spectacular in black, to go along with the white lettering on the tires. We've got Chevy vs. Ford vs. Dodge. The Big Three of the U.S.A. Which one do you got?

For me, it's the Mopar or no car. I love the '66 Charger. The Torino comes in second. The Camaro? Well, I used to be a Camaro fan. Not to say they're bad, but they don't wow me as much as they once did. Whichever one you pick, you're a winner either way because these are keepers. Oh, just make sure you take a good look first before purchasing in case there are, you know, quality issues.

From the Playing Mantis Vault: Finding Vintage Johnny Lightning's in 2016, Part 3

The last sighting was three weeks ago, at my local Toys"R"Us. This was easily the best one yet. There had to have been more than a dozen different models on the pegs, ranging from classic to modern American muscle, to trucks, to fantasy vehicles, and even a Mini Cooper to boot. As much as I would have loved to grab all of them, the price tag kept me in check. Thus, I walked out with "only" four cars in hand: a crazy Plum Crazy Challenger, a pair of '69 Shelby GT500's in coupe and convertible forms, and one insanely sick '68 Camaro. Like I said, easily the best yet.



I forgot to mention one thing about these releases: the hologram sticker. In lead photo, you can see it slapped onto the upper area of the blister. That's the one thing that differentiates these from their original releases. That's it. Is it worth a premium on the secondary market? Hard to tell at this point. A brief check on eBay yields only a few results. However, as is commonly said, buy them if you like them. Don't get caught up in the hype. At the end of the day, when you look back at your collection, make sure you actually like each and every one of your cars.

It's almost a shame because I open all my cars and throw the packaging away. Luckily, this blog is evidence that these are indeed from the Playing Mantis Vault.

As more collectors have been finding these, a few interesting observations have been made, which leaves us with a few unanswered questions. For one, there have been sightings of the same models in different parts of the country. Therefore, there are multiples of some, if not all, of these releases. The question is "how many?" How many cars from the collection are actually out there and how many of each? How are they distributed?

Secondly, there's the whole restocking situation that I mentioned in my last post. If these are supposed to be "limited", why are Toys"R"Us stores are receiving multiple shipments? Or is it simply that they are only putting out a few at a time? For the conspiracy theorists (myself included): could Johnny Lightning actually be producing these behind our backs at this very moment and disguising them as old releases?

We might never know the answers to all of those questions. Mystery can be a good thing. Having not collected during the Playing Mantis years, I'm just happy to have these at all.

M2 Machines: Detroit Muscle Release 32

Today, I will be featuring these three cars shown here!

It was less than a year ago that I purchased my first M2 Machines. It was the summer of 2015, and I was wandering the diecast aisle at Walmart looking for something interesting other than your run-of-the-mill Hot Wheels and Matchbox. In the middle of the aisle, I found a pretty decent selection of Auto Worlds and M2 Machines. I spotted an olive green HEMI Cuda by M2, with a black HEMI vinyl and black roof. It was a color combination I've never seen before, and it was simply stunning. I took it home with me, and that's when my M2 addiction started.



Fast forward to now and I have a few dozen of these already. M2 makes great looking models, period. However, it's a love/hate relationship with this brand. From the outside, they look amazing; look closely and you'll see so many flaws that you contemplate whether or not it was worth the money. Execution is everything in diecast, and M2 meets that only halfway. Nonetheless, they make some models worth drooling over. These three illustrate my point exactly.

They are part of the Detroit Muscle series, aimed at collectors who favor vintage American muscle cars. They retail for around $6 and come in the acrylic cases shown above, which are perfect for display. Additionally, you also get opening hoods and opening doors.

I've never been a huge muscle fan in the past. Stepping foot into M2 Machines is a large part of why I've grown to like them quite a lot. Allow me to present these three models from Release 32, the '69 Chevy Camaro SS/RS, the '71 Dodge Charger SE, and the '69 Plymouth 'Cuda.

First is the '69 Chevy Camaro SS/RS 350 Z10. The first thing that struck me was the neon-orange striping and how well it contrasts with the white paint. Camaro's are a dime a dozen in the diecast world, but this one will win over even the most jaded Camaro fan.

Next up is the '71 Dodge Charger SE 383!

This is my personal favorite of the series. From the moment I saw pictures of this floating around on the internet, I knew I had to go seek it out. I'm usually not a fan of this shade of yellow, but it looks super clean on this Charger. The white roof finishes it off perfectly.

Lastly, the '68 Plymouth 'Cuda 440!

This one instantly reminded me of my first M2. Granted, that HEMI Cuda was a '71 and this is a '69, and they're slightly different shades of green. It's just so refreshing to see a unique colorway like this one. 

Instant classic.

For those of you new to M2 Machines, you probably noticed two things. One, these models look fabulous. Two, the quality needs some work. The extra opening features come at a cost. The door gaps are atrocious and the hoods rarely close all the way. Other slight blemishes may range from scuffed wheels to mangled tires to bent axles. I've even heard stories of cars falling apart. Whatever the case, I always recommend double checking before buying a model. It's not a sure-fire method of guaranteeing a defect-free product, but it certainly is better than not doing so.

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing and photographing the models! Now go out there and find some for yourself!