I’ve been waiting a long time to review this one. Not only is this one of the best and most versatile vehicles in the Madelman line, it’s easily one of the best-made rides for a 6- or 7-inch figure to be found anywhere.
The Explorador con 4X4 set is made up of the intrepid explorer, who left his crappy desk job and headed out for the Sahara (says so on the box); his camera and outdoors equipment; and his trusty Land Rover.
Built by the British Rover company starting in the 1940s, Land Rover is a catch-all name that applies to the many series of commercial and military 4WD vehicles fielded by the company. This Madelman version appears to be a Defender series, which started in the early 1980s. It could be a Model 90 or 110, which replaced the iconic Series III that defined Land Rover for over a generation. In addition to many personal and Police uses, the Defender line has been a standard complement to any British or Commonwealth land force and is still in use today.
Looking around this thing, the only thing I don’t care for is the paint job. Seriously, that’s it. Everything else is incredible; however, it just could use a nice detailing job to bring it all out.
The Rover has a lot of great features. The funnest one of all has to be the turning suspension. The front wheels will pivot by turning the steering wheel, and, even more clever, they can also be turned by twisting the spare tire left or right. This means if the figure has a loose grip on the wheel, you can turn it for him and make it look like he’s doing the work. Awesome.
The soft top is completely removable, and it fastens to the vehicle using various hooks and posts on the body and roll cage. Sadly, looks like I’m missing a hook, but it still fits and holds fine. When it’s not needed, you can roll it up and snap it to the roll cage. I have a special affinity for soft tops, since I had several for my old ’73 Bronco, itself not far off from this type of truck. I don’t miss them in the winter, though.
The doors open with a nice range, and I would say they can probably be popped off if you wanted, though I haven’t gotten that brave yet. The windshield can also fold down. And lastly, there’s a functioning winch on the front bumper that you can manually roll up and back.
Accessories are plentiful. The Rover has the mentioned top and a CB antenna, as well as two 5 Gal jerry cans, and a slab of corrugated metal (for traction or loading). Inside there is a mobile phone and GPS, which both plug into the dash.
Size-wise, this vehicle scales very accurately to real world dimensions, and any 6- or 7-inch figure with decent articulation can drive. I mention articulation because unlike a lot of vehicles that use the “cheat” by having the figures sit flat and run the legs up under the dash a la Barbie cars, this one actually sits a figure in the proper position — with feet on the pedals.
Compared to other 6-inch-ish common vehicles, it does make the Plan B Wilys feel a little small, though that is a smaller vehicle in reality as well. The ’66 Batmobile scales okay with it, but unlike the Plan B that aged well and stacks up respectably, it looks rather cheap and scrawny by comparison, which is frustrating because if we were able to buy Madelman stateside, the cost would be around $50 retail — a steal compared to the $60-70 I paid for this thing. Coming soon to eBay, I suppose . . .
Sorry. I can’t seem to get through a review without a Mattel dig these days, can I? Anyway, let’s talk a little about the figure:
Like the helo pilot, the figure itself has a soft sculpt, but the explorer does have better joints. His uniform is excellent. He has khaki trousers and vest, with a brown collared shirt underneath. He has a soft plastic safari hat and kerchief, as well as a belt that holds his canteen and machete. The binoculars and Winchester rifle sling on the figure. Looking at his gear, he reminds me of the hunter from the original Jurassic Park movie — Muldoon? — which makes me need more dinosaurs again. Good thing there’s a Kickstarter coming up we’ll be talking about soon.
The explorer has a ton of his own accessories: mess kit and stove, camera with extra film, a satellite relay, flashlight, and a folding chair. Most of this will fit in his storage crate, but not quite with the bigger items.
It’s a shame this is a difficult piece to get hands on because this is a fantastic vehicle that could find a home in just about any collection. A little paint could turn it into a military or police model, or even a Jurassic Park cruiser, now that I brought that up. Hell, I suppose you could paint it blue and put SHIELD logos on it, if that’s your thing. I think mine’s just going to get a nice weathered olive drab, so it can match the top.
