Sorry, my fellow collectors in China, I started this thread in English as I thought it must be in English to answer some questions from outside China first thing if any.
Recently I left a neutral but sharp comment upon a customized Skyline on the @Matchboxworld channel. That’s not what I usually did after reading the Matchbox news from there. Actually, I didn’t leave any feedbacks. I am not emotional or radically stubborn and I am just an ordinary one among international Matchbox collectors. But this time, I think I should say something at least on behalf of my Chinese collectors.

The customization looks very nice and professional. I congratulated the designer for the techniques and artistic approaches. However, I would suggest that the top design of the Rising Sun Flag be replaced with something else with more Japan iconic elements since almost every Chinese know the meaning behind the flag. If you wiki it you may know it’s the war symbol of the Imperial Japanese military forces during the WWII. And it has been abandoned more than 70 years.
I DON’T want to stir up something politically as I know it is just a toy car. But I also believe the Matchbox team has the capabilities and wisdom to weigh between its business profit and potential risks of using that design on its final release globally. And that’s why I beeped among all appreciations.
It’s nothing to do with “Chinese nationalism”, but with an objective view upon a customized design which might be a real officially-made piece sold all over the world. To that point, it may be an alert or a firm voice from all Chinese Matchbox collectors. Hope everything go well with Matchbox. We love Matchbox and we really care about it!
Sincerely yours,
chenly75 | 52mbx.com
=====Chinese translation as follows====
我很抱歉,火柴盒中国收藏者们,我不得不用英语开篇,因为我认为有必要先用英语回答来自中国以外地区的疑问(如有)。
近期,我在火柴盒官方Instagram频道@Matchboxworld刊发的一则帖子里发表了中立但刺耳的评论。那个帖子是转发一位民间设计师自制的Skyline模型涂装。这与我平时阅读火柴盒新闻之后的行为大相径庭,事实上我几乎从不在那里发表评论。我并不是易冲动或者极端固执的人,我与大部分国际收藏爱好者一样,是个普通人。但是这一次,我觉得我有必须发声,至少代表一下我的中国收藏者同仁们。
从整体而言,这个手工自制涂装非常漂亮,各方面的处理也很专业。由此,我向设计师表达了祝贺,对其技艺和艺术手法大加赞赏。然而我建议其将车顶的“旭日旗”换成其它更具有日本象征意义的元素,因为绝大多数中国人都知道那面旗背后代表了什么。如果你搜索维基百科,查询“Rising Sun Flag”词条就能知道那其实是日本帝国军队在二战期间一直都在使用的战旗。而在战后的70多年里,已经被废止[1]。
我并不想煽动什么政治敏感问题,因为我知道那仅仅是一辆玩具小车而已。但我也相信,在是否最终采纳这个设计并应用到全球发行的问题上,火柴盒团队有能力也有智慧权衡商业利益和可能引发的政治风险。这也是为何我要在大部分人都大加赞赏的时候发出这种不和谐的声音。
这与所谓“中国人的爱国主义”毫无关联,我仅以一种客观的态度来看待一件将来有可能成为官方在全球发行版本的设计。有鉴于此,这既是一个警告也是来自中国车迷最强有力的声音。我们祝福火柴盒继续稳步发展,我们爱火柴盒这一品牌,我们也非常关心这件事!
chenly75 | 52mbx.com (我爱火柴盒)
[1] 我知道一定会有人要说,日本海上自卫队不是还在沿用旧日本帝国时期的海军旗吗?也没看到美国人有多少抗议嘛。但我想说,美国人怎么去理解,我们管不着,只要中国人看着不舒服,我们自己就应该说出来。只有这样外国人才会了解我们的感受,而不是一味地说“yes”。





































































