When the mainline Matchbox Gladiator came out in 2020, I wasn’t a huge fan of it. Its lack of doors always made it look a bit weird to me…not unrealistic, because obviously you can take the doors off on a Gladiator, but perhaps a little incomplete. The lack of front and rear detailing only made that feeling of incompleteness stronger. Happily, the new Moving Parts casting offered the Matchbox team a second chance to take on this casting, and they fixed both of those problems!
When set side-by-side, it’s clear that these were both based on the same casting, but there have definitely been some changes, beyond the obvious doors and opening hood. The base piece that forms the cladding and bumpers is now noticeably darker, and the bed has been reworked to facilitate the addition of the rear window.
Where the mainline version had a red metal section in the bed for the rivet, the Moving Parts version has a fully black plastic bed, which looks far better and more realistic. The wing mirrors have also been made slightly larger, which is a welcome change.
The larger budget afforded to the Moving Parts line is clear when you look at the front of the Gladiator, which now gets a fully detailed grill and headlights. This alone transforms the look of this casting, as the grill is one of the defining styling characteristics on a Jeep and the mainline casting looked barren without it. I also appreciate the amount of detail in this front bumper.
Along the sides, the level of detailing is very similar, though obviously there are now doors where there previously were none. I appreciate that when viewing these castings side-by-side, you can almost see the way the doors and roof are attached to the frame on the doorless mainline. Interestingly, the previously silver Jeep logo and vent behind the front wheel arch have both been converted to black on the Moving Parts model, which is especially odd given the silver keyhole on the door!
Around back, the extra detailing budget is once again apparent, with a new Jeep logo and detailed rear lights. The panel for the tailgate release has also been made black to reflect the black plastic section on the real truck.
I have to give the Matchbox team a lot of credit for the casting detail on the roof of the Gladiator. You can clearly make out each of the sections that make up the roof, with obvious panel gaps between them.
Unlike the Ram Rebel, this Gladiator sports its proper 3.6L engine under that opening hood, rather than the very recognizable Hellcat engine.
As I’ve noted before, I’m not a huge fan of the Moving Parts line as a whole, as I feel like unrealistic panel gaps caused by moving parts on a 1/64 scale car cause the whole model to look worse than a standard mainline. However, this Gladiator is a clear example of what the Moving Parts line can do really well: at a retail price of nearly 3x that of a mainline model, the Moving Parts line can add far more printing and metal to an otherwise lackluster casting. Finally, the Jeep Gladiator finally feels like it’s earned a place in my collection!
DiecastLeno 
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