I saw this Quercetti Mach X rocket and thought, hmm, not sure about that card art. I think I prefer an illustrated card rather than large photo's of people like this one.
Having said that its very noticable and modern looking.
What do you prefer?
[picture courtesy of retro container]
The owner of that rocket looks thoughtful and sad, not sure that's the look they should be going for.
ReplyDeleteOf course I will always prefer an illustration over a photograph, but the Italians were very progressive in the use of photography for commercial purposes (think "fashion industry"), so I can see why the art director for this toy line thought that showing a picture of a real kid would be more "modern." As much as we love the old box art illustrations, there had to be some who couldn't wait to drop the artwork and replace it with photographs.,..
ReplyDeleteUpon closer inspection I see this is a Mach-X2 which explains why it seems so much smaller than mine was!
ReplyDeleteNothing beats a good box top painting, packed with action and flying rockets. Paintings sell kits, photos are just drab and lifeless.
ReplyDeleteHave to jump in and defend photos a bit, though I too prefer painted box art.
ReplyDeleteA well shot pic of a well made model can look great and more than do it for me (imagine photo box art by Scoop or Kevin). Major Matt Mason, one of the best toys ever, had ALL photo box art, as far as I can remember.
No, the problem here is that it's a naff photo of the toy, mostly hidden by the kids hands, and the boy himself looks unsure and unenthusiastic.
I suppose for me whats unusual is how the photo covers the entire backing card and the fact that its a bright colour picture of a young kid. It is unusual. I'm not against photo art though. I adore the Tarheel photo box art of the American versions of Project SWORD toys.
ReplyDeleteThe original Mach-X came in a long box with some cracking painted artwork on it. Like Lewis, I had to do a double take on this and saw it was a later, smaller version. In the 80's-90's a lot of European companies went for this cleaner, more modern look on toy packaging, using photographs of kids using the toys. Personally, I hate it with a passion - especially when you have some doubtful looking rugrat fiddling with the toy, rather than an exciting vision of the rocket speeding through the atmosphere. Bring back painted artwork every time!
ReplyDeleteThe photo reminds me of a family photo taken on holiday!
ReplyDelete