Corgi’s The X-ploratrons (1979)

X-Ploratrons 1979-1

X-Ploratrons 1979-2

X-Ploratrons 1979-3

The X-ploratrons were Corgi’s short-lived (and ill-named) answer to Matchbox’s Adventure 2000 line. They seem to have been produced for one year only, and there were four vehicles in total, each featuring specialized equipment: Lasertron (reflector), Magnetron (magnet), Rocketron (firing rocket, working compass), and Scanotron (magnifying lens).

The X-ploratrons, according to the backstory, were created to combat a nature that’s gone wild in a 21st century post-apocalyptic world. While the the actual product doesn’t match the quality and imagination of the Adventure 2000 line, the art is superior: all of the package illustrations were done by Carlos Ezquerra, a longtime 2000 AD alum and the co-creator of Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog. Interestingly, Adventure 2000’s Raider Command vehicle appears in a 1978 Judge Dredd story arc called The Cursed Earth.

More views below, and more on the X-ploratrons later.

X-Ploratrons 1979-11

X-Ploratrons 1979-12

X-Ploratrons 1979-10

X-Ploratrons 1979-14

(Images via The Saleroom, Vectis Auctions, and The Toy Cabin)

5 Responses to “Corgi’s The X-ploratrons (1979)”


  1. 2 Brad Conrad January 21, 2016 at 2:23 pm

    This just reinforces that in the future of the ’70s all glass will be tinted bronze.


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