Mattel’s Matchbox Monsters was a 2006 toy line that paired diecast vehicles with plastic cryptids (well, sorta). There was a snow plow with a yeti, a pickup truck with a giant bear, a van with a reptoid/swamp monster, a Jeep with a “T-rex bone monster,” and the best of all, a hovercraft with a Kraken. (You can see photos of the entire set here.)
Now it has been well established that hovercraft are awesome. This one claims to be a “Nautical Research Vessel”, yet it has a massive harpoon cannon on the foredeck. That’s pretty awesome, I guess, but it begs the question, what kind of research requires a harpoon? (Other than “What can we harpoon today?”) I suppose it could be used to defend their hovercraft from the deadly Kraken…
This particular Kraken (which seems to be officially called the “Black Kraken Monster”) resembles a cross between an octopus and a squid. Its head and tentacles are arrayed in a very octopus-like pose, but it’s head extends into a long squid-like mantle. It appears to have only seven arms, and each ends in pointy club. The mantle ends in a similar arrowhead point, so it almost seems as though it might have been intended to be an eighth tentacle. It has malevolent red and yellow eyes, purple spots OF PURE EVIL.
More recently, the Kraken figure has shown up in the Matchbox Hitch ‘N Haul series, specifically the Wild Water™ set. The Kraken is now being called a Giant Squid, and it is joined by a shark and scuba diver. The hovercraft has been replaced with an (infinitely less interesting) SUV pulling a jet ski on a trailer. The squid has been repainted a sort of purpley-blue and, in case you were wondering, the SUV is a Chevy Suburban.
There is also this variant version with a powder blue squid, shark, and diver, a red jet ski, and a Land Rover Freelander.
