These two are something of a mystery as I don’t know anything about them and never seen any other merchandise books etc. They are part of the official Explorer 12 fleet but I don’t ever remember seeing them in BHS at all. I first discovered RE1 when my Dads friend gave one he had picked up from somewhere unboxed way back in 1994. It was unboxed but the reason I knew this was part of the official range was that It came with it own little official patch on the sides of the vehicle. The immediate trailer was novel as it featured an azimuthing cab in which a small figure could be placed and a winch. At the end of the winch cable was an adapter which could be clipped into the front or back of another explorer, this was to rescue Explorers that a had fallen down pits or such like.

ME1 is of the flat cab type and is very similar to the Polar Explorer except it has a medical bay mounted on to the top of the immediate trailer which is really nothing more than a kind of cab with a clear canopy. This is also an official vehicle as it has it own patch and the box is featured the Project Sword blog on this site http://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2009/06/explorer-12-and-die-cast-space-series.html.

Again nothing is known about any other merchandise associated with this model, books etc or the story behind it. I suspect that there are actually another two models out there of unknown configuration, the reason behind this train of thought is that the first batch was released as four vehicles so its only logical to concluded that the second batch was the same. Also I cant figure out where the ’12’ fits in the Explorer story (maybe the wheels?), I suspect that twelve vehicles may have been planned should the toys prove a success. Sadly this was not the case as they seem to have disappeared overnight. If you have any information on vehicles or the other two ‘phantom’ which I believe maybe out there then do please get in touch. I am also interested to find out if these two had books and other merchandise out like the first batch.