Tomica is Japan’s equivalent to hot wheels
It's accurate to say that Tomica is a direct competitor to Hot Wheels, and they hold a similar position in their respective home markets. Here's a breakdown of the key points:
Hot Wheels is a line of die-cast toy vehicles produced by Mattel, an American multinational toy company.
Both brands were introduced around the same time (Hot Wheels in 1968 and Tomica in 1970) and they both create collectible miniature cars. While they share a similar concept, they often have different design philosophies and target markets. Tomica is known for its high level of detail and realistic models, often focusing on Japanese domestic market cars, while Hot Wheels is often associated with more stylized designs, fantasy cars, and racing culture.
Earth Day
Today and yesterday, it was Earth Day. I hope this year the conservation and the environment will be improved well and the animals were well protected. For users, followers, admins, and viewers who follow this wiki (Tomica Wiki), Happy Earth Day and please watch National Geographic about Earth Day.
Also this is my first blog for Tomica Wiki. I really like Tomica cars, so does Legos, Plarails, and Beast Saga.
What is the deal with Tomica Dandy
Okay, so for the first time in a while, I'm just getting more and more stumped as I look into one of Tomica's many ancient lines.
There isn't much information I can find about Tomica Dandy. I guess, mostly being a larger scale than the main line, the sites that archive and collect information about normal scale Tomica mostly ignore it, excluding the 30th anniversary re-launch which is considerably more modern.
What I have figured out is this:
- The older releases are in square, mostly white, opague boxes like regular Tomica
- Numbers can be re-used
- The newer ones are in see-through boxes, like that of the older Long Tomica.
- There are a number of sub-lines which are D followed by a letter, such as DJ, DK, DB, etc. These typically follow a theme, such…
So I made a video...
Of me reviewing a new haul of toys, mostly Tomica. It's mediocre quality, but I just felt like doing it to kill some time, since I've been so out of it lately. But, here's a chance to get a glimpse at my growing but not-so-big Tomica collection. Via Youtube.
Also made a second one per Youtube. Featuring more Drive Head Tomica, the Pocket Tomica Nissan Fairlady Z and black/riot police Dream Tomica Nissan GT-R. Kinda fun to talk about Tomica. I might make more in the future, even though I lack decent recording equipment.
Translated Interviews, Articles, Etc.
I have been translating a number of the Drive Head-related interviews I've come across. I want to do some more translations down the line of various Drive Head stuff, largely for my own enjoyment, but I thought I'd share them here in case anyone feels like reading it. (I may edit this in the future with more).
Because I am not a professional translator, just a fan, these might not be perfect. Just warning in advance. Currently, I have the two interviews from "The Voice", which are available on AEON Cinema's website. One was with Yuri Sasagawa and the other with Trendy Angel, and both came out around the time of the movie's release.
Second, I have the Sasagawa interview which was included in Figure Oh magazine vol. 245. It was also released a…
Tomica Kizuna Gattai Earth Granner
This morning Takara Tomy announced a new Tomica anime which will be named Tomica Kizuna Gattai Earth Granner. It is intended to commemorate Tomica's fiftieth anniversary. It is a bit surprising considering the fact that it has been known that Takara Tomy wanted to continue the Shinkalion series, while TBS discontinued their anime block, which also formerly included Kamiwaza Wanda, Shinkalion and Zoids. While Zoids was moved to TV Tokyo, Shinkalion was present through its movie which entered the cinemas in December 2019. However, we know for sure that Tomica exceeded Takara Tomy's expectations and its toys also still have high sales, while it was intended as a filler until Shinkalion could air. Now Shinkalion seems to be over after the movi…
The Big 'What in the World Am I Doing' Post
I don't have a personal blog anymore (just a twitter which isn't really good for ranting due to that restrictive character count), but I wanted to rant a little, and realized I do have a blog here. Why not put it to use? Especially because what I want to rant about it this wiki, and Tomica itself. Nothing negative.I don't mean anything negative by this, though the term "rant" does tend to have negative connotations. Maybe "ramble" is a better word. But oh well.
Prior to watching Drive Head, I was only tangentially aware of Tomica existing. I'm not a car person. I did have some Matchbox cars and stuff as a kid, but I never really got into them. I'm the kind of person who can appreciate a cool-looking car, but if you put a car in front of me,…
Concerning the poll
Nice that we finally have one. But since it requires a yes or no answer and I’m a super verbose person with mixed feeling on the matter, I thought I’d make a blog post.
Theoretically, “Tomica” is not dead. The actual die-cast toy line long predates Drive Head and the two Toku works, and will likely continue perpetually. TBH, I don’t know a lot about the history of Tomica, but it seems to be the equivalent of Hot Wheels or Matchbox in Japan. Constantly releasing different toy cars, often as tie-ins to other franchises such as Disney, and some of them are pricey collectible items.
But, do I want more Drive Head? Yes and no. I find the toys to be super fun, and I would love to buy more. The way they’re all interchangeable with each other allows…
Extraneous Stuff on the Main Page
I have been working on this wiki a lot lately, because I'd love to make it a good source of information on Drive Head (unfortunately I know very little about the earlier Tomica live-action series other than that they exist.) As I am not an admin or anything of the sort, I don't want to go around deleting things, but I think that currently the front page is a mess.
Drive Head is a tiny, tiny fandom in the English-speaking parts of the world, despite its popularity in Japan. I see a few people talking about it on /m/, but that's about it. There's a total of one fanfic, and I wrote it. Point is, I can't delude myself into thinking it even really has a fan community. So I don't expect there to ever be Google and Facebook and Deviantart groups a…