gogotomica

gogotomica

Monday, September 19, 2011

Tomica vs Matchbox - The Dynamic Duo

Honda Civic Type R, everyone knows that.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X U.K. Police version



These cars are two of the hottest model regardless of the real thing or if you shrink them down 60 times smaller. I am referring to Tomica and Matchbox based on daily livery of our familiar road cars we have seen on the road, less the "out of this world" tempos. Cars can be hot without tempos too. Cars which only look hot in tempos are totally uncool.


4 cars will be featuring here are the Civic Type R and Evolution X U.K. Police from both Tomica and Matchbox. It is quite rare for Tomica to make cars that are not totally Japanese. Honda is Japanese but the Civic Type R is actually made in the U.K. The Evolution X is Japanese too but instead of a Japanese patrol car, it is the U.K. police version made. Tomica and Matchbox has been making similar cars like Bentley Continental GT, Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, Toyota bB, Mazda 2, Mitsubishi Triton and the latest edition is the Nissan Cube. I must complement that Matchbox Nissan Cube is a hit which I personally think that it is better made than the Tomica in overall impression.


The qualities most people looking for in a sports car must fulfill some criteria. It must look sporty or fierce enough. Performance must be able to eat any family saloons for breakfast, lunch, dinner or even supper.



In general, Matchbox passed those criteria in the fierce department mainly because of the larger rims and use of detailed tempos on the front & rear end of the vehicles. Tomica wanted to capture hearts by having some opening parts. Sometimes I think they tried a little over too hard.



The Tomica Civic has a opening hatch which isn't necessary at all and it is scale down so much to 1/68. It's a weird scale in Tomica history for a car that is similar size to a Golf or Escort. 1/64 will do the Tomica more justice and to do without the opening hatch.



Tomica Lancer EVO X has better overall finish as compared to the Matchbox. What Matchbox need is a set of suspension and what Tomica need is bigger rims. I wouldn't hope for the latter because it will not be Tomica if the wheels are oversize.



For the Civic comparo, the Matchbox hit it and the Tomica, sorry, a big miss.



As for the EVO X, Tomica beat its rival by half a body length. It's a draw for both Tomica and Matchbox today. The battle continues.



2 comments:

  1. yeah you're absolutely right about all describe above!

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  2. The only thing I do not like about Matchbox and Hot Wheels is that their cars so rarely have moving parts.. and kids just love moving parts - hoods, doors, everything.

    That's why I love Majorette! And that's why I keep adding them to my kid's collection which you can find photos of (and my thoughts) at Matchbox vs Hot Wheels vs Majorette Toy Cars

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