New box of 12 Tomicas... Which is best and which is worst?

The problem with buying cars on-line is that you can't really see what they look like, the way you would if you got to see it in real life before you chose to buy it.  So when you open up your shipment, you are always curious about how the cars will actually look.

Today I got a box of 12 new Tomicas, fresh from Asia.  Most are new 2020 castings.  Some are great castings!  ...and some are not so great.  So for your benefit, I thought I'd rank them in order of how much I like them, from 12th (last place) up to 1st place...





























Tomica makes some winners...   ...and some losers.  In this group, there was an obvious loser.  This maroon Toyota Supra.  Its just a very uninspiring model.  Nothing about it that makes you want to play with it.  The window tint is so dark that at first it appears that Tomica really cheaped out and didn't even put in an interior (they didn't, there is an interior, you just have to look REALLY hard to see it).

The ONLY interesting thing about this model was that Tomica also made it's platform sharing mate (the BMW Z4 roadster - pictured in the back of this photo) and painted it in the same shade of maroon.

Other than that, its not a great model.  Its not as bad as the mid 2000s Mazda RX8 (in the running for the worst ever Tomica model), but its definitely not great.  It takes last place by a fairly wide margin.

11th place:  Nissan Note Police.  Tomica's micro cars are probably my least favorite genre within the Tomica range, and frankly, this one is no exception.  While it's ahead of the Supra, it still remains well behind 10th and better places.

10th place:  Nissan skyline.  If Tomica's micro cars are my least favorite genre, then Tomica's large Japanese luxury cars are probably in a tie with minivans for my favorite genre.  But this isn't the best Skyline sedan that they've done...  Its a little too narrow, with no opening doors.  On the other hand, the glass headlights are a nice touch, and I like it more than the previous Skyline sedan.  Overall, its good enough to be a solid casting and to just barely be edged out of 9th place.

9th place:  Ferrari F8 Tributo.  I'm a bit torn about this model.  From 1 perspective I like it a lot - especially the detail with all of its hood scoops.  On the other hand, it just seems too large - especially from the back - like it's out of scale.  Granted, the F8 has a BIG rear end (I was following one on the highway the other day), but this model might be too large.  I'm just not sure what to think about it...

8th place:  Isuzu Erga Personnel Transport.  This one is an interesting model - probably the first prisoner transport model ever made in 1/64 scale...  Although you can't see it well in the photo - all of the windows are heavily barred.  It may be the most interesting coach bus made by Tomica.  (Coach buses are ALSO a less favorite Tomica genre, since the scale is SO small...). 

7th place:  Toyota Supra.  This is part of the Dream Tomica series - and is painted like the Paul Walker 10 second car from the first Fast and the Furious movie.  The picture on the box is awful.  Frankly, even this photo doesn't make it look very nice.  But in the metal, it actually looks nicer than in the pictures.  Note however that its still not as nice as the (super nice) silver Supra from the Premium series.

6th place:  Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera.  This car is part of the more expensive (2x normal price) Tomica Premium series.  As such, the wheels are accurately modeled, there is lots of detail, etc,  Overall, while I'm not a big fan of newer Lamborghini models, this is a reasonable and typical example of the (very nice ) Premium series.  FYI - the green paint is super cool. For this (6th place) and higher models, I highly recommend that you buy them if you don't have them already. 

5th place:  Toyota HiAce Communication Satellite car.  I liked this HiAce when it first came out last year.  I already like Tomica minivans, and I liked the HiAce, though I thought it was a little plain.  But dressed up with the satellite dish, it turns a nice model into a great model.  Although I ranked this as 5th place, it is definitely set apart from 6th and lower places.

4th place:  Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato.  Wow.  This is a GREAT model.  It's one of the best Tomica models EVER.  Its large, solid, with opening doors, wonderful detail, beautiful rich paint, glass headlights, etc.  I love this model.  You need it too!

3rd place:  Nissan Gloria Gran Tourimo Ultima.  This car is part of the Limited Vintage series, and as such is VERY expensive, about 6X the price of a typical model.  But I bought the car in red, and loved it so much that I ante'd up the cash to buy it in white as well... 

Some limited vintage models let you down with slightly smaller than normal scales, and make you wonder whether the excessive price tag is worth it.  But this is one of my favorite Limited Vintage castings, and the only 1 that I've liked enough to buy in multiple colors.  (Note that my favorite Limited Vintage is probably the Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero). 

2nd place:  Cattle Transporter.  This is part of the extended length series - and is definitely my favorite model in that series.  The longer size allows it be (slightly) more accurately scaled, though it still claims to be 1:90 scale.  The truck comes with 8 cows (4 black, 4 white) and an opening ramp door in the back. 

1st place:  Aston Martin DB5.  This model is again part of the premium series (2x the normal Tomica price), and is 1 of the nicest models in that series.  Taking it out of the box I was stunned at how beautiful it looks.  At how metallic it looks.  At the incredible detail of the grill.  The solid opening doors.  etc.  It was a no-brainer to pick this car as the best car of the 12. 

Writer's note:  It's interesting that this set of12 cars includes my first 2  Tomica Aston Martins, both of which are amazing models.   As a real life Aston owner, I'm proud that the Tomica Astons are such faithful and beautiful models.