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Packaging - ***
Basic Tomica packaging. If one of you never saw them, basically it’s only a box with a picture and numbers indicating
the series number. Good for the collector who likes to show in their collection and put it back in (near) mint condition. but compared to Mattel’s blister, it’s a far cry. This one is a bit dull for my taste.
Inside, Lightning is only protected by a plastic bag, no cellotape. Just the plastic bag, sir. Rather simplistic for my taste but very efficient.
Sculpting - ***
It body is made of iron while the under body and tires are made from ABS plastic. The size of this car is
on par with basic Hotwheels cars (please see the last photo). So it’s about 1:64
scale, which mean is smaller than the Mattel ones.
Details are good. Although it’s rather simple, it's enough to capture the movie magic. On the downside, the bottom part of
the lightning is lacking any details. Okay, the movie doesn’t show his underparts, but a bit of detailing
wouldn't hurt.
Paint - ****
Paint is the strong point of this “figure” since a his eyes and everything else depends on it. His eyes
are beautifully painted or placed (since it looks like dry transfers to me). Now, if you look at his body, it’s
fileed with number, stickers, sponsors… and they all are also beautifully painted. Even the
"lightyear" on his tires is visible. A bit of miss on the muffler, though…
but that’s minor in my eyes.
Articulation - Bupkis
The only things that move are the wheels, and they… errr… spin…
Accessories - Bupkis
No Tomica cars ever got any accessories (well some have, but they more children oriented). If you want a Lightning with accessories, go with
Tomy’s. It has cactus and rocks as backgrounds. The Tomica one is stuck with nothing.
Fun Factor - ****
Die Cast Cars + Child = endless playing value. It’s a rigid, free wheeling toy with
kid friendly themes.
Value - **
According to my Tomica collectors guide, D series (Lightning is D-23) are made only for vehicles with Disney’s Character on
them (such as Mickey’s Cars, Nemo’s bus, etc) and only sold in Japan. There, it’s sold for 760 yen (around 6$) which is a good price since the price could go up. But that's if you’re an
investor. The truth is, you could buy 6 Hotwheels cars with that price. To make matters worse, Mattel’s is only 4 $ each. Okay, the quality is good, but 6$ is a bit overpriced. (note: some stores in my country already sold this car for 15$. Talk about overpriced, hey).
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