Future of Tomica World in USA

This may be old news, but I was speaking to the owner of a long running local Train and Toy shop (where I often find 2nd hand Tomy and trackmaster products) recently and he told me that in the current list of available Tomica World products that are available in the USA, there is only one Train Product available to retailers.

Apparently the Tomica Offices are in a nearby town and he has been pleading with them for years to offer more Tomy Train Products in the USA, but to no avail. He claims that if they made more regular train products available he could sell tons and really thinks that making the Amtrack a one-off product only available in an expensive set was a terrible idea.

I'm sure this isn't new news. With Tomica disappearing from stores, we've kind of seen it coming but I thought it would be good to share some confirmation from someone "in the biz"

It does make me exceedingly glad that I purchased the Freightliner recently as it looks like when they're gone they're gone. In the USA anyway...

what is the one product that is available to retailers that little kid push train?
with multicolored tracks.

Tomy has tried 3 separate times in the U.S. to get plarail a footing in our toy stores, and Americans just aren't as into it as you would think, not to mention Tomy makes primarily Japanese trains and they do it well! I do not think they should have to make American trains to get their brand to sell in the U.S., financially it doesn't make sense they already make a huge number of trains to choose from! making U.S. trains would just take away from what their 55 year long established customer base actually want. It is not surprising that it is hard to get Plarail huge in the states to the Majority of Americans it is a niche hobby, and as I always say our nation as a whole does not utilize or admire trains as a means of transportation like they do in Japan where it is a huge part of everyday life!

I grant you that what you say is true. However, they do make an american style train, and to only make that train available in a high-end set make sit seem like they could have made a few more intelligent choices in their product selections.

Also, they never gave the selection of trains that would appeal to hobbyists. It was marketed as a toy rather than a "train set". Asside from the auto based playsets which Hot Wheels and Matchbox already have the market nailed down for, it was mostly alot of robot trains and sci-fi'ish stuff that couldn't compete with the mass of sci-fi toys already avaialble here in the USA. Also, for the most recent series, you could buy strait and curved rails, but no switches!

Not that such choices would have gotten them the huge distribution through something like Toys R Us, but the combination train shop and better-toy shop is pretty common out here, and they would have lapped up the opportunity to have access to even a few of the japaneese and european style trains.

Suffice to say, Tomica/Playrail was marketed as just another toy and never given the chance to do what it does best. That is: provide a fairly realistic, mid-level model train experience.

To rephrase they did make an American style train, it is far from being available anymore. It came in a high end set so you would start out with enough track to play for hours right out of the box, makes sense to me. And during the time the Amtrak set was released Tomy was the producer of Thomas in the U.S. and stand alone track packs were available. As for the Tomica Hypercity line, for the first year it was for sale in the U.S. it was Toys R Us exclusive and had it caught on, switch track packs were going to be released as evident in the following photo. Switch tracks were also available in the bigger Hypercity sets which were reasonably priced, at this point I don't blame Tomy they have tried!
And yes it was marketed as just another toy I agree, but I sincerely think you overestimate the demand for it in the United States!

(05-22-2014, 04:56 PM)eilif Wrote: I grant you that what you say is true. However, they do make an american style train, and to only make that train available in a high-end set make sit seem like they could have made a few more intelligent choices in their product selections.

Also, they never gave the selection of trains that would appeal to hobbyists. It was marketed as a toy rather than a "train set". Asside from the auto based playsets which Hot Wheels and Matchbox already have the market nailed down for, it was mostly alot of robot trains and sci-fi'ish stuff that couldn't compete with the mass of sci-fi toys already avaialble here in the USA. Also, for the most recent series, you could buy strait and curved rails, but no switches!

Not that such choices would have gotten them the huge distribution through something like Toys R Us, but the combination train shop and better-toy shop is pretty common out here, and they would have lapped up the opportunity to have access to even a few of the japaneese and european style trains.

Suffice to say, Tomica/Playrail was marketed as just another toy and never given the chance to do what it does best. That is: provide a fairly realistic, mid-level model train experience.

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Please keep in mind I am not trying to be argumentative I am just having a discussion.

(05-22-2014, 05:18 PM)Gerisplarail1 Wrote: To rephrase they did make an American style train, it is far from being available anymore. It came in a high end set so you would start out with enough track to play for hours right out of the box, makes sense to me. And during the time the Amtrak set was released Tomy was the producer of Thomas in the U.S. and stand alone track packs were available. As for the Tomica Hypercity line, for the first year it was for sale in the U.S. it was Toys R Us exclusive and had it caught on, switch track packs were going to be released as evident in the following photo. Switch tracks were also available in the bigger Hypercity sets which were reasonably priced, at this point I don't blame Tomy they have tried!
And yes it was marketed as just another toy I agree, but I sincerely think you overestimate the demand for it in the United States!

I am not trying to be argumentative I am just having a discussion.

Good discussion all around, no offense taken. Interesting to know that it was a TRU exclusive for the first year. Maybe that's why my train store dealer had such trouble getting it in. Perhaps many of the sets he wanted didn't last past (or much past) the TRU promotional period.

Nice to see the pic. However, I can't quite tell, but it looks like most of the trains in that ad are the robo or sci-fi trains.

I think we just disagree about whether TOMY made the right decisions in marketing Tomica and selecting which items to sell. Putting the most recognizable train in the highest price box (and one that was only limited in distribution) only works if you have a brand that parents know. Otherwise get it in at a modest price point and sell the heck out of it.

Also, by comparison it appears that currently the "Power Trains" brand of train sets are doing well at multiple outlets and sells at a price point not much different from Tomica. Though much lower quality than Tomy and almost all with stickers instead of paint, they are all based on real-world designs in both the trains and the accessories. Clearly a toy trying to present itself as a train set.

I think they prove that a market exists. I just wish it was Tomy in that niche, and I think if TOMY had played their cards better I think it could have been. I think we do agree, though, that it might be too late now.
:-(

(05-22-2014, 04:41 PM)Gerisplarail1 Wrote: I always say our nation as a whole does not utilize or admire trains as a means of transportation like they do in Japan where it is a huge part of everyday life!

As it is in all of Europe even now. However I don't see it as the States not a case of utilizing or admiring trains so much as it is just our heritage that trains as transportation might have been replaced by other means earlier than the rest of the world.

(05-22-2014, 04:41 PM)Gerisplarail1 Wrote: financially it doesn't make sense they already make a huge number of trains to choose from! making U.S. trains would just take away from what their 55 year long established customer base actually want.

As far as that goes, have they really polled this 55 year long customer base to see what they actually want? I really can't beleive that their is a 55 year old customer base as there would be a huge turnover every 5 or 10 years as children grow out of it and maybe some coming back when they are much older. Did they ever try to produce and sell an American train in Japan to see what the interest would be? In this day and age of technology making the world much smaller and accessible maybe there would be and maybe not. After all, isn't it the love of trains that drive the hobby and not love of ones country?

It was a shame the Tomica range seemed to silently discontinue last year as it was removed from the worldwide Tomy websites. I suppose there's just not much appeal for this system when there's licensed characters from other companies that are going to get selling. I guess it was good for us if all that blue track was being made. It was like how from 1998-2002, there were some great looking European trains in the Tomica World range, but Thomas was just unstoppable. I remember being so pleased when I was younger when the range had now turned into a Thomas range. I'm probably not going to be much help with my contribution here. Where I live, I've rarely seen any Tomica products and the only thing I have seen at the same toy stores a set and some add-ons all wrapped up as one unit. I do wonder what the sales are like with licensed trains compared to the regular Plarail trains in Japan considering its popularity.