exciting news from the world of TOMY!

good thought i am in agreement with you there. i always forget about those other construction vehicles. even take out the engines and replace with road vehicles entirely. patrick the concrete mixer, and maybe nelson, as both have tipping back sections as part of their designs.

i had never thought about a bob the builder one... that would have been awesome! didnt bob recently get a reboot in a more cgi series? maybe its a possibility, but i dont know how well known bob is by the target audience anymore. i dont think he has been on tv here for several years, though it might be difference elsewhere.

That may not have been as popular as the existing sets (with the engines), not even back when the spin-off series had its short run. If anything, Max/Monty (the dump trucks) would've had the tipping function. I only thought about Jack or Alfie/Oliver the Excavator because Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure brought back the latter two, so today's children would've been likely to know them.

Even if it were a clone made by some other (authorised) company or only had two character shells instead of three, it would've been one of, if not the most perfect concept for a Bob the Builder toy, and one I'm certain many parents/children have made custom solutions for over the years. For example, Muck is essentially the dump truck used in the Tomica Megaton Dump set, with the front bucket/bulldozer blade. Scoop's shell may have been a bit harder to make, unless his backhoe were to be removed like in the BRIO range (yes, there was one).

Yes, there is a modernised reboot of BtB from 2015, but it changed almost everything that made the original series (which ended in 2012) good. The machines' redesigns are the most repulsive thing about it. I was mainly thinking about the 2000s, when most of the old show's merchandise was being made. That would've been the "right" time to release a Big Loader (style?) playset for it, but TOMY chose Thomas & Friends and there was no clone set.

first ebay listing i have seen of the new release. exciting that the seller is listed as being in australia. thats just across the ditch from me, so hopefully they will come here, too.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/123260239840?ul_noapp=true

[Super]

Excellent news Sun. Does it cost a lot to ship over the ditch to you?

about $11NZD, going by that listing. cost of set plus shipping is $76NZD, and even that seems too high for the people i would sell to. hopefully it will come here, but then it will likely be $80.

well, great news! the big loaders finally landed in nz. they are exclusive to one department store, and typically the store in my town didnt appear to get any in stock.
as predicted, they are $80, but currently $45 on sale. i managed to secure two for myself thanks to mum, and would like a third as a gift to a little girl who would be all over it.

my idea of buying to resell has gone out the window, as the funds simply arent there right now.

photos and a short video at the bottom of this page:
https://sunstomyandfriends.weebly.com/th...-sets.html