New Plarails at Tokyo Toy Show 2016

I hope it will become a standard for "next gen" Plarail trains.

Let's hope not. Plarail is a toy that has been around for more than 50 years and has remained the same. The same design has allowed high compatibility between toys in the past and the future - a key factor why we are still buying them. We know that things will be compatible and so our money is not wasted on random ideas coming from the company.

Changing the design of the train for the purpose of 'realism' for older people and breaking the compatibility is a tactic to increase short-term sales but in the long term is bad for all the people that have bought so much Plarail. We don't want a million different ways to remote control the train. We want one simple way that is consistent.

Trying different things is good as the new Dr Yellow is quite interesting. However, I do not want to think that this could end up like a Mattel strategy where so many toys are interesting on their own but never work together to create something bigger or greater which is a key factor why Plarail has survived for more than 50 years.

-plarnold