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The Name "bruiser"

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Hi

I have been reading the Tamiya Catalogues / RC Guide Books of 1986-1992.

The kit 58048 Toyota 4x4 Pickup used to have the name "Bruiser" when it first appeared in the 1986 catalogue, but I noticed that from 1989 to 1992 (when the kit last appeared), the name "Bruiser" was eliminated completely (both the item listing, text description and the box-art picture). Does anyone have an idea why was this the case?

I noticed that at around the same time all cigarette brands had also been eliminated (e.g. Marlboro, Rothmans, Camel) in the Tamiya Catalogues / RC Guide books probably due to the ban of cigarette advertisment in some countries. Was the name "Bruiser" offensive to anyone on certain grounds?

(Photos taken from www.tamiyabase.com)

1987 Tamiya RC Guide Book

guide1987_12.jpg

1990 Tamiya RC Guide Book

guide1990_13.jpg

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Strange that they dropped the Bruiser name. the cigarette issue was a law passed in the US making it illegal to advertise cigarettes. It also applied to Models.

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Might be a copyright issue, Tamiya haven't used the Porsche logo since the incident with the 959, unless I am mistaken. I will do a little research.

Paul.

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What was the 959 incident then? Never heard of it

Also on my 934 ttg is the porsche logo in the decals, even with the word porsche on it...

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Hmm, interesting, and a very nice discovery :-)

First let me apologise for the poor scan quality of the 1990 catalogue and a few others, they will be redone.... soon.

I checked all my Guide books and found that the Bruiser it appears without "Bruiser" in 1988 to 1990 (it's not in my Japanese 1992 Guide Book.)

These three Guide books are all from different distributors (MRS, Riko and the Norwegian Lyche), so it is probably not a regional thing.

My 1986 (MRC) and both my 1987 (MRC & Lyche) both has the Bruiser name in it....

Now to the Catalogues:

1986 (Lyche) use the name Bruiser

Both 1988 and 1987 (French) also use Bruiser

But, in the 1989 (Lyche) the Bruiser name is gone, and it is gone all the way from there.

But, why??

I have no idea... I don't think it's a legal thing as I belive the term Bruiser is an American term for "working horse" in automotive terms (I might be wrong though!!)

Lars

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Ah ha! I too have wondered this for years. On the small picture of the box top you can even see where they whited- out the name "Bruiser". Hopefully someone can provide an answer to this mystery.

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Ah ha! I too have wondered this for years. On the small picture of the box top you can even see where they whited- out the name "Bruiser". Hopefully someone can provide an answer to this mystery.

AH Ha! leans back, stroking long beard thoughtfully..... :)

Jeeves! Investigate at once! lol ;):D

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What was the 959 incident then? Never heard of it

I'm assuming Loaded refers to the issue of "Porsche vs Tamiya" described here by Mr Nismo? (at the bottom of his review):

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/car_comment.asp?cid=59

I've always wondered if this Porsche story is true - it's intriguing. If anyone has any more proof of it, then please share :D

Personally this all just adds to my feeling that we were lucky Tamiya (or anyone) actually made R/C cars in the early 1980s, because in those early days there was freedom with regard to using sponsor logos, branding, etc.

Over the years, these freedoms have dwindled for various legal or financial reasons. Tamiya can barely afford to produce Formula 1 plastic models anymore, due to the fees required. It's a far cry from the days when Mr Tamiya would do deals with F1 teams whereby favours were exchanged and friendships were created.

cheers,

H.

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Another interesting note is that under the English name is the Japanese name.

In both of the catalogues they are the same;

トヨタ ハイラックス ハイ リフト

Toyota Hilux High Lift

No that sounds familiar :D

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Maybe Japanese TC member can shed some light. I would guess "bruiser" in Japanese has a negative meaning or sound or maybe the marketing department of Tamiya thougt bruiser means battered and bruised, which is not good? For some reason, I conncect loser with bruiser. :D

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I will go through all my Porsches later to check for sure, but what I was referring to was from memory, there was an issue between Porsche and Tamiya which surrounded the 959, which is separate from the Rothmans logo sponsorship fight which resulted in the Rothmans logo being removed from the cars and replaced with racing. This involved copyright demands by Porsche and since then (in fact half way production, check out in my showroom, most of my 959s have the logo and one doesn't) Tamiya haven't used the logo on the boxes, although it remains on the models themselves.

Like I said, I will check my boxes, but I think no boxes since have the badge, just the name.

Paul.

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OK, I have checked an example from each Porsche I have post 959 and not a single one has the badge on the box lid. Each model prior to the 959 (Porsche) has such a badge. If you look after 58059, there are about 120 until a Porsche gets issued by Tamiya again, then it seems a Porsche is almost every other model. If someone finds a box with a Porsche badge after the 959 I would be interested in finding out.

Paul.

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i know that Proline made a baja bug shell that ran into legal trouble with EMPI because of the front nose cone and it was pulled from the shelves. there may be other issues like that with the trademarks. makes you wonder. if i was a corporate CEO i would love to have every kid on the block growing up with my product in a miniature RC form, but thats just me.

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i know that Proline made a baja bug shell that ran into legal trouble with EMPI because of the front nose cone and it was pulled from the shelves. there may be other issues like that with the trademarks. makes you wonder. if i was a corporate CEO i would love to have every kid on the block growing up with my product in a miniature RC form, but thats just me.

I guess in the beginning, CEO do not mind thinking is a compliment but once they see the amount of money the toy mfgs are making off thier design after spending millions and million on the design plus advertising, they want a piece of the toy market dollar and I can't blame them. I guess copyrights, patents, trademarks were all designed to protect the entity that can up with the design or process.

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Proline got into similar strife over the Toyota Landcruiser, a couple of years before.

Maybe Bruiser was registered to someone else, and the name was removed?.

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i know that Proline made a baja bug shell that ran into legal trouble with EMPI because of the front nose cone and it was pulled from the shelves. there may be other issues like that with the trademarks. makes you wonder. if i was a corporate CEO i would love to have every kid on the block growing up with my product in a miniature RC form, but thats just me.

Might be a bit upset if that same RC car was not competitive in races though :)

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