Tamiya, the Nintendo of R/C

[beefmuffin 1156]

self-evident, no?

[LOVE THE FOX 20]

Look Beef I'm not a rocket scientist so your gonna have to explain this one :-)

[pizzachaude 130]

Nintendo is to game consoles what Tamiya is to RC. It's the grandaddy of it all,everyone wanted one back in the 80s, both develloped into a very big industry. And now both Nintendo and Tamiya are losing ground to the competition. Thats my interpretation of it, you may or may not agree....

God the 80s were great!!

[beefmuffin 1156]

yeah i do agree! and like nintendo tamiya focuses significantly more effort on the nostalgia factor than its competitors like traxxas, kyosho, etc. a re-issue of the buggy champ is comparable to a re-releases of super mario brothers. or the re-re frog to the repeated new versions of a classic game like zelda. there are obviously differences in how the technology evolves, but it's the spirit of the matter that counts here.

nintendo competitors like the xbox and playstation are almost entirely focused on the newest, fastest, most extreme hardware, action, etc. remind you of any R/C brands?

one other thing that came to mind for me is how tamiya really has been losing their way a little with their modern stuff, at least in my eyes. which is what brought to mind the comparison. no matter how long nintendo has been making new games and new systems, they've always stayed true to the clean, fun, more family-friendly characters. xbox and playstation are more focused on adult gamers who want a lot of blood and violence. it makes sense for the xbox or playstation to market themselves with things like skulls, etc but it would seem unbecoming of nintendo. that's how i feel when i see tamiya using skulls, etc with their modern models to try to seem edgy. nintendo has seemed on the edge of extinction many times but have always come back to the top from a business standpoint by staying true to their brand/message. pop culture may have gotten more explicit/extreme/explosions! over the years, but tamiya shouldn't be afraid to buck that trend and stick to its roots of making fun and original buggies/trucks/etc - not like the jreck that they wheeled out in nuremberg.

[TA-Mark 195]

Disagree sorry. Tamiya's range is vast. It covers everything from scale to nostalgia to high level racing, both on and offroad. No other company does this.

You seem to be stuck on the re-release models as being the whole of Tamiya. Look at their scale stuff (scale 4x4, trucks, tanks), or save up some of your money and buy one of the TRF kits. What Tamiya doesn't do is offer you 4 or 5 variations of the same chassis kit from a cheaper, watered down casual runner version to a more expensive full blown race machine, they just offer the one high ticket TRF race machine. Good example is the RC10B4.1 with 4 different trim levels and 4 different price tags, where as Tamiya offer just the one trim level of the TRF201, the best.

[JWeston 493]

Tamiya Mario Karts please :-)

[GregM 1109]

Good point, TA-Mark.

Still, I can see the similarities between Tamiya and Nintendo. But I think both Tamiya and Nintendo couldn't be farther from the edge of extinction than they are now. From what other manufacturer than Tamiya can you expect to get brand new spare parts from remaining stock of models that went out of production 20 years ago? And even Nintendo still had limited customer support for their 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System some years ago. Both companies do the re-release thing and massively benefit from their history, while releasing some more or less unconventional new products at the same time.

And I love both.

[alfagta 126]

hi all , while i cant really compare Nintendo to other games console systems (as i am proud to say i have never owned a games console in my 40 years!!) when it comes to Tamiya vs 'the others' , traxxas etc do seem to be focused on the 'pull it out the box and beat the life out of it brigade' , Tamiya have there place in the game and know where that place is , i don't know of another company that makes wonderful scale rc ,static models that are so detailed and also championship winning rc racers , as well as all the other thousands of sundries that they produce to go along with each aspect of the modelling hobby.

Tamiya kits are for life not just for Christmas , if that is the same as Nintendo consoles then they are the Nintendo of the modeling , for me though , i still get just as exited about a new Tamiya kit arriving at my door as i did 30 years ago when i got my first Tamiya cheetah (wish i still had it!) , that for me totally outweighs the latest and fastest and ugliest RTR .

[rdlb23 14]

RC PRO-AM anyone. All I did when I was little was dream about dropping bombs and firing rockets from my Grasshopper. My brother and I even drew red chalk chevrons on the driveway.

There is an RC section in a local hobby store around where I live, they only sell RTR cars. I asked them why they have no Tamiya, and they said their customers are kids who want to just charge it and tear it up, instant gratification. They also have a repair service which charges by the hour because no one knows how to fix their cars, or they don't want to be bothered. Lest you think poorly of them they also have a huge heli and boat crew, both of which are much more DIY.

Reminds me of real cars. When I was a kid my Dad and my brother and I would do everything we possibly could to service and repair our cars, now I can't even see the engine without removing a ton of plastic and when I get there it asks me to plug in my diagnostic unit...

Tamiya Mario Karts please :-)

SECONDED!

[TA-Mark 195]

Tamiya Mario Karts please :-)

LOL Mario Karts. Many drivers available if you search for them. Tomy also has smaller scale ones.

[Hibernaculum 933]

Interesting idea this.

One thing I'd add is: companies that ignore their own history, are sorely missing out on an opportunity to mythologise their brands. Nostalgia is big business. Especially when it comes to the 80s generation. Music, films, games, toys...it has been an ongoing gold mine for the past 5-10 years, for popular 80s entities to recycle the joys of that era.

It amazes me when you visit the websites of some other major RC brands, and it's like their history began in 2000 or something, because they mention absolutely nothing of the models released before then. It's stupid. Because every single vintage model from a major, still-surviving RC company, has it's own fans and collectors.

It's no surprise that Tamiya, who were always #1 in marketing back in the 80s, have been #1 in nostalgia since 2005.

cheers,

H.

[LOVE THE FOX 20]

Tamiya Mario Karts please :-)

I don't understand the infatuation with Mario Kart? A couple of my good buddies LOVE that game and it's not just them. People love that game but I haven't really played it that much.My personal favorite of all time is the original Super Mario Brother! Love that gameTamiya Mario Karts AND RE-Release the FOX PLEASE MR TAMIYA :-)

[GregM 1109]

RC PRO-AM anyone. All I did when I was little was dream about dropping bombs and firing rockets from my Grasshopper. My brother and I even drew red chalk chevrons on the driveway.

I had Super R.C. Pro-Am for the GameBoy. Great but very difficult game, where you could pick up power-ups from the track to upgrade your car with better motors, batteries, tires... As far as I remember, you could replace your whole car as well as you were progressing, from an open wheel car to a supercar and a truck.

I wish I could get my hands on that game again.

EDIT: Coverart added.

R.C. Pro-Am (Nintendo Entertainment System)

Tamiya Falcon, anybody?

Super R.C. Pro-Am (Nintendo GameBoy)

[beefmuffin 1156]

Disagree sorry. Tamiya's range is vast. It covers everything from scale to nostalgia to high level racing, both on and offroad. No other company does this.

You seem to be stuck on the re-release models as being the whole of Tamiya. Look at their scale stuff (scale 4x4, trucks, tanks), or save up some of your money and buy one of the TRF kits. What Tamiya doesn't do is offer you 4 or 5 variations of the same chassis kit from a cheaper, watered down casual runner version to a more expensive full blown race machine, they just offer the one high ticket TRF race machine. Good example is the RC10B4.1 with 4 different trim levels and 4 different price tags, where as Tamiya offer just the one trim level of the TRF201, the best.

well i understand what you are trying to say, but the thing about analogies is that you are making a connection through similarities. there are infinite things that are NOT like tamiya, the planet jupiter, or a cheeseburger come to mind. so finding something about each which is different from the other isn't the point of considering an analogy. many tamiya products have wheels, while very few nintendo products have wheels.

my *point* was that the core fan base of both derive largely from fans of their products from 20+ years ago which were in many ways very different from the style of the bulk of their contemporary competitors. and the fact that much of their character relates to the continuation and evolution of the personality of the company, and the characters/products that were established early on. for example, mario brothers wii is both nostalgic and distinct from games like call of duty or halo ... but isn't just distinct in any way, it's distinct because it traces back to a time in gaming when imaginative characters were (by necessity) more important than realism. it's a function of limitations that existed at the time, and from the fact that they succeeded so well back then, in some ways it follows that they weren't *simply* the product of trying to make a compelling experience in light of serious constraints, but that the ideas themselves were also compelling. and those same abstract ideas are still compelling today, but the constraints that led to them no longer exist and so those ideas would not have taken root in todays technical environment. if it hadn't been for nintendo *then* using mushrooms as enemies, who in today's gaming development environment would come up with mushrooms as enemies and flying turtles. and instead of a deviant-art like badword-beast version of bowser, you still have the much more cartoon like bowser that evolved from the creativity that made up for the limitations of the time. it's also highly likely that if nintendo had never enlisted an army of fans back in those days, the same exact cartoony characters might never have taken off in todays environment, even if they were exactly the same but no one had ever seen or heard of them. they would just be like any other silly idea that flops. and you can see how this works in the way the younger generation - kids of the 2000's - may not feel much attraction to battling mushrooms when they could be battling zombies or demons or whatever. another example of this is - as mentioned above - mario kart. it's a hugely popular racing game, while being completely unrealistic and silly. it contrasts significantly with all the uber-realistic racing games offered and pushed primarily by the other (modern) consoles. it's unlikely it would gain many fans if it came out now and no one had any established affinity for its particular style and aesthetic.

now, back to tamiya, clearly tamiya was and is more than R/C cars, and presently is more than nostalgic R/C cars. however i'd venture to guess that even with their fancy TRF buggies, the huge majority of tamiya R/C fans - including the purely modern models - are people who developed an affinity for tamiya products back in the 80's and early 90's when the objects of tamiya R/C nostalgia were introduced. some of them may no longer care at all about the older models and only care about the latest tamiya racers, but their interest still traces back to those signature tamiya products. i bet this effect is responsible for practically 100% of TC membership, even if those members are now focused on the modern stuff. indeed, even nintendo offers its fair share of more modern game titles. but the fact that someone chooses to buy a nintendo to play them, rather than the in many ways superior offerings from sony and microsoft (etc), is very likely a product of the echos of those 20+ year old signature offerings. obviously we're talking about vast numbers of people and there will be exceptions, but again, we're focusing on what we can say rather than what we can't say.

now the most salient point is that both tamiya and nintendo are savvy enough to be aware that their core fan base are those who are tuned into those vintage products and to try to serve that market by offering continuations and re-releases of those items. for example, the first nintendo i bought as an adult was the gamecube - which i bought in order to play the original NES version of zelda. that would be an example of a re-release. this also lead to my playing some of the newer zelda titles and getting into other offerings like mariokart and the updates to the mario bros. line. this is the same tack taken by tamiya in releasing the re-releases, and it's a smart move for them, because it simultaneously offers a product there is a standing demand for, but also introduces new customers to those compelling earlier designs that hooked the fans back in the day. others here have, i believe, correctly pointed out that the more modern racing buggies have mostly morphed into similar stream-lined shapes with similar wings and in some ways only decals to clearly distinguish models and brands. this may serve the hardcore racing community, much as the hyper-realistic FPS games serve the hardcore gaming community, but they are less likely to draw new customers into an appreciation for R/C as a serious interest. and as correctly noted above, the idea of building your own R/C was a function of the limitations of the time and the evolution of those limitations, and has less resonance with the younger generations. most of us came into this 'hobby' at a time when we had to build our own kits, but didn't have to breadboard and construct our own transmitters and receivers, or use heathkits to build them from instructions. that represents an evolutionary arc through the build your own to the almost completely RTR days of today. probably if it weren't for a customer base acclimated to the past practice of building your own kits either (i) tamiya would find few customers for their kits; or (ii) tamiya would just not bother with kits and only offer RTR - like most competitors. it's a shame because building these kits taught me - and probably most of you - a lot about working with mechanical things and even basic electronics. the young racers probably aren't getting such an educational experience.

so, to conclude, both nintendo and tamiya (R/C) exist as we know them *because* of their past. which distinguishes them from most of their competitors.

[markbt73 5316]

Interesting idea this.

One thing I'd add is: companies that ignore their own history, are sorely missing out on an opportunity to mythologise their brands. Nostalgia is big business. Especially when it comes to the 80s generation. Music, films, games, toys...it has been an ongoing gold mine for the past 5-10 years, for popular 80s entities to recycle the joys of that era.

It amazes me when you visit the websites of some other major RC brands, and it's like their history began in 2000 or something, because they mention absolutely nothing of the models released before then. It's stupid. Because every single vintage model from a major, still-surviving RC company, has it's own fans and collectors.

It's no surprise that Tamiya, who were always #1 in marketing back in the 80s, have been #1 in nostalgia since 2005.

cheers,

H.

I can't understand why more RC companies haven't picked up on this. With real car companies reviving old nameplates and using retro styling to generally good effect, it would only seem natural that RC follow suit. There have been a few tentative steps by Kyosho, but nobody else seems to be biting.

I mean, how cool would it be if the next-generation RC10 (B5) came with white nylon suspension parts and a wire-supported wing?

[neobrunox 13]

self-evident, no?

And Kyosho, the Sega of RC LOL

[beefmuffin 1156]

And Kyosho, the Sega of RC LOL

ha - maybe so! except if sega still made consoles...

[backtomyroots 432]

Nintendo is to game consoles what Tamiya is to RC. It's the grandaddy of it all,everyone wanted one back in the 80s, both develloped into a very big industry. And now both Nintendo and Tamiya are losing ground to the competition. Thats my interpretation of it, you may or may not agree....

Disagree - Tamiya's soul is based on modelling with r/c as an extra branch. The kits Tamiya produce range from very basic to very complex. There is something for everyone and I suspect it is influenced heavily by the Japanese market (much like Nintendo).

Traxxas ? Well, they are a Radio Control producer, strictly speaking so of course the development, research etc will be advancing. Same for the others such as associated, team losi, team Durango, blah, blah, blah.

Tamiya however, has some very niche markets and does develop things, check the TRF models.

I encourage everyone to read the Master Modeller hard cover book to really understand the roots of Tamiya and the principles behind the decisions.

My two cents.

[hammerstien 187]

what About Atari they brought gaming to masses like tamiya did for rc

[beefmuffin 1156]

what About Atari they brought gaming to masses like tamiya did for rc

yeah - atari too! but atari doesn't still exist in the hardware business. although if they did they'd almost certainly be doing much as nintendo is doing. at least i think they would be.

[GregM 1109]

I just found some more intriguing videogame coverart:

Final Lap Twin, for NEC Turbografx-16/NEC PC-Engine. The buggy looks a lot like a Kyosho Optima Mid, doesn't it?

How about some Sega Buggy Run. Hot Shot in the rear, what could be the car in front of it?

Sega RC Grand Prix - Two Foxes, one Hornet.

[SteveU30 1011]

Reading this thread makes me feel 10 years old again (1988).

Beef that was a long post but what you're saying is essentially spot on, I especially liked your observation that most TC members signed up for the nostalgia, I know that's true in my case as I paid up before I had even bought a car (I now have over 10 that I've acquired in the last 6 months since becoming a TCer).

On the Nintendo nostalgia, earlier this year I took ill and was off work for a few weeks having had my appendix out. Ironically this was around the same time as becoming interested in Tamiya RC again and for some reason I had a burning desire to play Nintendo. So I borrowed a Wii off a friend and proceeded to play, you guessed it, Mario Bros and Mario Kart. Ahh, those were the days.

I now have a hankering to play RC Pro Am again

[neverfollow 599]

This was such a great thread to read! What a trip down memory lane. Thanks gents

I'm always looking for an RC pro-am app for my phone...needless to say, I loved my original Nintendo. Ironicly, I traded it, with a few games, for my first Tamiya...a blackfoot converted into a monster beetle.

And here I am, nearly 30 years later, remembering both of them

[highflyer 73]

OOPS

[bromvw 744]

Given the recent sad death of Mr Hiroshi Yamauchi ( known by many as Mr Nintendo ) at the age of 85 , the comparison here is very apt . As said he was the driving force behind Nintendo's family friendly games . He had a strong belief in his products being of the highest quality but was not willing to take his company away from its founding values .

Tamiya , I feel , share many of the same values . They are famous for producing ' scale models suitable for radio control ' . High quality scale models of actual full size production cars . Certainly there is a argument that they lost their way somewhat with the, to my mind, generic space craft looking buggy's but they seem to have returned to their core values in recent years . Again a company lead by one mans vision - Mr Yoshio Tamiya .

It will be interesting to see the direction both company's take now that one of the legendary figures has pasted away and the highly respected Mr Tamiya is in semi retirement .