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Inevitable Decline (Tamiya RC)

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A few days ago I noticed on this forum, on the right column, that there is a "Today's Birthdays" and so I started paying more attention to it. What was interesting was that the ages are listed. Whether they are accurate or not, the majority of the ages are in the '40s, '50s, and onwards. There might be a few in their '30s but it seems to be an anomaly. I was also in a recent conversation with a couple individuals whom I purchased vintage parts from, they both retired from the hobby—both had vintage Tamiyas and Kyoshos.

So, Tamiya RCs in particular, are the production of buggies, re-res, and things from the '80s to '90s (golden era) eventually going to fade a way? There doesn't seem to be a large influx of younger generation getting into these types of Tamiyas (and I noticed it on YT videos as well). Like not big enough to make a market change or shift. Am I wrong? I know at least a few young kids, teens, and some in their '20s and they don't seem to be attracted to the Tamiya RC vehicles as much (buggies in particular). But...

Crawlers, drift, drag, monster trucks, SCTs, drones, mini RC racing, even modern buggies, etc. from other brands seem to attract a younger crowd, at least when I see videos and ask the younger ones I know. Oh and when I search Tamiya RCs on YT and sort by view count, a majority of the top ones are Tamiya trucks.

Obviously, everyone is aging and I feel the Tamiya golden era (slight pre and post) crowd is a certain age group (perhaps too niche) and the vehicles only attract this particular group. So it made me think at what point will Tamiya slow down and move on, or halt production for this particular category. Sometimes I think that the lack of supply/of kits or parts is intentional (even if Tamiya can produce more) because the mainstream demand isn't high enough—like the demand is only within the niche crowd. I also read a Japanese blog about the decline of scale model/static kits—although that's a different story it probably has the same age group audience.

Anyway, are some of you seeing the same things/pattern or am I wrong on this? Myself, I only get into some Tamiya kits for nostalgic reasons (and maybe scale reasons). But once I feel like I've filled that emotional void I would like to move on and try some other new innovation. 

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At a certain point all hobbies or collections seem to go into decline.  They're of a time for a certain group of people.  Some new people might pick the hobby up but nothing like the initial numbers.

Anyone hoarding kits for an investment to sell has to time it just right because eventually there's going to be an influx of kits being sold.  A couple of years back I helped a family member downsize for moving to a retirement village and they couldn't understand why so many of the things they thought were valuable simply weren't.  Everyone around their same age had been selling while the market of buyers was dramatically shrinking.  The next generation have their own interests.  Some brands can move with the times, like Lego, but others struggle and disappear.

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There was a topic recently along the same lines.

I guess there is not definitive answer or reason; its all going to be pretty subjective.

Probably somewhat pessimistic approach/view here but ...

Arguments could be made for the short attention spans in society today, and the need for instant (or any kind of) gratification and recognition; which i think drives the need to "conform" instead of being happy to stand on your own beliefs/interests. So the idea of spending time and effort on building a kit for example becomes very niche or almost counter culture; as its done for enjoyment and interest and not peer recognition (or to keep up with the Jones's). So in these instances RTR becomes more appealing; though they may put it aside after the initial novelty wears off, or the reason for buying it (e.g away on holiday something to use; which i find a lot with Drones) is removed.

There may also be a case for those of us that are into the hobby (regardless of age) on more than a superficial level being more appreciative of our possessions. We take pride in "owning and building" something, as opposed to "consuming" something - don't get me wrong we aren't hoarders (well i hope we aren't haha). Think other industries, where video-philes and audio-philes will always gravitate to physical media.

Streaming services and binging are an example in those industries. At a certain point it became more about the water cooler moment, than actual/genuine interest. I think GoT was probably the catalyst for this; as people who never read the books, and would never even think about watching an entire series of show, or genre, all of a sudden "had" to be involved the water cooler discussion. People now will binge entire seasons of shows on Netflix etc, yet the majority of these people would never even consider (or have considered) doing the same thing just a few years ago via DVD collections, or heaven forbid waiting each week for a new episode - because the show and idea of investing in a show had no interest to them and gave them no reward.

How this relates to Tamiya and RC ... good question hahah ...

Perhaps they need to find their own GoT ?

I've touched on it in past threads, and to me, outside of the re-re (or golden era; 80s to mid 90s) the buggy side of Tamiya severely dropped the ball; they became cookie cutter, or worse adapted on-road chassis. There is no uniqueness anymore outside the shell, and even those became bland and cookie cutter.

It would probably have the opposite effect and go even more niche, but maybe they need to get back to truly unique concepts; leave the cookie cutter stuff to on-road - where it makes sense to just cycle through body shells for different makes/models.

The "Comical" series i think has/had potential here despite starting out using the older nostalgic consumer (as you mentioned) as the clear target market.

 

 

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5 hours ago, Blista said:

couldn't understand why so many of the things they thought were valuable simply weren't

A good illustration of value being entirely contextual. 

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It's a different time guys and it's not just as simple as kids attention spans or nowadays there are PlayStations and phones and other junk.

 

I seem to recall playing Spectrums and MegaDrives in my youth, not to mention roaming everywhere with my pals on bikes and playing football every chance we got. 

 

I see a lot of folks on here missing the bigger point and what was touched on in the '800lb gorilla' thread - there are simply better rc cars out there readily available to buy online, along with a million YouTube videos that'll show newcomers point-blank how a comparatively priced rtr car they are interested in outperforms the tamiya in every conceivable way. 

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Clearing out my wife's  parents property a few years back, nobody wanted any of the 'dark wood' furniture. People only want Ikea flat-pack!

Consequently ,we brought a small container's worth of stuff back from NI and I'm currently sat at a gorgeous mahogany dining table (with protective coverings to shield it from my laptop, monitor, etc).

Each generation remembers with fondness what was current when they grew up. 

I think Tamiya was fortunate with RC in the 80s, it was in the right place  at the right time to expand outside of Japan. In the current market they mainly focus on their internal market and re-res will only have a market for so long. That leaves them with mini 4WD, TT-02s, etc for racing and the Comicals though I think the Clod will be around forever.

Good point, well made @cowboyjon though Tamiya still has the 'build' element lacking in those other products which are commonly RTR.

 

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I love the build, we all do. 

My point is kids don't want or need the build 😅

If we can all clear our heads from the nostalgia for just a minute and think back to simpler times there essentially was no alternative to a kit. Sure you could get crappy knockoffs or nikko toy store specials but that was it. 

 

Winding the clock right back, all the way to my first encounter with rc cars up the back of Beatties toy store. If there was a £100 rtr like we have today and a £100 tamiya kit that doesn't even contain a battery let alone the rest of the gear there is no way in a million years I wouldn't have asked santa for the rtr and more to the point the tamiya would have been a tough sell to my parents too! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, cowboyjon said:

tamiya would have been a tough sell to my parents too! 

Selling the toys I wanted to my parents was always a tough job - it was usually met with the "so why is it better than <insert cheap rubbish version>?"

I remember coming home with my first solo NIB purchase, a Kyosho Sand Master II that I bought with money from my first job.  My mum was "disappointed" that after spending all that money, I still had to build it myself.

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How many of our children are going to grow up having played with Tamiya re-re's and will get to that nostalgia stage later in life? It probably won't be as big as our generation, but many are going to remember that Grasshopper that they used to drive with dad back in the day.

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All I know is, I'm not stopping. And I'm going to keep a close eye on estate sales after I retire... if it's a war of attrition, then that's fine.

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Wanted to add that I think it's more that when I see the age group of the Tamiya RC audience, it's way older than other audiences from other RC categories or brands. No disrespect but it's just something I keep noticing. Sometimes I equate that to the limited kits, parts supply, and innovation from Tamiya. And I wonder what would've been the point for Tamiya—instead of focusing resources on the next generations or new innovations. I probably will never know what they're really up to except knowing that traditional Japanese companies sort of work that way.

I'm not a Tamiya fan boy but I do like the brand. But I'm quite excited for the other brands because of the cool kits and tech they're coming out with. At some point I'll get a truck/crawler from another brand, and also a drag car, and drift.

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My kids and many of their friends love making things. They spend literally hours building and painting Warhammer figures, building Lego, building RC cars, designing and working on train layouts or playing with imagination. They actually seem to enjoy building their RC cars more than running them (well, certainly at this time of year as they are cold averse!). 

My kids love their Tamiyas BUT that will largely be down to my influence and budget constraints. If there was unlimited budget then instead of their DT02/DT03 buggies they would have got Schumacher EVO L1 and Storms as that is what they initially preferred but Father Xmas had a limited budget..... :D

In fact, in the case of youngest Mudlet, she wanted a £600 rock crawler or a £600 Tamiya HGV but they were WAY out of her budget....

So don't lose hope, there are still kids that enjoy building and racing RC cars, it is just that Tamiya don't produce the sort of things they like.

Instead of regurgitating stuff for 50 year olds reliving their youth they need to spend some money on development and produce a good rugged buggy. My kids and their friends do not have easy access to large areas of super smooth tarmac so touring cars are totally unsuitable AND they are too young to drive so have no affection or personal attachment to RC versions of 1:1 cars.

They need RC cars that can drive on back garden, lawns, gravel paths, muddy flower beds or local parks AND that means buggies but not some naff solid axle junk from the 80's or cars that break within 5 minutes of jumping off a kerb. They want rugged cars capable of being crashed. My youngest hates driving her Tamiyas fast because she knows that a slight impact and they will break. She has first hand experience of that. She is now quite envious of my Cougar which has crashed at 30mph into hardwood railway sleepers, fences and plant pots with not a single breakage so far. 

True, Tamiya produce trucks or crawlers but they are way too expensive compared with competition. I'm not even talking Chinese either! In some cases British or US made stuff is cheaper or more desirable or better value for money.

So I will agree that Tamiya are facing a declining market unless they commit to investing money into an all new modern, rugged, versatile buggy where the chassis can be used as a truggy or stadium truck just like the Schumacher Storm (basically a Cougar with large wheels). My kids find the comical range a joke and hate them, they don't think much of the Hornet type vehicles and hate the styling of most of the rest of the range. They would like to go fast but don't feel their Tamiya buggies are rugged enough. In essence they actually quite like the Traxxas in that regard........ Sorry, had to be said.

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11 hours ago, cowboyjon said:

My point is kids don't want or need the build

To a point i think you are right; but there are some, and I'm sure this is driven by upbringing and parental influence, who do. I had a father who was always in the shed, and i was always from a young age (again parent influence) building things out of whatever there was: card, Balsawood, Lego, Mechano etc so to me the build became the draw. And yes i had the C64 and eventual Mega Drives, even ended up a programmer like my dad too as a result. Having said that, i have a nephew who also likes to build things, and has shown an interest in my cars, whether that translates into a desire for his own build or just his own car (built by someone from a kit he picks, or a RTR) is yet to be seen.

11 hours ago, cowboyjon said:

I see a lot of folks on here missing the bigger point and what was touched on in the '800lb gorilla' thread - there are simply better rc cars out there readily available to buy online, along with a million YouTube videos that'll show newcomers point-blank how a comparatively priced rtr car they are interested in outperforms the tamiya in every conceivable way

Again true, but could this not come down to the idea again of needing something to not be left out vs a true passion/interest ? Which i admit, may not necessarily be a bad thing, if these other non Tamiya entry points get them into the hobby, and they truly gain an appreciation for it, then i'd like to think they would branch out and see what this "Tamiya hype or nostalgia" is all about - the same way plenty here have other non-Tamiya stuff.

@mud4fun glad to see your kids are fully embracing and enjoying the hobby. You make some valid points in terms of the "things they like", i do feel at a certain age it can be more about the look and feel of something than the performance or the price. I too would love a decent crawler, but for the the price in AUD is just not something i can justify at the current point in time, especially when they are a RTR. If im paying such a high amount, i want the satisfactions of being able to build (and as a result gain some understanding of the workings).

But looking at all the comments, i think the general consensus is Tamiya just needs a fresh look/take and to come at things from a new angle to spark a new generation into action.

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I guess it's up to us to keep our kids interested or it will die at some point...Really hoping my daughter take a shine to RC, I think it would be a great hobby for us to enjoy together.  This is one of the reasons I use my RCs and don't have many shelfers, who knows if they'll be worth anything by the time I'm ready to move on and sell, might as well enjoy them while I can.  In the end it's only money.

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On 1/15/2021 at 12:27 AM, Blista said:

At a certain point all hobbies or collections seem to go into decline.  They're of a time for a certain group of people.  Some new people might pick the hobby up but nothing like the initial numbers.

Pretty much sums it up perfectly. Model train enthusiast have been going on about this for years. Its not like it used to be, but we still have model trains. The hobby will never completely disappear. We may not recognize what its morphed into after we're gone but it will continue. As far as Tamiya-type specifically...well... There are some pretty obscure, long dead hobbies out there but a small group of folks around the world still practice them. With the internet information age, this makes it even easier for people of the future to take up these hobbies of the past. The numbers may dwindle, but someone, somewhere will always probably be messing around with a Tamiya RC car.

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2 hours ago, Saito2 said:

 There are some pretty obscure, long dead hobbies out there but a small group of folks around the world still practice them. With the internet information age, this makes it even easier for people of the future to take up these hobbies of the past. The numbers may dwindle, but someone, somewhere will always probably be messing around with a Tamiya RC car.

This is a fantastic point.  The internet really helps people find things they never knew they needed in their life.  Honestly, if it wasn't for the internet I may have not gotten back into RC years back, and if it were not for Tamiya Club and the awesome member Showrooms I may never have even thought about getting back into Tamiya re-releases, probably would jsut have moved on to exclusively newer stuff.  

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