A Look at the Robot Combiners from Tomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head




With the 2018 holiday season officially upon us, now is a great time to talk about toys. For this blog, that usually means robot toys--in this case, a series of robot combiners based on the 2017 anime series Tomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head Kido Kyukyu Keisatsu.

Up until a few weeks ago, I had no idea that Tomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head Kido Kyukyu Keisatsu even existed. I first heard about this line through a review of one of the combiner sets on the CollectionDX site. Since then, I've been looking around to see what the full line has to offer and if you're interested in transforming robot combiner toys, the Drive Head line is something you need to see.

According to Wikipedia, "Tomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head Kido Kyukyu Keisatsu is a Japanese anime television series made to promote Takara Tomy's long-running Tomica toy line of miniature toy cars. ... In the near future, to cope with various incidents and disasters as well as crime, the Mobile Rescue Police developed the Drive Head, which transforms from a vehicle form to the robotic Walker Vehicle form. Go Kurumada, the son of the Drive Head's developer, was discovered to be a suitable driver for Drive Head 01 Sonic Interceptor. He and the other children who were selected must bravely stand up to face incidents and disasters."


The Tomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head Kido Kyukyu Keisatsu anime series.


The way the Drive Head toys work is that a Tomica-scaled rescue / emergency vehicle combines with support vehicles to form giant robot mechs with different capabilities. The selection of support vehicles includes jets, helicopters, and semi-sized transportation vehicles. The transformations and combinations are very modular in nature, so parts can be removed and rearranged in a variety of ways to assemble different mechs. Regardless of how the vehicles and their components are combined with each other, the Tomica vehicle provides the head of the mech.

The general concept behind Drive Head sort of reminds me of the Headmasters, a series of Transformers toys where the head of the robot transforms into a smaller robot, which then serves as the pilot/driver/rider of the larger robot whenever it is in its vehicle/beast mode. However, the overall aesthetics of Drive Head really evokes the Machine Robo line, particularly its Machine Robo Rescue (MRR) series. Like Drive Head, MRR consisted of transforming robot combiner sets that were modeled after rescue/emergency vehicles and included sets of support vehicles that could also transform into robots. Furthermore, the original Tomica vehicle toys are very similar to Matchbox and Hot Wheels vehicle toys in the U.S.--namely, miniature diecast replicas of cars, trucks, and so forth. As such, making small, diecast vehicles as the centerpiece of a transforming robot toy line is very reminiscent of Machine Robo's original MR-600 series.

I did some additional research online and it appears that the Drive Head line is an extension of a previous line called the Tomica Hyper Series. From what I could find, the Tomica Hyper Series vehicles can also combine with different vehicles and can transform into robots, although I don't know if the Tomica Hyper Series vehicles and sets are compatible with the Drive Head vehicles and sets.


A police car/mech combiner set from the Tomica Hyper Series.


From what I've seen of pictures and demonstration videos on YouTube, the Drive Head line of robot toys look like a lot of fun and a great buy for both kids and collectors alike. Below are some pictures of the different Drive Head vehicle sets, and some of the episodes of the Tomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head Kido Kyukyu Keisatsu anime are still available on YouTube. You can also check out the Tomica wiki for more information about the Drive Head series.

















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Tron: Uprising (Part 1 of 4): Characters

Image
This month marks the one year anniversary of the cancellation of Tron: Uprising , which aired on Disney XD for 19 episodes. Set between the events of Tron and Tron: Legacy , Uprising chronicled the events shortly after Clu’s rise to power within the stand-alone Grid created by Kevin Flynn. Personally, I think that Tron: Uprising got a raw deal from Disney. It’s a fantastic addition to the Tron saga that went on to win both Emmy and Annie Awards , yet Disney clearly had other priorities and was willing to toss Uprising aside without so much as an official cancellation notice. Even to this day, Uprising has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-ray and I’m wondering if it ever will. In honor of this amazing animated series that was cut down in its prime, I have decided to do something that Disney won’t. Since there will never be an official Tron: Uprising art book, I have searched across the Internet to find a selection of art from Uprising that I can share here on my blog with
Read more

FOUND: Mechanical Shark from Universal Jaws Theme Park Ride

Image
When the Universal Studios Theme Park in Florida shut down its Jaws ride back in January 2012, Jaws fans everywhere were devastated. Yet even though this part of the Jaws franchise is no longer operational, some of its sharks are swimming around out there … including places such as Frederick, Maryland. A few days ago, I was contacted by a fellow Jaws fan named John Ryan, asking me if I knew anything specific regarding the sharks from the Universal Jaws ride. He was asking because he thought he found one and is trying to verify its authenticity. We spoke on the phone and exchanged a few emails, and here’s what he told me about his find: “I've been collecting Jaws memorabilia for decades and when I found this incredibly rare gem sitting in a backyard in Frederick, Maryland, I wondered about its connection to the state. The current homeowners said the shark was already there when they purchased the property. They also told me it had been the subject of neighborhood rumor for y
Read more

Machine Robo's Magnificent Robot Combiners

Image
I don't collect Transformers merchandise, but I see articles and advertisements about it when I browse through Japanese robot toy sites. From what I can gather, one of the latest product lines for Transformers is called "Combiner Wars" , a line that consists of five or six transforming robot toys that combine into one bigger robot. Combiner robot toys have been around for a long time, and Transformers had quite a few of them even back in the '80s. Yet of the many combiner robot toys I've seen over the years, the ones that have consistently impressed me were the ones released by Bandai under the Machine Robo line. Whereas other robot toy lines are stuck in the novelty of combining smaller toys into a bigger toy, Machine Robo has used the concept of combination to promote creative play. Read on for a review of how Machine Robo has built upon its combiner toys throughout the years.
Read more