I rarely see must-have Hot Wheels anymore, at least retail wise, but Manga Tuner was one of those. I still think the roof looks bit awkward, but overall, cute little "デフォルメ"(Japanglish for "deformed") of the Mad Manga casting.
This face. Really hits the spot.
After I found the Manga Tuner, I saw another little guy on the way out. It's kind of amazing you are starting to see these super JDM vehicles on American hot wheels pegs. Little kei-car trucks you very rarely see in the States. I was just admiring how Japanese the デフォルメ Manga Tuner was, too. That one reminded me little bit of ChoroQ's.
Let us give props to John from Lamley blog. From cars like these to Hot Wheels Silhouettes series Skyline Silhouette, you can really see Tomica influence in some Mattel cars today. John being a fan of Tomica Limited Vintage cars, and having huge American audience with his blog, I think these JDM cars & craft of Tomica really caught eyes of not just the 1/64 collectors, but also designers. In my opinion, Mattel's better for it. If anybody from M2 Machines reading this, I have an idea for you guys. JDM Ground Pounders series.
For those of you not familiar with Ground Pounders, this is what they look like:
Now imagine JDM series with vintage Skylines, RX-3, old Celicas, etc., etc. I wouldn't over do it with the production numbers. Limited run, let the secondary market go crazy. For design, you can look to Tomica in this department also.
Check out the Choro Q's.
This is for my buddy Jarrod. I saw this while looking for my Manga Tuner & I thought of him. Unfortunately, it seems to be a peg warmer. I saw three of these & nothing else from the Japan Historics. lol
Cool card.