A couple days ago, I posted a game to let you guys guess what I bought along with a few other Tomicas as a Birthday present. The hint was this picture:
Tatorsaurus was the one successfully guessed the car shown under the cover, well done!
It’s the enormous police cruiser from the movie Zootopia and here are the rest of the cars in this special Tomica set. I got these for a great deal at a nearby toy store that priced these lower than the retail price, they’re very well made, well detailed include something inside in each one.
Now you may be wondering how on Earth does these three has anything to do with the clue. The answer is a person: J Mays. The incredible car designer that led the designs of the three cars (Ford Shelby GT500, Shelby GR-1, and the Ford GT) in the clue among other great cars in the past was the creator of these three for the thriving animal metropolis. Despite these are fantasy cars which I usually walk away from, the designer behind it who has designed many real cars was the main reason I made it an exception making it the first time I purchase fantasy cars from Tomica.
Jason Torchinsky from Jalopnik had an interview over the phone with Mays about being part of the development of Zootopia along on how he troubleshoots different car designs to suit different animals. You can check out the interview here:
Lets start with the meter maid golf cart thingamabob and it’s adorable! This thing is tall but incredibly tiny, just look at it next to a Honda S660. Due to the size of the the thing, it doesn’t have suspension. The addition of Judy Hopps sitting inside is a nice touch, according to Tomica it’s the first time they ever include characters in their car this size. I think it’s brilliant, it reminds me the MBX Premier Mercedes C-Class DTM I have which have a little racecar driver sitting inside.
Next up, The little van owned by Finnick, Nick Wilde’s partner in crime during the pawpiscle hustle. I imagine the van is not much faster than the meter maid buggy and if I remember correctly it also have misfire issues so not in good condition either. The van have a very cool vibe like you get from vans in the 70s such as bubble windows the wavy color bands on both sides, not exactly sure what the picture on the side suppose to be about, all I know is an artist named Cory Loftis created it but he didn’t provide much information on it. The van is relatively small but since Finnick is a tiny fennec fox, it’s plenty of room for him. And speaking of which, The casting include Finnick and Nick sitting inside (too narrow for my potato to photograph).
And last but not least, Judy’s police cruiser, the most badass one out of the 3. And sweet cheese n’ crackers this car is enormous! How does Judy drive this thing?!?! In the movie, the car was originally seen driven by Officer McHorn... who is a freakin Rhino! Just look at how it dwarfs over the Vega.
Since the police cruiser is much bigger, I had a much better chance at snapping a pic of Tomica’s new feature for Zootopia cars
The police cruiser according to J Mays, is his favorite out of all the cars he designed for the movie, and it’s my favorite too.
Wat, you thought I won’t do an ORAT? Officer Hopps, Rainforest District.
That’s all for now, thanks for looking.