A Plakids Picture Guide

chrisjo · 2026-03-15T13:17:08+00:00

This thread aims to provide, eventually, a comprehensive pictorial guide to all the various Plakids; something that as far as I know has never been attempted...

Super

Thanks Dr Chris, I was not familiar with #9 and looking further he came in a very neat set. Love that tiny car…I must have it 😻

chrisjo

Fig.64

Plarail. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Movie: Mugen Train - The Demon Slayer Corps and Nezuko
鬼滅の刃無限列車鬼殺隊と禰豆子, Jul ’21

1: ‘Nezuko Kamado’
2: ‘Tanjiro Kamado’
3: ‘Rengo Kyojuro’
4: ‘Agatsuma Zentsutsu’
5: ‘Inosuke Hashibira’

6: Passenger. Plarail The Last Blue Train, Hokutosei DD51 Double-Header -
最後のブルートレイン北斗星DD51重連仕様, Mar ’22

The Driver of the Hokutosei DD51 Double-Header was first released back in 2005, in the Toys’R’Us exclusive Connect a Lot of Sleeping Cars Set. The Passenger (‘Me’) in that set is exactly the same as this one (no.6), except that he’s a different color.

7: Man. Plarail Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen Kamome - いっぱいつなごう西九州新幹線かもめ, Oct ’22
8: Woman wearing Puyuma costume. Plarail Taiwan exclusive Puyuma Express Starter Set -
STARTER SET 台鐵普悠瑪號, Dec ’22
9: Man. Plarail S-36 Tobu Spacia X - 東武スペーシアX, Jul ’23
10: Man. Plarail Thank You! SL Hitoyoshi - ありがとう！SL人吉, Mar ’24

The monkey on no.9 is a reference to the name of the Spacia X on-board café ‘Goen’, which itself is a reference to the famous monkey carvings at the Nikko shrine.
The number 58654 above the wheel on no.10 refers to the class 8620 locomotive that hauled the Hitoyoshi train between 2009 and 2024.

chrisjo

Fig.65

1: Woman. Plarail JR Kyushu Splat Train - JR九州スプラトレイン, Aug ’24
2: Man. Plarail Lever Action & Sound! Big Station - レバーでアクション＆サウンド！ビッグステーション, Sep ’24
3: Man. Plarail S-08 273 Series Yakumo Express - 273系特急やくも, Sep ’24
4: Youth. Plarail Playing with Tomica! Action Town Set - トミカと遊べる！アクションタウンセット, Jun ’25
5: Salaryman. Plarail S-30 E233 Series Chuo Line (2-story Green Car) - E233系中央線（2階建てグリーン車), Mar ’25
6: ‘Pura-kun’. Plarail J-30 Action Town Plakids Ticket Gate Station - アクションタウンプラキッズ改札駅, Apr ’25
also Plarail J-27 Plakids Railroad Crossing Set - プラキッズふみきりセット, Jun ’25
also Plarail Norinori Express - のりのりエクスプレス, Jul ’25
7: ‘Rio Kojima’. Plarail Norinori Express - のりのりエクスプレス, Jul ’25
8: ‘Rio Kojima’. Tomica Norinori Studio Truck - のりのりスタジオトラック, Jul ’25
9: ‘T-kun’. a/a

chrisjo

Fig.66

1: ‘Harry Potter’. Plarail Harry Potter Hogwarts Limited Express - ハリー・ポッターホグワーツ特急, Jul ’25
2: ‘Ron Weasley’ a/a
3: ‘Hermione Granger’. a/a
4: Man with blue hair. Plarail JR Kyushu Pikmin Train - JR九州ピクミントレイン, Sep ’25
5: Man with yacht. Plarail E217 Yokosuka & Shonan double set - E217系横須賀色＆湘南色ダブルセット, Sep ’25
6: ‘Doc Emmett Brown’. Plarail Back to the Future Part III Steam Loco 131 & Time Machine -
バック・トゥ・ザ・フューチャーPART3 蒸気機関車131号＆タイムマシン, Oct ’25
7: ‘Marty McFly’. a/a
8: ‘Clara Clayton’. a/a
9: Woman. Plarail Odoriko E257 & Saphir Double Set - E257系踊り子＆サフィール踊り子ダブルセット, Nov ’25
10: Conductor. Plarail Cassiopeia Sleeper Express Northern Lands - 北の大地を駆け抜けた寝台特急カシオペア, Mar ’26

That’s it up to the present. Now a pause to have a look and see what’s been missed…….

Super

Thank you so much for all your research and time producing this most comprehensive picture guide of these little darling figures on the Internet Dr Chris. It is truly amazing what you have done.

chrisjo

Here’s a good example of why AI image editing tools need to be used with great caution. The image on the left is the raw version. On the right is what I got when I asked for it to be sharpened and enlarged. I did NOT ask for the addition of detail and shading that were not present in the original!

thehsvdude

chrisjo This is an ongoing issue people have with AI but you can usually prompt it not to do these sorts of things.

chrisjo

Tetsuo - The Iron Man

Fig.67

Locomotive Base and Five Mechanics, Jan ’02
Sound Inspection East-i Set, Apr ’05
Hyper Guardian Yellow-Carrier, Oct ’09 & Hyper Guardian Special Ops Force Big Set, Dec ’09
Rail Yard & Rail Set, Jul ’11
Big Train Maintenance Station (sales promotion gift), Jul ’11

Tetsuo literally means ‘Iron Man’. His biography on the back of the Locomotive Base and Five Mechanics box says:

Mysterious Robot Tetsuo. A strange robot wearing glasses. He says some absentminded things, but he’s dead serious about it himself. He likes sweet things.

Tetsuo is a uniquely enigmatic character among the Plakids. How did he get designed / invented? I don’t know if it’s relevant, but in 1989 a science fiction horror film called ‘Tetsuo: The Iron Man’ was released in Japan. In the film a ‘salaryman’ is gradually transformed as various parts of his body change into metal, including a metallic drill. Is this just a co-incidence? If so, it’s certainly a very big one.

chrisjo

It’s been interesting while going through my collection to find so many subtle variations. These are particularly noticeable where an item has been available for long enough for production to shift from one factory to another, from China to Thailand and Vietnam. This is the most extreme example that I’ve come across so far.

Fig.68

The lady in question comes from the Plarail S-51 8620-type Steam Locomotive Hitoyoshi, released on 27th August 2009, and available until 2018 (S-51 SL Taiju released Aug ’18).

Production was initially in Thailand (on the left) , but moved to Vietnam (right) sometime during or after 2010. It’s a bit like one of those ‘spot-the-difference’ puzzles; there are certainly quite a few. The more you look, the more you see! Every single component - hair, head, torso, arms, and legs - is actually a different shape.

Super

LOL…because you said the ‘the more you look’ has got me finding more than I initially noticed. 🤪

chrisjo

Here’s another example of factory variation. This time it’s the Plarail S-16 E217 series Yokosuka Line, released 21st July 2003, and available until 2019. Production was initially in China, but subsequently moved to Vietnam.

Fig.69

Apart from the obvious differences in the color shades of their clothes, note that:

The China lady on the left has a big head with dark BROWN hair, relatively coarse facial features, and big beads in her necklace
The Vietnam lady on the right has a smaller head with BLACK hair, relatively fine facial features, and smaller graduated beads in her necklace.

Super

Wow…you have a keen eye Dr Chris even after what…600 plus little figures

chrisjo

Super Not quite that many as it turns out, my initial estimate was a little high. Number 592 has just come to light in Japan, I’ll add him here soon, then there’s 4 more due June/July. Oh, and there’s another Tetsuo as well.

chrisjo

There is a sixth Tetsuo, to add to the five shown in Fig.67 above. I think it is fair to say that at the moment nothing is known about when, where, or with what product it was released. The image on the left is the only one that I know about, and the one on the right shows what can be done with the careful use of on-line image-enhancing tools. Scary!

Fig.70

chrisjo

This worker is believed to have been a promotional gift associated with the sale of the Big Plarail Town N700 Series Shinkansen Station - デカプラレールタウン N700系新幹線ステーション which was released in April 2008.

Fig.71

chrisjo

The Fire Department

Well, the ones that are wearing proper fireman’s helmets …

Fig.72

1: Tomica Town Fire Station - トミカタウン消防署, Sep ’08
2 - 5: Tomica Working Plakids Vehicle Set - はたらくプラキッズ車両セット, Sep ’10
6: Tomica & Plakids High Altitude Water Truck - トミカ&プラキッズ高所放水車, Sep ’08

The four Tomica HyperCity USA Firemen were released as part of the 2012 re-boot of the range, when TomiKids became TomiHeroes. Their helmet badges have the letters ‘FD’ in the centre.

7: T70649 TomiHero Engine Emergency Train & T70701 Firefighters TomiHero Team Pack
8: T70705 Special Recovery TomiHero Team Pack & T70701
9: T70639 Mobile Action Fire Department Base, T70681 Search and Repair Headquarters & T70701
10: T70605 Mitsubishi Fuso Canter Fire Engine and Mini Cooper Set, T70693 Search and Rescue Starter Set, T70681 & T70701

Super

I was never much a fan of these Helmeted type of PlaKids, in fact i had sold off most of what I had but #1 I like and would keep for sure.

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