Choro-Q

Choro-Q (チョロQ) is a line of Japanese 3–4 cm pullback car toys produced by Takara Tomy (formerly Takara). Known in North America as Penny Racers, they were introduced in late 1978 and have seen multiple revisions and successors since. The name comes from the Japanese term choro-choro, meaning "dash around", as well as an abbreviation of the Japanese borrowing from "cute" (kyūto) to connote their petite size.

Takara created the Choro-Q line after noticing the popularity of miniature car toys in Japan. Choro-Qs are stylized after real-world automobiles, with real rubber wheels and a pullback motor that makes them move. Each car has a coin slot at the back, where inserting a penny will make it perform a wheelie when the car is released. A wide variety of car models was chosen to make the Choro-Q series appeal to everybody, ranging from sports cars to formula racers.

Features

Most Choro-Q feature real rubber tires (usually with larger ones on the rear) and the characteristic coil-spring pullback motor. Also, each Choro-Q is a "cute" squeezed design caricature of the actual vehicle it represents. This type of caricature is also known as "deformed scale" as it gives the car a foreshortened or deformed appearance. What is also distinct about the cars is the slot at the rear, where a small coin can be inserted for the wheelie effect.

The toy line is highly popular and has become collectible, even outside Japan, due to its low price and its merchandising line which includes JGTC and various licensed car editions and has also spawned a series of videogames bearing the same name. The toy line has also lent its moulding to the Micro-Change and

Specialty models

Unusual Choro-Q which have the wheels and pull-back motor but are not modelled after vehicles are also common, often sold as special collectibles. This includes Choro-Q in the shape of common regional symbols such as carved wood bears of Hokkaido and popular symbols from other regions such monkeys, salmon eggs, sea urchin, etc. sold only in certain regions and marketed at local domestic tourists.

In 2013, following the example of the Tomica line with its Limited Vintage models, Takara Tomy unveiled Choro-Q Zero, a premium series of classical Japanese cars aimed at the collectors market.

The Choro-Q brand has been extended, often with a small name change which is a pun on the original name, to cover other small toys or novelties, both with and without the wheels and motor, including

Digi-Q: Electronic remote control versions of Choro-Q cars which used infrared technology instead of radio control. These products were developed in conjunction with Konami.

Choco-Q: Chocolate egg with a small capsule toy inside

Puka-Q: Bath salts compressed into an egg shape, which, when dissolved in the bath, reveals a small toy inside

Choro-Juu: ("Ju" [獣], meaning beast or monster, from 怪獣) Small monster toys which moved with a friction motor and had other gimmicks such as sparks shooting from the mouth.

Choro-Chuu ("Chu" [虫], insect or bug, from 昆虫): Realistic plastic and rubber figures of various beetles, with wheels and a pull-back motor for movement.

Jumbo Choro-Q: This is a large-scale version of the small toys but approximately 30 cm in length. They have the same pull-back motor gimmick and the hood also opened to reveal a storage space for standard sized Choro-Q toys.

Q-steer: A more inexpensive infra-red remote control version of Choro-Q cars than the earlier Digi-Q, this line was first released in 2006 after the merger with TOMY and for several years became one of the best selling toy lines in Japan. They come in Normal, Tamiya Dune Buggies, Mario Kart Wii and Doraemon versions.

CQ Motors: The most ambitious brand extension of all, this wholly owned subsidiary of Takara, founded in 2002, manufactured and sold actual single-passenger, electric automobiles modelled after the toy cars. The cars are street-legal (though not permitted on highways), require a standard driver's license for operation and have a top speed of about 50 km/h and a range of about 80 km on a single charge. Several models were sold, including one designed by famed manga artist Akira Toriyama,[3] priced in the 1-1.9 million yen range. Although sales have been discontinued, as many as 500 were sold in all. In a country known for the prowess of its automobile industry it is remarkable that at one point, Takara, a toy company, had the highest share of electric cars on the road in Japan.

Choro-Q Deck System (CDS): A system of special customizable Choro-Q cars and track designed for head-on crash "battle" competitions. The innovative "deck system" allows the easy swapping of the principle car components by putting each component in a card-like frame. Swappable components include the chassis-engine, front-end battering ram, outer body and special deflecting side wings. After stacking a unique combination of component cards like a deck of cards, a unique vehicle comes together which can be easily detached from the deck and put into battle on the track. The object of the competition is to design a vehicle which will knock the opponent off the track in a head-to-head crash battle.

Choro-Q Hybrid: A newer version of the Digi-Q and Q-Steer, the Choro-Q Hybrid is available in two chassis types, Remote Type and Spring Type. The car bodies can be removed easily with a screwdriver so they can be swapped onto other chassis types or traded. They also include additional pieces that are fitted to the tyres or underside to perform special tricks, and slot car tracks to race on. The speed of the Remote Type's Dash button has vastly increased, and the Mario Kart Wii cars come with an Item Randomiser on the remote. The remote sizes have increased and the cars are charged via remote.

Features

History

Specialty models

Video games

Motorsports

External links

References

othernames	Penny Racers
type	Pullback car
company	Takara Tomy
country	Japan
from	1978
to	present
website	https://minicar.tomytec.co.jp/lineup/choroqzero/