Founded as Bandai-Ya, the spinoff of a textile company, in 1950, Bandai produced tin toys in the 1950s and was renamed Bandai Co. in the 1960s and achieved success with Astro Boy toys in the 1960s. In the 1980s Bandai began producing plastic model kits based on Mobile Suit Gundam and began developing games for the Nintendo Famicom. Facing a decline in sales in the later 1990s, Bandai sought to merge with Sega and later became part of Namco and the restructured Bandai Namco Group.
Here are some of the Bandai toys in my collection...
Year | Name | Description | Photo |
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1975-1982 | Mini Mini Rail | Plastic train set series aimed as a toy alternative to N scale model trains |
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1982-1992 |
Machine Robo Series GoBots |
Range of transforming vehicle-robot-mech toys that predates Transformers, sold by Tonka in the United States as GoBots and in Europe as Robot Machine |
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1992 | Famicom Datach | "Joint ROM System" for the Nintendo Famicom that included a barcode reader for its own special cartridges to take advantage of |
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With the success of Thomas the Tank Engine on Japanese television, Bandai began importing and producing their own Thomas the Tank Engine toys in 1991.
Year | Name | Description | Photo |
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1991-1997 |
しゅっぱつしんこうシリーズ Departing Now Series |
Series of large plastic Thomas trains and sets, some with motors and interchangeable faces | |
December 1991 | All Aboard! Thomas and Friends | Thomas-themed version of a previous 1989 downhill train racing toy |
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1995-1996 | Thomas Connect Collection | Hard vinyl Thomas figures with functioning couplings |
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1996-2010 |
Thomas Exciting
World Thomas Swing |
Hard vinyl Thomas capsule toys, later sold as keychains |
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1997 | Go Ahead Thomas | Series of five wind-up Thomas candy toys | |
1999-2009 | Thomas Town | Candy toys that include a Thomas character and section of track; released in waves that can create small dioramas or be connected together randomly |
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2002-2006 | Thomas Mini Diecast Collection | Die-cast capsule machine toys in the shape of different Thomas the Tank Engine characters |
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2010-2013 | Capsule Thomas Collection | Series of small plastic trains on rollers |
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