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Thomas-series Plarail in other Asian markets

With the popularity of Thomas as a kid's media franchise in the early 2000s, Thomas-series Plarail began being imported to Korea and other Asian markets by 2005 or so, with South Korea selling an odd mix of Japanese, American, Australian, and other imported products before Tomy began producing specific sets for the Philippians, Korea, China, and some other Asian markets around 2010, with many Plarail products from the regular range also being exported.

Sets

Sets

Before Tomy began producing specific sets and accessories for Asian markets outside Japan in the late 2000s, Korean imports often simply had stickers placed over boxes from other regions.

Year	Set name	Description
Circa 2004	Thomas Operating Train Depot	Korean repackaging of the Australian Tomica World release of the Thomas and Busy Freight Cars Set with annoyed Thomas and a wide array of cars with a yard layout
Circa 2008	Roller Coaster Mountain Set	European set seen imported and sold alongside other imported sets
Circa 2008	Thomas Mega Set	Stock of this set primarily sold in Australia also appears in photos of other Asian market stores
2009	Thomas Starter Set	Asian-market version of the basic oval with small siding set first from Tomica World.
2009	Thomas and Friends Starter Set Series	Three sets with the basic oval layout but Thomas, James, or Percy with different trucks
	Thomas Medium Set	Basic No. 2 style set with passing loop, drawbridge, and station
2009	332343 Talking Thomas with Sodor Rail Yard Set	Incredibly late Talk 'n' Action set with talking Thomas and large layout with added rail yard accessory
2009	365853 Bertie Motor On The Road Set	Motor Tomica type set with looping elevated road layout with T-junctions and Bertie
2009	395157 Thomas Basic Set	Small set with Thomas, ringing railroad crossing, and bridge
2009	418399 Thomas Crossing the Bridge Set	Thomas with bridge and slope rails based on the Plarail 50th anniversary C12 set
2009	Thomas Chugs Along Set	Set with two loops and railroad crossing based on the Plarail Rail Set B
	354574 Thomas and Harold Country Set	Outer and inner loop track with tunnel, Harold, and windmill accessories with Thomas and truck
2010	354581 Thomas and Spencer Racing Set	Double rail set with concentric loops, crossover switch, pedestrian bridge, and Thomas and Spencer
2010	380467 Percy with Action Freight Car Set	Percy with circus themed wagons and partially elevated layout
2010	Thomas in a Journey Set	Smallish set with automatic turnout rail, bridge, and Thomas with brown truck
2010	Sodor Island Set	Massive set with station, station buildings, Harold, Bulstrode, U-turn rail, and many branching paths
	346203 Thomas Climbing Set	Set with climbing helix and several branching loops
2011	346210 Thomas and the Jet Engine Set	Oval set with suspension bridge and Thomas with jet engine
	Thomas Sloping Rail Set	Small oval set with Thomas, Annie, Clarabel, "hill" curve, and siding
	418382 Emily Sloping Rail Set	Oval set with Emily and sloped curve revived from Tomy Trains
2018	Thomas Premium Set	Korean-specific release of the Thomas Medium Set distributed by JoyToy. Received an updated box in 2021

Trains

By the mid 2000s Korea was importing Thomas toys from Tomy from Japan with traditional three-packs as well as American export style engines with track and accessories. Often these original boxes had Korean stickers added on top. As the Asian market outside of Japan grew, some Plarail trains including Thomas-series ones had Korean boxes or stickers added by Tomy and designated specifically for export sale.

Accessories

Before specific Asian market Plarail, Korea and some other regions imported and resold some American and Japanese accessories, sometimes with stickers over their boxes. A handful of individual accessories were released in light blue packaging like the Asian-market sets of the early 2010s era.

Year	Name	Description	Photo
2010	Sodor Quarry Loader	Asian-market release of the operating quarry loader with dumper car
~2010	Knapford Station	Knapford Station in blue Asia-style packaging

These sets are quite interesting for some of their oddities, and I would like to acquire a few more at some point... I suspect that even if I can find them for sale, I would have a tough time getting them sent overseas to me and imported, but toys do show up in odd places occasionally (the Korean-market Australian freight cars set shown above was bought from Japan!)