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Plarail Powerful Gordon (2002)

First written October 25, 2023

In 2002 a neat variant of the Plarail Gordon was released individually with advanced details and a more powerful motor and an angry face sculpt as Powerful Gordon (ちからもちゴードン).




Boxes for these releases (as well as part of the tooling) are marked 2001, and Powerful Gordon was only sold in 2002. These Gordons are a little hard to find but aren't incredibly rare, at least not without the box. Finding the box is a little bit harder.

This was the first release of Gordon with the additional details like white running board and red boiler stripes, predating the 2003 refresh of the Thomas Plarail range and following some set variants of Thomas released. Because Powerful Gordon was a product of the early 2000s, the blue plastic used for Powerful Gordon pretty much universally turns green. Shown here are three examples - a standard Powerful Gordon, a rather yellowed Powerful Gordon, and a third that has been refit into a later standard Plarail shell.

Gordon's nicely sculpted face. There is someone who makes reproductions of these faces and installs them on later body shells - these generally have thicker eyebrows.

Gordon's chassis is a unique tooling in-between the 1990s and 2000s style with the old curvy Tomy logo.

The express coach in this three-pack is red and produced from grey plastic. The rear couplings on both Gordon and the coach are unique.

The motor inside Gordon is a "high power" one (marked with a blue mark on the side) and has a slightly different gear ratio that makes it stronger. There are several additional weights including some in the boiler behind the face and several more in the cab.