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VOOZH | about |
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VOOZH | about |
Choro-Q (γγ§γQ) is a popular Japanese brand of toy cars with pull-back motors owned by TakaraTomy, best known in the west for its localization as Penny Racers.
The brand has interacted with the Transformers franchise numerous times going back to its very inception, with the designs of the original Generation 1 Mini Vehicles / Minicar molds being based on the Choro-Q aesthetic and multiple later Choro-Q series and spin-offs either featuring or being based entirely around Transformers.
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Unlike typical toy cars, Choro-Q vehicles are not accurately-proportioned miniatures, but rather super deformed to make them cuter. They were introduced to the Japanese market in 1978, and sold in Western markets under the name Penny Racers because many of the Choro-Q cars have slots on the back where a penny can be inserted, the weight of which causes the car to pop a wheelie when pulled back. They were an immediate hit, to the extent that after only a few years, they found their way to Takara's Micro Change line as common household objects for Microman-scale robots to be disguised as. This is the reason why the Generation 1 Autobot Mini Vehicles have completely different proportions from the standard Autobot Cars, and also why the heads of the Bumblebee / Cliffjumper / Bumper molds fold into squares that stick out of the back of their car modes: they're meant to represent the aforementioned coin slots!
For BotCon Japan 2000, three Choro-Q vehicles were redecoed as Transformers characters for the show's exclusive toys. They were the only exclusive toys for that convention, as it turned out. Ouch.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Choro-Q in 1999, Takara re-introduced their line of Choro-Q proportioned robots, called Choro-Q Robo. It rapidly grew into a multi-property brand, which Transformers joined in 2001. The Choro-Q Robo toys transform (simplistically) from full-fledged Choro-Q vehicles to their robot modes. Megatron's vehicle mode is a chibi Walther P38 that can zoom across smooth surfaces alongside your other Choro-Q toys. Seriously. In 2003 the Choro-Q Robo line was spunoff into the short-lived non-transforming Q-Robo Collection Figure series.
In 2014, TakaraTomy launched their biggest Choro-Q crossover yet with Q-Transformers, a Transformers toyline featuring an extensive amount of small chibified fully-transforming robots with same super deformed, fully licensed cars that defined the Choro-Q brand. Additionally, as part of the Transformers 30th anniversary, two Transformers characters were also released in the Nanoblock Motion Choro-Q subline, a collaboration with Nanoblock featuring buildable radio-controlled vehicles. Q-Transformers toys were produced up until 2016, with the toyline even spawning merchandise like plushies and capsule figures! Unfortunately, there hasn't been another crossover between Choro-Q and the Transformers brand since, although the former still remains in production as one of the most popular toylines within TakaraTomy's catalogue.
