The Taiyo Spin Tornado is a radio control vehicle manufactured by Taiyo of Japan, and released onto the Japanese market in 1996.
The Taiyo/Tyco relationship in a nutshell
A rare Japanese version of the 1997 Tyco Tantrum, the Spin Tornado is the perfect example of how the Taiyo <> Tyco relationship worked in the late 80s until the mid 90s. Tyco of America would come up with the concepts and Taiyo would design and manufacture them.
Tyco of America would come up with the concepts and Taiyo would design and manufacture them.
Purists, and at least one 'expert' in Taiyo/Tyco RC who wrote a popular book on the topic would say that Tyco's influence on Taiyo is one of the leading factors behind their downfall.
My opinion after studying 250+ of these models is that Taiyo benefitted greatly from the influence both of the American Tyco company, and the Australian GTI/Metro whose ideas for toys were often (but not always) wildly successful in the western market, bringing massive success to Taiyo. Whether that same factor weakened from the mid 90s may be true, but without that influence in the first place I'm not sure Taiyo would ever have met the success it did.
I digress! Back to the model...
Concept
With the whole front end on rotation like a propellor, the Tornado was always a gimmick car - designed to capture the attention of kids (usually with flashy commercials) - who would nag their parents to buy, and finally learn an important lesson on Style vs Substance.
So maybe it was useful afterall!
Whatever you think, the Spin Tornado, and its American sibling the Tyco Tantrum were popular vehicles and no doubt there are many out there with fond memories of Christmas and Birthdays unwrapping its gimmicky mayhem.
Features and Performance
So maybe it drives better than you'd imagine hey? Maybe there's something you're missing, and it's actually ingenius you think? Nope. It's as dumb as it looks.
As a YouTuber put it, it "spazzes out" as soon as you try to drive it.
Recommendation
Only for those with a strong Nostalgia for that "oh... this kinda sucks" feeling you got on Christmas Day / Birthday.
