The Tyco Typhoon 2 is a radio control hovercraft manufactured by Taiyo Japan, and distributed by Tyco in the USA and other countries in 1991.
The successor to the 1990 Tyco Typhoon which saw major success in the USA and worldwide, Tyco launched the Typhoon 2 just one year later. In Japan it was sold as the Taiyo Super Typhoon.
Features and Performance
With no technical or functional changes, the Typhoon 2 was more of a mid-life refresh for the Typhoon to help maintain the sales momentum, incorporating typical 90s fashionable fluorescent colors, and giving the vehicle a more muscular, aggressive look, with larger skirt and fans.
Checkout the original 1990 Tyco Typhoon for its specifications, very similar to the Typhoon 2.
At the same time, Tyco launched the Mini Typhoon 2, which is my personal favorite, as it’s both smaller and more convenient to store and move around, with the same 9.6V Turbo Power but less sophisticated controls can make it harder to pilot.
TV Commercial
Most TV commercials for Tyco RC products were filmed in Japan for the original Taiyo advertising, and later adapted for western audiences with updated titles.
I have restored the original TV commercial from 1992 in the USA using the latest Artificial Intelligence technology to clean up the VHS recorded picture, restore some detail, and upscale it to HD, or as close as possible given the source footage.
Availability and Collectability
With a more muscular and aggressive look, the Typhoon 2 was a welcome update, and is still available on eBay (often in box) for reasonable prices. Personally I’d recommend either a Typhoon 2 / II or even a 1991 Tyco Mini Typhoon 2 over the earlier models.
As with all Taiyo and Tyco vintage collectors items though, eventually interest starts to grow and prices begin to get out of control, so you may want to grab while now before things start to get crazy.
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