The Shining Scorpion (Japanese: シャイニングスコーピオン, Shainingu Sukōpion) is a Fully Cowled Mini 4WD car released by Tamiya in March 1997. It was originally released as a body set which is the pre-order bonus for the SNES game.
It was featured in the video game Mini 4WD Shining Scorpion Let's & Go! for Nintendo SNES (known as Super Famicon in Japan) as the machine for the player character. It was also featured in the manga and anime Bakusou Kyodai Let's & Go! and Bakusou Kyoudai Let's & Go! WGP as the machines for Mini 4WD Fighter and Sheng Huang respectively.
General info
As its name implies, the Shining Scorpion featuring the smooth, fully-cowled body design that is based on the scorpion. The front cowl can be removed.
Standard and Premium variants
Both the standard variant and the Premium variant features the white body color, with blue highlights and black trims on it.
The original Shining Scorpion comes with the red small-diameter 3-spoke Fully Cowled-type wheels with high-profile tires. It comes with the gray V-machine-type side-guard and the chassis frame and A parts were molded in gray and green respectively.
The Premium variant comes with the yellow. small-diameter 5-spoke Saber-type low-profile wheels paired with the deep bluelow-profile tires. They also came with the Side-Guard EX. The chassis frame and A parts were molded in light gun metal and blue respectively.
Only the Premium variant comes with a standard motor.
Red Special, Pink Special and Violet Special variants
The limited color variants, based on the Premium variant, features different coloring.
The Red Special features the pearl white body color with red highlight and black trims on it, and was equipped wtih the red wheels and black tires. The chassis frame and A parts were molded in gun metal and red respectively.
The Pink Special features the pearl white body color with pink highlight and black trims on it, and was equipped wtih the white wheels and fluorescent pink tires. The chassis frame and A parts were molded in gun metal and magenta respectively.
The Violet Special features the white body color with violet highlight and black trims on it, and was equipped wtih the gun metal wheels and violet tires. The chassis frame and A parts were molded in silver and dark violet respectively.
Golden Edge variants
The Golden Edge variants, released as the Charatoru-exclusives, were available in four colors, pearl white, black, clear blue and clear red.
They were equipped with the gold plated, small-diameter 3-spoke Fully Cowled-type wheels paired with the high-profile tires with the choice of either red and white. The chassis frame and A parts were molded in either white and red, or red and white respectively..
In the video game, manga and anime
In the Mini 4WD Shining Scorpion Let's & Go!, the player received the Shining Scorpion from Dr. Tsuchiya and Tesshin Akada during his visit on Sagami model shop.
In the anime adaptation of Let's & Go! series, Tesshin made not one but two Shinning Scorpions; the first one was given to the his assistant Da San Yuan who then passed down to his grandson Huang, while the other one was given to Takeshi Sugiyama (the future Mini 4WD Fighter) 10 years prior. Fighter quickly recognized the design of Shining Scorpion that Makoto (Retsu and Go's friend) found on the internet because he still owns the Shining Scorpion.
The Shining Scorpion is also the first car to have the ZMC-made body. According to Dr. Tsuchiya, Tesshin had said before that this car is a decade too soon to be ready for the race scene. The car has a special ability where the car's highlight color will change at certain speeds until the car is stopped.
In Power WGP2 video game, the rest of the Light Scorpion team switched from their Kong Long in the first World Grand Prix to a variation of the Shining Scorpion named Shining Dragon, which is simply a green palette swap of the Shining Scorpion.
Technical info
| Variant | Body | Chassis | Wheels | Tires | Motor | Dimensions | Gear |
Standard |
Color: White |
Type: Super-1 |
Size: Small |
Size: Small |
N/A |
Length: 132 |
5:1 |
Premium |
Color: White |
Type: Super-II |
Size: Small |
Size: Small |
Standard |
Length: 150 |
3.5:1 |
Premium |
Color: Pearl White |
Type: Super-II |
Size: Small |
Size: Small |
Standard |
Length: 150 |
3.5:1 |
Premium |
Color: Pearl White |
Type: Super-II |
Size: Small |
Size: Small |
Standard |
Length: 150 |
3.5:1 |
Premium |
Color: White |
Type: Super-II |
Size: Small |
Size: Small |
Standard |
Length: 150 |
3.5:1 |
Golden Edge Pearl |
Color: Pearl White |
Type: Super-1 |
Size: Small |
Size: Small |
Standard |
Length: 132 |
4:1 |
Golden Edge Black |
Color: Black |
Type: Super-1 |
Size: Small |
Size: Small |
Standard |
Length: 132 |
4:1 |
Golden Edge |
Color: Clear Blue |
Type: Super-1 |
Size: Small |
Size: Small |
Standard |
Length: 132 |
4:1 |
Golden Edge |
Color: Clear Red |
Type: Super-1 |
Size: Small |
Size: Small |
Standard |
Length: 132 |
4:1 |
Gallery
Boxarts
Trivia
- The Shining Scorpion is the first video game original machine that was later appear in the anime and the manga.
- The appearance of Shining Scorpion in the anime as Fighter's car makes the Fighter Magnum VFX a manga-exclusive car for Fighter.
- All color special versions of the Premium car (red, violet, and pink) are based on the color switch ability.
See also
- Shining Scorpion X
- Neo-Tridagger ZMC
- Storm-Cruiser
External links
Tamiya Japan
- Shining Scorpion on Tamiya Japan (Japanese)
- Shining Scorpion Premium on Tamiya Japan
- Shining Scorpion Premium Red Version on Tamiya Japan
- Shining Scorpion Premium Pink Version on Tamiya Japan
- Shining Scorpion Premium Violet Version on Tamiya Japan
Tamiya America
- Shining Scorpion Premium on Tamiya America
- Shining Scorpion Premium Red Version on Tamiya America
- Shining Scorpion Premium Pink Version on Tamiya America
- Shining Scorpion Premium Violet Version on Tamiya America
Charatoru
| Fully Cowled Mini 4WD series | ||
|---|---|---|
| Super-1 | Magnum Saber* · Sonic Saber* · Tridagger X* · Black Saber · Spin-Axe · Proto-Saber JB · Victory Magnum* · Vanguard Sonic* · Beak Spider* · Neo-Tridagger ZMC* · Fighter Magnum VFX* · Ray Stinger* · Shining Scorpion* · Bergkaiser* | |
| Super-FM | Brocken Gigant* · Gun Bluster XTO* | |
| Super TZ | Cyclone Magnum* · Hurricane Sonic* · Cyclone Magnum TRF · Diospada* · Beat-Magnum* · Buster-Sonic* · Beat-Magnum TRF · Fire Stinger | |
| VS | Spin-Viper† · Diomars-Nero† | |
| Super-II | Spin Cobra† | |
| AR | Z Wing Magnum · Great BlastSonic · Beak Stinger G · Proto-Saber Evolution† · Tridagger WX | |
| FM-A | Great Magnum R · Cosmosonic | |
| * denotes Premium version available; † denotes racing chassis re-release of a Mechanical Mini 4WD car | ||