500 Shinkansen in Hello Kitty livery to be introduced

[Yavianice]

https://trafficnews.jp/post/79962

 

When I was hoping for another cool livery for the 500 Shinkansen, this is not what I had in mind (personal taste).

 

Will start running this March, right after the EVA livery Shinkansen has been decommissioned.

[Martijn Meerts]

Oh boy ... 

 

 

 

(I'll still likely pre-order a model of it if when becomes available ;))

 

[bill937ca]

Uck...

[railsquid]

I think it's time the 500 series is gracefully retired from service, to prevent any more atrocities being carried out on it.

[Densha]

I don't like the cutesy theme, but this livery actually looks to be rather well executed with respect to the original design. Much better than the atrociousness that the EVA livery is.

[Das Steinkopf]

On the plus side it could be a ruse to get our wives involved in the hobby, this is one of the few trains that I know my wife would like to own, the other being the Seven Stars set, the later I am very afraid of as it might draw me into that very dark and expensive hole called JR Kyushu, I was almost tempted to dive into it when I was there last year.

Edited March 14, 2018 by Das Steinkopf

[railsquid]

50 minutes ago, Densha said:

I don't like the cutesy theme, but this livery actually looks to be rather well executed with respect to the original design. Much better than the atrociousness that the EVA livery is.

 

Very true.

 

Now, I wonder if they'll ever do an Anpanman Shinkansen, I'd pay actual money to see that.

[Densha]

1 hour ago, railsquid said:

Now, I wonder if they'll ever do an Anpanman Shinkansen, I'd pay actual money to see that.

JR Shikoku Anpanman Shinkansen in 3, 2, 1...

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Wrong on so many levels. 

[chadbag]

My daughter will want this.   It looks well done, no matter what my personal taste is.

 

She already has the Sumikko Gurashi Yamanote Line from KATO on her bookshelf (and not with the rest of the trains).  It is HERS.   We'll see who licenses and produces a model of this first.

 

[cteno4]

Noooooooooooooo! That’s just wrong... looks like a 500 went to a nail salon.

 

my love of painted trains I don’t think will win out here...

 

jeff

[serotta1972]

Oh man, I want one! I don’t know why. Oh yeah, like Chad, for my daughter. 😀

Edited March 14, 2018 by serotta1972

[Yavianice]

32 minutes ago, cteno4 said:

Noooooooooooooo! That’s just wrong... looks like a 500 went to a nail salon.

 

So perfect next to the Izu Craile, right? Maybe I should buy it then 

[Suica]

No.

[cteno4]

Yeah the craile is the tattoo parlor and the hello kitty from the nail salon next door.

 

jeff

[JR 500系]

Why not! I love the pink on it, and surely a flagship train that so many people would recognize running on the layout!

 

Tomix please?  :) 

[katoftw]

I like it.  But I wont be buying a N scale model of it.  Just like the last two special 500s.

[Kiha66]

While not a huge fan of the theme, the design is actually pretty nice.  It flows and matches with the design of the train, while also suggesting speed.  I might even be tempted to get one if it was in a color other than pink.  You have to admit its better than most (all?) of the attempts JR Kyushu has attempted to wrap an express/shinkansen.  

[Sacto1985]

If they can keep the 500 Series trainsets running until 2020, I'd love to see JR West paint one of the eight-car trainsets in the original JNR Shinkansen livery from 1964.

[keiichi77]

I will probably get one to try and get my girls interested more in trains.  I bought the pink Sanriku Railway Type 36 for this exact purpose, it did spark some interest for a box a wheels but this should work much better ;)

[Robert46]

In terms of color design, it looks nice. The combination of pink, white and grey works well. But why should they use this anime character? Bad choice before 500 series retirement ..

Sent from my ASUS_X00HD using Tapatalk

[bill937ca]

This anime character seems to be getting plastered on every railway in Japan.  I know of three tram lines that have or had Hello Kitty trams including the Hankai Tramway. Good for the small fry, I suppose.

[chadbag]

"Hello Kitty" is one of the most iconic figures there is in Japan.

 

"Hello Kitty" was a thing when my wife was a young girl in Japan (and since we were both born in the 60s...).    (1974 per Wikipedia is when "Hello Kitty" was created, and the wife would have been about 8).

 

From a cultural perspective I think this makes perfect sense.

 

[TSK1000]

The design works quite well with the contours of the 500, arguably much better than the confusing EVA livery.

 

At the very least, it makes the railfanning scene a tad bit more inclusive. Sort of wish that this was commonplace in the US, we could definitely do with a younger and more diversified community. 

 

 

[cteno4]

I would have preferred the Taiwanese version, fun scenes and characters. This one just feels over stylized for hello kitty. Pink will help bring in girls! Evangelon was ok over stylized as it is pretty stylized to begin with.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/peoplesdaily/article-3505833/Feline-like-holiday-Hello-Kitty-train-unveiled-Taiwan-carriage-food-conductor-styled-cartoon-character.html

 

jeff