It’s Thursday. I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw this—a shiny Tesla cruising down the road, towing a roaring diesel generator on a trailer behind it. It was the perfect circle of irony, a $70,000 electric car being fed by the very thing it was supposed to replace!

-keep

It’s Wednesday. I don’t know about you, but this week feels like it’s been dragging its feet through wet cement. So, to break things up a bit, I thought we could all use a little midweek pick-me-up. The best way I know how to do that is to feature one of my reader-submitted amateur photos. And not just any amateur photo, but a guaranteed damn good one. Because honestly, anything that distracts us from the slow crawl toward Friday can only be a good thing, right? Enjoy!

-keep

Keep, I might be bragging. Okay, I’m definitely bragging! Anonymous, please. -Anonymous

It’s Tuesday. When I was a kid, I’d rush home from school, plop down in front of the TV, and watch my favorite show—Speed Racer. I was fascinated by Speed’s car, the legendary Mach 5. It wasn’t just fast—it was a technological marvel packed with gadgets like auto jacks for jumping obstacles, rotary saws for cutting through hazards, and the ability to travel under water. It must have made quite an impression on me because I spent countless hours drawing the Mach 5, building models of it with LEGO, Tinker Toys, and even Play-Doh when I was a kid!

Fast forward to today, I have a collection of numerous 1/18 scale model cars that I’ve accumulated over the years. The majority of the models are Corvettes, but two of them are Speed Racer’s Mach 5. They’re nice models, but fairly basic. For those with deep pockets, Chogokin has released a Mach 5 of their own and it’s spectacular! For those of you interested in seeing it, check out the video featured above. You can also check out its listing on amazon here. It doesn’t have an equal.

-keep

A “Chogokin car” refers to a die-cast metal model car made under the Chogokin brand name, a term that comes from Japanese and literally means “super alloy.”

Originally introduced by the Japanese toy company Popy (a division of Bandai) in the late 1970s, Chogokin toys were known for being high-quality, heavy, and intricately detailed because they were made with real metal parts rather than just plastic. The line began with figures based on popular anime robots like Mazinger Z, but it later expanded to include vehicles, including famous ones like Speed Racer’s Mach 5 and other pop-culture cars.

A Chogokin car is prized for its craftsmanship, weight, and collectible value—they’re often built for adult collectors, featuring moving parts, working mechanisms, and detailed interiors. In short, if you see “Chogokin” on the box, it means it’s a premium die-cast model made with care and meant to feel as solid as it looks.

The world’s most famous dream car, the “Mach5,” has been made into a Chogokin car!

This highly anticipated model, approximately 1/18 in scale (total length approx. 270mm), reproduces seven special functions and comes with figures of the main character, Go Mifune, and the heroine, Michi Shimura!