While the Internet is a wondrous tool that is full of information, its accuracy can vary from sources. These are sites we use to collect the data involving the Tomica Hero Series. We do not list sites for fansubs here, as that has its own listing on the Style Guide and is not always a credible source of information due to possible translation errors. We also do not list Twitter accounts here, as like the fansubs that has its own section.
In certain cases, some of these sites can obtain info from other websites and they link to the source at the bottom of their posts. If so, then that site that originally contained the info should be cited as the source instead if it is in English. If they have translated the info from a Japanese or other non-English source or they are actually reporting it as breaking news for a site-exclusive story, then the website in question can be cited for pages.
List of Official Sources[]
Note: Due to being a short-lived franchise, resources for Tomica Hero and Ryukendo are not as vast as ongoing shows, but we try to find as many as we can.
- TV Aichi- The official broadcast home of the Ryukendo and the Tomica Hero Series.
- Jefusion- A Malaysian news site founded by the late GekiDan.
- Wikipedia Japan Not the most accurate of sources all the time, but it does give us some useful data that is credible.
- Sci-Fi Japan A Japanese film and Anime news and review site, formerly known as Monster Zero News.
- Anime News Network- While this is an anime news site, it is one of the top three websites we use for data on voice actors due to its seiyuu database.
- Ameblo and FC2-Japanese blogging sites that contain the blog posts of actors, singers, idols and various other personalities in media. They can also contain statistics such as their place and date of birth, age, and who they work with for promoting their careers in their line of profession.
- The Internet Archive Also known as "The Wayback Machine", this San Fransisco based library site is a project to archive the Internet as it evolves. This is our last resort when show websites get torn down and are unable to be loaded. However, it does have limitations such as lack of plug-in support for some archived pages. But it is better than no having data at all.
What is NOT an official source[]
- YouTube: Aside from the Tokusatsu Network's channel, we do not use this as a credible source. Rumors and fake videos spread like wildfire here so misinformation is a recurring problem. Another one is its instability with web video, as the site's flawed copyright Content ID system terminates videos very quickly due to faulty software and the lack of a human element to monitor it to tell a pirated video from a official news or review post.
- Other Streaming Sites: Due to Takara Tomy's somewhat hostile attitude towards the Internet and the sharing of information or content, Content ID software on other stream sites are just as notorious for eliminating video. While not as fast or faulty as Youtube, somehow, someday that video you think is a great source of info will be terminated and be an empty broken file on our wiki. There are exceptions to this as far as official sources, but usually, Takara wins the argument against fair use and they get shut down, making non-YouTube streaming sites a useless folly of a resource.
- Certain Web Forums: Some internet forums are simply just gossip filled, thus trusting information is not often found. Web discussions often contain fan bias and the magazine scans they have are often watermarked by sites such as ModXToy, rendering the image useless to our wiki. There may be a rare case or two where they can be useful but we try to avoid any mishaps caused by faulty info by double checking.
- Deviantart: While this is a rare occurrence, we have had one or two problems in the past of people mistaking cosplay photos for actual images of the heroes. Another minor problem we sometimes had was the theft of art via transfer of an image to an editor's desktop without paying the artist or asking permission to use it.
- Fansubs: As stated above, while fansubs are a vital tool of necessity in obtaining data and have their own list on the Style Guide, the translation errors they sometimes have on spelling and pronunciation are hard to ignore. This may sound contradictory, but we have had edit warring in the past over sub group translations. It is also because, and we cannot stress this enough, they are technically in a legal grey area and some fansub groups have a nasty tendency to collapse or stop working altogether.
- Social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr should not be cited unless either the thing being cited is a photo, the account is official, or the owner of the account is a trusted source (such as Burgundy Ranger). Anybody can register an account on those websites, which means that anybody could post false information. When using photographic sources on these sites, cite the photo itself - not the person posting it.