Bulma’s Capsule No. 9 Bike and the Dream Tomica Behind It

Bulma's Capsule No. 9 Bike — Dragon Ball Dream Tomica by Takara Tomy

A Die-Cast Miniature from Takara Tomy’s Dream Tomica Line

This piece belongs to Dream Tomica, a sub-line of Takara Tomy’s long-running Tomica brand devoted entirely to fictional vehicles from anime, film, and character properties. Standard Tomica releases recreate real cars in compact die-cast form — Dream Tomica applies the same format to imaginary machines. Tomica itself dates to 1970 and has been one of Japan’s defining die-cast miniature brands ever since. Takara Tomy, formed by the 2006 merger of Tomy and Takara, produces the line today and has built out the Dream Tomica catalog through collaborations spanning Disney, Studio Ghibli, tokusatsu series, and anime — of which Dragon Ball is one.

Bulma, Capsule No. 9, and the Moment Dragon Ball Begins

Dragon Ball began as a manga by Akira Toriyama, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1984 to 1995 and collected across 42 volumes. Toei Animation brought it to television in 1986, followed by Dragon Ball Z in 1989 and several further series. The franchise has held a strong international following for decades and remains one of the most widely recognized anime properties in the world.

Bulma is the female lead introduced in the very first chapter. She is the daughter of Dr. Brief, a brilliant inventor, and the heir to Capsule Corporation — a company built around one of the story’s signature technologies. In the Dragon Ball universe, capsules are small cylindrical canisters that can store full-sized physical objects: vehicles, boats, houses. A character opens a capsule and the object materializes on the spot. Capsule No. 9 is the one Bulma uses in the opening scene, riding a three-wheeled motorbike along a mountain road just before she encounters Goku for the first time. It is, quite literally, the first vehicle the audience sees in the entire series.

Toriyama’s design for the bike reflects his characteristic retro-futurist style: a white body, a clear enclosed canopy over the rider, and a three-wheel configuration. The rear wheel panel carries the word “CAPSULE” alongside the number 9 inside a green circle — the specific detail that distinguishes this capsule model from any other in the story.

Dragon Ball Collecting and the Significance of This Subject

Dragon Ball has an active collector following across North America, Europe, South America, and Southeast Asia, and licensed merchandise in a wide range of formats continues to draw that audience. The die-cast construction of Dream Tomica pieces gives them a weight and material quality distinct from plastic figures, which attracts both anime fans and miniature vehicle enthusiasts.

Dream Tomica products are distributed primarily within Japan, so international fans typically rely on Japanese sources to obtain them. The Capsule No. 9 bike holds a specific place in the franchise: as the first vehicle in the story, it is tied directly to the series’ origins rather than to a later arc or sequel series. Since Akira Toriyama’s passing in March 2024, fan attention toward items connected to Dragon Ball’s earliest chapters has grown noticeably in communities worldwide, reflecting a broader engagement with the work and where it began.