(I will post picts later)...  ITS LATER!!!!  UPDATE !!!!!!

The DRIVERS are one of the most important factors of the original Pre TF toy line.  Significance, these drivers put the robots into perspective as vehicles, not aliens them selves. 

Through out the toy line evolution, we were given several different versions of these drivers, even spanning into the knockoffs. 

Back in the day, I attempted to put the majority of them into 3 categories, humanoid, head phones and robo suits.  There was even a chart which showed what driver came with what, but that is another posting, this is about the drivers them selves.

The first driver is the thin humanoid, with built in magnetic feet.  These were skinny and mostly plastic, with a chromed symbol painted on his chest.  Many of these came with the Power Bases, and larger GRB set. 

The second class was the more common headphone wearing humanoid.  Suit had armor, but scaled down compared to the 3rd class and the trademark headphones.  There is an early version which more resembles “Mr Roboto� with lines drawn on the characters face.  These are probably the rarest of them all.  Attempts to hide the magnets were abandoned and so each walked around with bricks stuck to their feet. 

Third class is the robo suit wearing figures.  These looked like little space suits or armor, and had all metal bodies with colored limbs.  Again, magnet brick feet.  Probably the most common since they were widely used in the Diakron line, here in the states.   

The Alien drivers of course filled up the remaining enemy drivers ranks.  3 different metal bodies AND different limbs.  I had to edit this, having them side by side for the photo's I took proved that they are completely different.  The right arm has a claw, while the left has a humanoid hand.  Since there are so few, these are some of the more rarer Diaclone drivers. 

There are of course the Model Kits build your own driver sets out there (as well as repro’s) and Camshaft came with ½ a chromed headphone wearing driver in his car seat.

As the lines were copied and knocked off, changes were made to the toys. 

The first sign of changes may not be a knockoff at all, it is impossible to tell unless one was found included with a sealed toy.  Robo suit drivers with more feminine faces.  This may simply be signs of a worn out mold when production switched from say Diaclone to Diakron, but the different, more female driver exists. 

Then we get to the Kingdam line, with their dulled version of the Headphone class.  Features were dulled, main body all metal, with almost clear colored limbs.  I have yet to find one which has the magnet feet, but they do have the holding pin sticking out. 

There were a few other attempts to remake these same headphone drivers, with the green Gats-blocker came all plastic drivers.  The mango blocks were solid plastic and part of the legs, and they used weird colors.  These were actually better quality than the Kingdam’s, despite they had no die cast. 

Whirl and Roadbuster had their solid plastic drivers in their seats, many Macross jets had drivers, Alpha (not directly associated with TF’s, but one definite could have been) came with a solid plastic action figure. 

If you look at the Diaclone line with care, you will note that most of the toys had the vehicle front end as a cab with arms and legs, with a head on top.  These were designed this way so that the drivers seat would remain the cockpit of the robot.  For some reason some of the later models abandoned this, such as Prowl or even Swoop (who is considered to have come with a Yellow Robosuit Driver, despite the fact he doesn’t have an actual seat.)

The fact that most of the Italian TraSformers did not come with their drivers does make me wonder if there is a warehouse full of left over driver parts somewhere…

Recommend that if you are starting out, and do not have a lot, try the repro versions.  They are a bit fragile, but they look good in the driver seat. 

- - - - EDIT HERE - - -

I started to go through my old archives to cut and paste a lot of picts...then I figured most of them are here so might as well take some new shots. 

If you read this before, re-read the part about the alien drivers, I made a mistake and had to change that.  Seems they are all different, 3 totally different figures, not different bodies with the same limbs.

Also another close look at the "Mr Roboto" Driver.  Pictures I have seen showed his face to look like it had lines drawn into them, as if he were either a robot or inside a small suit.  Taking this new look, it appears that its a cross between the RoboSuit and the Headphones drivers, wearing a helmit but not a full robo suit.

Take a close look at the 2 Robosuit drivers shown, the one in red to the right is the FEMALE version I was writing about.

Included below is also a look at some of the FAKE drivers, Model Kit drivers and a Diaclone CORPSE...

More Drivers???