Jump to content

Diaclone Surprises


Backfire

Recommended Posts

One of my favorite moments as a Transformer fan was discovering the formerly well kept secret of the Diaclone line. The fact that Transformers existed prior to coming to the US was in it's self the best surprise, but with in came many more little things that to this day are fantastic.

 

Back in the day, I remember coming across imported Constructicons, in their Diaclone color scheme and thinking to my self "Oh no, that's supposed to be GREEN!" If I had only known then what I know now...but then I have picked up the Diaclone versions of Devestator and several others since so hunting them down was lots of fun. These orange, yellow and red color variations were the first major difference one can find when looking at the Diaclone series...all those great variants, possibilities for new characters and pieces for ones collection...

 

Let us not forget the cleaver Diaclone and Microman makers flair for the rare, many items came out with variant colors and in different sets, such as the Devestator gift set having exclusive blue pieces, the train bot also had variant colors, as well many of the car robo, jet robo and even some of the microchange series.

 

Of these, will have to say my favorite variants discovered were

the blue bluestreak - holy grail of G1 collectors everywhere.

red and blue rumble - squelch? Love those cassette bots, having a 3rd version was simply amazing.

(not to mention the reversed colored KO blue rumble - Reverse...but KO's are another chapter)

Marlboor Wheeljack, I remembered I had posted a question about WJ having a variant color out there, since most of the series had at least 1 recolor (cept maybe Hound, Jazz's recolor came out after G1 in the US ended).

 

Drivers. I remember having to pick out some Transformers from the JC pennies catalog for Xmas that year, and seeing the jets had a little guy inside...much to my dismay my sisters each got a TF, and I got Soundwave. Once they had gotten tired of their toys (Skywarp and Optimus) I checked them out to find no driver? How much fun it was years later to actually find out I was not crazy and there were little people that came with the toys, it's just at that time we had the choking hazard recall from other toy lines, so at their release we lost the little drivers.

 

Variant molds that never made it as a Transformer. Wonderful toys from both lines, such as Magnum, Switchblade the tripple changer chopper/jet, super buggy - the little red buggy that came with ultra magnus to name a few. Block Men, great line porely introduced in the micronaut series. GRB, Fortress X - at least they served as the predecessors to FT Max and Scorponok. Nothing says CYBERTONIAN more than some of the great diaclone toys. Dia-attacker just screams ancient Decepticon warlord.

 

Special features. Megatron actually shoots? And so did his entension? Reflector had a better lens and a tank mode? Magnus had the side kick mentioned above? There were 2 more gun robo's? (Ok so Japan got Browning later, buy we didn't). Blaster came in 2 colors and he actually worked, speakers in the legs with working cassette radio... and what, there's an ear plug inside his deck so no other tape can fit? And best of all, the missile launchers REALLY shot, including roller in Prime's trailer!

 

It was great fun, 10+ years ago, before the big bang of the internet and the now more well known Diaclone secret was out. Back around 94 most people had never heard of Diaclone in the states, Diakron maybe, along with 'purist' collectors chiming in saying "Blue Trailbreaker AIN'T a real Transformer!". Today it's fairly easy to type in the word Diaclone and have dozens of nifty pages pop up revealing secrets we could have only dreampt of back then.

 

Upon opening a box in storage this evening and taking a second to admire some of the mentioned items from the list above, I just had to stop and write this, in part to reflect but also to make remind newer collectors who entered into the TF world more recently. Hopefully with old TF-historians like my self can at least share some of what we had learned. It was not always so easy to find out about these hidden treasures and some of the thrill of discovery may have been lost to some along the way.

 

More another time, I got some bots to play with...he he...oh Super Buggy, why have they not remade you???

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had some DiaClone figures as a kid long before TFs came out. My dad worked in a Post Office and had all types of shipping connections.

 

I was a little kid though and destroyed them. I had the drivers though, tiny little robots with metal bodies, plastic limbs, and metal feet. Those were alot of fun!!!

 

I also had Combatra too.

 

By time Transformers actualy aired, all these toys where in pieces(if I only knew), but recall being estatic seeing all those old toys on screen and finaly knowing what they were(sorta). I never knew they were DiaClone was back in the day, they were just things my dad would bring home every now and then, but I knew them before I knew what a Transformer was.

 

I miss those Drivers. I had one safe until a house fire

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Drivers are not that hard to find any more, or at least remakes/KO's.

 

I just saw they remade Multiforce 14, and it comes with drivers. Not sure what the quality is, but it's worth a shot.

 

New KO toys, like the clear cassettes, red and clear Mirage, and official remakes like Screech the Green Skids among other products also keep the collection going.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw the KO/Repro Drivers once on that parts site that I can't think of the name of(damit) I rarely ever see them in the auctions.

 

If you have a link to where I can score some, let me know!

 

I remember having Mirage, Preceptor, Convoy(broken out of the box) and a whole bunch of random little things, I'm sure not all DiaClone. I remember thinking though that they had to be junk toys cause the writing on the box wasn't even English...

 

If I only knew, my Dad use to get catalogs!

 

:tfsad

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://chimungmung.com/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=55

 

they are out of them at the moment but they are really cool about requesting things. I might have to get a set my self. Have the green KO and the normal version.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
  • Create New...
Sign Up For The TNI Newsletter And Have The News Delivered To You!


Entertainment News International (ENI) is the #1 popular culture network for adult fans all around the world.
Get the scoop on all the popular comics, games, movies, toys, and more every day!

Contact and Support

Advertising | Submit News | Contact ENI | Privacy Policy

©Entertainment News International - All images, trademarks, logos, video, brands and images used on this website are registered trademarks of their respective companies and owners. All Rights Reserved. Data has been shared for news reporting purposes only. All content sourced by fans, online websites, and or other fan community sources. Entertainment News International is not responsible for reporting errors, inaccuracies, omissions, and or other liablities related to news shared here. We do our best to keep tabs on infringements. If some of your content was shared by accident. Contact us about any infringements right away - CLICK HERE