The staple class of figures in the first wave of Generation 1 in 1984 were the Autobot Cars. Bluestreak was one of the original members of this category, transforming into a realistic 1982 Nissan Fairlady Z Turbo (S130). The Fairlady Z was Nissan’s flagship line of sports coupe, sold in the US as the Datsun 280ZX.
Origins
Bluestreak, like all his fellow Autobot Cars until 1986, was originally designed by Koujin Ohno and released in Takara’s Diaclone as Car Robot Fairlady Z. This version of the 280ZX was released in Diaclone under two color schemes: blue with a silver hood, or silver with a black hood and roof. Due to the fact that Bluestreak’s instructions depict the blue and silver Diaclone toy (as well as his name being Bluestreak!), many collectors wrongly believed this blue version was released in Transformers packaging. However, so far, all claims of “blue Bluestreaks” have either been not been proven genuine, or been proven not to be genuine. The US Patent, titled Reconfigurable toy assembly (aka Transformers G1 Bluestreak) was filed on October 12, 1982 (U.S. Patent No. US4680018 A).
Description
Bluestreak’s all-silver alternate mode closely resembles a real Datsun 280ZX, including stickers badging him as such. He shares his body with wave-mate
Prowl and 1985
Smokescreen. He features four-spoke (a mark of the real-life turbo model) vacuum-metalized “chrome” wheels shod in rubber tires. Clear windows front and back, as well as supporting his “open” T-top roof complete the look of realism. His doors open, though the Diaclone driver would have originally boarded by opening the roof. His robot mode shares many of the hallmarks of Diaclone design: the hood and front fascia become the large chest of the robot, his doors become “wings” behind his shoulders, and he has two non-firing shoulder-mounted missile launchers to compliment his armament of a chrome rifle. Further attention is given to detail by a wide variety of buyer-applied stickers, decorating his alternate mode with lights and badges, and his robot mode with details and colors, including stickers that appear behind the rear car windows on his shins. Bluestreak’s transformation is more complex than Hasbro’s smaller offerings, including more advanced tricks like using his waistplate to lock his hips in robot or car mode, and folding his arms up in an interesting opposed position seen in several other Diaclone designs. Interestingly, the two blue “Turbo” badge stickers were designed to blend in to the earlier Diaclone release’s blue paint, and were not altered to fit with Bluestreak’s silver deco.
Date stamp location: Bottom of car, near rear wheels
Rubsign location: None (1984), or left side door (1985)
Collector Notes
Despite Bluestreak’s design making heavy use of die-cast parts such as the hood and rear quarters, he is very prone to major breakage. His roof and windshield are attached to the panel on the back of his head by a thin piece of clear plastic, which breaks with incredible ease. Added to the fact that his roof is supported in the rear only by two small tabs, this has left a large proportion of original toys roofless. His rear windows are similarly fragile, although slightly better supported and protected by the die-cast pieces they are mounted to. Often, the damage is subtle, such as the tab on either side of the rear window shearing off, causing it to fall into the trunk area. When transforming or storing Bluestreak, be sure to never apply direct pressure to the roof in either direction - always operate by moving the head itself.
Variants
Some of these issues were addressed in Bluestreak’s major casting variations. Partway through 1984, The die-cast rear end of the car had small protrusions added to the “b-pillars” to better support the roof. The area where the roof attaches to Bluestreak’s head/face was similarly reinforced. Mold injection points on his plastic parts were moved or hidden. Alongside other minor molding and date stamp variants, his rifle also had noticeable variation in the number of horizontal bars the left side of the triangular rear stock of the gun- 0, 2, or 3. Three bars corresponds to the earliest releases, while 2 bars is the most common version. Another major variant of Bluestreak is a Mexican version with flat grey paint.
Availability
Bluestreak was available in the United States and UK in 1984. Bluestreak was available again in the US and UK, and debuted Japan (with firing launchers as Streak) in 1985 with a rubsign applied to his left car door. This version received a revised instruction sheet (or tiny addendum slip). He was not marketed in continental Europe due to licensing conflicts with GiG Diaclone. He was reissued in the US through Toys “R” Us’
Commemorative Series, now named
Silverstreak due to trademark issues. This version is largely indistinguishable from the original, but his vacuum-metalized weapons are issued in unadorned black plastic, and his “Fairlady Z” license plate stickers are changed to his Japanese name, “Streak”. This version also molded the launchers to hold his missiles without the button-activated catches present on his original design.
Case Assortments (Item#/Asst#): 1984: Autobot Cars Asst. 1 (E5755/5750), 1 per 12; 1985: Autobot Cars Asst. 2 (E5755/5765), 1 per 12
MSRP: $9.99
Packaging: Window box with top flap, inner plastic bubble sealed to cardboard insert, Tech Spec on back
Robot Points: 2 Autobot
Paperwork included (1984): Instruction booklet without rubsign on last panel, sticker sheet, Tech Spec Decoder,1984 Catalog, (late 1984) “Reinforcements from Cybertron”, (late 1984) rubsign instructions addendum.
Paperwork included (1985): Instruction booklet with rubsign on last panel, sticker sheet, Tech Spec Decoder, 1984 Catalog, “Reinforcements from Cybertron”
Redecos & Retools
Bluestreak shared much of his mold with 1982 Diaclone Car Robot Fairlady Z (silver with black). He was redecorated in Japan through e-HOBBY in 2002 as Streak (anime colors) with slightly changed stickers and a black-painted hood and roof. Japan got a second recolor in 2003 with Streak (Silver Chrome) in all-chrome (including the windows) as an homage to a rare Diaclone “Campaign Prize”. He shares his mold with wave-mate Prowl, and the subsequent year’s Smokescreen.
