By 1984, the handwriting was on the wall. Transformers was the future of transforming robot toylines everywhere. Try as they might, Takara could no longer justify avoiding the introduction of the Robots in Disguise to the Japanese market. After all, they had all the brilliant engineering of Diaclone (not to mention Microchange), plus the benefit …
Continue reading “Diaclone Toy Catalog Scans Translation: 1985: a Powered Conclusion!”
Read more...As the Diaclone toyline entered its fourth year, Real & Robo had essentially taken over the toyline. Gone were the fanciful sci-fi designs of the earlier years, save for a few holdover mecha. The line was zeroed in on the new robots in disguise. With the talents of Kojin Ohno to lead the way, Real …
Continue reading “Diaclone Toy Catalog Scans Translation: 1983: Waruder’s on the Ropes!”
Read more...As Diaclone advanced through its third year of product, it became clear that the road led inexorably to Transformers. Though initially a small sub-line of disguised fast responder mecha, the Real & Robo Car Robots rapidly expanded to become nearly the entire Diaclone force. Together with additional R&R toys like Jet Robo, Construction Vehicle Robo, …
Continue reading “Diaclone Toy Catalog Scans Translation: Late 1982: Diaclone Gets Real (& Robo)!”
Read more...In my longtime fascination with Takara’s Pre-Transformers toylines, it’s always been interesting to see the many robot toys that were never selected for Transformers re-use. Diaclone started out as a somewhat different genre of robot sci-fi than the more familiar G1 tone of “Robots in Disguise”… these earler ‘mecha’ weren’t so disguised. They were gorgeous …
Read more...I’ve always had a fascination with Takara’s pre-Transformers toy series like Diaclone. It’s been mysterious, static, and just out of reach beyond the iron barrier of the Japanese language. Now, with a little technology, and a lot of persistence, Transformerland breaks that barrier with a full translation of a 1983-4 Diaclone toy catalog. With the …
Continue reading “Diaclone Toy Catalog Scans Translation: 1984: Dinosaur Robo Pre-Transformers”
Read more...You wouldn’t know it by the avalanche of vintage knockoffs, but Hasbro had filed US Patents for nearly all of the original G1 Transformers. These legalese-named patents protect the “ornamental design” and often the transformation mechanism of classic Transformers characters, typically for up to 10 years. To the fandom, however, these patents present an interesting …
Read more...Wheeljack has always fascinated me. His alternate mode, the Group 5 Lancia Stratos Turbo, stood out like a sore thumb among the Autobot Cars: it was not quite an exotic like Sideswipe, though it was wide and flat, but it didn’t look like a racer either: certainly Mirage belonged in F1, and certainly Jazz belonged …
Continue reading “Masterpiece Wheeljack: a Piece of Racing History (and who the heck is Exhaust?)”
Read more...[Continued from Part 1] The final version of the “original” Optimus Prime toy available during G1 was a 1986 release promoting Transformers: the Movie. Available by mail-in only and costing $21.50 and 5 Robot Points, this version eschewed the typical box and came in a plain brown mailer, with the toy secured in the usual …
Continue reading “A Brief History of Prime, Part 2”
Read more...Generation 1 Optimus Prime is probably one of the most iconic toys of our generation, even outside the relatively narrow scope of Transformers. The fascination with Optimus runs deep in many of us, years or decades after our childhoods. This week, I’d like to talk a bit about the myriad releases of the “original” Optimus …
Continue reading “A Brief History of Prime, Part 1”
Read more...Move over, Kre-O! Brick Label is bringing our favorite robots to life in Lego®. MOC (Lego fan terminology for “My Own Creation”) creator “alanyuppie” has teamed up with “JK” to bring some of Alan’s beautiful and elegant transforming designs to a marketable stage. Their name is Brick Label, and the product is Masterbrick Metalhide. Transformerland …
Continue reading “Brick Label brings transforming Lego Masterbrick Metalhide to Market”
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