Diaclone

The name or term "Diaclone" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Diaclone (disambiguation).

File:Diaclone-GRB logo.jpg

Di...a...cloooooooone!!!

Diaclone (ダイアクロン Daiakuron) was one of two Takara toy lines (the other being Micro Change) from which the earliest Generation 1 Transformers toys came. Diaclone has proven perhaps the most enduring of the various pre-Transformer brands, subject to a variety of remixes and revivals both within the Transformers brand and without.

Overview

Original toyline

You thought the cartoon made up the flying thing, didn't you.

The Diaclone toyline was first introduced in 1980 with a focus was on various piloted robots that could transform into various abstract sci-fi vehicles, bases and creatures. However, in March 1982 toys with alt modes based on realistic, present-day vehicles that many Transformers are known for today began to appear as part of the "Car Robots" sub-line. The first one was the Diaclone predecessor of Sunstreaker, whom Hasbro now considers the first fully-fledged transforming car-to-robot toy ever designed. Its vehicle form was based on an older Takara toy, the "Cosmo Countach" from the Microman "Micro Command" sub-line released in 1978, which transformed into a half-robot, half-car hybrid.

Before the Transformers brand was introduced, Takara directly exported some Diaclone toys to North America under the brand names Diakron and Kronoform, but those lines met with very little success. French toy company Joustra also released various Diaclone figures in Europe under the original Japanese name (sporting unique box art), a few exclusive Revell model kits and even an accompanying mini-comic series, but these also faded into obscurity.

In 1983, Hasbro representatives discovered Diaclone and Microchange toys at the Tokyo Toy Show, and soon struck a deal to create the Transformers brand.

The 1984 and 1985 Autobot Cars, 1984 Decepticon Planes, 1985 Dinobots, 1985 Constructicons, "standard" Insecticons, Trainbots, Omnibots, Powerdashers, Jumpstarters, Blitzwing, 1984 Optimus Prime, and 1986 Ultra Magnus toys all originated from Diaclone. The reason why many of these toys feature opening cockpits, hatches, or seats is that Diaclone had presented them as lifeless mecha for small driver figures, which were no longer included in their Transformers incarnation.

When Transformers proved an unqualified success, plans for a 1985 Diaclone line were scrapped, and Transformers was imported to Japan in its place. These aborted toys, which would have been part of a sub-line called Jizai Gattai ("Free Combination") were then incorporated into the Transformers toyline in 1986 as the Aerialbots, Stunticons, Combaticons, Protectobots, and Metroplex.

Diaclone in Transformers

TakaraTomy

Everyone say "Thank you, Diaclone."

In 2002, TakaraTomy's Collector's Edition line branched out from straight-laced Generation 1 re-issues to something that would become a longstanding tradition of the Transformers brand: the plumbing of unused Diaclone decoes of Transformers molds to create new characters. Beginning with a two-pack of Crosscut and Road Rage, this first generation of Diaclone refugees were roundabout one-to-one recreations of the original Diaclone toys exclusive to TakaraTomy's boutique retailer e-HOBBY, using the already queued up Generation 1 molds. Each character received a whimsical bio from ascended superfan and all-around franchise renaissance man Hirofumi Ichikawa casting them as "missing" Generation 1 characters in the style of franchise architect Bob Budiansky's original character profiles.

This practice made the jump to the big leagues in 2013, when the big-budget Masterpiece line built up enough Car Robots molds to begin fishing for redecoes, beginning with former mail-away exclusive Diaclone derivative Tigertrack. Things really kicked into gear two years later with the release of a blue Diaclone version of Bluestreak, whose bio established a longstanding mystery plot as story elements from the Diaclone toyline's scant fiction began leaking into the world of the Transformers. This storyline reached a fever pitch with the release of Masterpiece Spin-Out in 2020, whose bio textually identified him as a Diaclone mecha brought to life as a Cybertronian by mysterious alien technology!

Hasbro

Insert your own Alien reference.

The return of Diaclone to Hasbro markets began with Hasbro's equivalent to e-HOBBY, Fun Publications, finding their own use for Diaclone decoes as characters in their topsy turvy Shattered Glass franchise where the heroic Decepticons battled the evil forces of the Autobots, beginning in 2009 with Shattered Glass Ironhide. As Fun Publications' stories ballooned in scope in the years to come, it was revealed that the "Transcendent Technomorphs," impassive observers at the heart of the Transformers multiverse, had charted out a distant cluster of universes that they named "Cymond," wherein the settings of the various pre-Transformers toylines, Diaclone included, were theoretically imported wholesale into Fun Publications' metafictional in-universe constellation of Transformers franchises.

Fun Publications put their money where their mouth was with "Cybertron's Most Wanted" the 2015 theme of BotCon, Hasbro's official Transformers convention. This year's convention exclusive comic chronicled the incursion of Diaclone's Waruder antagonists straight into the TransTech homeworld of Axiom Nexus and the subsequent collaboration between Diaclone's heroic Dianaut pilots and the inhabitants of Axiom Nexus to repel the Waruder invaders. Accordingly, BotCon 2015's grab bag of exclusive figures included redecoes of existing Transformers toys into the first toys of the original Waruder and Diaclone factions in nearly thirty years! Fun Publications continued to produce the odd bit of Diaclone fiction here and there right up until the very last day of their stewardship of the Transformers license in 2016, with the King Waruder included in their final batch of character profiles.

Generations

The Mother, the Maiden, and the Skeletor.

Following the realization of Hasbro and TakaraTomy's initiative to standardize the global presence of the Transformers brand in 2018, Generations Selects, the exclusive-oriented arm of the the Generations super-brand, picked up where e-HOBBY and Fun Publications left off. Since its inception Generations Selects has placed a noticeable focus on updates of pre-existing Diaclone-inspired characters, as well as fresh Diaclone remixes of their own, albeit with somewhat less elaborate characterizations. Perhaps the most fantastical Diaclone-related feat thus far in this new era has sprung from the adjacent Shattered Glass Collection subline, with the announcement of a 2022 Leader class figure triple billed as a Shattered Glass, a Masterpiece, and an e-HOBBY character, all three of which were inspired by a single Diaclone toy!

The return

We're Back! A Diaclone Story

The Diaclone brand proper was revived by TakaraTomy in 2016 as a boutique property aimed at adult collectors with a strong focus on re-imaginings of toys from the original line. Proceeding more or less chronologically through Diaclone history, the first overlap with the Transformers brand came in 2019 with a wave centered around the Dashers, the ancestors of Transformers' Powerdasher trio. In 2021, a new version of Battle Convoy, the toy that became Optimus Prime, was released. This was followed in short order with the announcement of a new iteration of Powered Convoy, the ancestor of Ultra Magnus, to be released in 2022. Will this lead to more re-imaginings of Car Robots toys? And how does Takara's Masterpiece plotline fit in to all this? Only time will tell.

Toy range (incomplete)

The following list covers all Diaclone releases that were later rereleased as Transformers toys. Diaclone molds with no Transformers releases are generally not listed as they fall outside the purview of this site.

Baku-Ten Attack Robo

Released in the Transformers line as the Jumpstarters.

• Drill Tank Type — Available in two decoes. Dark blue limbs with grey chest or dark blue limbs with red chest. (Transformers releases Twin Twist/Salt-Man Z/Robot-Man Z all utilized completely new decoes)
• Jet Type — Available in two decoes. Dark blue chest with red limbs or dark blue chest with grey limbs. (Transformers releases Topspin/Salt-Man X/Robot-Man X all utilized completely new decoes)

Car Robots

Hey that truck guy looks familiar.

• No. 1 Countach LP500S — The Diaclone red deco was changed to yellow for release as Sunstreaker. The red deco was used as inspiration for Spin-Out and the red Sunstreaker clones.
• No. 2 Onebox Cherry Vanette — The Diaclone black deco was changed to red for release as Ironhide. The original deco was later released as "Ironhide Protect Black" and was used as inspiration for Shattered Glass Ironhide and the DK-2 Guard.
• No. 3 Countach Patrol Car Type — Not released as a Transformer but later used as inspiration for Cordon and the white Sunstreaker clones.
• No. 4 Onebox Ambulance Type — The Diaclone deco was virtually unchanged for release as Ratchet.
• No. 5 4WD Hi-luxe — The Diaclone black deco was virtually unchanged for release as Trailbreaker. The Diaclone version was also available in blue and yellow decoes, the former of which was used as inspiration for Shattered Glass Trailbreaker.
• No. 6 Honda City R — The Diaclone silver deco was virtually unchanged for release as Crosscut. The Diaclone version was also available in red, which was used as inspiration for Reboost.
• No. 7 Fairlady Z — The Diaclone blue deco was changed to silver for release as Bluestreak. The Diaclone version was also available in a silver deco with a black hood that inspired Bluestreak's character model, and the blue deco was used as inspiration for multiple Bluestreak/"Silverstreak" toys and Shattered Glass Bluestreak.
• No. 8 4WD Wrecker Type — The Diaclone red deco was changed to green for release as Hoist. The Diaclone version was also available in blue, and the red deco was used as inspiration for Lift-Ticket and Shattered Glass Hoist.
• No. 9 Honda City Turbo — The Diaclone blue deco was virtually unchanged for release as Skids. The Diaclone version was also available in black and red decos, the former of which was used as inspiration for Burn Out and Shattered Glass Skids.
• No.10 Fire Engine — The Diaclone deco was virtually unchanged for release as Inferno.
• No.11 Fairlady Z Racing Type — The Diaclone deco was virtually unchanged for release as Smokescreen.
• No.12 J59 Jeep — The Diaclone deco was virtually unchanged for release as Hound.
• No.13 Police Car Fairlady Z — The Diaclone deco was virtually unchanged for release as Prowl.
• No.14 Porsche 935 Turbo — The Diaclone deco was virtually unchanged for release as Jazz.
• No.15 New Countach LP500S — The Diaclone red deco was virtually unchanged for release as Sideswipe. The Diaclone version was also available in black and yellow decoes, which were later released as Deep Cover and Tigertrack respectively.
• No.16 F-1 Ligier JS11 — The Diaclone blue deco was virtually unchanged for release as Mirage. The Diaclone version was also available in a red deco.
• No.17 Battle Convoy — The Diaclone deco was virtually unchanged for release as Optimus Prime.
• No.18 Lancia Stratos Turbo — The Diaclone deco was virtually unchanged for release as Wheeljack. The Diaclone version was also available in a different deco and head, which was used as inspiration for Exhaust.
• No.19 New Countach Police Car — The Diaclone police deco was changed to a fire chief deco for release as Red Alert. The original deco was later released as Clampdown.
• No.20 Truck Crane — The Diaclone deco was virtually unchanged for release as Grapple.
• No.21 Corvette Stingray — The Diaclone red deco was changed to blue for release as Tracks. The Diaclone red deco was released as Tracks in Europe and later as Road Rage, and also inspired Shattered Glass Tracks. The Diaclone version also received a Finnish exclusive black deco, which was used as inspiration for Loudpedal and the Tracks clone.

• Powered Convoy — The Diaclone deco was (more or less) reversed for release as Ultra Magnus. The original deco was later released as "Ultra Magnus Yokokuhen Version". The Diaclone version was also available in a chrome deco. The "Powered Buggy" (パワードバギー) accessory was excised from all Transformers releases, though it did inspire the fiction-only character Powerdrive. The original Diaclone deco was used as inspiration for Delta Magnus, Magna Convoy, and Shattered Glass Ultra Magnus.

Construction Vehicle Robo

There were two Diaclone releases available. There were many coloring differences between the two but only the most obvious are listed below. All six received new green and purple decos for release in the Transformers line. The same molds were also released during Generation 2 with the green changed to yellow and, later, orange. The combiner pieces were predominately blue in version one and red in version two.

• No. 1 Bulldozer — Orange in both versions. (Bonecrusher)
• No. 2 Power Shovel — Orange in both versions. (Scavenger)
• No. 3 Shovel-dozer — Orange in both versions. (Scrapper)
• No. 4 Truck Crane — Red in version one, blue in version two. (Hook)
• No. 5 Dump Truck — Red in both versions. (Long Haul)
• No. 6 Concrete Mixer — Red in version one, blue in version two. (Mixmaster)

Dashers

The Dashers were released in Transformers as the Powerdashers. They were only available via mail-order and Robot Points. Each released solely as "Powerdasher," they did not receive individual names until decades later.

• Sky Dasher — Also released under the name "Sky Robot" as a Revell model kit in Europe. (Cromar)
• Drill Dasher — Also released under the name ""Drill Robot" as a Revell model kit in Europe. (Zetar)
• F-1 Dasher — Also released under the name "F-1 Robot" as a Revell model kit in Europe. (Aragon)

Dinosaur Robo

The Dinosaur Robo molds became the Dinobots in Transformers. Duh. All of the TF releases had softer plastic in certain places. There were also several differences in decoes between the Diaclone and Transformers versions, mostly the replacement of blue paint with red.

• Tyrannosaurus (Grimlock)
• Triceratops (Slag)
• Brontosaurus (Sludge)
• Stegosaurus (Snarl)
• Pteranodon (Swoop, Diaclone deco inspired Swoop's animation model)

Double Changers

The Double Changers were released as the Omnibots, and like the Powerdashers, were only available via mail-order and Robot Points.

• Ferrari BB (Overdrive)
• Savanna RX-7 (Camshaft)
• Celica XX (Downshift)

F-15 Robo

The F-15 Robo mold was the source for the Seekers. The black and purple deco used for Skywarp was created for the Transformers line, and was never available as a Diaclone. The decoes and remolded wings for the Coneheads were also original to The Transformers.

• Super-high-speed fighter type (Starscream)
• Acrobat type (Thundercracker)

Insecter Robo

In Diaclone, these were mechs used by the Waruders, the "bad guys" of that universe. In Transformers they were released as the Insecticons with new purple, black, and yellow decoes. Much later, the Diaclone decoes were released as the e-HOBBY exclusive Insecticon Clones.

• Kabutron (Bombshell/Salvo)
• Battas (Kickback/Shothole)
• Kuwagatrer (Shrapnel/Zaptrap)

Train Robo

The Train Robo molds were only released as Transformers in Japan during the Headmasters franchise as Raiden and his individual components, the Trainbots. There were two color variations released for the Diaclone line, making 12 individual trains total. Numbers 7-12 are much rarer and were never released as a giftset.

• No. 1 Tōkaidō 0 Series Shinkansen (Shouki)
• No. 2 EF65-1000 Blue Train (Getsuei)
• No. 3 Tōhoku Jōetsu 200 Series Shinkansen (Yukikaze)
• No. 4 Tōkaidō Main Line 153 Express Train (Suiken)
• No. 5 L-Limited express 485 (Seizan)
• No. 6 DE10 Diesel Locomotive (Kaen)
• No. 7 Tōkaidō 0 Series Shinkansen Metallic (Silver Liner)
• No. 8 Limited Express EF76 (Battle Liner)
• No. 9 Doctor Yellow 922 (Yellow Liner)
• No. 10 Yokosuka Line 113 (Miracle Liner)
• No. 11 Sleeper Express 583 (Thunder Liner)
• No. 12 DE10 Diesel Locomotive Transparent (Crystal Liner)

Triplechangers

Only the Jet Fighter Type Triple Changer was ever released in the Transformers line, but the Helicopter Type later inspired three fiction-only characters. Astrotrain and Octane may have been in development when the change to the Transformers brand occurred.

• No. 1 Jet Fighter Type — The Diaclone dark green and white deco was changed to purple and beige for release as Blitzwing. The original deco was later released as Overcharge.
• No. 2 Helicopter Type — Not released as a Transformer, but used as inspiration for the fiction-only characters Rotorbolt, Skyklik, and Fumes.

Early Diaclone

A handful of more fantastical toys from Diaclone's early years passed over for the Transformers toyline have inspired fiction-only characters, mostly in the form of background easter eggs.

• Dia-Attacker — Used as inspiration for the original form of Exarchon, arch-villain of the 2019-2022 IDW comics.
• Dia-Battles — Used as inspiration for Stormbringer.
  • DA-01 Dia Battles V2 — itself inspired by the original Dia-Battles, this toy from the 2016 Diaclone reboot was used as inspiration for the Beast Wars: Uprising incarnation of Magmatron.
• Dianauts — The heroic human pilot minifigures packaged with various Diaclone mecha were used as inspiration for the subtly named toy characters Dia, Cline, and Diac, as well as the fiction-only character Chifumi Takahashi.
• Fortress X — Used as inspiration for, ah, Fortress X.
• Guts Blocker — Used as inspiration for an unnamed background comic character.
• Warudaros — Used as inspiration for the Storm Rider toy, which was itself then repurposed as King Waruder, a riff on the Diaclone character "Emperor Waruder." We've come full circle or something.
• Waruder pilots — The insectoid opposite number of the heroic Diaclone pilots packed with the Insector Robo, Warudaros, and others, these minifigures were used as inspiration for the Beet-Chit, Ripper, Thrasher, Crusher, and Buzzer toys, as well as their leader, a Thrasher repurpose named Daros.

Fiction

Animated cartoon

Wyatt Toys advertised Diaclone and Microman toys for sale in the Detroit Powell Press. The AllSpark Almanac

Notes

• Diaclone is a portmanteau of "diamond" and "cyclone": "strong as a diamond, fast as a cyclone".
  • "Cymond," the name for Diaclone's location in the in-fiction multiverse, was devised by longtime Transformers contributor Hirofumi Ichikawa as an inversion of the original portmanteau (cyclone + diamond).
• Designs from Diaclone were plagiarized for the Korean animated movie Diatron 5 (다이아트론5), which for a time haunted Walmart dollar bins as Space Transformers.
• Like Transformers after it, Diaclone was also released in other countries, in some cases licensed to other companies:
  • Takara themselves had a short run in the U.S. market under the name Diakron, featuring three toys that were later released as Transformers in different colors.
  • Italian company GiG initially released toys under the name Diaclone, but soon changed it to Trasformer [sic]. Whether GiG was copying Hasbro or the other way round is unclear; however, Trasformer did feature a blend of Diaclone toys and elements original to Hasbro's Transformers line, possibly due to production reasons.
  • French company Joustra released the toys under the name Diaclone in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, featuring a blend of Micro Change and Diaclone toys with unique packaging designs and origin stories, but eventually sporting factory-applied Autobot or Decepticon stickers, also due to production reasons.
  • Takara themselves released toys in Finland under the name Diaclone, sharing elements of the packaging design with GiG's Trasformer line. This release is notable for a unique black version of the Corvette Stingray (pre-Loudpedal).
• General Motors stopped using the "Stingray" name after the 1976 model year through 2013. Though the Corvette mold is obviously a 1980 to 1982 model year, Takara incorrectly called it a Stingray.

See also

• Pre-Transformers
• Diakron
• Kronoform
• Micro Change
• Trasformer
• Cymond

External links

• Diaclone.Net
• Diaclone at the Pre-Transformers Page
• Diaclone® Action Figure Collectors' Guide At Transformersland
• Diaclone's modern incarnation at the TakaraTomy website