Posts Tagged: Diaclone Revival

20 Jul 2016

Dia-Battles V2 Vs Dia-Battles V1 / Diatron Comparison

What can we say about the Diaclone Revival that hasn’t been said already in the short two months since it was released? What angles can we show it at that haven’t been covered by Maz’s incredible photo coverage?

The approach I’m taking in today’s blog is simply that Dia-Battles V2 is a complete overhaul of the Diaclone concept rather than a straight update, and that maybe Dia-Battles V2 owes as much to another, different Takara design from a separate toy-line than it does the original Dia-Battles. But which one?

To find the answer to these questions, first we have to go right back to 1980, 4 years before Transformers were a thing, to the pre-Hasbro land of Takara Diaclone. To the original DIA-BATTLES.

Dia-Battles V1 / Diatron

Calling it Dia-Battles V1 is a bit disingenuous, but like the Generation One moniker that appeared long after the original line was finished, I imagine this is what he’ll come to be known as moving forward.

Shown above is my vintage Diatron (the name used during the Italian Gig distriution), it’s exactly the same as the toy issued in Japan as Diabattles, right down to having DIA-BATTLES written on the wings. Heck, that’s a detail that even the Kingdam Knock-Off noticed and corrected for their release (but if you look closely below, you’ll see they used a picture of the original toy and not their KO).

Diabattles / Diatron features three separate vehicles that come together to form one robot mode. Sort of like the Duocons, but a Trio… and good guys against the evil Waruders. So, TrioBots maybe?

The combined robot mode is very basic, but a lot of fun with a terrific aesthetic, and a classic Takara headsculpt. One think which really makes it stand out is the amount of die-cast metal and chrome parts, which in good condition really make the figure look great, but which sadly means that the figure is easily damaged and all too often the offerings of this guy on the collectors market are often damaged and look quite shoddy. Combine that with blue plastic in the legs which is incredibly fragile now, and a questionable leg connecting joint, and the chances of finding this guy in great condition are slim. Because of the combining nature of the robot mode, it is fairly easy for the wise collector to buy a couple of damaged ones and attempt to make one good, complete one, which is what I did here ( a wiser collector puts the figure safely away before their cats break it too!).

Transformation, if you can call it that, is easy and intuitive as it usually is with the vintage pieces. The sliding wing panels on the winged vehicle; (02), lock the torso and head vehicle (01) into place, with the final vehicle (03) making up the legs. Catchy naming scheme, huh? The Gig version credits the vehicles as Cosmic 01, 02 and 03 respectively.

Lets take a look at those vehicle modes below, side-by-side with their contemporary updates.

Not much in common with these guys, I actually think the vintage does a better job of hiding the head with a simple panel slide, but I guess with the nature of the Diaclone story the transformation isn’t so much about disguise as function, and no-one can deny the coolness of the mechanised function that slowly reveals the head of Diabattles V2 with a very satisfying and Zoids-esque whirr.

Big yellow and red wings? Check. Blue cockpit for a Diaclone driver? Check. Anymore similarities? No, not really. I guess this section helps the final silhouette of the combined robot mode look a bit like the update.

Well I guess it seats two Diaclone drivers same as the original.

One thing the original does much better than the new figure, is that it uses all the parts in it’s final robot configuration. It’s not a big problem, as the left-over parts combine to become the Boretto Fighter and have high levels of functionality separately, and totally work within the structure of the Diaclone universe. It’s not even parts-forming as we know it, because where is it written that modular equipment can’t have bits left over?

Okay, we’ve gotten a bit ahead of ourselves. Now you’re familiar with V1, lets check out V2 properly.

Dia-Battles V2

As I said at the opening, you can’t really consider Dia-Battles V2 as merely an update of the original, it is in fact a complete re-imagining of the Dia concept. And in my opinion, a much needed one.

We’ve seen the vehicle modes in direct comparison with the originals, so lets look at the “robot” mode. It’s a million miles away from the original, but there is definitely enough homages to the original (the colour-scheme, headsculpt, basic proportions and silhouette) for it to work. Make no mistake though, Takara have not just phoned this in.

Not content with an awesome robot mode, complete with swords and other accessories, not content with three vastly updated and re-imagined vehicle pods, Takara have made the WHOLE THING modular. Sure, the original broke into three parts, but there was very little you could do with those three parts. Not so with V2.

Firstly, the obvious one. Lets make all three vehicles joint together to make one amazing uber-ship known as Battle Triser. Great idea, and it also makes use of some of the leftover components from robot mode. Everything is used here to great effect.

How about an obligatory Japanese mech look? Fan-mode Ger-walks (originating in the Macross line and replicated by Jetfire fans everywhere) are a thing with fans these days, but Takara have made that easier by included it as an official mode. Nice one Takara. This ED-209 looking mother is known as Manual Mode.

The above pictured Scramble Mode is the third official combine mode from Takara to make use of all three components. But they are not done yet.

You can combine two out of the three parts together to make four other official modes, including Hopper (above), Crawler (below), Glide and Fortress (not pictured). And that’s without getting to fan modes!

Want more options? No problem, because Takara also issued this in a Moonbase variant, and you can mix and match those parts to make as many interesting configurations as your heart desires. All of which are fully interactive with the Diaclone Drivers included with the sets. This adds on layers and layers of playability, to the point that I’m not surprised that a lot of people are troop-building these guys.

The little motorbike, Road Viper, is included with the V2 set.

As you can see from the above, Dia-Battles V2 seems very much like it’s own thing.

But hang on… multiple components, highly modular interactivity giving you the ability to make a multitude of different vehicles all of whom are piloted by a Takara pilot? Where have we seen that before???

Released in 1982 by Takara as part of the Microman Armoured Machine range, the above pictured Cosmic Fighter (later released in the West as Converters Deltarian Fighter) was a highly modular vehicle made up off multiple components giving you the ability to make a multitude of different vehicles all of whom are piloted by a Takara pilot.

I explain the history of this release in slightly greater detail here for those interested.

Stack Tank

There really is no set formula with this guy, and while the packaging and instructions mention 16 different and distinct vehicle modes, there are so many more weird and wacky configurations you can achieve.

I have no idea what this mode is.

Helicopter thing

Radar tank? I mean Crawler mode.

Sure, Takara have attempted to reboot the Microman line multiple times (occasionally using old Transformers molds such as Action Masters Optimus Prime of MicroMaster Countdown) with little success, and I’m certainly not saying they are attempting to sneak a Microman reboot into the new Diaclone Revival, nor am I saying Dia-Battles rips off this dated looking Microman mold.
I am however floating the concept that Takara designers perhaps borrowed a few ideas from the Cosmic Fighter when they came to the Dia-Battles V2 design table, maybe borrowing as much from it’s modular design as they borrowed from Diatron’s colours and aesthetic.

Maybe it’s all a coincidence? Or toy design osmosis seeping into the designer’s heads? What do you think?

As always, massive thanks to Kapow for allowing me a home for these articles, make sure they are your first port of call when considering the Diaclone Revival figures, the PE upgrades, or the Fans Project Dia-Battles / Dai Atlas updates; Trianix Alpha and Dai X.

Thanks for reading.

-Sid / Ceno / CZH

06 May 2016

Diaclone Robot Fortress X marks the spot

In the world of Diaclone, there are two big toys that most people know of, even if they sometimes get them confused. One is Great Robot Base, and the other is Robot Fortress X.

Great Robot Base is probably the better known of the two, as his head is used on some of the Diaclone logos, including on the new Diaclone Revival line, and because he is frankly, bloody massive, second only to Fortress Maximus in the 1980’s Takara scale. Going in to Botcon 2016, I was interested in picking this guy up, and while there were some very good boxed and loose examples for sale, the prices were quite high and there were about six or so in the room. Over the whole weekend, I only saw one Robot Fortress X. Which I bought.

Which is why today, we’re taking a look at an original 1980 vintage Takara Diaclone Robot Fortress X.

Okay, the box isn’t in great shape, but then again it is only one year younger than me, and arguably I am in worse shape. The window is cracked, and the entire top flap has separated from the box, but it still displays well and I’m very happy with the great box art. Photoshop has a lot to answer for, I miss packaging that looks like this.

Out of the packet, the first thing we’ll look at are the Diaclone Drivers, 5 of them, all with die-cast heads with incredible detail, and magnets on the feet, which help to keep them in position when they’re displayed in and around Robot Fortress X, or any of the other Diaclone toys. These are surprisingly heavy, and I can tell straight away that the Diaclone driver I got package with my Diakron Red Sunstreaker a couple of years back is a fake. These are not!

Lets jump to base mode next, so we can see some of that Diaclone driver interaction. You’ll notice that while the box isn’t in the best condition, the toy is ABSOLUTELY STUNNING! Yes, I am excited about this one. Sue me.

The base mode keeps on giving, with plenty of hidden interactions, to the point that I’m not sure I’ve discovered them all. Below we see a shot of the Drivers all hanging out in his chest section, that slightly chrome looking sticker sheet they’re standing on is actually magnetised, holding them nicely in place.

To start with, the little tanks in the feet shoot out when you press a little button on the back. Great fun! And with some force too!

The gun turrets are fun for driver interaction, and I’m sure most people will be able to see similarities between the little cockpits and a certain trailer for a certain Autobot leader.

Having had zero experience with this toy, I couldn’t help thinking there was more to the base than ~~meets the eye~~ I was discovering, and sure enough, there is! Some bits I’d left in the box for safe-keeping.

You take these little pods (which you can pop a Diaclone driver in) and you can maneuver them all over Fortress X’s body using a system of elevators and release catches. You can drop them into his shoulders and they’ll pop into his hand cockpits, or reverse them into the leg using the tank and raise them all the way up into the chest section, around, and back down the other leg. It’s an amazingly cool – if totally pointless – play-feature, one which I’m sure as a kid I would have got huge amounts of fun out of, and something that would be near impossible to replicate in a modern rendition of third party toy, because of the amount of articulation we have in modern toys.
It’s a hard system to describe, thankfully, the lovely original advert for this bad-boy shows it pretty well.

If you watched the above video, you’ll have noticed this guy doesn’t really transform. At all. He sort of parts form, if you can call pulling off his legs and sticking them elsewhere. Still, the way the chest opens up is cool, and the shin panels pop off so you can watch the pods zip about, so he sort of looks different I guess. The face just opens up, and the arms don’t even need the amount of movement they show in the video, they just fold down.

Look at this guys face!!! It’s beautiful. As an add bonus, look at the reflection?!? How nice is this chrome? Funny story; I’m not sure what they used to put in chrome back in the eighties so it ages better than Beast Wars chrome, but whatever it is, it triggers all sorts of warnings from the TSA. Whilst passing through security Stateside, I took this guy in my carry on luggage to protect the box (I always put modern stuff in my main suitcase), well something on the security X-ray didn’t scan right, and they pulled the suitcase, turfed out all the clothes I’d used to pad the case, and pulled this guy out of the box right in front of me, leading me to very politely ask them to be careful with the box because it’s thirty years old and worth a fair bit of money. The woman was very understanding and let me repack it, after she’d swabbed the chrome and put it in for analysis. The good news is; Robot Fortress X has not been handling explosives before we got on the flight! Phew!

In robot mode, I think he looks stunning. Just all sorts of awesomeness in his design, and I just want to pick it up and fiddle about with it. To help give you guys an idea of scale, he is a tiny bit bigger than G1 Scorponok.

Here’s a picture of the back of him, just because you never see this shot and there is so much detailing. The care and attention to detailing over every square inch is second to none, no corners cut; this was clearly a labour of love for the designer, backed fully by Takara.

Check out the detailing on the chest panels, and that cute little factory applied “X” on the chrome.

Overall, I absolutely adore this figure. I think most people know I’ve been on a vintage kick the last five years or so, and this guy doesn’t disappoint. It’s so rare for me to pick up a vintageTransformers toy these days where I have had zero experience of the mold, so this piece of Takara history is a real treat for me. It’s big, impressive, heavy thanks to LOTS of die-cast, shiny, and very fun.

Sure, it doesn’t really fit in with Transformers at all, and even the Autobot Mini-cars would struggle to interact with this playset, so I can totally see why Hasbro rejected this one for the line during it’s infancy, as it doesn’t really fit in with the play pattern of G1 toys at all (even partsforming master Omega Supreme has distinctly different forms). However, I view this as one of the vital pieces of the puzzle on the way towards Metroplex, which would later lead us to Fortress Maximus.

Although, this piece does make me think Hasbro missed a trick by not retooling / redesigning a Diaclone Driver into Spike or Sparkplug back in the day, I know as a kid my brother and I really wanted small figures to fit in the vehicles and Dinobots, even if I was completely unaware of the Diaclone origins.

He’s an expensive toy these days, and he doesn’t show up in great condition often, but a bit of patience and willingness to haggle saw me get this on the Sunday of Botcon, for HALF of the price the dealer was asking on the Friday afternoon. Bargains can happen.

Unfortunately, this guy didn’t come with any of his paperwork (I would love a genuine Diaclone catalogue), so no instructions and no stickers, however, it did come with four sheets of uncut reproduction sticker sheets, so I might fire one over to the guys at Toyhax if they need it. I’ll probably never put them on, but it is very tempting to do so as stickers from back in the day were awesome, and the pods especially are desperately bare without them.

You can pre-order the new series of Diaclone Diabattles from Kapow Toys right here, or you might prefer a Diaclone flavour with a G1 repaint scheme courtesy of Fans Project’s Warbot Dai-Z. I’ve ordered both, because I’m insanely excited for Diaclone Revival (with a real mixed feelings about whether they might do reissues), and I’m always down for more Warbots from FP!