Posts Tagged: Diakron

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

11 Jun 2016

It’s Always Sunny in Cybertron – Diaclone Countach Vs Badcube Sunsurge / Sentinel Blaze (updated)

In the official corner, weighing in at 3 metric tons; Hasbro Sunstreaker and Diakron Red Sunstreaker, in the 3rd Party Corner, weighing in at a handsome £70 each (if you can find the yellow one), Badcube’s Sunsurge and Sentinel Blaze.

Who will win?: The fans (cliched applause for a cliched answer).

What a time to be a Transformer collector! There is more knowledge and interest in Diaclone than there has been for years thanks to the combined efforts of a huge amount of fan research and investigation into classic pre-Transformer releases, Diaclone V2 releases, a wealth of official Masterpiece repaints (including Clampdown, Red Tracks / Roadrage, Blue Bluestreak, forthcoming Powered Convoy / Delta Magnus, Loud Pedal / Black Tracks and many more) and thanks to 3P companies, we even get interesting gaps filled thanks to releases such as Maketoys Wrestle / Grapple and MMC’s Liger repaint giving us Red Mirage.

Today, we’re taking a look at what 3rd Party have done for us lately, namely; filling a Sunstreaker shaped gap in our collection, and giving us a red repaint too in the process. And because I love ya, we’ll be looking at the original releases as well with a decent sized gallery of comparisons.

Diakron DK-1 – Red Sunstreaker

Shown here is my original Diakron DK-1, a North American release of Diaclone Countach LP500S, originally released by Takara in Japan. The short lived Diakron range featured this guy, Black Ironhide (later released by eHobby as Protect Black Ironhide, an official Transformer) and a Blue version of Trailbreaker (coming soon in future blogs).
E-20160308_202941

This mold is credited as being the first ever Transformer design, with credit to Kohjin Ohno (our Lord and master), so it’s a pretty important slice of Transformers right here. It was also released in Diaclone as a Police Car type in white, with red detailing on the head and a lightbar. More details here at the excellent TFsquareone blog.

Many Transformers fans consider it odd that eHobby have never released Sunstreaker in red as an official Transformer like they have Tigertrack (yellow Sideswipe), but they’ve not released Sunstreaker either, and the rumour is the original mold for one of his arms has been lost in storage. You might not know is that Sunstreaker’s original working name was Spin Out*, which is a name that the TFwiki (and TFCC) uses as an assumed name for this mold in red. Although the issue does get more confusing below…

Transformers Sunstreaker

Released in the first wave of Transformers in 1984 as Sunstreaker, along with his brother Sideswipe in red, having swapped colours (but you all knew that, right?).

Note the Car Robo sticker on Red Streaker

Adding more nerdy trivia to proceedings; there has oft been confusion over the bios for the two toys, with evidence supporting that their colours and names were swapped. In the very first mention of Transformers in Marvel Age #17, Sideswipe’s description matches Sunstreaker (with references to pile-driver arms and a rocket back-pack), and Sunstreaker is absent replaced by Spin-Out’s description, which matches the bot we know as Sideswipe (shoulder mounted missile launcher). Whether a decision to swap colour schemes created this confusion, or whether the paint swap happened accidentally because of confusion between the two characters, is unknown. We’ll never know how deep the confusion went, and whether these guys are the Zuckuss and 4-LOM of Transformers (SSIRSIY!), but it does appear that way.*

It’s worth pointing out that Sunstreaker does not become a Lamborghini Countach LP500S like his brother, instead he transforms into an unlicensed, unapproved and heavily modified Lamborghini Countach concept car. This seemingly minor detail has a serious knock on effect down the line, as we’ll discuss later.

Diaclone colours and TF releases.

BadCube OTS-08 SunSurge

BadCube was teased some time ago, and the war was on against newcomer Omnigonix, whose ironically named Spin-Out (what, it’s not like Hasbro or Takara ever used it!) recently came out to a chorus of complaints and disappointment. Whatever you think of this figure, he has definitely won the war. So far.

Released at the beginning of 2016, this somewhat divisive figure is a complex little beast. Some people dislike the chest-cheat, with his windshield and alt. mode roof hiding away in favour of a smaller, arguably more screen accurate chest-plate. I’ve heard at least one fan derisively accuse SunSurge of looking like a young girl with big feet in a push-up sports bra, and I have to admit a certain Humberto Ramos influence in the feet, but in a way that works for me. Is there a better way to do it? I feel it’s very subjective. Omnigonix tries to follow the original G1 transformation in that he uses the alt. mode windshield and roof as his chest, but some feel this looks too big to achieve that animation model aesthetic that the Masterpiece line is veering towards.

E-20160308_203612(0)
Sometimes called Rubik’s SunSurge by sarcastic people like me, he can be tricky to transform, but I should point out that it is possible to transform him out of the box without instructions, as I did it twice. Thankfully, these guys are packaged in alt. mode (yay!) which means the first transformation is a lot more fun than trying to compact it back down, which can be very tricky indeed.

Sunsurge with MP Tigertrack

Stuck in the middle with you!

I don’t think anyone can argue with the results of the alt. mode, it’s pretty much exactly what anyone would want. It scales perfectly as a Lamborghini with the official MP Sideswipe, and perfectly nails the custom / modified rear engine / scoop look of the G1 toy. A lot of people complain about the back of the car, I address that in the Sentinel write-up below.

G1 and BadCube

There are plenty of options with this toy as well, the weapon stores on the alt. mode for a modified attack mode, exactly like we’ve seen across the MP line – I love this feature as it adds a lot play value, not to mention stops people like me losing parts. As well as this, we get spare parts, so you can swap out chromed parts for subdued painted silver parts for the spoiler, wheels, and engine scoop. Great value and attention to detail.

G1, BadCube and Henkei

Badcube Sentinel Blaze

Released very recently indeed by BadCube, we get the lovely Diaclone homage I wanted from the first time I saw SunSurge teased. The red is perfect, and he fits in with the rest of the MP line effortlessly, and makes me glad I committed to a separate Diaclone MP subline.

Some people complained about the back of the car, but to be honest, it’s absolutely no worse than the original 1984 release which I include for comparison.

Badcube in weaponised mode.

Few display these in alt. mode (which is a shame as they are beautiful) and fewer still display them in alt. mode facing backwards. I suppose an argument could be made for lack of real world accuracy, but this modified Lambo does not exist in the real world. And even if it did, I doubt it would become a cool-ass robot. Yes, reality sucks.

Maybe Repro Labels can help?

Conclusion

Are these acceptable figures to use for Sunstreaker / Red Sunstreaker, or is it merely a stand-in? I guess that depends entirely on your subjective point-of-view. Traditionally, I’m not a fan of cheats, and the radiator grills in both MP01 and MP-10 both annoy me, but don’t stop me owning the figures, and I barely hear people complain about those, yet many TF fans complain about this guys cheat. For me, I’m thankful that BadCube committed to this look, rather than compromising with a midway cheat, this way, we have the best of both worlds (if you can get past Omnigonix’s QC and bad reputation).

All the yellow

I absolutely adore this toy, it looks brilliant in both modes, gives us one of those fantastic key Ark characters we sorely need to stop our MP Sideswipes from getting lonely. We need this toy.

But what happens if and when we get an official Sunstreaker? Sadly, I think we know the answer from most fans. First though, I don’t thing we can count on Sunstreaker being an inevitable MP release, Takara have had a license agreement with Lamborghini since the very start of the new MP cars line-up, so why no Sunstreaker? As I’m sure many of you are aware, there is a possibility that Lamborghini (who are VERY protective of their LUXURY brand) will refuse to license an unsanctioned modification as an official product, and Takara wouldn’t be able to do it without their approval. Sticky territory. As a silver lining, perhaps we should look to the Super Deformed QT release of Sideswipe, which is fully licensed by Lamborghini – how is Sunstreaker different from a deform?

Fully licensed and approved!

Ultimately though, I do not believe that an official MP disqualifies a 3P offering. I can’t see how MT Hound or MMC’s Mirage homages can be beaten, and I’m someone who replaced MP09 with Carry and kept Quakewave over MP Laserwave.

With the releases of MP Ironhide and Ratchet, and the initial images of Inferno, it seems that Takara is going fully towards show accuracy, rather than maintaining the real world / toy / animation model balance that the line originally strove towards. If this is the case, then there is totally a place for more comic / toy accurate interpretation of characters for people like me.

Even if we do get Sunstreaker officially, and it totally blows us all away and has that magic “Eureka!” moment we all crave from MP, I dare say at the very least I will keep Sentintel Blaze at the absolute minimum, so I can have the best of both worlds with official and 3P, like I plan to do with Wrestle and MP Inferno, if Inferno somehow convinces me to part with the amazing Hellfire.

What more could a toy collector want than that?

BadCube Sentinel is on stock at Kapow right now! Go to, and secure your Diaclone repaint future!

*Spin-Out naming clarification thanks to the immense knowledge of Maz! An excellent article here covers Marvel Age #17.

24 Apr 2016

MC17 and MC18 Trasformers (not Transformers)

Over the last few years, I’ve enjoyed branching out evermore into the Takara design back-catalogue, rather than just collecting Transformers branded items. This has opened the door to my love of big, bulky Brave toys from the nineties, and to the early 1980s Diaclone and Micro-Change figures that were not utilized in the Transformers line.

As a subline to the New Microman line, Micro-Change figures avoided all mass-shifting complications by existing in a 1:1 scale. Hence they were real world objects such as cassettes, guns, microscope, and Penny Racer deform toy cars. Only Browning held this scale over into the TF line, transforming into a tiny robot sidekick in the Japanese cartoon.

A quick look at a catalogue reveals some familiar faces, the shot below is of the 1984 Gig Trasformer releases.

Not pictured in the catalogue above are Perceptor and Blaster, and a few more releases that didn’t make it into Transformers.

I could write articles about each of these releases quite easily, and spend weeks just discussing some of the other Diaclone toys that never made it to the Transformers line, but today, our focus is on these two:

MC17 Con Combinazione

This guy is a working combination lock, known as Dial Man in Japan. I wouldn’t want to use it to secure any valuables because I imagine it wouldn’t take much force to tear it open, and I’d be more concerned about the damage to the toy than most “valuables”.

Packaged in alt. mode, it’s another one of the Micro-Change “common things beside you”, an every-day household item that also transforms into a robot defender. The combination for the locks varies, but due to its transformation the middle number is always 8, reducing 1,000 possibilities down to a mere 100. Like I said, you shouldn’t really be using it as a lock anyway, but as a kid I’m confident I totally would have. The “secret” combination is stickered on the back, and for the sake of completion and minty freshness that is where it will stay.

Shush! Don’t tell anyone.

The transformation is great fun, starting with unlocking it which pops up the robot head in the process. From there, it’s a few familiar twists and turns to get this into that familiar Takara bipedal form. It works exactly how you want it to. The metal hoop is very obvious, but Takara try to mitigate this using it as a missile holder (unshown, as I am keeping my missiles on the sprue).

He’s a lot of fun. He does come with a stickersheet (unapplied), but the simply factory-applied chest sticker screams early Transformer to me, and he’ll absolutely fit in with the rest of my curiosos and unreleased figures, squeezed in with the e-hobbies somewhere.

MC18 Magnetico

Released in Japan as Magneman, Magnetico is a working key lock, with a magnetic twist (the name might have given that away). Again, I would want to use the lock to secure a factory full of Aston Martins, but as a kid I would have had great fun with this. The lock mechanism is actually quite strong, with a metal lock coming up out of the foot into the hoop lock, put to the stress, I think the plastic would fail long before the metal mechanism.

No, he’s not just a Mini-Blaster.

Unlike MC17, this guy comes with a little handgun which can be stored in his opening chest cavity in either mode. The magic comes when you open the foot panel and jam the handgun into the open hole, this allows a release on the lock mechanism meaning you can pop it back down into the unlocked position. Quite genius, and like a lot of the Micro-Change, feels very ahead of it’s time (considering it’s now 33 bloody years old!).

Free to transform him, you’re in for a treat, transforming like a slightly more intricate Blaster. He makes a fun robot, and again the metal hoop can be used as a missile holder. The slide-down hands are similar to what Astrotrain nearly received before Hasbro cost-cutting nixed that idea. You can see the hole with magnet reactive metal in his right shin, and the magnet in the end of his handgun; this is what is used to unlock him in lock mode.

No doubt had they been released as TFs they’d have been Decepticons due to the way Hasbro / Marvel split the 1984 range, but I like to think of them as classic enemies to each other rather than a sub-group within a faction. If I was in charge of naming them I would have made MC17 a Decepticon called Lockout, and MC18 an Autobot called Secure. But I’m not and they aren’t.

I’m no expert on the Micro-Change line at all, and I’m still collecting them and discovering more about them every day, but for my money there is no better collection of Micro-Change than in Ras’ collection. Check it out if you want to see some amazing bits.

In conclusion; these are not the most expensive toys in the world, nor are they the hardest to find. I bought these in the last five minutes of Botcon this year on a complete whim, offering a dealer much less than he was asking for on my way out of the dealer hall and to my surprise he said yes! Score. On tone with what I was saying above, they’re not the most expensive toy I bought at Botcon, or the rarest, but man are they fun!

Two original Takara molds from 1984 I have had no prior experience with, how could I say no? Easily my favourite purchase of the show.

Thanks for reading,

-Sid / CZH / Ceno / Another name I made up for no reason.