Now, one of the benefits of having a Royal Navy dad was the guilt they felt over deploying for upto 12 months at a time. If this guilt coincided with a visit to Japan, you got stuff like this bad boy at Christmas (1980 in this case).
At the time I just thought this was the coolest ever...and I still do!
As a bit of background, I later found it this was a Takara product. This is the Japanese company that later made transforming robots that Hasbro bought up and marketed as Transformers, inventing the Autobot/ Decepticon storyline with it. I suspected the two were linked when I discovered that the Diaclone crewmen (more later) fit in the crane and car that came in Optimus's trailer.
Here is Diaclone - The Great Robot Base (his full title). He does have damage though. In combat he has lost the gun horns that should be sprouting up from the helmet.
As for play features.......
the chest opens to reveal the Command Centre and two of his five crew.
The dias revolves so they can look at the world chart behind.
The launchable fist has a crew spot not that I would volunteer to be that close to the business end.
Welcome to the Gun Show! Diaclone has two fists but for extra tasty enemies, you could upgrade.
The faceplate flips down to form a launch pad for a fighter.
Just feet...or home to two ground cars!
The crew have foot magnets to get everywhere.
Extra missile badness from the abs!
For scale, check out the GW Praetorian.
Can't be arsed walking? Become a tank.
More crew hideaways.
They even thought of how the crew get to work with a foldaway conveyor belt.
Do they make them like this nowadays?
Unfortunately Diaclone is not in the best of conditions anymore.
Broken tracks, missing bits even rust but this fellow has seen some action.
He has:
Stomped Darth Vader
Kicked over a Big Trak
Flying fisted Star Bird out of the sky
Booted Metroplex in the dangly parts
Shot down Tie Fighters
Head butted an AT-AT (that was glorious to enact by the way)
...and many others.
He is to me as Bagpuss is to Emily.
